A Bigger, Bolder Headline Here

 

According to the Britannica Dictionary, a telephone is "a device that is connected to a telephone system and that you use to listen or speak to someone who is somewhere else." 

Headline Goes Right at the Top

AP Photo

This is a true cutline for a display photo, which is a complete sentence.

 

The Well-Crafted Obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing a well-crafted obit is like lighting a votive candle for someone who has recently died. It signals a recognition of their life. It helps focus the thoughts of those who loved them. It conjures memories, kindles emotions, instills hope. (It also can prompt laughter. More on that later.)

Every journalist must know how to write a proper obit. Yes, there is a form and an etiquette to it. It's such an essential skill to develop that every young journalist's portfolio of clips should include one if possible.

DISCUSS   Since I just had to sit down an write an obit recently, let's start there and discuss the elements and style we see on display: Frank Bernard Garrett II

STUDY   Let's use this guide from The News Manuel, Vol. 2: Advanced Reporting to review the baseline expectations and essential elements of an obituary: Chapter 51: Obituaries BTW, The News Manual is a GREAT online resource that is FREE to you anytime: The News Manuel  Bookmark it! 

STUDY   Let's also look at this user-friendly guide to obit-writing by the people at Legacy.com, which is the obit platform used by hundreds of local newspapers for generating obits like the one you read above: How to Write and Obituary

CONSIDER   Odd as it might sound, obituary writing can rise to the level of an art form. There are journalists who have specialized in obit-writing and become quite famous. (Obit-writing has taken on a hallowed status especially in British journalism.) Obits don't necessarily have to be solemn and serious. They also can be funny or off-beat or even mean and spiteful (check out Obitchuary on Spotify). Here's a fun story from NBC News about how some obits actually go viral online: How to write the perfect obituary, according to professional writers

WRITE!   Let's write a 425-word obit right now, in class, on deadline.

Headline Will Go Above Feature Photo

Associated Press

This is a cutline about the featured photo right here to fill out the line out to fit it in space.

While too many people who write about classical music succumb to the temptation to prove, over and over again, how much more they know than the reader, Tommasini has never approached the job that way. He writes with a deep affection for the music, an abiding respect for musicians and a kind sympathy for his readers. Rather than judgmental, his reviews are modest, accessible and readable. Never snarky. Always helpful.

A simple concert review for the Times is a perfect case in point. While writing about a performance by high school students, Tommasini never demeans. Without writing down to the students or to his readers — he never claims it was the greatest performance ever! — he finds a way to report on the event fairly while happily encouraging the students’ efforts. There is a modesty and sympathy to his writing that every critic could learn from.

AP Photo

A smaller photo can use this
narrower cutline style like this
one here to fit the small space.
It could go on another line, too.

Who is a writer whose style you admire? Or whom you aspire to be in the future? It could be someone working today — like sport commentator Steven A. Smith. Or it could be a famous person from the past — like Bob Costas at the height of his career in the 1990s. It could be someone who does political commentary, like Tucker Carlson or Maureen Dowd. 

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. In politics, every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. 

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. Every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. 

Every Writer's Dream

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. Every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. 

Getty Images

This is a wide cutline for a feature photo with words to match the width of the
photo. It can extend to two sentences to fit the space and width of the photo.
It could even go on for another sentence if you feel it is needed to explain it.

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. Every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. 

OilPrice.com

BY THE NUMBERS  The spot price of oil
per barrel is set to surge to its pre-COVID
levels very soon in coming months ahead.

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. In politics, every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. 

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. Every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. f not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times.

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MORE ON VIDEO

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My Secret Mentor

Anthony Tommasini

During my many years as an arts reporter and critic, I looked to Anthony Tommasini’s honest and approachable writing for the The New York Times as a model.

Because I had a degree in music and continued to practice music as an avocation even as I transitioned into writing about it, Tommasini was a particularly apt choice for me. A pianist with degrees in music from Yale and Boston universities, Tommasini was a protégé of Virgil Thomson, the famous American composer who also was acclaimed as the longtime music critic for the old New York Herald Tribune. So Tommasini acted as a kind of link for me, my connection to the passing tradition of musicians as music writers.

The key to Tommasini’s successful style? He’s no snob.

While too many people who write about classical music succumb to the temptation to prove, over and over again, how much more they know than the reader, Tommasini has never approached the job that way. He writes with a deep affection for the music, an abiding respect for musicians and a kind sympathy for his readers. Rather than judgmental, his reviews are modest, accessible and readable. Never snarky. Always helpful.

A simple concert review for the Times is a perfect case in point. While writing about a performance by high school students, Tommasini never demeans. Without writing down to the students or to his readers — he never claims it was the greatest performance ever! — he finds a way to report on the event fairly while happily encouraging the students’ efforts. There is a modesty and sympathy to his writing that every critic could learn from.

Who is a writer whose style you admire? Or whom you aspire to be in the future? It could be someone working today — like sport commentator Steven A. Smith. Or it could be a famous person from the past — like Bob Costas at the height of his career in the 1990s. It could be someone who does political commentary, like Tucker Carlson or Maureen Dowd. 

If not a person, it could also be a publication whose style you admire, maybe one you with you could work for. In the old days, every young reporter wanted to write one day for The New York Times. In the '70s and '80s, every music writer wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. In politics, every young writer saw himself or herself writing for The Nation or National Review. And, of course, every aspiring fashion writer wanted to work at Vogue. 

So pick an approach — person or publication — and write 400 words about why you recommend them or it.

Stages, Ledes, Roadmap, etc.

 

 

Final Project: In Memoriam

Mickey Rooney was the subject
of many tributes after his death
(Photo via Associated Press)

Just as every news reporter should know how to write and obituary, every feature writer should know how to write an appreciation, or tribute, piece. What is it? It's the more colorful and often longer article about someone who has died and after the first-day news obit has come and gone.

For example, the day after the Los Angeles Times ran its first-day obit of actor Mickey Rooney, it published an appreciation by the newspaper's longtime film critic: Mickey Rooney, with grit and gumption, put on a show Notice all of the sidebars running on the left side of this tribute piece.

Remember the way we tried to get away from the news lede of an event story to add more feature finesse to the top of our sights and sounds story? Think of that difference when thinking about the differences between an obit and an appreciation. The top of the appreciation piece needs to brighter or more colorful or more anecdotal or more descriptive. Also, like with the top of the sights and sounds story, we want the top of the appreciation to have a narrow entry point — one particular event in the person's life or one particular achievement or one particular person's memory of the person or one particular impact this person had.

Type of lede? Anecdotal, descriptive, question often are used to get the tone away from the tone of a news obit. After the narrow focus in P1 through p3, the context graph at P4 can have some of the newsier aspects of the person's death. At P6, the step back in time can be, as with an obit, all the way to their date of birth or it could be a step away to some other significant aspect of this person's life or career.

What about first-person writing? It can be done but only if the writer has a real reason to introduce his or her own memories and feelings — and then, only sparingly. Remember, the piece needs to be about the subject you've chosen, not about you.

Here is an example of an appreciation done in a style called a personal remembrance: Regarding Susan Sontag Regarding the Pain of Others

What if I want to do a living person instead? I would prefer you do an appreciation piece for the sake of practicing this traditional story form, but if you have a very good subject for a profile, run it by me before proceeding.

Package Elements

Headline and byline

Display photo, cutline, credit line

Mainbar = 1,000 words

Sidebar (narrative or list style with links) = as needed

Four quotes minimum = two fresh from two people, two found (don't forget attribution!)

Deadlines

Seniors = 9 a.m. Saturday, April 26 (includes any late work)

Juniors = 8 a.m. Monday, April 28

Late Work = 9 a.m. Tuesday — NOTHING accepted afterward — PERIOD!

Lists as Sidebars

"Everybody loves a list."

That's how Jim Stoval starts a post about the potential added value of adding a list to a narrative. We will add lists to our anniversary stories, so be thinking about what information would add value — quickly — for your readers.

Here are some tips that Stoval shares about compiling an effective list:

• Appropriateness and significance. Lists are fairly easy to form, but they must be appropriate to the subject matter and significant to the subject. They must help introduce new information and concepts to the reader that are due some consideration on the part of the reader.
• Number of items. A list must contain at least two items. In web journalism, the best lists are three to five items, but there is no hard rule about the number of items in a list.
• Use of boldface. A list is best used when one or two of the most important words can be boldfaced. Doing this aids the reader in finding the words with the most informational value in the list. But boldfacing should be used sparingly. If you boldface an entire item in a list, you dilute the effect of the bold type.
• Numbered and unnumbered lists. Two of the most common types of lists in HTML are the numbered and the unnumbered list. The numbered list uses numbers to introduce each item in the list. Use the numbered list when the numbers are important either for sequence or importance. When numbers are not important to the list, use the bulleted, or unnumbered, list. Numbers can be distracting if they do not carry any informational weight.
• Parallelism. Ideally, lists should be constructed so that they are parallel. That has two meanings. One, grammar constructions of all items of the list should be the same. If one is a complete sentence, all of them should be. If one is a fragment beginning with a participle, all should be.The second meaning of parallelism is that the items in a list should be of the same type or alike in a discernible way. Another way of saying this that no one item in a list should seem out of place with the other items.
  

Unsinkable Anniversary Story

Associated Press Photo

UPDATE: Another fascinating anniversary story to read as a model: Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first practical solar cell

Did you know that Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a professional baseball player right here in North Carolina? And that it was 100 years ago? I learned those amazing facts in an anniversary story published April 3 in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Here's the nub of the matter: "In 1914, Babe Ruth, the 'Sultan of Swat,' hit his first home run as a professional baseball player while playing in North Carolina. On March 7 that year, Ruth was playing in an inter-squad game in Fayetteville for the Baltimore Orioles. It was the Buzzards against the Sparrows. For half the game, Ruth played shortstop and then he pitched. But history was made when he came to bat for the second time. Babe Ruth belted the ball far over the right field fence." (Editor: Yes, I fixed the comma error and removed the awful semi-colon.)

One instinct that all feature writers must cultivate is an almost psychic ability to think ahead, to anticipate stories weeks or months in advance, so as not to be caught flat footed. A good feature story is going to take time to report and to write, after all. If the light bulb of a story idea flashes on only a week before the event in question, it's too late to do much more than knock out a down-and-dirty daily story. Not much time for artful writing — much less nice photos, graphics and design.

Archive photo (not subject to copyright)

One of the tried-and-true story formats that capitalizes on thinking ahead is the venerable anniversary story. Journalists love 'em, and readers can't get enough. It ranks right up there with the list or the Q&A. Plus, an anniversary story can take on myriad forms — a news feature, a personal remembrance, a profile pegged to the anniversary, an interview story featuring people involved in the anniversary event, a trend story about the lasting influence the event has had and, yes, a list or Q&A using the event as a jumping off point.

For some writers, the trick is knowing their beats well enough to spot anniversary events on the horizon. For others, the anniversary event is so widely known — like the sinking of the Titanic
— that the challenge is finding the format or approach that will surprise and delight.
Take Daniel Mendelsohn, for example. He was given the unenviable task of penning a Titanic anniversary story for The New Yorker magazine. Talk about a perfect recipe for writer's block! But he chose to juxtapose personal memory with broad cultural significance to write this smart and well-observed feature, Unsinkable: Why We Can't Let Go of the Titanic.

Here's a funny snippet from the nut graph:

The aura of significance that surrounds the Titanic’s fate was the subject of another, belated headline, which appeared in a special publication of the satirical newspaper the Onion, in 1999, stomping across the page in dire block letters:
WORLD’S LARGEST METAPHOR HITS ICE-BERG
The "news" was accompanied by an archival image of the ship’s famous four-funnelled profile. The subhead pressed the joke: "TITANIC, REPRESENTATION OF MAN’S HUBRIS, SINKS IN NORTH ATLANTIC. 1,500 DEAD IN SYMBOLIC TRAGEDY."
The Onion’s spoof gets to the heart of the matter: unlike other disasters, the Titanic seems to be about something. But what?

I found a lot of memorable moments in Mendelsohn's lengthy feature. One reason I'd recommend it to you is he finds ways to add small personal touches into the narrative without making it all about himself. That takes a deft touch.

Another reason I'd recommend this feature to you is for the breadth and detail of the reporting. Did you know the three most written-about subjects were Jesus, the Civil War and the Titanic? Did you know there were five grand pianos, 8,000 dinner forks and car on board the ship? Did you know one survivor described the sound of passengers flailing and drowning in the frigid water as the sound of locusts buzzing in a field? Chilling.

Do you know of an upcoming anniversary that you'd like to write about? Would it be something specific to your beat or something that most people would know about? Would that difference affect how you wrote about it? What approach would work best for the anniversary you're thinking of?

Be thinking about components for your package — headline, photo, credit, cutline, byline, main bar and a sidebar, which we will discuss in class. Also think about trusted sources for found quotes and two live people for fresh quotes. You need AT LEAST TWO OF EACH TYPE OF QUOTE. The story should be about 600 words.

If you missed class when we discussed this, Mayeesa has provided this shot of the board:

Approaching reviews

In recent weeks, you all gamely submitted yourselves to the ring of fire. That is to say, that sometimes uncomfortable moment when you allow others to read your writing and, yes, sometimes comment on it.

In writing, this is called disrobing, and we all have to drop our defenses and get comfortable with it. That's how writing can become a collaborative effort. And talking about our writing can be one of the most productive activities of this class.

Well, what's fair is fair. So I offer three short samples of my own writing as we shift from writing preview stories to writing reviews. When we discuss them Tuesday, you should feel free to critique them  — mention what you like and dislike, what you think works and doesn't work.

The main illustration here is that there are different ways to approach a review. You don't have to be the be-all-end-all expert on a subject to write a review. The first is an example how to incorporate solid reporting as the basis of a review. The second is an example of how to rely more on intense observation as the basis of a review. And the third is an example of writing on a subject on which you feel you have true expertise to comment. 

Here is an example of an expert opinion review: here (Sorry about the previous broken links.)

To get started, think about a particular reviewer or a particular publication or a particular style of reviewing that you think is effective, engaging and readable. Next, do a short filter post in which you refer us, your readers, to an exemplary example you'd like to emulate. Remember, it doesn't have to be arts-and-entertainment oriented. Reviews also can be about products or services, about stores or businesses, even about teams and sporting events.

Over the weekend and before Tuesday, write a 500-word review and post it to your blog as a separate page. Remember to include all elements of the story package: headline, byline, photo, cutline, photo credit and, as with a preview story, a gobox if people can experience the thing you are reviewing.

On Tuesday (or maybe Thursday), we'll do a Big Reveal to share our reviews and talk about our blogs. We will also begin reading each others blogs and leaving comments for our colleagues.

Reviews are all around us, and we are all natural-born reviewers. We'll talk about how to make our observations and opinions more professional, more credible and more reliable.

Take Your Blog to a New Level

 There are lots of different reasons to maintain a blog. The creators of the application pictured it as an early type of social media — an online diary that could be shared with family and close friends. They never actually envisioned it being used as a mass medium and a source of journalistic writing.

Since we are here to use the blogging format for journalistic purposes, the trick is to move away from the personal and toward the professional. Jim Stoval and the University of Tennessee has a good post on his website on how to do just that: Stovall on blogging

Here are Stovall's six key points:

A weblog should be about something, not about you. Weblogs began as personal, online diaries, and many of them still are that. Those with the most readership, however, deemphasize the personal stuff and concentrate on a topic, issue or subject area.

As yourself: What am I interested in enough to write about it a lot? What is your passion? Chance are, whatever it is, other people have that same passion. If you can give them good, interesting information that is well written, you are on your way to building an audience.

Act like a reporter; write like a journalist. If a weblog simply presents your opinion about something, well, so what? But if you give people information – that is, if you act like a reporter and do your own research – you are going to have something that no one else has. And the writing needs to be good – clear, straightforward, precise. You can develop a style that you are comfortable with as long as that style doesn’t waste the time of your reader. Readers are not going to stick with you if you are self-indulgent or inefficient in your writing.

Include lots of links. Take a look at Instapundit.com, one of the pioneer blogs on the Web. Glenn Reynolds, the guy who created Instapundit, writes in short snippets and usually links to something else he has seen or read. He shows his thousands of readers what’s interesting. They may then go to another web site, but they will be back. (Prof. Smith adds: That is the classic function of a filter post — see post about that down below.)

Get to be an expert on your topic. Yes, you can do that even if you’re just a high school student. Do lots and reading and research. Interview people who know a lot about your topic and then write about them and what they are doing and what they know. You, too, will begin to accumulate a lot of knowledge.

Learn to go beyond your blog. There are lots of web sites that would like to consider posting what you have written. Sometimes you can get your stuff posted simply by signing up to become a member of the site. Pursue those opportunities. The more that you spread yourself out, the more like you are to build a good audience.

Approaching the Interview

At the heart of every good news profile, or any story, is the interview. Most young writers feel uncomfortable with this aspect of reporting at first, but it gets easier with time. The best way to calm nerves and feel more confident is to feel prepared.

Jim Stovall, a longtime journalism professor at the University of Tennessee, has prepared an interview check list I think you will find helpful. First, you might want to read his general advice about interviewing.

Here's the check list:

• Prepare. Write out your questions. What information are you going to need to write a good story? Think about what your audience will want to know.

• Stay flexible. The interview may go in a different direction than what you planned. Be ready to respond to that.

• If you have to ask difficult questions, wait until the interview is nearly over.

• Note the surroundings and the characteristics of the interviewee.

• Develop a professional appearance and demeanor. Dress so that you represent yourself and your news organization well. Introduce yourself, shake hands if appropriate, and tell why you are there, even if the interviewee knows the reason.

• Learn how to ask questions – and then stop talking. Try to make your questions as short as possible, and don’t be afraid to wait for an answer.

• Listen, listen, listen. Concentrate on what the interviewee has to say with everything you can muster. Listen for the substance of what he or she is saying, but also remember that you need words and sentences you can put into direct quotations.

• Housekeeping duties. Ask your interview how to spell his or her name (always), and also ask for the person’s exact title. Ask for permission to call back if there is information that you need.

• The key to a good interview is to be interested in what the interviewee has to say. Look them in the eye, nod to confirm that you heard a key point, asked follow-up questions that really do follow on what they've said.

Stages of the Writing Process

1) Idea Stage
     What's the point?
     Why would readers be interested?
     How to report? Who to interview?
2) Reporting
     Gather and organize facts.
     Online research from trusted sources.
     Interviews — always multi-source.
     Press releases, resumes and other provided material.
     Past news or newsletter articles on topic.
     Writings by the subject of the story.
3) Organization
     Think through beginning, middle, end.
     Organize and prioritize quotes.
     Plan your ending in advance.
     Don't be afraid to outline.
4) Shaping the Top
     See accompanying post of that name.
5) First Draft
     Write to assigned length.
     Tight and direct sentence structures.
     Punchy quotes — prefer one or two sentence.
     Mostly two-sentence paragraphs.
6) Self-Editing
     Grammar:
          Police your commas.
          Check subject-verb agreement.
          Watch for dangling modifiers.
          Check verbs — right one?
     Spellcheck (only an idiot would not).
     Proper Quote Formats — float the quote!
     Tighten line by line — your goal is speed.
     Double-check all facts, figures and names.
     Last thing: Check AP style.
7) Reveal
     Share work with colleague for feedback.
     Turn it in for editing and mark-ups.
8) Re-Writing
     Make all of boss' suggested changes.
     Add your own changes — might include additional reporting.
9) Polishing
     Paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence.
     Tighten for speed, flow and natural rhythm.
     Consider word choice, punctuation, small details.
10) Last Task — Every Time!
     Double-check every name and CQ.

See the Roadmap in Action

Two stories from weekend editions of the Winston-Salem Journal recommend themselves to reading and study. Two reasons: First, they are both essentially people profiles. Second, both of them exhibit the fundamental shape of the Roadmap.

Young entrepreneur is soothing cancer in the young, one headband at a time

Railey on Winston-Salem's Own 'Monuments Man'

Please read them, but read them as a writer would, thinking analytically about how these writers constructed their stories, how they used the News Elements to add timeliness, how they used the News Values to add interest at the top.

Another detail in these stories to study: Proper Quote Formats. See the blog post of that name down below. That's what we'll turn our attention to this week.

Blogging to Promote Yourself and Your Career

I came across a cute advice piece by a 20-something writer you might enjoy: 24 Things Millennials Need to Realize About the Real World

The writer is named Danny Rubin. His full-time job is in PR and marketing, but he started a blog on the side called News to Live By.

On his blog, he usually compiles links to advice he has found to help young professionals succeed in the early stages of their careers, including during the job-search process. In one post, he talks about how beneficial starting a personal blog can be: 9 Profound Things I Learned by Starting a Blog

He followed up that post with a very helpful how-to guide for setting up a professional-looking blog using a Web hosting service called Bluehost and the blog design site Wordpress.org. Notice that I didn't say Wordpress.COM. That's because it is self-hosting site that has very limited choices and can't really be used for money-making ventures. To do that, you have to pay to host your site on Bluehost — it's just $5 a month — and use the much more professional design tools at Wordpress.org.

But I'll let Danny Rubin explain. Here is his step-by-step guide to creating a professional blog: How to Start a Blog, or Why You Are About to Make Your Smartest Decision All Year

And while you're thinking of how you can use a blog to help develop your own personal brand to help you stand out on the job market, you might read more about personal branding by branding blogger Maria Elena Duron at her site: Personal Branding Blog: Stand Out in Your Career

Cheers!

P.S. Here's what one professional said about blogging to boost your job prospects.

Flore Dorcely-Mohr, Assistant Director of Internships, Drew University: “There are a few signs I look for in the ‘superstars.’ For example, some young pre-professionals are already writing blogs or contributing to them. This is one less thing I need to teach them and sets up an interview stage that is usually more advanced than average.”

Feature Profiles

Macro goals

• To write a story about yourself without using the first-person “I.”
• To take yourself out of the story.
• To be thoroughly neutral and objective.

Micro goals

• To demonstrate mastery of the check list (so far).
• To begin following Seven Stages of the Writing Process.
• To effectively deploy News Elements and News Values.
• To begin crafting effective ledes and nut graphs.

In preparation for writing a real news profile, we’ll write a mock news profile. The subject of the profile will be you, since, after all, you know a lot about the subject. (We’ll work on interviewing and reporting as the next layer of our check list with the next assignment.) We;ll then apply all of the lessons learned to a profile of someone else.

So pretend that you are a reporter for the Campus Chronicle. Let’s say your name is John Jones or Jane Jones. You are assigned to write a short news profile of (your name here).

You only have 400 words, so the early stages of the writing process are critical. What will you include or leave out? What is the most important thing readers should know? In other words, what should the focus of the profile be? What aspect of this person’s life would make them newsworthy and interesting to readers of the Technician?

We will work on this in class over two class periods as we add new layers to our check list: News Elements and News Values, then effective ledes and nut graphs. We'll get into complete story structures on the next assignment, so here, focus especially on the first three paragraphs.

We’ll arrive at Stage Six of the writing process next Thursday, when we reveal our mock profiles on our blogs, share ideas, brainstorm and think ahead to Stage Seven, polishing.

Final deadline: Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014.

Sample one-sentence summary: Dean Smith, a veteran journalist now teaching in the English department, launched his students this week on their first news stories of the semester.
Who: Dean Smith
What: launched his students on their first story
When: this week
Where: in the English department
Why: because he's a swell guy

Comma Crib Sheet

This is a very hand run down of the most important comma rules put together by instructors at Purdue University: Comma Crib Sheet. Use it often!

AP Style Crib Sheet

This handy PDF has most of the most commonly used AP Style rules. I'll circulate hard copies as well. This would be a useful print-out to have on your desk when self-editing your own copy.

The Filter Post

Learning to write is just like learning to play Beethoven at the piano. The key to both is doing it every day. You know the old joke: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice!

We learn to write by doing it every day. We become comfortable "speaking" through the keyboard. We naturally sit down in front of the computer and "talk."

So the goal of the weekly filter posts is to encourage you to write. They don't have to be long. They don't have to be deep. Just write.

Your first order of business when doing that should be to get the mechanics right, to write cleanly and correctly. That means getting the grammar and punctuation right. That means structuring sentences and paragraphs correctly. That means writing like a pro.

So please don't think of this weekly assignment as just a chore to be tossed off at the last minute to fulfill a class requirement. Filtering is the most basic function of online writing. Think of this as your chance to get good at it, your chance to practice your Beethoven piano sonata.

For the sake of discussion in coming classes, please at least skim this free online reading: The Blogging Phenomenon 

It is an old student paper from 2001, yet it does a good job of capturing the realization that blogging — and online journalism in general — can perform a function that traditional journalism cannot. And that is filtering: providing a valuable service to your readers by pointing their attention to worthwhile material — news, sports, entertainment — that you have found in the vast universe of material on the Web.

Think about how your favorite Web sites regularly perform this function. Think about how you can do this on your blogs. Think about both substance (what you add to the linked content) and form (how best to point readers to the linked content).

Keep blogging, and keep filtering!

Quick-Fix Tips

This list is not based on theories or books. It is based on real errors that I commonly see, even in professional publications. As we work on becoming better editors of our own and others' writing, I offer this list of quick fixes that will instantly improve everyone's blog posts and printed stories:

Top 10 Quick-Fix Tips
1. No semi-colons (but special exceptions).
2. No comma after a conjunction.
3. No ... more ... serial ... commas ... evaaaaaah!
4. Don't dangle. ("Walking in the forest, the trees were beautiful."  OMG, trees were walking!)
5. Most times, float the quote in its own paragraph.
6. Stay in past tense for the most part.
7. Use "said" when you mean "said."
8. Put closing punctuation inside quotation marks (except for colon or semi-colon).
9. Use plain words, simple sentences, short paragraphs.
10. Follow AP style.

As with all rules, there may be exceptions to some of these tips from time to time. But when you're self-editing, this would be a good place to start.

Bonus tip: On a PC, you can use Alt-0151 to create a real long dash like this — not the incorrect double-hyphen that most people use — to make your blog look more professional. And don't forget that in journalistic writing, you put spaces around the long dash is you see it above.

Proper Quote Formats

Here they are, with the most commonly used formats at the top. You should ALWAYS structure your quotes this way, and you should NEVER deviate from these formats. Remember, too, that you should almost always float the quote, meaning let it stand as its own paragraph.

1. "A one-sentence quote," he said.

2. "First sentence of a two-sentence quote," he said. "Second sentence."Very useful!

3. "First sentence of a three-sentence quote," he said. "Second sentence. Third sentence."

4. He continued, "You can keep a long quote going by using this construction to break part of it into a new paragraph."

5. "The start of a long one-sentence quote," he said, "which then continues to the end."

6. He said: "You can use the colon construction to introduce a three- or four-sentence quote. You should do it only if you think the long quote is truly worthwhile."

7. He said, "This is often a weak way to do a simple quote because it's better to put the attribution at the end."

8. He said that you also can "quote just part of what I am saying" as a partial quote. Note that this is the only time you leave out the comma or commas.

Three Quote Structures

Without set-up

“It was one of our better shows,” said guitarist Henry Boyd, 18, of Raleigh.

Go straight into quote and use NAP format. Note: In this exception to the rule, you start the attribution with the verb "said."

If you have already introduced the person in the story, it would look like this:

"It was one of our better shows," Boyd said.

With set-up

The band’s guitarist, 18-year-old Henry Boyd of Raleigh, was pleased with their performance.

“It was one of our better shows,” he said.

Keep set-up short, using NAP format. Note: Now, no need for the "said" exception.

Partial

Guitarist Henry Boyed, 18, of Raleigh said that Friday's performance “was one of our better shows.”

Note: no comma.

Lexicon of Blog Types

Although blogging has only been around about a decade, the formula has exploded across the Worldwide Web. According to BlogPulse, there were 152 million blogs on the Internet as of 2010. And although most bloggers do it as a hobby -- about 60 perscent -- the ranks of full-time and part-time professional bloggers increased to 18 percent of the blogosphere, according to Technorati.

Just as any veteran newspaper reporter knows the difference between a news profile and a personality profile, bloggers have developed their own recognizable conventions of form and content. Below are the most common types of blogs to model:

• The Diary Blog — Just like the paper version, collects a persons private thoughts, feelings and doings; intended for the writer or small circle of family and friends.

• The Filter Blog — Filters the Web for good or interesting or unusual items, summarizes the item and links to it. The most common type of blog.

• The News Blog, Themed — Brings originally written reports or filters the Web for news on a particular topic, such as professional football or rap music.

• The News Blog, Unthemed — Same as above, but covers the waterfront.

• The Project Blog — Follows the writer as she or he embarks on a project, like building a house, with frequent updates on the steps along the way.

• The How-To Blog — Walks the reader through the steps of a certain project or task, like how to knit a blanket, with detailed instructions and expert advice.

• The Review Blog, Culture — Cultural criticism of arts, entertainment and cultural fields, from movies and fashion to architecture and food. Also often serves a preview function.

• The Review Blog, Consumer — Like the above, but focusing on products and services, such as the latest iPhone app.

Remember that in addition to being types of blogs, you can think of these as types of blog posts as well. Add variety to your blog by alternating post types if you like.

Happy blogging!

Issue Writing: Editorials

On our Spectrum of Credibility, we now move even further from the "Purely Personal" pole to emphasize more importantly than ever the need for fact-based opinion. Grounding our writing in facts and figures is crucial when tackling serious subjects, from gun regulation to gay marriage to so-called hydraulic fracking.

That will be the aim of our final two assignments: an editorial and a column.

For the sake of modeling, for getting a feel for how editorials are structured and how they "sound" in the ear, please peruse some of the writings at the links below:

The New York Times editorial page: It's here.

The News & Observer editorial page: It's here.

Technician editorial page: It's here.

The first thing you should notice: They are short. A traditional editorial is about 400 words (longer for complicated subjects). That will be an important graded part of this assignment. You will write 400 words — no more, no less. Exactly 400 words.

Learning to write to pre-set lengths is critical. In both news and P.R. settings, you often will be called on to write something that fits a template or formatted design. So length is an important pedagogical part of this assignment.

The other crucial part of this assignment is to write more persuasively by taking yourself completely out of the story. No first-person I. An editorial is not about what you think or feel about an issue. It is about arguing one side of the issue or the other and using facts to build an argument for that position.

Assignment: Pick a serious issue. Do online research. Pick a side. And make your case — in 400 words.

Deadline: One week.

The Tribute Piece

The New York Times Magazine has compiled tribute pieces about people who died in the lats year in this special section. Not obituaries, but tribute pieces.

What's the difference between an obituary and a tribute piece? Well, here's one example from that section, this one a tribute to Whitney Houston.

Let's talk about this in class, explore examples and then write one.

Be thinking of someone you are familiar with or you admire who died in the last year. What would your contribution to the Times' special edition tribute section be?

Giving Someone Else a Voice

20 Years On, Katie Beers Says Kidnapping Save Her


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glO44RnFbcKlUXPjqGQ-0Tn1Rt3w?docId=de8dfb8830bf440d9dfaa0be1c80f1e2

Prof. Smith in 500 Words

You can’t always get what you want? Says who?

I wanted to be a musician, so I got a degree in music.

I wanted to be a journalist, so I worked 20 years for daily newspapers.

I wanted to write for The New York Times, so I landed a job as a freelance for them.

I wanted to live at the beach for a while, so I got a job at the St. Pete Times.

I wanted to spend a year in Paris, so I got a fellowship at the largest J school in France.

I wanted to study law, so I got a scholarship to Yale Law School.

Not that any of it was handed to me on a silver platter. I grew up in an ordinary middle-class household that included two parents, three siblings, a parade of pets and a lot of noise.

We didn’t have a dishwasher. That was a chore the kids did by hand. We didn’t have central air. Box fans got us through summers in North Carolina. We didn’t have a color TV. My parents wanted to save us from that particular addiction.

What we had was music. Lots of music.

Because my father was a drummer in his younger life, jazz and classical music formed our family’s soundtrack. His musical obsession meant we had a hi-fidelity stereo with $400 speakers and one of the finest professional-grade tape players ever made.

Instruments that found their way into our house included various coronets and trumpets, several saxophones and clarinets, a flute and an oboe, a snare drum and a trombone, a hulking upright piano and a full set of jazz-style drums. My father came home with a guitar one day, so I learned to play that, too.

My mother didn’t have a musical bone in her body, but she had ink in her veins. Her claim to fame as a journalist was that she landed an exclusive jailhouse interview with Velma Barfield before the state executed Barfield by lethal injection. Growing up in Cary, the first job I ever had was, naturally, at The Cary News.

After graduating with a music degree in 1986, I immediately began transforming myself into a journalist with an entry-level job at the Winston-Salem Journal. In 1990, I made the leap to The Charlotte Observer, then the largest newspaper between Washington and Atlanta. There I stayed for 14 years.

Except when I left and came back a year at a time — for Paris, for Florida, for Yale. I’m easily bored, I suppose, so my career at the Observer was actually three in one: as an arts writer, as a copy editor and, finally, as assistant world and national editor.

Bored again, I left the newsroom for the last time in 2006. I spent the next six years studying, teaching and earning a doctoral degree from the journalism school at UNC-Chapel Hill. From that cocoon, I emerged an award-winning legal historian and a devoted instructor of media law, First Amendment history and journalism.

It's what I wanted. And I got it.

You Can Quote Me on That

Quotes are the spice of journalistic writing. They add texture and rhythm. They add flesh and blood. They add other voices to augment our own.

The key to making them function properly in our stories is to use the proper quote formats. Here they are:

Eight Quotation Formats That Work
      1. "A one-sentence quote," he said.
      2. "First sentence of a two-sentence quote," he said. "Second sentence." Note: This is a very handy one.
      3. "First sentence of a three-sentence quote," he said. "Second sentence. Third sentence."
      4. He continued, "You can keep the long quote going but use this construction to break part of it into a new paragraph."
      5. "The start of a long one-sentence quote," he said, "which then continues to the end."
      6. He said: "You can use the colon construction to introduce a two- or three-sentence quote. You should do it only if you think the long quote is truly worthwhile. This can be most useful in interview stories."
      7. He said, "This is often a weak way to do a simple quote."
      8. He said that you also can "quote just part of what I am saying" as a partial quote. Note: This is the only time you leave out the comma or commas.

Whitney: Beyond news obits

Before and after.                               Photo credit: Avaris.org

Unless you are living under a rock, you have probably heard that Whitney Houston, the queen of pop music in the 1980s and 1990s, died over the weekend.  The second-day news stories, such as this one in the L.A. Times, are investigating links to her well-known drug use.

You can read much, much more about her death with a simple Google News search, like this.

Why do we, as feature writers, care?  Because we are called on to provide much of this coverage. That might be obvious with an entertainment figure like Whitney Houston, but the same applies for prominent politicians, community leaders, sports figures, business leaders, and so on.

While news reporters might handle the initial notices of a person's death, feature writers are challenged to fill in the interesting details, find cultural significance, gauge emotional reaction, give human meaning to the event beyond the grief of the immediate family.  This most often takes the form of a tribute piece, but there are many ways to approach a death — as witnessed by Entertainment Weekly's flood-the-zone coverage.

We can, for example, compare and contrast these two stories in the New York Times: first-day obit and second-day tribute.

New Yorker magazine had one of the earliest tribute pieces I saw on the Web. Salon.com's own tribute was also fast out of the gate.

What are the differences between an obit and a tribute piece?  What are the similarities between a profile of a living person and a tribute to a dead person?  What are the differences?  What are some of the various angles you've seen writers take to make their Whitney Houston coverage fresh and interesting?

For example, Nicholas Powers at Alternet.org used Houston's death as a jumping off point for an essay on race and class in America.

How would you approach her death if called on to write about it?  What angle would you take?  What message would you try to convey in your lede?

Be thinking about these questions, for some of you might decide to write a tribute piece as one of your key stories in coming weeks.

Alt codes for Windows

Hat tip to Joe for teaching us a new trick to improve the professional appearance of our blogs.

No more double-hyphens!  Only real long dashes will do!

Here is the link to a Penn State site that has a handy list of alt codes. The long dash — aka, em-dash — is at Alt-0151. Remember that in news writing, you put a space before and after.

Cheers!