I’m a double-major: journalism and technical communication. Love both the fields and love finding connections between them. I’ve done that on this blog before. Up till today, the connections have been mostly practical: writing, multimedia and audience analysis.
Today, we discuss theory.
In journalism, accuracy is held up as god.
In technical communication, style (or, accuracy of language) is help up as god.
Both of these gods should be dethroned and replaced with: truth.
Journalism
I first thought about this in relation to journalism in my Advanced Newswriting and Reporting for Print class in fall 2012. A news story can be completely accurate. But the same story can also not be true. An example: The reporter quotes all these sources that say a high-ranking official resigned for a specific reason. And all those sources turn out to be wrong.
If the reporter quotes the sources correctly, the story is still accurate. It’s even true in the sense that these-people-really-did-say-these-things true. But it’s not true as far as this-accurately-depicts-what-happened true.
In journalism, accuracy is vital. You can’t have any credibility or even arrive at truth without accuracy. But journalists should not only strive to be accurate but also to be true.
Technical Communication
I’ve only recently realized how the truth/accuracy tension plays into technical communication. In the capstone course of Cedarville’s Technical and Professional Communication major, we discuss theory, all day, every day. One common idea is whether technical communicators can bring more to the table than simply clear, stylistically correct writing.
The positivist view says no. Style is all that matters in technical communication. Technical communicators are simply a channel that information passes through to become usable by the audience.
The humanist view says lots of things: technical communicators help create knowledge. They have ethical decisions to make. Technical communication is an art, not just a science.
Halfway through Special Topics class, I tend toward the humanist view. And this is where truth/accuracy come into play.
The truth/accuracy tension in journalism is comparable to the truth/style debate in technical communication. A procedure can be written with perfect style. This would mean, among other things, sentences would be imperative, old information would be placed at the beginning, and the steps would be free of any nominalizations.
But a stylistically sound procedure could still be untrue. The imperative verbs could not truthfully represent the actual actions that need to be done. The procedure could say the product will act this certain way in these certain conditions, and it might not.
Untruthfulness in technical communication can also mean making a product look easier to use than it is. Some companies did this with their manuals for studguns (a construction tool for inserting nail-like objects into construction material). Because of this, one construction worker died and another was seriously injured.
In technical communication, style is vital. Without it, users won’t be able to understand a procedure. But technical communicators should not only strive for style but also for truth.
Zack Anderson 
Thanks for this, Zack. It’s good to meet you. As someone who started in journalism and then spent more than 30 years in Tech Comm, I’m distressed to know that there are still people who think style is all that matters; that the technical communicator is merely a channel through which content flows.
I’m with you: truth is essential to what we do. Without truth we not only fail to provide value, we take away value. I’d be better if we didn’t show up at all. No wonder we, as a profession, struggle to convince others of our value, if some of us are viewing ourselves as mere channels.
You might enjoy this article, in which I posed the question What is truth?
Thanks for reading, Larry. Technical communicators have a serious responsibility to be truthful, and sometimes the consequences are serious if we are not.
Thanks for your post, too. Interesting comparing accuracy to truth. What does accuracy look like in technical communication as compared to journalism? Something to think about. I suppose it all depends on how one defines terms.
Great thoughts, Zack. I always appreciate and respect your journalistic (and technical-communicatory?) integrity. Don’t ever lose that.
I don’t know much about technical communication and it was neat to see the connections you made between it and journalism. Truth is so often forgotten, or ignored, and this post made me wonder how many issues would be solved if it became ‘our god.’ This was quite the provoking post.
Zack, great job explaining the difference between accuracy and truth. Also your TPC was showing in the way you organize your posts and link to other things 🙂
Zack, thanks for the interesting read. Thank you, for pointing out the difference between truth and accuracy!
Whatever profession you pursue Zack, that field will be gaining a writer who isn’t afraid to stand up for the truth [and whose writing is very easy to read/follow]. Thanks for your honesty, and I look forward to future posts!
Pingback: Bridging TPC and Journalism: ‘Round and ‘Round We Go | Zack Anderson
Hmm can you really connect TPC and journalism, Zack? No man can serve two masters. Just kidding 😉 These connections are great. You put a lot of thought into this and it shows!
Great thoughts! Truth should really be held higher in journalism … think of all the help it could give!
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