Movements...

While I still use Blogger in my classes at COSTAATT, I've moved my main operation over to WordPress. I'll be posting more regularly on a variety of media topics, as well as on education.

Visit my Media Studies Blog when you can.

Man bites dog (and other newsworthy notes)

"Man bites dog" is more than just a funny journalism catchphrase. It embodies several of the most crucial aspects of newswriting and newsworthiness that we discussed earlier.
It's brief and clear. It describes a odd conflict with a human interest angle. It uses the active voice.
Use the phrase as one of your newswriting mantras in the future.

We continued our (somewhat contentious) discussion on the journalist as the judge of newsworthiness today. Your concerns regarding the ideal vs the reality are duly noted, and critical thinking is always appreciated. Still, I want you to make a greater effort to use these lessons progressively, as a touchstone for the level of your own understanding and your own work, rather than the quality of the work you see around you. Again, this is simply a matter of prioritizing.

Here's some further reading on tonight's class:
Jim Hall discusses the nature of news.
NoTrain-NoGain offers two bits of material. The first challenges you to broaden your perspective to reflect diversity in your writing. A narrow view can obscure the newsworthiness of certain events or situations around you.
Similarly, the second column shares advice on what a journalist should and shouldn't do to maintain that balanced perspective.

Next week, we're going to be diving straight into the actual writing of the news, so come prepared to work.

Sample assignment submissions

You should be hard at work developing ideas for your group assignment (due December 13-15) and your three-story portfolio (due February 2011) right now. Remember to communicate with each other and with your lecturer to put what we've learned so far to good use.

I've selected a few sample submissions from past semesters* to help you understand the sort of group work Mrs Seebaran and I will be expecting (and dreading). Please note the constructive criticism, and apply it as best as you can to your own project. I'll post up some portfolio samples later in the semester.

Right-click and save.

Distinction-worthy work.

A great submission that earned a Merit.

A Passing grade.

Unacceptable work.

*Student names have been removed.

Interesting resource materials

Hi guys,

Came across a great website with a couple of useful article for you to read through. The first is called 24 tips for journalistic productivity, which is basically giving you ideas on how to find stories. I know that for Assignment #2, many of you found it a little difficult to get story ideas, so this should help for Assignment #1. The second piece is on interviewing, specifically politicians, and it resonated with me because we did have a similar discussion in class concerning the Fazeer Mohammed/Suruj Rambachan debacle.

Read through, absorb, hope it helps.

Desiree

An interesting piece of feature writing

Yes, I know that we haven't yet got there in class, but I came across a very interesting, pretty old piece from Esquire Magazine entitled Frank Sinatra Has A Cold and I thought I'd share it.

It's particularly ingenious because the writer was never allowed an actual interview with Sinatra. The piece was written entirely from observation and by talking to the people around the man. It was written in the 1960s so it's much longer than our profiles typically are today and of course much longer than the pieces you are expected to write! But the writer has got an excellent grasp on descriptive storytelling without losing journalistic integrity. Read, enjoy and I hope it helps you in your own writing.

"Be sure to punctuate and attribute properly," he said.

I've highlighted the need for solid punctuation skills when quoting sources. Unfortunately, many students persist in using incorrect quotation punctuation. The following resources should be the final word on this issue.

Start off with the basics. Check out the Purdue Writing Lab for a guide on how to use quotation marks and quote indirectly.

The WAW School of Journalism outlines a few more details on attribution and quotations, including this very important note on the word "said" that I've mentioned repeatedly in class:

Some final thoughts on the word “said”: Readers like — dare I say love? — the word because they don't see it. It's simple and direct, and can't be misinterpreted. So use it often or, perhaps, all the time. If you find a need to use other words, like exclaimed, gushed, etc., it likely means the writer hasn't set up the quote in a way that the reader knows what's coming. It's often a sign of bad writing (and bad writers) when such words apprear in copy.

"Said" says it all.

Finally, veteran editor and educator Gregg McLachlan comments on failure to attribute in this short column.

Hope those pages help. As always, take a look around the wider sites after you're done with the specific items I've lined to.

Hunting for stories

We used our first field exercise to scour Woodbrook, the deeply historical neighborhood in which the campus is located.

The walkabout/drive served primarily as a story-hunting exercise. We developed the reporter's skill for finding the profound in the seemingly mundane, and seeing the interesting, curious things in the world around us. We questioned a lot of what we would usually overlook and take for granted, and we returned to class with enough story ideas to keep an entire department of reporters busy for months.



You'll now have to apply that skill to your own community (those of you who actually live in Woodbrook got a free pass!). Find something beyond the cliched and the overdone. Find something new and exciting, something thought-provoking and fresh. Adhere to the guidelines that we've learned over the last few weeks, and copping a distinction should be easy.

The response to this exercise was heartening, and I'm going to try to figure out other ways for us to hit the road, constructively, later on in the semester.

Our next field assignment will be will be similarly devoid of PowerPoints and my droning voice. You'll hear more about it in the near future.


(I borrowed the photos in this post from former student Norman Chuckaree's Woodbrook Facebook group.)

On the job or in the classroom?

We discussed the opportunities (or relative lack thereof) for thorough training in the T&T media last class. I encouraged the class to take advantage of the practice and exposure this course offers, and to pay attention to the mechanical framework the programme provides.

NPR recently ran a story highlighting some of the journalism education issues I brought up near the end of our session. "What's the Point of Journalism School Anyway?" questions the wisdom of pursuing (often costly) tertiary qualifications for an industry which, as the writer points out, doesn't even require a degree. The story also notes the concerns of students regarding the industry-wide shift away from traditional media to new media like the internet.

Take a read. It's relevant to your interests.

Wilson argues that good citizenship and a vibrant press are inextricably linked.

"If you look around the world, whether it's a developed country or a developing country ... if that country has a free and independent press it's much more likely they're going to be a democracy," he says. "And I think those of us in [the] journalism education field have an obligation to help train people to provide information in the public interest."

"Journalism's first obligation is to the truth..."

Welcome to the course.

The next four months will broaden your perspective on how information is delivered to you, and hopefully pique your interest in an often overlooked profession.

As we discussed today, defining journalism is more about saying what it does than what it is. The debate will only deepen as the internet continues to democratize journalism, and growing niches like citizen journalism and advocacy journalism will continue to shift our perception of news.

We'll be diving straight into the fundamentals of newswriting next week. I invite you to check out Jim Hall's excellent Beginning Reporting website for a primer on upcoming topics. Keep an eye on this spot for other helpful links.

Every few weeks I'll make some of my lecture material, such as scripts and PowerPoints, directly available for download here. I'll also regularly post story examples and well-written practice assignments from within the class. If I pick up troubling trends while correcting assignments, I'll address them here initially.

Feel free to comment under each post or e-mail me your questions and suggestions.

Until next week, keep reading.

Words that should be banned from professional writing

Words that should be banned from professional writing

Has a public official been “probed” lately? Or has one executive been “tipped” to replace another in an organization? Have political opponents “blasted” each other recently in the media? Journalists – like other professionals – can develop routines or habits to add speed or ease to the performance of their job. But while some routines are good – like getting a second source for serious revelations or carefully re-reading your work for errors of grammar or clarity - some routines are bad but continue because so many people practise them and so few question them. Bad habits abound in journalists’ use of language, particularly the use of words and phrases in ways that are imprecise, exaggerated or just plain worn out. David Randall, author of The Universal Journalist, calls these words or phrases “journalese”. There is a list of them in the excellent book “English for Journalists” by Wynford Hicks. I’ll start a list of my own by first borrowing from his, then adding from other sources over time. Feel free to criticize or make suggestions in the comments section.

aim (to mean intend)

axe (to mean sack)

battle (dispute)

bid (try, attempt)

blast (criticize)

blaze (fire)

clampdown (control)

clash (dispute)

dash (hurry)

don (put on)

drama (event)

dub (describe)

launch (start)

loom (threaten)

oust (replace)

pledge (promise)

poised (ready)

probe (inquiry)

rock (shock)

row (dispute)

scrap (cancel)

slam (criticize)

soar (increase)

unveil (announce)

vigil (patrol)

vow (promise)