5Writing reviews
What is a review?
You are already a reviewer. Every time you explain to a friend why such and such a movie doesn’t work, or describe the excellence of so and so’s new album, you are in effect reviewing an art work or an entertainment: in other words, you are providing a critical assessment of it. That is what a review does.
A ‘listing’ is different. It need do nothing more than provide the reader or listener with factual information:
9.00 Russell Howard’s Good News: Stand-up comedy
A review, as well as providing that kind of information, should describe the work and express an opinion about it.
What does it take to be a reviewer?
This raises a fundamental question. Although everyone has a right to express ...
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