What speechwriters can learn from Boston’s news coverage
The priority to get the facts right should be as paramount to speechwriters as it is journalists.
First was the importance of accuracy. Get the facts right. Not once, not a few times, every time. Professors failed work if one comma was out of place or one fact was wrong. Didn’t matter if the piece was worthy of a Pulitzer Prize, a fudged figure was like a murderer on the loose. Seek and destroy.
Whatever happened to that pride in accuracy?
Witness the reporting on the tragic events at the Boston Marathon. Shortly after the bombings, I tuned into various TV stations and followed a few Twitter feeds.
Most of what I heard and read turned out to be completely wrong. Not a little wrong, but completely wrong. CNN’s John King, for instance, mistakenly reported a suspect had been arrested. Social media spiraled out of control. Left wing, right wing—same deal.
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