PressEthic

This quote I stole from T.S. Eliot and from the papers from my other class, The Journalistic Tradition. The way I interpret it is that great writing is not necessarily about inventing the weel, or if it is, it is about reinventing it, make it bigger or paint it in a different color. Great writing comes from being able to recognize when a technique or a narrative structure works, and then use this knowledge, or parts of it, in one's own way, in one's own context.

I believe this to be true, and I believe that being a "thief" as a writer in a philosophical sense is inevitable. And this on different levels.

In order to even write, you have to start off by using letters. These are the basics of writing and they are mandatory in order to make sense. The components are determined.

Also, certain rules exist as to which combinations are available. Wrong put in order to words the, no one understands. Neither if you write dlghsofnlg. Which means that in order to write, we use familiar combinations, combinations which have not only been used before, down to the letter, but which are also necessary in order to make sense.

The same goes for the different genres. Certain conventions are associated with for example the feature article or the news story. Even if you choose to defy these conventions, they still exist because of their loud absence.

While certain "rules" may exist, what keeps writing alive is that within these rules, the combinations of letters and words seem indefinite. Which makes writing both old and new at the same time.This point of view is very postmodern in its dissociation with the thought of true originality.

Not only when it comes to journalists but to anyone whose tools are words, I think it is important to be aware of the fact, that we have to “steal” letters and words in order to make sense. It is how we combine them that in the end determines whether the text works or not, whether it is trusthworthy or not.