Concerning diction

We briefly touched the need for diction in class. Diction can be loosely defined as finding the precisely right word for what you want to say. A writer named Rebecca Solnit wrote an interesting article in Guernica about when the media's use of words causes the world to get the wrong picture.

The piece asks some crucial questions that you should ask yourself as journalists, but I'll let you get to them and maybe we can discuss in class. But my favourite sentence?

"We live and die by words and ideas, and it matters desperately that we get them right."

Desiree