Sunday, October 28, 2007

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.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

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.

Friday, October 12, 2007

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.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

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:
Photo credit: Barry Lapoint

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

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.