Proofreading: My System

This is one I developed for myself that I've found to be very effective. There's two ways to do it:

IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A PRINTER:

1. Print out your story.
2. Circle all nouns (persons, places, things) on EVERY reference.
3. Circle all names and titles and such on EVERY reference.
4. Circle all statistics and numbers on EVERY reference.
5. Circle the entirety of every quote.
6. Then, go through your notes. As you double-check each circled item and make sure it's correct, put a slash through each circle.
7. Then, look up each circled item on the Web to make sure what was in your notes was correct in the first place. As each is confirmed, put a backward slash (making an X) through each circle.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO A PRINTER:

1. Get out a blank piece of paper.
2. Write down all nouns (persons, places, things) EXACTLY as written in your story on EVERY reference.
3. Write down all names and titles and such EXACTLY as written in your story on EVERY  reference.
4. Then, go through your notes. As you double-check each line item and make sure it's correct, put a slash through each item.
5. Then, look up each line item on the Web to make sure what was in your notes was correct in the first place. As each is confirmed, put a backward slash (making an X) through each circle.
6. Don't waste time writing down all quotes, but do double-check them word-for-word against your notes to ensure absolute accuracy.

This system is simple and doable in a real-world setting and I cannot tell you how many times on stories I had eyeballed and spell-checked and was sure nothing was wrong I found a misspelled third reference too a last name or a transposed number or a quote where one word was slightly off.

Please take the fact-checking habits we've blogged about earlier and work them into your routines. And try to dedicate as much time to fact-checking as you do writing.

For example, let's say you have one hour to do an assignment. Ideally, I'd like you to spend the first 15 minutes going over the story information and making sure you understand what you are about to write about. Then, spend the next 30 minutes writing. After that, spend the last 15 minutes proofreading your work.

That way, in the end you spend one minute doing quality control for every minute spent writing. And if it means your story seems short, so be it. I'd rather have you write short than wrong.

We can't just turn on good habits like a light switch when we turn pro. We need to start building good habits now. That's why these rules are in place, and that's why this class exists: so that on the day after graduation, you are immediately ready and experienced in what you need to do for the rest of your career.

JRN 200: Your Friday 1/20 Homework

Everyone should have their textbook and AP Stylebook by now. Which is good, because we have more readings to assign you.

In the RFTM textbook, please read chapters 2, 7 and 8 (p. 12-16 and 133-180) by Wednesday.

Plus, in the AP Stylebook please skim through chapters A through G by Wednesday. By skimming I mean get familiar with the types of terms and labels and words for which AP Style has rules.

Any questions? Please see me/call me/text me/whatever works. 

Job Shadows: A Friendly Reminder

Just a reminder that during this semester you will be required to do a job shadow. It's easy, but it takes prep work you can't blow off until the last minute. We need to start now.

This is what I want: I'd like you to seek out a professional who is working in a journalism-related occupation you might wish to pursue. It could be some working at a newspaper or a magazine or a radio station or a TV station or an online media site or whatever. (Not public relations or marketing, though.) Email me about what your job shadow plan proposal is, and if I approve it (NOTE IN BIG FREAKING CAPITAL LETTERS: YOUR SHADOW IS SUBJECT TO MY PRE-APPROVAL!) then contact your shadow and get their okay to shadow them.

Some local and regional shadow opportunities where previous JRN 200ers had luck include the Lansing State Journal, WILX-TV Channel 10 (the NBC affiliate in Lansing), MLive Lansing (an online news site) and WXYZ-TV Channel 7 (the ABC affiliate in Detroit). If you're having problems coming up with a shadow idea, please contact me and we'll problem-solve through it.

Arrange with them to follow them around their daily duties for anywhere from an hour or two, to all day long. Your call. Interview that media pro about their job and keys to success. You may also do a shadow as part of a group of students. Again, get my pre-approval before you do anything.

Then, write up a 200- to 300-word report on what you saw during your shadow, and what you learned that you believe will benefit you in the future. Please include the phone number and email address of your shadow subject, so I can confirm your attendance.

Your job shadow will be due via mail to omars@msu.edu during the final week of class. I must warn you, quite often people strike out on their first or second choices, and getting an agreement and setting and date and time take some time. So, I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO DO ANY OF THIS!

Just get it knocked out and out of the way. While it's due at the end of the semester, you can turn it in as early as you'd like. Completing the assignment correctly and on time automatically gets you a 4.0; not doing it gets you a 0.0.

So, please do it and get yourselves an easy A. More importantly, get a look at what you may want to be doing a few years from now, and take that opportunity to start judging the lay of the land.

Elements of Journalism: Monitor Power

Journalists must serve as an independent monitor of power. It's the "watchdog" principle; that we watch over the powerful few in society on behalf of the many to guard against tyranny.

That extends to all powerful institutions in society: government, big business, and in the case of The State News, MSU administrators. It also extends to those in the shadows of society: the poor, everyday Joes, and in the case of The State News, everyday students.

That extends to making known and understood the effects of power. We need to recognize and share with our audience when powerful institutions/people are not working effectively (MSU screws up its budget, tuition goes up 100 percent next year). We also need to recognize when powerful institutions/people are working effectively (MSU finds gold in the Red Cedar River, free tuition for everybody!).

The watchdog principle is executed most notably through investigative reporting. And there are three basic types.

First, there is original investigative reporting. That's when reporters themselves uncover and document activities that have been previously unknown to the public, like when The Detroit Free Press got a hold of text messages between that city's then-mayor and one of his officials, indicating that they'd lied during a past court matter. That connection was completely unknown to the public and even the government (expect for the mayor and his aide) up to that point. 

Second, there is interpretive investigative reporting. That's when careful thought and analysis of an idea and new reporting brings together information in a new, more complete context that provides deeper public understanding. Like The State News did in the summer of 2012, when they ran a three-part series looking at how the combination of escalating tuition and shrinking financial aid was leaving MSU students in a bind. Each individual factor was evident, but the series put it all together to emphasize meaning and effect on everyday students.

Third, there is reporting on investigations, where reporting develops from the discovery of a leak of information from an official investigation already underway or in preparation by others, usually the government or police agencies. For example, often the reports of an athlete using performance-enhancing drugs are sources from police leaks or the obtaining of drug tests results from a drug-testing agency.

Most investigations use some of all three forms.

There are risks to investigative reporting. First, the reporter is granting the interview subject a powerful forum in which to air an allegation without public accountability, especially if the subject is granted anonymity in exchange for the information.

So, a reporter must be on alert over being used. Also, we must use due diligence to ensure the report is in the interest of the audience, and not just a source or sources. Is this something the public wants or needs to know? Does the presentation and the angles that are being emphasized highlight those public interests?

Also, double-check what you are being told by sources. Make sure there is enough evidence independent of the source's statements to support and justify your report.

Elements of Journalism: Engagement And Relevance

Journalists must make significant news interesting and relevant. First, we must consider the differences between storytelling versus information. Storytelling is the art of expression, such as a bedtime story you tell your niece. Information is raw data, such as a sports score.

Journalism is a combination of storytelling and information. The two are not contradictory. Journalism is storytelling with a purpose, and rooted in fact. Our duty is not just to provide information, but to do so in a way people will listen while still adhering to accuracy and truth.

There are various approaches to making important news interesting.Those approaches start with asking yourselves questions, like:

Who is the audience and what do they need to know? What is a given story really about? Let's say you're working for The State News, and you're covering student government. They pass some sort of big budget increase and as part of that budget increase, student fees will go up.What's the main gist of the story, the budget or the fee hike? Which would readers -- in this case, primarily MSU students -- care about most? Which would affect them most directly?

It would be the fee hike, right? So that should be the angle you highlight in how you write the story.

Who is the audience and what to they need to know to make up their own minds about this subject? For example, The State News regularly covers East Lansing City Council meetings. Rather than cover whatever the council considers their biggest actions, reporters look for and concentrate on stories that have the greatest impact or interest to their primary audience -- MSU students -- regardless of how big a part of the meeting those issues were. We're not there to take dictation of the meeting; we're there to highlight what matters most to our audience.

Who has the information? Go to the people most directly involved with the subject matters.

What's the best way to tell this story? For example, on a story about a tuition increase, perhaps you'd want to focus on how the tuition increase will affect the average student by talking to students and asking them how they'll handle the tuition hike.

There are various story styles one can utilize. We'll look at each approach, using examples based on coverage of one of the every-few-years Cedar Fest riotsaround here.

Elements of Journalism: Making News Comprehensive And Proportional

Journalists should keep the news comprehensive and in proportion. Think of journalism as cartography (the science of mapping). Journalism creates a map for its audience to navigate society (e.g., how much is tuition going up? When is the football game? Is it a good idea to plan another Cedar Fest?). That is its reason for being.

And the value of journalism, like a map, depends on completeness and proportionality; accuracy and the ability to see the whole community in coverage. Otherwise, it's like a map with whole parts of town missing. It leaves the audience poorly informed because so much was left out, and vulnerable to making poor decisions about their needs and societal trends based on what they don't know.

This is why we need to show people not just what they want to know, but also what they need to know and what they don't know.

It's also important to have the ability to see yourself and every-day people in your coverage (that is, your needs, values, interests and that of the community at large reflected by the types of stories presented and issues tackled), and a fair mix of what most people in your community would consider interesting, significant, relevant and/or useful.

In judging the wants and needs of an audience, traditional market research does not work very well, like focus groups and surveys. Usually, those ask people to choose between predictable alternatives, like different brands of a certain product. News is harder to market-research because it changes every day.

And news may not be significant until you know about it. For example, personal safety may not be on your radar as a reader. Unless, that is, The State News has a story about muggings on campus. The news creates interest that wasn't previously there.

Journalism requires a more open-ended approach. Simply pay attention to your community and its people. Find out more about their lives. Ask about and look for broad trends. Focus on everyday people and their problems, and not big-wigs and theirs.

Try to understand how to design a news package that is comprehensive and proportional to their community, their needs and their concerns by asking yourself questions like;

What are people talking about? For example, at MSU they may be talking about how high their student loan debt will go, or whether they will have jobs after graduation.

What are they complaining about? Like tuition hikes and off-campus rent getting more expensive.

What are they doing? Like, working multiple jobs while in school, or getting out of Michigan after graduation.

Getting answers allow newspapers to design coverage that responds directly to your audience. And such coverage rings authentic with readers (because they are seeing issues being addressed that actually appear in their daily lives), who then build trust in you.

Elements of Journalism: Responsibility To Conscience

There are no laws, regulations, licensing or formal self-policing of journalists. All that is prohibited by the First Amendment. So, where does responsibility lay? With each news organization, and the ethics and judgment of individual reporters and editors.

Why is self-policing important? Because a news organization's relevance in a community is based on whether readers trust the authority,honesty or judgment of the journalists who produce it. After all, the audience is free to choose other media, or none at all.

So, everyone in a news organization must have a personal sense of ethics and responsibility, and an obligation to exercise their conscience. We have an obligation to challenge superiors, advertisers, and the audience if fairness and accuracy require that.

(But know the difference between an act of journalistic malfeasance and a journalistic disagreement! You need to find a way to fight the former, but if there's no ethical concern and it's simply a fight over two ethical ways of doing something, then don't push back and do your job as asked.) 

This is another reason intellectual diversity is important to a newsroom. The advantages of cultural diversity are stifled if people from different backgrounds adhere to a single mentality. A newsroom needs to be open and honest so that diversity can function journalistically.

Problem is, there are real-world pressures against individual conscience.Like human nature. In hiring and promotions, editors may select people in their own image, and not take risks on people outside the mainstream.

Plus, there is bureaucratic inertia, in which an environment exists where it is preferable to do what is routine and expected as opposed to what is right and necessary. And there is putting process over product; e.g., running a story simply to fill space, rather than the story having any merits of its own.

Conformity is a risk, in that it's easier to just get along with the mainstream. And unfortunately, there is sometimes the risk of "influence-peddling," where stories are pushed or killed by editors to support a special interest. This is bad journalism.

So, what are we supposed to do? Unfortunately, there are no easy and obvious answers. Doing the right thing is great, but you still have rent to pay and you need your job. Still, it's up to you to find a way to do the right thing. Each reporter is a steward of good journalism. It's up to us.