Editorials, columns and some house keeping

Last Thursday (or Monday) in class we discussed what makes a good newspaper and magazine editorial and/or column. They each have a lot of things in common; for instance they adhere to journalistic structure, but hold elements of both news and feature stories. They're meant to influence public opinion through persuasive argument. And although editorials and columns do use the writer's opinion, this opinion is based on solid, accurate fact and information. This article at Poynter Online should help you to remember the most important points about the structure, tone, style and purpose of an editorial. As for columns, their style, tone and purpose really depend on the editorial policy and readership of the publication. I know you all had a favourite out of the ones we discussed, so I'm posting a link here so you can read the rest yourselves.

One thing we didn't touch on in class was the issue of blogs. Blogs act as the new column for 21st century media, and since there's no cost to start or maintain one, a lot of people are spewing opinions (bad, good or indifferent) all over the web. But the best blogs are still the ones that follow journalistic style writing, however brief, that opine based on accurate fact and that influence public opinion through argument. Some blogs that you may find interesting are that of writer/photographer Mark Lyndersay, our last guest lecturer, a food blog I love called The Wednesday Chef and Afro Bella, a local girl gone global talking about natural hair care.

Assignment #2 is in, and I'd like to just reiterate a couple of points. Firstly, its very important that you read up on the nitty gritty of writing. Many of you had great stories, but you fell down on punctuation, on the strength (or lack thereof) of your sources, proper attribution and editorialising. One of your recommended texts, How to Write Articles for Newspapers and Magazines is an excellent resource for all the finer points of writing, so please use it or any other of the online resources you see posted on this blog.

Hope you're working on your stories for Assignment #1. Until next class,

Desiree