The Iceberg Theory
I don't know what bothers me more, the news itself, or the way it is presented.
"A few things I have found to be true. If you leave out important things or events that you know about, the story is strengthened. If you leave or skip something because you do not know it, the story will be worthless. The test of any story is how very good the stuff that you...... omit [is]." - Ernest Hemingway
This is true not only for books but for news stories as well.
Let us take examples of photo journalism. The first example is that of Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl photographed by Steve McCurry for the cover of National Geographic. Even her name was not known until sometime in the 2000s. But how powerful it was.
The other example that comes to my mind is that of the picture of the starving child in Sudan taken by Kevin Carter.
Not much was written yet they conveyed powerful stories by themselves.
A short story that comes to mind is that of the poor starving man by Anton Chekov who 'steals' a nut from a railway track (The Malefactor), or the story of Anyuta. I have only read some interesting snippets of Anyuta and am looking forward to reading the whole story.
Have you heard of the Iceberg Theory? Just as the true depth of an iceberg is understood from the part that sticks visibly above water, the true nature of a story lies in what is omitted, which is brought out by what is presented. Of course, it is imperative that the writer, or in this case, the news presenter knows and understands this part that is left out.
Contrast this with our news presenters who omit the essential for want of information and pad it up with complete nonsense coupled with silly made up faces, wiggling heads and ferociously blinking eyes. Watching news tires me emotionally, not only because of the content but also because of the way it is presented.
Minimalism is the essence of writing for authors such as Hemingway and Chekov. I was discussing my style of blogging with one of my best friends and he told me to add more descriptions and couch my points of focus in the descriptions. But, I think for the present, I am going to experiment with the iceberg theory.
PS: One of my best friends, please forgive me.
"A few things I have found to be true. If you leave out important things or events that you know about, the story is strengthened. If you leave or skip something because you do not know it, the story will be worthless. The test of any story is how very good the stuff that you...... omit [is]." - Ernest Hemingway
This is true not only for books but for news stories as well.
Let us take examples of photo journalism. The first example is that of Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl photographed by Steve McCurry for the cover of National Geographic. Even her name was not known until sometime in the 2000s. But how powerful it was.
The other example that comes to my mind is that of the picture of the starving child in Sudan taken by Kevin Carter.
Not much was written yet they conveyed powerful stories by themselves.
A short story that comes to mind is that of the poor starving man by Anton Chekov who 'steals' a nut from a railway track (The Malefactor), or the story of Anyuta. I have only read some interesting snippets of Anyuta and am looking forward to reading the whole story.
Have you heard of the Iceberg Theory? Just as the true depth of an iceberg is understood from the part that sticks visibly above water, the true nature of a story lies in what is omitted, which is brought out by what is presented. Of course, it is imperative that the writer, or in this case, the news presenter knows and understands this part that is left out.
Contrast this with our news presenters who omit the essential for want of information and pad it up with complete nonsense coupled with silly made up faces, wiggling heads and ferociously blinking eyes. Watching news tires me emotionally, not only because of the content but also because of the way it is presented.
Minimalism is the essence of writing for authors such as Hemingway and Chekov. I was discussing my style of blogging with one of my best friends and he told me to add more descriptions and couch my points of focus in the descriptions. But, I think for the present, I am going to experiment with the iceberg theory.
PS: One of my best friends, please forgive me.
posted by Anon @ 9:04 AM
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