Thursday, April 26, 2007

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.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

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.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

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.

Friday, April 6, 2007

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.