Can they get a designated fact-checker?

As promised, here's another post on fact-checking. And it's timely, too. Last night, as I eagerly awaited Game 3 of the World Series in Denver, I was forced to watch the local Fox affiliate's pre-game show. What can I say? I'm a print person, so TV news annoys me.

Whoever was in charge of graphics goofed badly. The lineup for Boston listed David Ortiz as "DH," or designated hitter. Most fans know that the DH is only used in American League ballparks. The game was played at Coors Field, home to the Rockies, a National League team. You'd think the crew at a Denver TV station would know that, wouldn't you? Especially since the lack of a DH in Denver had been debated on sports talk shows and in newspaper columns since Game 2 ended Thursday night. Everyone wanted to weigh in on what Red Sox manager Terry Francona should do about the fact that because there's no DH in Denver, he would have to bench one of his regulars -- either Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell or Ortiz. In case you missed it, Ortiz moved from DH to first base, and Youkilis started on the bench. He replaced Ortiz for defensive purposes late in the game.

I think what happened is pretty obvious. The station used the same lineup graphic for games 1, 2 and 3 and forgot to change Ortiz's position from DH to 1B. They made the other changes, so at least they didn't make total fools of themselves.

I see this as another example of journalists not taking informational graphics seriously.

Just the facts, please

It doesn't matter how great the writing is if your facts are incorrect. I tell my students to check the following facts every time they edit a story:
• spelling of names of people, places and institutions;
• dates and details about historic occurrences;
• street addresses, e-mail addresses and Web site addresses;
• phone numbers;
• statistics and years, including doing the math when possible;
• anything that might be libelous (defamatory statements);
• anything that looks fishy.

I've been thinking about fact-checking for a while, but today seemed like a great day to tackle the subject. The World Series began last night, and the local paper, the Greeley Tribune, made Game 1 the lead story on the front page. The layout was excellent, with a four-column photo of Matt Holliday reacting after striking out and a smaller shot of Dustin Pedroia smacking a home run in his first Series at-bat. The layout looked really nice, but the copy contained the following error.

"Red Sox leadoff hitter Dustin Pedroia hit the second pitch he saw over the Green Monster."

No, he did not. Anyone who saw the game could tell you that Pedroia's homer hit the very top of the wall in left field, which is known as the "Green Monster," and fell back into the field of play. Because the ball hit the very top of the the wall, it was ruled a home run correctly by the umpire.

Someone from the sports desk should have caught that mistake. When I worked on the sports desk at the Connecticut Post, whenever a sports story ran on the front page of the paper, a sports copy editor was asked to read it to make sure things like this did not happen. The Tribune might want to start this practice.

One last thing about fact-checking. Students sometimes complain that a factual error results in an automatic F. I tell them it's better than losing your job. I was in the newsroom the night a reporter made a factual error in the score of a baseball game. I was also in the newsroom the next day, when he was fired for his error. Yes, it's that important.

Because facts are so significant in news, I'm going to discuss this issue again in my next post. Stay tuned.

The cranky TV sports critic

I found someone almost as cranky as me. I know, I know. You can't believe it either. But you will after reading Richard Sandomir's rant on TBS' "coverage" of the Yankees-Indians American League Divisional Series. I'd hate to have him for a teacher.

UNC's loss is journalism's loss

Justin Steffen, my former student, died last week. He was only 22, but he was already a journalist making a difference.

Justin, pictured at right, graduated in May with majors in journalism and psychology. During his last semester at UNC, he took my Advanced News & Feature Writing class, the capstone course for all students emphasizing in news-editorial, or what we used to refer to as print journalism.

As part of the class, students are required to cover a beat. Justin chose to cover the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weld County. His investigative article examined how the club had canceled a popular prevention program. I really liked his lead on the story, which was published on the Greeley Tribune's Web site:

Anthony Montelongo is a 12-year-old Greeley resident. He has been a member of the Boys and Girls Club’s Painter Unit for about eight years. Until recently, he was also a member of the SMART (Skills Mastery And Resistance Training) Moves program. Montelongo said that the program has taught him not to do drugs and to respect other people. He also said that he thinks that all the other children should participate in the program.
“SMART Moves is fun. There are a lot of kids in it and it teaches you a lot,” Montelongo said. He said it should be one of the highest priorities for the club to get the program back.
The SMART Moves program is not being taught at either of the Boys and Girls Club units in Greeley. The reason that the program is not being taught is because of lack of staff to teach the program and lack of money to hire the staff, according to staff at the clubs. The program has not been run in the Painter or Pawl units since March.

I was impressed by Justin's ability to talk to that young man and tell his story. So many journalism students are afraid to tackle tough stories because they're afraid of asking hard questions of people they don't know. But that's journalism. If you want to make a difference, you have to do the hard work. Justin knew that.

Because he did the hard work, his story made a difference. I received an e-mail from Justin about a month after the article appeared on the Tribune's Web site. He said that although the club's director wasn't happy with the publicity, officials had decided to bring back the program. I am proud of what Justin did. We need more reporters like him in newsrooms across the United States.

Thank you Justin, for making a difference in Greeley, and for making a difference in my life.

Read Justin's articles in the Greeley Tribune:

• Local Boys and Girls Clubs drop prevention program
• Opinion: Boys and Girls Clubs need to stay open
• Boys and Girls Club's unit director leaves

Photo credit: Barry Lapoint

He hit three consecutive grand slam dingers ... all in a row

With the Rockies in the playoffs for the first time since 1995, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss some of the errors I often see and hear when following sports media. Just because you hear or read these terms does not mean they are OK. People, listen to me: We have to do better than those who came before us!

There is no such thing as a "new record." If someone sets a record, of course it's new. If you set a record, you establish a "new" record for other people to attempt to break. When someone breaks your record, they set the record. "New record" is redundant.
Example: Barry Bonds set the career home run record by hitting his 762nd in 2007.

Synonym syndrome: I hate it when announcers and journalists try to make up funny synonyms for sports terms. Most of the ones I really hate come from ESPN announcers who seem to think their job descriptions include creating the most ridiculous terms of the week.
A few that annoy me:
• Dinger for home run.
• Go yard for hitting a home run.
• Base poke for hit.

Grand slam home run: A "grand slam" is a home run with the bases loaded. Saying "grand slam home run" is redundant.
Example: Despite a grand slam by the Padres early in the game, the Rockies won in the 13th inning.

Consecutive in a row: Announcers do this all the time. "The Rockies have won 12 consecutive games in a row." If they're in a row, they're consecutive. Talk about redundancy. This one was suggested by my father, the original cranky copy editor.

If you enjoy pointing out stupid sports redundancies as much as I do, you might want to check out Ethan Skolnick's blog at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

And if you have an annoying sports term to add to my list, please let me know with a comment.

Editor defends F--- Bush headline

The board that oversees Colorado State University's student-run newspaper is still pondering what to do about editor J. David McSwane, who declined to apologize Wednesday night for his paper's use of the F-word.

Both the Fort Collins Coloradoan and the paper in question, The Rocky Mountain Collegian, contain extensive coverage. According to the Coloradoan, the Collegian has lost so much advertising from the controversy that it was published in black and white today instead of color. Apparently the student advertising representatives are afraid to call clients.

I was floored by one comment in the Coloradoan. The Collegian's student advertising director, Lenay Snyder, is quoted as saying the following: "Dave's job was not only to decide the editorial content of the paper, but also its financial well-being. He failed." Wow. Um. Yeah. Anyone who's taken an introductory journalism class should know that the editor is in charge of the news content and only the news content. The financial stability of the paper is the responsibility of the publisher, not the editor.

My latest take on this issue is that the editor should not be fired. The headline was clearly marked as an editorial. Editorials represent the opinion of the editorial board. And as long as you're not inciting violence, you can basically say anything. The editorial was not very well done, but it was protected free speech. The sole reason for the freedom of speech and press in this country is so Americans can criticize the government without fear of retribution.

I guess my biggest problem with this whole mess is that it brings to light how little most people know about the news. So few people follow it. And so few understand how it is produced. And so few understand why it's important. That all adds up to a society that doesn't understand the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech. And that is truly sad.

What the f___?

Controversy is swirling around the student paper at Colorado State University, which is not far from UNC. In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the headline that caused all the controversy. Please follow the link or you’re not going to understand the rest of my post.

Yes, you read that right.

At first, I thought that those calling for the editor's resignation were off base. But then I read the story, if you can call it that. It's just a headline. It almost looks like a joke gone bad, like someone put in a fake headline to save space for the real story but forgot to put in the real story. (This has happened at many a newspaper. Just ask anyone who's worked in the business.)

The question for me isn't whether the F-word should be used in a newspaper. I see it all the time in Denver's alternative weekly, Westword, which has great reporting and writing for the most part. The question for me is whether the news item serves the community. In this case, the community is the students, faculty and staff of Colorado State University. In my humble opinion, the headline alone didn't do anything except create controversy. The editors could have written an editorial under the controversial headline, detailing how President Bush helped create the atmosphere in which the University of Florida campus police thought they could use their taser on a student asking a question in an open forum. If you haven’t heard about the taser story yet, please check out the video on U-tube. It's pretty scary.

As I write this, the CSU paper's editor, J. David McSwane, is scheduled to go before the Board of Student Communications on Wednesday. The board will decide what action, if any, should be taken.

Our own student paper, The Mirror, did a great job editorializing on this issue.

The First Amendment is alive and well. But journalistic ethics is another story. And another post….

Take that, whomever you are!

Many things annoy me. Below are a few. Please add or e-mail your own annoyances so I can announce them to my readers.

* People are always telling me I need to "change out" the battery in my smoke alarm. Why the "out"? Just change it, for goodness sake. Extra words are boring. They take up readers' and listeners' precious time.

* Many people use "whom" incorrectly. I think some people even use it to impress the reader. It rarely works. "Whom" is only used when you need an object. Use "who" when you need a subject, whether it's the subject of a clause, phrase or sentence. If you're unsure, perform the following test. Replace "whom" with "him" or "her." If it sounds right, use "whom." If not, use "who."

* Students often use "that" when "who" is called for. A person is a "who." A thing is a "that." Don't use the word "that" to refer to a person. Example A: The man who took the trophies was arrested. Example B: The trophy that he took was recovered in the hotel room. According to the AP Stylebook, even an animal should be referred to as "who," as long as the animal has a name. My cat, whom I love dearly, will certainly enjoy hearing that.

Don't forget the right to look stupid

Just graded the first quiz in my editing class. The bonus question asked students to name all five freedoms protected by the First Amendment. (In case you were wondering, the Associated Press Stylebook calls for capitalization of the amendments.) Out of 23 students, only three got all five. It's discouraging how many people can't name even four of these important rights. And it's really annoying how many people think that "the right to bare arms" is one of them. In case you were wondering, "the right to bear arms" is shorthand for the Second Amendment.

I guess everyone has the right to bare arms, as long as they're not really ugly arms. I mean, if they're really flabby or something, I certainly don't want to see them. Of course, it's up to the individual. If you feel good about your arms and want to show them off, no matter how disgusting they are, go for it. That's what's so great about this country.

So, do you know the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment? Go to the The First Amendment Center for the answer. And if you're curious about the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights, check out the The Bill of Rights Institute.

If you're interested in learning more about the U.S. Constitution, the The National Archives Experience is a great resource.

What is news?

People decide what news goes into newspapers, Web sites, TV and radio stations. Editors, producers and reporters decide what their audience wants and needs to know. They're supposed to use what we call "news values": impact, novelty, timeliness, conflict, prominence and proximity. Stories that aren't newsworthy shouldn't make the cut. But they do. Check out Fark.com for a comprehensive look at what too many so-called "news" outlets are passing off as "newsworthy."

If you're like me and enjoy reading actual books, you might want to check out the book, "It's not news, it's fark: How mass media tries to pass off crap as news," by Fark founder Drew Curtis. It's easy to read, very funny and a little bit sad.

The apostrophe: It's a real problem

School started today. And you know what that means? I can begin taking off points for errors in punctuation. Ahhh, the life of a copy editor is never boring.

I was reading the student paper this morning. Don't get me wrong -- The Mirror is a wonderful news source. The layout looks really good, and the news is usually interesting and informative. But I found two apostrophe errors in one graphic in today's edition. I wonder if graphics are even edited at some papers.

Here's the problem I found: The person-on-the street graphic, which contains photos and short quotes, contained two misspellings of the word "it's."

Here's the rule: You need an apostrophe when you mean "it is." You don't need an apostrophe when you use the possessive "its," which means "it belongs to something or someone."

Correct Examples:
I wish the university had its own bus line. (The bus line would belong to the university.)
It's a pain driving around campus for a meeting. (It is a pain ....)

A few pages later, I saw another apostrophe mistake. The headline at the top of the page read "Fall movie's offer wide variety." UGH!
Here's the rule: Don't use an apostrophe to make a plural. It should read "Fall movies offer ...."

The Crank is on Vacation

I'll return in September, when school begins. Until then, try not to make too many typos.

So why become a copy editor?

If you haven't heard "On the Media," you need to start listening to this program. It's a great show produced by New York Public Radio, WNYC.

This week, the show has an interesting story on my favorite people, copy editors. Host Bob Garfield interviews the chief copy editor for The New York Times.

All the blame and none of the glory – that’s the life of a newspaper copy editor. So why become one? Let New York Times chief copy editor Merrill Perlman count the reasons.

Finally ... We're on the Web

The advanced news students began uploading their stories to the Web this week. Most of the feature stories are available at the UNC Special Section, which is part of the Tribune's Web site. We'll upload the opinion columns next week, and the investigative articles will be added after I grade them, which means they should be up by the third week of May. Those stories will also include photos and fact boxes.

Thanks again to Jessie Williams at the Tribune, who has no time to be helping us but somehow made two visits to our class and created an easy-to-use handout for uploading stories and graphics.

Of course, this is only the beginning. I'm hoping to continue adding stories to the Web next semester. My hope is to teach audio recording and Soundslides to the Reporting Contemporary Issues class early in the fall. Soundslides is a program that creates slide shows using still photos and audio. It's a relatively simple way for novices to create multimedia for the Web. I am also the new Webmaster for our JMC program. I'd like to use the JMC Web site to show off our students' work, as well as lots of other things. So much to think about. But it's all good.

Hope everyone enjoys reading the Web stories. Comments are encouraged.

We're not gonna take it

Now's the time to say it. I was a fan of women's basketball BEFORE Imus put his foot in his mouth. And, no, I wasn't alone. The women's NCAA Final Four has been selling out huge arenas for more than a decade. The tournament, which used to be an afterthought to the men's, has its own contract with ESPN. It's too bad that Imus' comment is the first many people are hearing about the Rutgers team. Their play was abysmal in the first month of the season. They went on a tear in March and ended up losing in the national final to Tennessee. The biggest injustice in all of this, I believe, is the fact that Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer is one of the few high-profile black female coaches. She deserves better. Women athletes deserve better.

But don't take my word for it. Read what some of the nation's top female sports columnists have to say.

Jemele Hill, who writes for ESPN The Magazine , frames Imus' remark in the context of history. This is a must read.

If you don't have Times Select you won't be able to read this. But you can always pick up a copy of today’s Times at the library. It's on the front sports page. Here's a great read on the Rutgers players' reaction, by Selena Roberts, in my opinion the best sports columnist at The New York Times.

Here's an op-ed piece by Gwen Ifill, who reminds us that this isn't the first time Imus has shown his racist side.

If only people got this upset about every racist, sexist comment they heard. And you have to admit we hear too many. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Grin and bear it

A colleague sent me these gems via e-mail:

"Summarizing a journal article on JFK's press relations, one student misquoted the author as writing that JFK was the 'standard bear for presidential television.' I guess Yogi was only the standard bear for entertainment television.

"Writing about the same article, another student called the Jupiter missiles we had in Turkey 'Juniper missiles.' Next we'll see rocket-propelled green ashes, I suppose."

For those of you keeping score at home, the following definitions come from The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993.

A standard-bearer is a conspicuous advocate of a cause, or prominent teacher of a political or religious party. It can also mean a soldier whose duty is to carry a standard or a person who carries a banner in a procession.

I have no idea what a standard bear is.

Jupiter, named after the chief god of the Romans, is the fifth planet from our sun.

A juniper is a type of shrub or low tree with pungent berries.

I think both of the above mistakes might be caused by students' reliance on spell-checking. They misspell a word, and then run the spell-check program. Then they just click on the first alternate spelling that comes up. I can't count the number of times I've seen "defiantly" instead of "definitely."

Any other gems out there? I would love to post them.

On another note, I recently posted about how much I hate "preregistration." Well, wouldn't you know it? I came across the word in a pamphlet I got on surgery at Children's Hospital, a highly rated medical center in Denver. Under the heading "Surgery Preregistration," it says we will need to "preregister" our child for his appointment. Ouch.

Why bother?

This is copied directly from the Wikipedia page on copy editing.
"Copy-editing is sometimes defined as the checking of consistency and accuracy, although on Wikipedia it does not necessarily involve the checking of facts in articles. The term originated in the production of printed media. Author and copy-editor are often the same Wikipedian."

Yet another reason not to use Wikipedia as a source.

Journalism, anyone?

One of my students came across this site while researching blogs.

Blogs 101, by Rich Meislin is part of The New York Times Web site. I'm sure many longtime readers of The Times need a quick course in blogging.

Today my Advanced News students blogged about blogging. Is it journalism? They have some interesting takes. And I must say that some of these students are very good writers. I wish I could take the credit, but I have found that most of the best writers came that way. Of course, the best writers also continue to hone their skills throughout their lives. So for any of you young hotshots reading this, don't just sit there. Ask someone who's really good to critique your work.

No parking

I love Walgreens. Notice there's no apostrophe in this pharmacy's name. I know that because I visited the Walgreens.com Web site, then checked my prescription bottle. I also used the spellchecker program on this blog entry. And wouldn’t you know it? The so-called dictionary on my computer told me that “Walgreens” is not a word. It wanted to replace my correct spelling with either “Walgreen’s” or “Walgreen.” Interesting. As I always tell my students on the first day of class: “The spellchecker is evil.” Anyway, on to my story about Walgreens.

I went to Walgreens today to pick up a prescription. I'm walking along, minding my own business, and then I hear it. "John, you have a call parked on line one." My eyes bug out. My blood boils. And I want to scream at the top of my lungs, "No parking!" And to any of my former or current students reading this, I meant to put that exclamation point there. This is a problem just begging for an exclamation. My point? … Why the extra word? What's wrong with saying "John, you have a call on line one."? I have heard this troublesome announcement many times in the last few months, but only at Walgreens. I do hope it dies a quick death. If not, I might feel the need to park my fist in the cashier's mouth the next time I hear it while checking out.

I see mistakes, people

Spring break begins after classes Friday. And all copy eds know what that means. You guessed it. More time to find errors on every piece of reading material available. From billboards to restaurant menus to yard signs. Apostrophes misplaced! Commas missing! Spellings butchered! Exclamation points everywhere! Aaaah. That's what life's all about, baby!

Following spring break is a time of year I despise, not for what is but for what it isn't. It's time to "preregister." And it's not a word! It makes me cringe just thinking about it. "Pre-" is a prefix meaning "before." "Register" means to enroll or sign up. So the so-called word "preregister" would mean "before register." It simply does not make sense. I'm sure I've gotten about 200 e-mails in the last six years telling me to remind students to "preregister" for classes. And don't get me started on press releases that require people to "preregister" for this or that seminar, workshop or whatnot. "Preregistration is required." What does that mean? How about this: Advance registration is required. Think about it. You register before something starts. That doesn't mean you're "preregistering." It means you're signing up. If you sign up after it starts, you sign up late. That's not "postregistration." It's "late registration." How about this? No late registration allowed!

Ooh, I'm having too much fun. I must prepare to teach my class. Does that mean I'm "prelecturing"? I'd hate to have to "postlecture." No self-respecting journalism student would dare attend.

P.S. If you enjoy this type of discussion, check out the latest edition of William Safire's On Language column in The New York Times Magazine.

How much is a fact worth?

I'm not teaching introductory news writing this semester, but I will be this summer and next fall. One of my rules for this class is that students who make factual errors in a story automatically receive an F (50 percent credit). I used to give an automatic zero, but I changed my policy a couple of years ago. Some students complain about the automatic F policy. Over the years, however, I've noticed that the good students learn a lot from their mistakes. I've had more than a few students who commented on this at evaluation time. The comments usually read something like this: I was angry when I got an F on my paper for misspelling a name, but I learned never to do that again!

Introductory news writing is a 200-level class at UNC, which means it's sophomore level. When I teach 300- and 400-level classes, I use a different grading policy. I take off one letter grade for each factual error. Maybe I should change this policy so all classes are equal. Any suggestions?

Speaking of mistakes, if you haven't seen Regret the Error yet, you have to check it out. I think my students would get a kick out of it. I do worry about showing students sites like these for the following reason: Students might think that if major news organizations make terrible mistakes, why should we get punished? After all, we are just students. I guess my answer is that if you get punished now, in school, where only a grade is at stake, you are less likely to make a big mistake later that might cost you your job.

Our experiment continues

Most of my Advanced News students have created blogs. You can visit them by clicking on the links at the right-hand side of this page under "My Students' Blogs." Their latest blog entries focus on what they've learned after writing a feature story and then rewriting it as a longer piece. Most of them were very honest in their assessments of their work. I'm happy to say that all of the rewrites turned out to be pretty good stories. I'm excited to see what these students do next.

As for the Web page, we're still in the planning stages. I'm scheduled to meet with Jessie Williams, Web editor at the Greeley Tribune, next week. I'm hoping we can get this thing online pretty quickly after students return from Spring Break on March 26.

I'm quite enjoying this blog, although I haven't had many comments lately. Perhaps once it goes online at the Tribune more people will read it. I have been bugging my colleagues in the JMC program and my family, but how many times can your mother say she loves your blog? Maybe I need to write something really scathing to get some feedback. I guess yesterday's post wasn't cranky enough. I think my next post should tackle something controversial. Check this space later, if you dare.

Words confuse us

I love my students. Really, I do. It's just that they do the strangest things.

Why is it that students think they have to use big words to impress readers? No matter how many times I tell them to begin sentences with "but," many insist on using "however." Another thing I can't understand is how a student can use a word in a sentence when said student has no idea what the word means. It's worse when they use a direct quote that makes no sense.

Crank: What does this quote mean?
Student: I'm not sure.
Crank: Why did you use it?
Student: I don't know. I was wondering about it.
Crank: Hand me your pencil so I may stick it in my eye.
Student: Why?
Crank: I'm sure it will be more fun than reading the rest of this story.

Two books that will improve anyone's writing:

The Media Writer's Handbook, by George T. Arnold

A hardcover dictionary. (Yes -- this is a book. It contains paper pages that need to be turned.)

One last thought: Running the "spell-check" program is not the equivalent of proofreading.

Boy, do I feel better.

MoJo rising

The April edition of Mother Jones magazine includes a series of articles on the news industry entitled "Breaking the News." In one of the stories, blogger Kevin Drum says that most of the bloggers out there could not do their jobs without the "mainstream media." More proof that although newspapers are changing, they're not dying because of the Internet. Read Drum's article.

Our experiment begins

My Advanced News & Feature Writing students and I are working with the local newspaper, the Greeley Tribune, to create a Web magazine that will be part of the Trib's site. I'm very excited. My students are feeling a bit like guinea pigs, but that's understandable. Although my classes have created Web pages in the past, this is the first time I've worked with an outside entity to go online. It looks promising so far. Most of my students have taken the first step into the multimedia world by creating their own blogs.

The class is the capstone course for all the news-editorial students in our program, which means students must show off what they've learned in their time as JMC majors. I require them to cover beats. A beat is a fancy word for a topic that a reporter covers on a regular basis, like education or business or high school sports. Students choose their own beats and write three major articles during the semester. Each student's blog is based on his or her beat. Check out these blogs by clicking on the links at right.

My hope is that students update their blogs twice a week to let readers know what they're working on or what events are happening on their beats. The next step is to work with Jessie Williams, the Tribune's multimedia editor, to create the Web page. Once that is done, we can upload students' stories, photos and other work. I'm hoping we can put together some slide shows, and Williams said she might even teach us about podcasts and videography. This is new territory for me, but Williams has the talent to help us do a great job, as you can see from the Tribune's Web site. See Williams' bio.

Once the page is up, I'm hoping we can link to the students' blogs -- as well as mine. That way, site visitors can find out not only who produced the stories but how and why they produced them in the way they did.

These are the days

It's been more than a week since I returned from the Convergence for College Educators conference at the Poynter Institute for journalism studies. I left feeling positively giddy about where journalism is going. The Web allows us to tell stories in so many ways. And people are doing some simply amazing things.

I had resisted the need to bring convergence into my classes since I came to UNC in 2000. I thought teaching students the basics – what makes news, how to report and write, ethics – was enough. But it’s not. Being a “print” journalist is no longer an option. Journalists can’t do just one thing anymore. They have to be at least a little familiar with how to tell stories using five media channels: text, still photos, video, audio and graphics. But who am I to teach convergence? I’ve never written a story for TV or radio. I’ve never written a story for anything but a newspaper. I still consider myself a print journalist at heart. But what is print journalism? Isn’t writing an important aspect of Web journalism? Don’t online stories have to be concise, clear and grammatically correct? Shouldn’t online stories be newsworthy? Don’t they have to be factual? Ethical? Free of libel? Well, then, I guess I am NOT stuck in the 20th century.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m still a fan of newspapers. I can’t be the only person who reads a paper version of The New York Times every day. I mean, you can’t do the crossword puzzle online. Oh, yeah, I guess you can. … Well, it’s just not the same.

So here I go. Teaching convergence. I’m reminded of all the stories the older reporters and editors used to tell when I worked at the Connecticut (nee Bridgeport) Post about the days when the clacking of manual typewriters filled the newsroom. ... When copy boys roamed and editors swore like sailors. When cigarettes dangled over the edge of the copy desk. … Those must have been the days. … So now I tell my students about the days before pagination, when we had to cut the stories using blue pencils, and grizzled men with razor blades did the cutting. Those were the days.

So here I go. Beginning this journey with a lot of other journalists and educators who started their careers before the Internet took over our newsrooms. I’m blogging. My students are blogging. I’m helping my journalism program figure out how to teach convergence to students. I’m learning something new every day. And come to think of it, that’s one of the reasons I went into journalism in the first place. I’m positively giddy.

Links to student work

Teaching journalism can be frustrating, but it's worth it when students do well. I was reminded of this again today while listening to Colorado Matters, a locally produced news program on Colorado Public Radio. Host Ryan Warner interviewed UNC graduate Heath Urie, who now works for the Columbine Courier, about the digital TV tower proposed for Lookout Mountain. Listen to the interview. Urie was a journalism and mass communications major and served as editor in chief of The Mirror, the campus newspaper. He also has a great radio voice. Way to go, Heath.

My current students are also working hard. I showed them my blog Tuesday, and several showed interest in creating their own. Three are already up. Josh Rhoten has been blogging for a while, and his site is quite interesting. Ken Johnson discusses entertainment, and Ashley Dieterle talks about life in general.

I'm hoping theses students stick with it. I've read that blogging improves one's writing and makes journalists more marketable. I'm also hoping other students join in. We'll see.

Rocky Mountain News has it all

I always tell students that everything needs to be edited -- not just the stories but the info graphics and captions as well. So I was pretty horrified to find not one but several errors in a slide show at the normally very well edited Rocky Mountain News. The March 5 edition has a link for Photos of the Day. One caption calls the subject of the photo a "former Manuel High graduate." Once a graduate, always a graduate, as far as I'm concerned. The second problematic caption appeared under the photo of Gov. Bill Ritter's son and wife. There were two big problems with this one, and they've both been fixed . First, whoever edited the caption included the following intro: "Lede in bold." Those are the directions. They were supposed to write something and didn't. Oops. Also, the editor did a good job of checking the spelling of the names of the people pictured. How do I know? He or she typed in "cq" after each name. CQ indicates that something has been checked. I learned to do this at the top of the file, not in a place where it can be published, but this might be difficult when editing for the Web. I wonder what kind of problems this creates for editors on a daily basis. The caption also contains an AP style error. It refers to "Governor Bill Ritter." AP says that governor should be abbreviated and capitalized before a name, as in "Gov. Bill Ritter." I assume the Rocky follows AP style, but if this is wrong I hope someone will let me know.

But the Rocky is an outstanding news organization that won a Pulitzer last year. If you haven't seen the paper’s fabulous 33-part series recounting a school bus-train accident that occurred in 1961 in northern Colorado, you're missing out. It's entitled The Crossing, and it's not only well written, it's got some great video and still photos. There's also a great discussion board about the piece, with comments by survivors as well as other readers.

I'm new at this

Why am I doing this? Because I have to. I teach journalism and it's 2007. So here I go.

I'm planning to use this blog to discuss two main themes: 1) editing and ethical issues that arise from my classes; and 2) issues that come up as my journalism program moves toward convergence.

I love news, always have. I read the newspaper when I was little. One thing I don't understand about my students is why they seem so uninterested in news. Anyone out there have any ideas?

Right now I'm teaching two sections of news editing and layout. It's a junior-level class. One of the ways I try to get my students to keep up with the news is through news quizzes. I've seen some crazy answers over the years. The latest, greatest crazy answers came when I asked about I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby, as you may or may not know, is on trial in connection with the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's name. When I asked who Libby used to be chief of staff for, most students gave the right answer, VP Dick Cheney. Here are the funny answers:

~ The CIA

~ The New York Times

Interesting. Both the CIA and the Times are involved in the story, so at least the students who provided these answers were familiar with the story.

If you'd like to learn more about Libby, click here

Thanks for reading.