Date: 22 January 2017
Location: Jay & Gina
With a career in broadcast journalism, I was called on to write every working day for nearly 20 years. Since there are only so many newspaper pages you can lift and only so many minutes available on radio or television to get the news to you, journalistic writing is often limited to, in the words of Joe Friday on Dragnet “just the facts ma’m, just the facts”. Those facts are Who, Where, When, and Why. With this style in mind, here is my report on the January 2017 book reading:
The Happy Bookers of Huntsville, AL (who) met at the home of Jay and Gina (where) for their 4th Sunday monthly get-together (when) to discuss that month’s mutually read book (why), The Disappearance by Phillip Wylie. Now we flesh out the piece with a few facts, NONE of which reveals the reporter’s feelings on the subject. The Disappearance takes place at an instance on a sunny Sunday in February, ~ 1956 (when) on planet Earth (where) when all female humans and all male humans (who) disappeared from one another. The plot then follows each of the sexes and how they respond to this cataclysmic event (why).
This was one of our more lively discussions. Some felt the book was a waste of time, others mildly enjoyed the book and some found The Disappearance a game changer in their thinking!
The evening ended with dinner and visiting among old and dear friends.
A long time reporter for the CBS network was once asked by his news director “what’s your story about”? His answer? “About a minute and a half”. Time yourself. Are you a good broadcast reporter? I’m at 1:26.
— Linda D