Factual Writing

Programme Outline

• Television journalism: Peter Morgan examines how writing for a television news programme differs from writing for a newspaper, the role of the war correspondent, and the ‘impartiality’ of journalism.
• The essay: Robert Minhinnick discusses the partiality of his essays, his writing methods, and the environmental issues which concern him in Watching the Fire Eater.

Peter Morgan talks about the qualities required of television news journalists. They need to be nosy and curious. To be a war correspondent, it helps to be young, because young people tend to be mobile and willing to take risks, and often do not have a dependent family. He compares writing television news reports with writing for newspapers. Television reports must be brief: paragraphs of no more than two or three sentences, the language terse. It is the pictures that do most of the work. He tells the pupils of his period in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and of the time he was shot at. The programme contains footage of his reports. Morgan speaks of the need to remain neutral as a correspondent. The story has to be covered in an impartial way. ‘Say what you think without getting on a soapbox.’ He speaks of the difficulty of obtaining information in the war zone.

Robert Minhinnick doesn’t want to write straight journalism. His intention is not to be impartial but to vividly express his opinions. He is not concerned with the immediate reporting of events in the way Peter Morgan is. Minhinnick’s writing begins in his notebook, and the finished essay might not be completed until months later. He says he wants to communicate obliquely and through images. The extracts from Watching the Fire-Eater illustrate how strongly he feels about life in Wales, and in particular the way we treat the environment. The anger in the passage on rugby shows how strongly he feels about the way sport drives a lot of other news out of the headlines. Although he is not against tourism, he is concerned that it should be managed in a way that is sustainable, so that we don’t destroy that which makes it worthwhile. The passage from The Breath of the Dragon ends with the piece of graffito: ‘Shoot a tourist today. You know it makes sense.’ Teasing exaggeration, striking images and strong, openly expressed feelings are characteristics of Minhinnick’s writing.