Week 9

The content for this week has really opened my eyes to how much the little things matter in writing. We should be constantly asking ourselves how the average reader will interpret our message. Writing with the perspective of someone of the opposite sex can help us avoid using words that refer to sexism.  Writing with the perspective of other racial backgrounds can help avoid unnecessary usage of racial descriptions.This week was difficult to find an example of each. Here is a good example of sexism used properly  in news reporting. 

"Tolman and other firefighters interviewed Wednesday declined to comment on the reasons for Graydon and Patrick leaving. For them, the prime issue is the sufficiency of fire services in South Weber."

The reporter used firefighters instead of saying firemen.  I looked at a plethora of newspapers and they did very well at using neutral words rather than words that refer to males or females. 

Finding an article that contains an ageism or heterosexism comment has been difficult for me.  I did find a article from KSL that provides an example of racism. See if you can figure out if the race needs to be said here.

The sister of a black man shot and killed by a Tulsa police officer when he reached into an SUV stalled in the street said on Saturday that she does not believe her brother was armed.

The reporter could have just told us a name from the beginning, or said it was a woman from Tulsa.