‘The Art of Explanation’: A look at Ros Atkins’ latest
We have all been there. You are having a conversation with somebody, possibly on an intellectual level, and by the look plastered across their face:
A. You are boring them.
B. You can’t even remember the question they asked you.
C. In fact, you don’t even know the significance of the drivel that is being spouted in a cocktail of nerves and insecurity.
Whilst we cannot control how people react to what we are saying, one can really feel disenfranchised when it is clear that you have completely lost the attention of another.
This ‘absent reception’ is not just applicable to conversation, it can be equally daunting when faced with written work, wherein analysing, distilling, understanding and communicating are all part of the weekly Cambridge essay. This is something that Ros Atkins knows all too well having read History at Jesus College. In fact, his latest book, ‘The Art of Explanation’, was contrived during his first year as an undergraduate. Intriguingly, this devised system has carried him from his student days right up to his recent appointment as the BBC’s Analysis Editor.
Admittedly, upon reading Atkins’ book, I found myself deskilled as a journalist. Every time I attempted to conjure some type of stem to an enquiring question, it was immediately answered in a follow-up sentence. This is no bad thing, especially considering that it is a book on the ‘Art of Communication’, thus, we expect Atkins’ words to be the physical embodiment of this on the page - and as readers, we are certainly not disappointed.
A fully credible question to ask at this stage is: what makes this book different from all the other self-help, ‘How to Communicate’ and ‘The Art of …’ books that are already on the shelves of our local bookshops and libraries?
‘The Art of Explanation’ is full of personal experiences, each of which corroborate Atkins’ methodical address of the ‘Seven-Step Explanation’. It is curated with an abundance of (intimidating) scenarios in mind. Thus, before having finished reading ‘Step One: Set-up’, it is pertinent that all readers’ worst case scenarios have been catered for. What’s more, the end of each chapter boasts a ‘Quick Check’ so you can tick-off and self-reflect whether you are on the right track in the construction of your explanation.
Constructing explanations is a requisite for any journalist who is expected to be on screen at the drop of a hat for live and continuous broadcasts, never quite knowing when a news output requires their input. Consider this, you are reporting on the Greek debt crisis in the summer of 2015 - blisteringly hot weather, the role of the IMF, Syriza’s cabinet, failed loan repayments, GDP - overwhelming, one must admit.
Atkins’ approach to this exact scenario was to confront the complexity, instead of “tak[ing] an ‘off-the-shelf’ description that someone else ha[d] written on the more challenging aspects”. With this mindset in tow, what ensues is quasi-theatrical in his approach, a somewhat call and response tactic between Atkins and a specialist business reporter. The latter explains a labyrinthine segment of the report with the aim of Atkins repeating it back to him, sometimes with errors, but in good time, becoming not only fluent in presentation but most importantly, comprehensible for Atkins himself.
Understanding the information that is being disseminated to a large assembly of spectators or listeners on national television or radio is a skill that Atkins underscores as being of immense importance. Drawing on the work of his BBC colleague, Owen Bennet-Jones, during the reporting of the death of Salman Taseer in Pakistan, Atkins foregrounds the value of context. Bennett-Jones, whose career has spanned the Middle East and Asia, was invited to the newsroom to dismantle the assassination in 2011. What ensued was Bennett-Jones’ coherent and uncomplicated relaying of the context in which the death of the then Governor of Punjab had occurred; so much so, Atkins confers that it was the “best explanatory journalism I’ve ever heard” . I was interested to hear more about what made Bennett-Jones quite so successful in communicating the context. Atkins responded, Owen “made a large amount of time for the context because he understood that for us to fully understand the event he was describing, he needed a huge amount of context to go with it.”
However, Atkins reassures that the explanation processes in something as informal as a cookbook are of equal value to the context of a breaking news story as seen above. Being half-Persian, I was elated to see Atkins’ reference to Sabrina Ghayour’s Persiana cookbook and how he views the process of cooking as equitably essential in having a sufficient explanation. Cooking, he affirms, “is about stages, a process, you don't simply do something and find that you have made something delicious to eat” and this was exactly what Persiana lent itself to, whilst also providing some delicious recipes!
The key take-away from Atkins’ book is that explanation is an art and in whatever context we are explaining, we can strive to improve. When I posed the question to Atkins, “how difficult is it to make it all look quite so easy?”; his answer, unassuming and modest, underscored the importance of making small changes to everyday life explanations affirming that “some things can make quite a large difference quite quickly”.
As Atkins previously acknowledged, in a small period of time, the way you approach the act of writing a long email, preparing a speech or simply having a conversation with a colleague will change for the better. And no more shall the perplexed, disinterested faces plague your dreams the night before a big speech. This is because Atkins’ ‘The Art of Explanation’ made its way to your bedtime reading before the big day and for that, we are forever grateful.
Direct quotes from a short interview between Soraya and Ros Atkins on Thursday 30th November 2023 regarding his latest publication- ‘Art of Explanation’ were used in this article.