Universal Journalism

A wise man, David Randall, once said anyone could write like a universal journalist.  Yes you heard him right, anyone!  So I guess that applies to both you and I- thanks for the motivation Randall.

He even goes on to give us a few key principles as to how this can be achieved.

However, his principles should not be thought of as magic formula, which we meditate on day and night. Hoping that in our Zen like state we would have the perfect piece revealed to us. This would be AMAZEBALLS (if you are into that kind of thing), but it's most unlikely! My sincere apologies hipsters.

 I do reckon though, that it should be what we strive towards in our writing. It should make the writers writing worth being read.

Let's get back to those principles.

 Lots could be said about Randall’s principles individually, but I think that the first one embodies the rest quite well. “Discover and publish information that replaces rumour and speculation.”

Pause to think that through...

 Basically replace rumour and speculation with truth.

Give people insight and knowledge to what they are probably already discussing (or would be discussing if they were so informed).

Provide a platform that encourages critical analysis of government, authority figures, businesses, ideas and beliefs that make people feel comfortable and the nature of  not -so -human nature.

Everybody needs to be held accountable for their actions; things need to be exposed and uncovered.

We all know in reality we can't retract our statements. Although some may believe they can.

In short these principles push your writing into the bracket of a universal journalists. This is the kind of writing we need, these are the pieces that truly do our readers justice.