'Retro' References

The following is a list of pop culture references made by New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd. Try to see how many you know.

1. "Nosey Parker"
2. "Ma Barker"
3. "Norma Desmond"
4. "Palin’s Imelda Marcos moment"
5. "Hillary’s inner Eve Harrington"

I'm guessing you recognized the same number of references as me: zero. That's because they refer to TV shows, movies or celebrities from at least 20 or 30 years ago. Most people under 40-years-old have little chance of knowing them.

An article by Ralph Keyes details this problem. Keyes describes the use of outdated references, which he calls "retrotalk." He believes that it alienates young readers and immigrants. As he discribes in the artitle:

"Falling back on retro-references this way can give press coverage the flavor of a private conversation among those born before 1960. The implicit message to younger readers seems to be: Hey, if you don’t know what we’re talking about, maybe you should butt out. Haven’t you got some twittering to do?"

Many journalists are guilty of this behavior. In his article he lists examples from a variety of newspapers: Minneapolis Star Tribune, New York Times and Washington Post. The OP-Ed pages of the New York Times, which Keyes calls the "citadel of retrotalk", is especially bad.

While editing we should mindful of obscure references. Just because we get a reference, doesn't mean the readers will. Journalists should strive to make their writing as clear as possible. When writing contians these references, it's doing the readers a disservice.

Government Bailouts for Newspapers

In her final article before starting a job with the Pentagon, Los Angeles Times columnist, Rosa Brooks, suggests government bailout for newspapers as a solution to the failing journalism industry. Brooks writes that newspapers deserve bailouts just as much as any of the other numerous industries that received them. As she describes it:

"If we're willing to use taxpayer money to build roads, pay teachers and maintain a military; if we're willing to bail out banks and insurance companies and failing automakers, we should be willing to part with some public funds to keep journalism alive too."

Not everyone in the journalism industry is on board. Brooks' article is debated on the Testy Copy Editors messages boards. Many people who posted are concerned that if newspapers receive money for the government, it will influence what they write about. The role of the Fourth Estate in the United States has always been to police the government and it might interfere with that process.

However, according to Brooks, saving newspapers will strengthen newspaper's watchdog role. In the article she writes, that a "decimated, demoralized and under-resourced press corp" did not question the war in Iraq. Government funding will strengthen the media and keep politicians honest.

I don't know if government bailouts is the best solution to save newspapers. But, I do think it's good that people are discussing this problem and reminding people about the importance of journalism.

Should readers expect less from online news?

In the American Journalism Review article, The Quality-Control Quandary, the writer explores the challenges newspapers face now that they are increasing Web content but have to reduce the numbers of editors. Many online articles receive little or no editing before they are posted.

I know times are hard in the newspaper industry, but cutting back on accuracy is not a solution. I don't understand why articles online should be any less accurate than those in print. Readers don't understand the difference in the editing process between the two. And why should they? They should be able to trust that any information coming from the paper is accurate.

Aside from the ethics of the issues, legal repercussions should be enough to make the papers strive for accuracy everywhere. In the article, the editor of the Baltimore Sun, John E. McIntyre, says that editors protect papers from printing libelous work. Having a well-staffed group of editors is a lot cheaper than court costs and huge settlements from libel lawsuits.

So what should newspapers do? The article describes how some newspapers are putting more of an emphasis on reporters editing their own work and having them follow guidelines to reduce errors. However, I believe that neither of these practices will replace the eyes of a well-staffed group of editors.

Balance vs. Bias

Balance vs. bias in the media was the topic of discussion in this edition of the NPR show, Talk of the Nation. The program was fairly long so I'll give a very brief summary. Michel Martin, the host; Jeffrey Dvorkin, NPR ombudsman; Brent Cunningham, managing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review; and Jeff Jarvis, media executive and blogger at buzzmachine.com, discuss how balance is not just a left-wing, right-wing issue, but that there are multiple sides to every story. Listeners want news to reflect their bias - whatever it might be.

They also discussed the problems caused by attempting to be impartial. According to Dvorkin, listeners want journalists to draw conclusions for them. However, journalists are often wary about making these connections because they believe it will be considered bias.

Jarvis argues the best way to overcome this problem is by being transparent about your biases. According to Jarvis, just because a reporter openly says they are for or against the Iraq war does not mean they cannot be impartial. It merely lets the reader know the possible bias in what they are reading.

The part of the discussion about journalist not drawing conclusions is extremely relevant for editors. It is the editor’s job to help lead the writer and point out parts of the story they are missing. Even though it might be seen as bias, editors should push writers to make these connections. By ignore them, they are doing a disservice to the reader.

Newspapers Influence on Society in South Africa

I am writing a paper on xenophobia in South Africa. While researching this topic, I came across an article about the influence of South African newspapers on the issue. According to this article, South African newspapers have an anti-immigration bias. Articles that discussed immigration issues were usually conservative and used little factual information. The South African newspapers were also more likely to mention that a criminal was illegally in the country if they were black.

The part of the article I found most interesting was when it described the newspaper's bias use of words. A majority of the newspapers used the term "illegals" when describing immigrants that illegally entered the country. This term has a negative connotation and could be describing perfectly law abiding people who had to leave their country for completely understandable reasons, such as escaping political unrest.

The article also discussed how articles use sensational headlines like: "Illegals in SA add to decay of cities" and "Africa floods into Cape Town." The headlines often used aquatic or mob metaphors, such as "hordes," "floods," and "streaming."

Even though South Africa is a very different country from the United States, lessons learned there can easily be applied here. American newspapers should be weary about the effects of sensational headlines and their use of words.

Weasel Words

As all good journalism students know, bias should be avoided as much as possible. One way writers slip bias into stories is using "weasel words." According to Wikipedia,"Weasel words is an informal term for words that are ambiguous and not supported by facts. They are typically used to create an illusion of clear, direct communication." The term derives from the way weasels suck the yolk out of eggs, but leave the shell intact. Similar to the weasel-eaten eggs, weasel words look plausible, but are empty upon further analysis.

Araminta Matthews presents a good example in her article "What are weasel words?" Matthews describes an article about a elementary school professor convicted of sexual assault on several of his students.

"The very first article read something to this effect: 'The jury apparently believed the testimony of the three girls from [school district] today...' I forget exactly how the phrasing went, but I distinctly remember the first part of the sentence, 'the jury apparently believed.' Consider the tone of this sentence with specific regard to the use of the word 'apparently.' What opinion do you suppose the author of this story has of the conviction of this music teacher?"

In this context "apparently" is a weasel word because it has no basis in fact. It is used to devalue the girl's testimony and the jury's decision.

When writing or editing articles, it is important to watch for weasel words. Not only do they reflected poorly on the writer, but on the entire newspaper and staff. For more examples of weasel words, check out www.weaselwords.com.au

Future of copy editing

In class we watched a video about the end of the Rocky Mountain News. In almost all my journalism classes we have discussed the poor state of the newspaper industry. The internet and blogs are often considered the culprit for the sorry state of American newspapers. Why pay for a newspaper when you can find it online for free?

During this period of cutbacks and layoffs many are questioning the role of copy editors. The media journalist and blogger, Patrick Thornton, writes on his blog that the position of copy editor is outdated and obsolete. With blogs, there is no need to shorten stories or do page layout. He believes there should be some copy editors at newspapers, but more pressure needs to be put on writers to catch the majority of their mistakes and create their own headlines.

Self proclaimed "Web content guru," Karen G. Anderson, also writes about the role of copy editors during the age of the blog. From her experience as a writer and editor, she believes there will always be a need for copy editors. Computers will never find all the errors as well as a professional copy editor. She also questions the lowered standards for online content.

"Lack of copy editing in the world of web writing makes the 'old school' writer in me completely crazy. I think of my demanding copy editing professor at journalism school, Irv Horowitz, who used to tell complaining students that he wanted us to learn the craft at its highest level. 'You can always lower your standards later,' he'd growl.

Well, it's later. And we have. Does anyone (except us) notice?"

Would you print these photos?

Photos are a powerful tool in telling a story. They can show emotions and portray events in ways written word could never accomplish. Great care should be taken when selecting photos for publication. In addition to accurately portraying events, photos should not be exploitative of their subjects. Photos published in newspapers depict real events and real people. It is my opinion that when decided whether to publish a controversial photo, the need to inform the public must outweigh the grief it will cause people. I will use these criteria for decided whether I would publish the pictures on the Web site.

First:

I would publish all the photos. Even though these photos might be offensive to Dwyer's friends and family, and some readers, these photos would inform people about the event. Since Dwyer is a public figure and had called the press conference, I don't think the photos are exploitative. He wanted people to see what he did and before becoming a public figure, he should have recognized it would cause a lack of privacy.

Second:

For this section, I will go through the photos one-by-one and write whether I would publish them.

1. Publish. Even though this photo is somewhat exploitative of the boy and not very newsworthy, I would still publish it because I don't think it will cause anyone too much agony. I feel sorry for the boy, but I'm sure he won't be too traumatized.

2. Don't publish. I feel like this photo is far too exploitative. The photo clearly shows the dead child and grieving family. It would be immoral to make money off this event by publishing such an emotional picture in a newspaper.

3. Publish. Even though this photo also shows a dead boy, I don't believe it is as exploitative. The photo only shows the aftermath of an event. It is not trying to target people’s emotions to sell newspapers.

4. Publish. Similarly to photo 1, I believe the person in this photo will not be too traumatized by the event. Also, this photo is distressing, but not overly graphic. There is no blood or guts – or anything else that would disgust readers.

5. Publish. For me this was the hardest photo to decide on. When I first saw the picture, I thought it would be a “don’t publish” because it is so graphic. Also, I’m sure it was traumatizing for the woman and would probably be painful for readers that have experienced sexual assault. However, after thinking more about it, I changed my mind. I believe by shocking readers it would bring attention to serious problem. All over the world, women are treated as objects. The number of sexual assaults in the United States is disgusting. People need to know these problems exist. If as a society we are ever going to overcome these issues, we need to look at them honesty. Sometimes, pictures such as this one are needed to spark dialog.

Confusing writing

The other day in class we discussed suspending a sentence. Adding too much information between a pair of commas or dashes, can be confusing to the reader. Instead the sentence should be broken up or the extra information should be at the end of the sentence.

Offsetting information between commas and dashes can be confusing in other ways. A good example was posted on the message board, Testy Copy Editors. In the following article, the organization of the sentence and use of commas makes for a very confusing story.

MATTHEW KEMENY, Of The Patriot-News
Wednesday February 04, 2009, 4:30 PM

A woman who was killed Monday night as she was trying to cross Interstate 83 south near the Harrisburg Mall was on the highway because she had gotten into an argument with the driver of a car in which she was a passenger earlier that night, state police said today.

Dorothy M. Spikes was in a car traveling south on I-83 shortly before 10 p.m. when she abruptly got out of the car following an argument with the driver, Karl Schmidhamer, a state police spokesman, said.

Spikes, 47, of Harrisburg, was struck by the right front bumper of a Pontiac Grand Am driven by Randall R. Kurtz, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A reader cannot tell if Karl Schmidhamer is the drive or the state police spokesman. The writer or editor should have made this clearer by writing:

Dorothy M. Spikes was in a car traveling south on I-83 shortly before 10 p.m. when she abruptly got out of the car following an argument with the driver, according to state police spokesman Karl Schmidhamer.

When writing a sentence it should be as clear as possible. Writers should be careful when using pairs of commas and dashes to add details. The point of the sentence is to inform, not cram as many facts as possible.

Typos

All major publications, businesses, and websites employ editors to catch all their little typos and mistakes. However, many people and businesses don't have the luxury of their own editors and have to go it alone. Usually these amateur publications, signs and advertisements turn out fine. But when they don't - they'll probably turn up on funnytypos.com.

Funnytypos is a blog where people can post funny typos, misspellings and bad grammar. A lot of the typos come from improper translations of other languages, such as this McDonald's ad. Signs for events are another commonly posted item on the website. Check out this sign for a Sexist Contest. There are also some really bizarre posts, like this tombstone.

So next time you see a sign for the "libary" or an advertisment for a "vacume," take a picture and send it to Funnytypos for all to enjoy!

Testy Copy Editors

For this week's entry, I will be reviewing Testy Copy Editors. The site is the brainchild of Phil Blanchard, an editor at the Washington Post and former editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. It is a message board designed for copy editors to post rants about their jobs and the industry. It is best described in the site's sidebar, which quotes what other people have said about it. Some of my favorite quotes being:

"It reveals the backstage carping and vindictive emotions that roil the souls of those trapped at the copy desks."

"I'm totally obsessed with this site. It's like porn--if you get off on Scrabble."

"Nothing gets us hotter than reading bitchy discussion threads from over-exhausted copy editors endlessly debating the merits of 'theater' versus 'theatre.'"

The posts cover a bunch of topics. Some are about finding jobs and others point out mistakes in newspapers. One post bashed cheesy pun headlines and posted a link to this gem. There is also a "Nightmare Jobs of the Week" section, where people post links to "help-wanted ads from hell."

Test Copy Editors is the perfect sight for anyone looking to waste a good 20 to 30 minutes of their life.

Blog editing.

Since catsthatlooklikehitler.com has little to do with editing, I decided to make another post for this week.

After typing "newspaper editing" into Google, I came across this relevant article. It's about blog editing at newspaper websites. According to the article, the same processes used to edit newspapers can be detrimental to blogs. Unlike newspapers, blog entries are posted instantaneous. A lengthy editing process can delay a post for hours and as the article puts its, "On the Internet, speed is measured in minutes, not hours."

Instead of the usual editing process, the article suggests writers post the article first, and then inform editors to review the post. I question whether this publish first, edit later policy is effective. It seems like this would cause a lot of errors and cross ethical lines. Should people expect newspaper blogs to be less reliable than their printed counterparts? It seems kind of sketchy.

First post ever!!

For my first blog entry I though it would be fun to post links to some of my favorite blogs/websites. Hopefully, by seeing where I waste hours and hours of my life, you'll all get a better understand of my hopes, dreams and aspirations.

First site, http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com.

This website knows me all too well. As the name describes, it lists stuff white people just can't live without - such as #41 indie music, #15 yoga , and #118 ugly sweater parties. It's funny because it's so accurate. My favorite is #62 Knowing what's best for poor people, which states, "It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things."

Second site, http://www.adbusters.org/.

Adbusters is a non-profit, anti-consumerist organization that publishes a magazine and is best known for its parody advertisements or "subvertisements,"such as this spoof of Absolute vodka. The website also contains articles about a variety of political and culture topics. I first came across this site when a friend sent me the article Hipsters: The Dead End of Wester Civilization and I've been hooked ever since. Not suprsingly, Adbusters is mentioned on Stuff White People Like under #82 Hating Corporations.


Third site, www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com.

The name says it all. There are a lot of cats that look like Hitler, or as the website calls them "kitlers," so why not post picture of them on the internet for all to enjoy.