Why do journalists use passive voice covering protests and police? And why we should avoid it
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English - June 16, 2020 04:00 - 4 minutes - 2.02 MB - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsNews news adirondacks north country public radio Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
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(Jun 16, 2020) A big, important idea we learn as journalists: write in active voice. Somebody did something. Verbs are important. Subjects are important. Avoid vague forces and things somehow happening.
"A black man died in police custody." "A white police officer killed a black man." These are the kind of sentences we're reading, and as journalists, writing, a lot these days as we cover protests against police violence, and systemic racism, and incidents of police violence.