User:Rainbird

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I am a writer, photographer, and graphic designer. I am
very intrigued with wikinews, although the type of
writing done here, isn't the kind that I am most fond of
doing.  

I hope it can evolve into a news source which can delve
into context, and not merely be an echo chamber for the
associated press, reuters, and other news feeds.

I am quite astonished at this phenomena in my country
which is called "the newspaper" It seems to me that many
of the local newspapers around the nation evolved out of
a verbal spat between the interests of labour and the
interests of business. Somehow, that antipathy became
transformed into a vigorous pursuit of writing about
disasters, and tragedies. In my opinion, the current
atmosphere of the typical newsroom is not a nurturing
environment for writers. Deadlines -the fact that the
material about today's events needs to be written today,
The practice of editors who will take apart the motif
scheme which a writer puts together. These things hurt
the ability of writers to produce quality work. 

Also, when writing about negative events, it's easy for
writers to fall into the trap of seeing the issue through
the lens of their own fears and hesitations. There is a
social construct in our society called "trust" and
"withholding trust." This is a different philosophy than
"prudence." The former has to do with how you view
people, while the latter is about dealing with a
situation wisely.  Writers tend to write in view of their
own passions and prejudices, rather than putting the
events into the appropriate actual human contexts. It's
sad, I think, to look around and see reporters who will
write stories, as if they were a cartoonist drawing up a
caricature. Because they are pressed for time, because
they have limited sources, and because of their own
feelings about the situation, they take out a stock
template of that situation, and fit all the parts of that
story, onto that template. 

Sincerely, Rainbird

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My weblog can be read here... for those who are interested: Zephyr Lake