an entrepreneurial mindset
A journalist must find a niche and keep it local. I hesitate in using the word journalist. Traditional news mediums are beyond civil disobedience... the digital age is here, and here to stay. Journalists of the past were forced to work with middlemen... or basically just the man to get the message out. With online news... the site creator is the boss... and the boss could be me. Perhaps we can leave 'breaking' 'hard' news to the big guys who have dealt with that news for decades (it would be a nice gesture to corporate America -- who appears to be squirming like a four-year-old who hopes not to shit themselves).... specialty, topic specific online publications is the key... and lucky for the class of 2010 their are more keys left than what dangles on the janitors lanyard. Know your reader. That isn't new. Considering the logarithmic technology embedded in google... it makes it easier to know your reader. We can know what they read and the readers clicking patterns... we can use this information to highlight new stories that the reader feels were written just for them. I'd rather know personally who my readers are and communicate directly with them. The main point I stress is to know your topic and not stray too far away.
Secondly, break it down. Provide within your site your own wiki'esque encyclopedia. Terms, events, people, ect. should be explained. This may seem to contradict my above statement of straying too far away... but time lines, event descriptions and explanations do not need to be presented within the story... provide the reader an opportunity within your site to research the background. I want the facts and news fast... but aslo, an easily accessible and easy to understand destination to fill me in on how we got to today's news.
How do we make money when web ads are pennies to a click... I'll have to think more about that.
I prefer a gonzo approach to writing... gonzo is not blogging, however. I don' t mind a subjective article.. as HST said, objective journalism is a contradiction of terms. There are so many staff reporters in a newsroom that I have no relationship with the writer. We want loyalty to the site as a whole.. but I think this can be obtained by creating a following for an individual writer. I want to know exactly what Laura saw, where she was, who she was surrounded by... what was her perspective... not necessarily her opinion. I remember Hunter writing once about sports writers picking up a collection of morning papers and compiling a story based off of everyone else's work. I'd prefer a mild subjective view to a makeshift view.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Copy Editing
On Copy Editing
"And we are the defenders of proper grammar, usage, spelling and what publications call style..."
I understand how the title news editing can cause one to sulk in their chair... however I'm excited.. well I won't go that far: I am interested. I have received, honestly, zero teaching in grammar, picking little things up along the way... and learning more by pattern than structural knowledge. So I am excited to learn. I was a bit discouraged that the grammar skills I would be taught were in a 'news editing' environment. The above quote is unsettling to me at first... but I am being to use a bit of perspective. My trouble is that, in my mind, their is no style in newspaper writing. I cannot explain the internal struggle I have had with inverted pyramid and standard column form. However, I am beginning to separate the highly emotional and personal... Gonzo... approach that I take (which their is a home for.. but I am beginning to realize maybe not the front page of the Times.)... with news writing.
Slot Man
I don't have much to say about the Slot Man... however the image of the copy editors working, heads down.. is.. I don't want to say disturbing... but is exactly the environment I do not want to be in. I am a writer, not a news journalist. But I will take what I learn from the news and apply it how I see fit.
How Can I Become a Copy Editor?
My journalism resume was more promising before I entered the Park J-program than when entering my third year of studies. I don't want to commit my life to the Ithacan. I don't. I have a year and a half to come up with something to present to AARP to fulfill my J-internship. I don't want to write breaking news. I want to write about old people. Despite my limited portfolio... my Aging Studies resume is pack... If my hopefully employer understands that I am committed to Aging and am trained in Journalism... I don't feel completely helpless... and I do have a year and a half to make some necessary changes.
The Lot of Journalism's Noble Misfits
Sometimes I think you don't need to be a good writer to work for a paper. The blame seems to be lost along the long chain of editing. I don't have much more to say.. other than I respect the work of copy editors. They know more than I do. I know how to observe.. I can grab a nice quote here and there... I can write what I see.. But I can't tell you if it is written incorrectly. I know this class may be a bit of a struggle for me.. but it involves everything I want to learn. News Editing should be stressed at the beginning of the department curriculum.
"And we are the defenders of proper grammar, usage, spelling and what publications call style..."
I understand how the title news editing can cause one to sulk in their chair... however I'm excited.. well I won't go that far: I am interested. I have received, honestly, zero teaching in grammar, picking little things up along the way... and learning more by pattern than structural knowledge. So I am excited to learn. I was a bit discouraged that the grammar skills I would be taught were in a 'news editing' environment. The above quote is unsettling to me at first... but I am being to use a bit of perspective. My trouble is that, in my mind, their is no style in newspaper writing. I cannot explain the internal struggle I have had with inverted pyramid and standard column form. However, I am beginning to separate the highly emotional and personal... Gonzo... approach that I take (which their is a home for.. but I am beginning to realize maybe not the front page of the Times.)... with news writing.
Slot Man
I don't have much to say about the Slot Man... however the image of the copy editors working, heads down.. is.. I don't want to say disturbing... but is exactly the environment I do not want to be in. I am a writer, not a news journalist. But I will take what I learn from the news and apply it how I see fit.
How Can I Become a Copy Editor?
My journalism resume was more promising before I entered the Park J-program than when entering my third year of studies. I don't want to commit my life to the Ithacan. I don't. I have a year and a half to come up with something to present to AARP to fulfill my J-internship. I don't want to write breaking news. I want to write about old people. Despite my limited portfolio... my Aging Studies resume is pack... If my hopefully employer understands that I am committed to Aging and am trained in Journalism... I don't feel completely helpless... and I do have a year and a half to make some necessary changes.
The Lot of Journalism's Noble Misfits
Sometimes I think you don't need to be a good writer to work for a paper. The blame seems to be lost along the long chain of editing. I don't have much more to say.. other than I respect the work of copy editors. They know more than I do. I know how to observe.. I can grab a nice quote here and there... I can write what I see.. But I can't tell you if it is written incorrectly. I know this class may be a bit of a struggle for me.. but it involves everything I want to learn. News Editing should be stressed at the beginning of the department curriculum.
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