Editing Credo Re-write

"I, as an editor, pledge to always be fair in my reporting of the news. I will stride to help those for who I am editing, to place their work in the path of success and to achieve the same fairness that I myself wish to see. I pledge to always do what is right, it is my duty as a journalist to be just and report what needs to be reported. I will always keep my readers in mind, and be mindful of who may be hurt when I publish a story. I pledge to always put forward my best work, and to pull the best work I can for others."

I didn't really feel like I needed to change my credo from the beginning of the semester. This is not saying that I have not learned a lot about being an editor, but a lot of what I based this credo on was from my previous newswriting class (which you taught) so it should come as no surprise that my beliefs about morality would only be reinforced by taking another Sandy Marsters class.

Class Questions

Honestly, I don't think I really have anything more that I have questions about or need to go over more for this editing class. Its been a great semester and I can't believe haw fast it has gone by!

Boston Tragedy: What Can an Editor Learn From It

The story about Boston was a very interesting one for me to watch, despite the tragic nature of the situation, due to the efficient nature of the reporting done in the first few hours. With exceptions (I’m looking at you New York Post), the amount of information that was coming across my twitter feed at the time of the bombings was remarkable, and the vast majority of it was at least marginally accurate. The main issue I had was with the fact that people kept running the story that the police shut down the cell coverage to Boston in order to stop bombs. A quick search through the internet revealed that this was obviously not the case, and showed that any amount of reporting done by the major news networks instead of just reading their twitter feeds would have corrected this error.

 However, despite the occasionally shoddy reporting, the amount of information available when the story broke was pretty incredible. A quick sweep of my twitter and I had all of the information that would be available for the next few hours, and anything new happening someone was on it. There was very little delay; mainly due to the effectiveness of twitter and the close proximity to the event journalists already were (due to it being covered already for different reasons.

I think one of the major ideas I can take out of this as an editor is to remember that stories like this get contained quickly, and if a reporter is not already at least somewhat in the area, that they may not get it at all. Possibly having reporters in different areas around the city may help with that, but I think the most advantageous thing would be to reach out to the people who are there already and make them into kind of honorary reporters for the day. Using the clips they shoot, getting twitter and Facebook updates from these people, and trying to get in contact with them if there isn’t a reporter in the immediate area, can help fill in some of the gaps that happen immediately after a large event like this occurs. This can also possibly help with the lockdown by the government after an event, where reporters may be blocked off, having people who are already inside my be able to give some information about what’s happening, that can be used to start trying to confirm when talking to inside sources at government agencies.

Newspaper Dummy Layout

Print VS. Online

The headline from the print edition is first, and the website headline is second.

Welcome home, new sox

Red Sox clicking as they open at Fenway today

Generally, the headline that run in the paper are shorter and more to the point, as to fit more room on the cover page or to have a larger font size to attract more attention to the article. People will know this article is about the Red Sox, and read (having already picked up the paper) and it can be more abstract because people will actually see the title before looking for it. As apposed to the internet title, which is a brief description of what is in the article with a lot more key words because usually the first thing to actually "see" the article is google or a similar search engine, and the title can also be longer because there is an unlimmited amount of space on the internet.

Friends, son fight over recovery money

Friends fight to recover money from Belmont businessman

Similar to the above headline, the first is shorter and more compact to allow a larger font on a smaller area, were as the online headline has more keywords and is phrased more like a regular sentence to be able to be picked up easily from a search engine.

Charter school demand disputed

Charter school demand in Mass. disputed

The second one literally just added a keyword, Mass, which may pick up a couple thousand extra hits alone.

City tries to deter girls from violence

Boston tries to deter girls from violence

Again, changed "city" to "Boston" to increase the search-ability of the story. While the number of times city is searched for may be greater, the increased specificity helps to bolster positive hits rather than just coming up a hundred pages down in the results. It also helps when people search regionally and see the name of their city in a headline and are more likely to be curious (where as in paper, it is implied that it is Boston because you are reading the Boston Globe) 

Lynch has shifted views, but not his neighborhood focus

Rep. Stephen Lynch shifted views, but not local focus

A walk for a cause, Todd's Trot Road Race/Walk (42)

Dover youth remembered (22)

at memorial Todd's Trot    (21 1/2)

This time of year we are heading into spring as the weather brightens. August[CBJ1]  has been recorded as the second hottest month in the year. And on August 21, 2003 the Heuchling family had not anticipated how much of an impact the heat would truly have. [CBJ2] 

According to the National Resources Defense Council over 1,300 Americans die of heat-[CBJ3] related deaths per year, and on that hot and humid day of August, that is just what occurred. “That day was going to become the saddest day of our lives. It was the final day of tryouts for the marathon team, and Todd was not to be denied. Todd had an incredible ability to focus on a goal and put everything else out of his mind. At the end of the eight mile competition, Todd was running with the leaders when, less than 100 yards from the finish line, he collapsed and succumbed to heat stroke. He could not be revived,” said Todd’s parents, Sally and Bob Heuchling[CBJ4] .

Todd was laid to rest [CBJ5] at the Durham Town Cemetery where his headstone reads, “Peter Todd Heuchling, Cadet, USMA, Class of 2006, Beloved son, brother, friend and a good soldier.”[CBJ6] 

In respects to [CBJ7] Todd’s life, the Friends of Oyster River Track, FORT, host a walk/run annually. This is the 10-year anniversary of this race. “The original idea of having a race in Todd's memory was suggested by a group of his closest friends. The date, early April was selected to coincide as closely as possible to Todd's Birthday, April 8th.” Said Sally and Bob Heuchling[CBJ8] . “Todd loved to run, ran all the time for the pleasure of it.”

The 10th annual Todd's Trot Road Race/Walk will be held Saturday, April 6 at Oyster River High School in Durham.  Registration begins at 8:30 AM with a 10:00 AM start time.  This is a community event that includes door prizes for all ages.  The course map, sponsors, and on-line registration are available at toddstrot.org

The race has been a wonderful success since it’s beginning.  Over 500 runners/[CBJ9]  walkers participate each year. The community has embraced the race, been so supportive of it.[CBJ10]   “We are all so touched by the turnout and enthusiasm each year of all those who participate as well as volunteer to make Todd's Trot such a success. This race helps to ensure that Todd's memory and spirit continues to shine. Our family will be forever grateful,” said Bob and Sally Heuchling[CBJ11] .

Last year’s winner [CBJ12] was a Dover resident and former University of New Hampshire runner. Dan Hocking pulled away from the other runners[CBJ13]  and captured the ninth annual Todd's Trot 5K road race.

“The memories we have of Todd are so wonderful and so numerous it’s hard to know what to say,” said Bob and Sally Heuchling[CBJ14] . “He was a good-natured, fun-loving guy. He had a quiet sense of humor, a constant sparkle in his eye and a zest for life. He also had a serious side, the part of him that knew he was born a soldier.” Todd’s dream was to become a member of the Army's elite special forces. It’s always a mystery why the good die young.[CBJ15] 

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 [CBJ1]August isn’t this time of year, so these two things make a conflicting image in the reader’s head about what you are talking about.

 [CBJ2]This doesn’t seem to have much to do with the actual article? I don’t know what the actual article is about until near the end, and the lead should be what drives the story. A delayed lead is fine but it should come much sooner in the story.

 [CBJ3]No space after the hyphen

 [CBJ4]Who was actually saying the quote? If it was an email correspondence or some kind of alternative interview, it should be stated somewhere in the article.

 [CBJ5]Redundant

 [CBJ6]Possibly think of making this more than one sentence or incorporating it into another paragraph instead of its own. It feels odd as a stand alone idea.

 [CBJ7]“In the memory of” do you mean? Otherwise this sentence doesn’t make a lot of sense.

 [CBJ8]Again who is the one actually giving the quote? It will give the article more clarity.

 [CBJ9]This would probably work better as an “and.”

 [CBJ10]Is this a quote? I can’t tell. If not, it seems to be a little bit biased, in that you put too many opinion words in there. I would probably reword these sentences.

 [CBJ11]See above points.

 [CBJ12]This is pretty redundant.

 [CBJ13]If you are going to make a scene, then commit to it. One sentence kind of out of the blue with a story-telling flair is going to feel out of place.

 [CBJ14]See above.

 [CBJ15]This is very clichéd and overused. Particularly for a closing, I would rewrite this.

1. This story needs some art from the event itself, which ironically I may be doing for TNH soon anyways? but shots of runners/walkers would be great, and some pictures of the family (if there) would be an added bonus. Events are pretty easy because they are generally set up in a way that they are easily photographed. Video would be nice of some runners, paired with some one-on-one interviews with the family of Todd and some of the runners/other organizers and would work well in conjunction with the article.

2. See blue highlights above with links to the respective websites for the organizations and the specific page for the National Resources Defense Council.

3. I need a classmates book to finish these :(

State of the News Media

First off, the most important thing I noticed from this report is that people are realizing that the monetary problems and cutbacks that news organizations have had to make have been having an affect on the quality of work being produced by organizations. If our audiences know what we are doing is sloppy and shoddy, then they will look for other areas to find their news (which it looks like that is happening). This is shown in the demographic Also another important thing to note is how people are getting their news. The advent of people using facebook to check up on whats important and following links to full stories is something an editor should defiantly think about when putting a story on the web. It really helps a story with a link if it has a powerful image to draw the person viewing the link into the online story.

The importance of twitter, facebook, and other social media aside, it is also important to remember that one cannot be to reliant on these, for as I stated before, when the quality of the reporting is lacking, people do notice, and you lose revenue and respect. Another interesting statistic is the lose of viewership from males with higher paying jobs (the ones who typically watch the most news) due to the fact they have seen a drop in quality of reporting. The silver lining, however, is with proper integration of new forms of media and successful use of new types of advertising/pay-as-you-go, the press can regain most if not all of the power and prestige that it once proudly held claim to.