Communication in the news world

“TEN THINGS COPY EDITORS WANT FROM LINE EDITORS… AND WHAT LINE EDITORS WANT FROM COPY EDITORS” by Bob Baker, Poynter Online

I liked this article a lot – it emphasizes communication in the newsroom. Journalists, who are in a communications field, sometimes are actually pretty bad at communicating. A newsroom cannot run without communication – it would end in disaster.

I’ve seen it myself: A productions designer doesn’t let the copy desk know that a headline spec has changed; a copy editor doesn’t consult with a writer about a fact change; the editor doesn’t tell a line editor that a story will be cut. It can end badly. So I’m glad to see that copy editors and writers are communicating about things they want to see.

Just today, I held a headline-writing seminar for my copy editors. Several past Alligator greats showed up (including Kat Laskowski) to give advice  on headline-writing. Our editor also showed up to communicate to us about what changes he would like to see in our headlines. One of my copy editors told Chad “You’re not doing us any favors by not telling us what we’re doing wrong.” And I agree – as long as the criticism is constructive in some way, of course.

This Poynter Online article is good because it seems like it includes constructive criticism and a lot of communication between newsroom desks. This is something that greatly helps to cut down on mistakes and stress.

THE RELIGION STYLE BOOK

The religion style book goes hand in hand with communication. Like the AP Style book, the religion style book enables widespread consistency in news stories. I’ve mentioned before that I think copy editors should have a few pages in the newsroom style book about each beat and the terms that go along with it.

I mentioned that those pages should include sports, city, education and religion style uses. I like that this beat has produced a whole book on correct usage of religious terms and some definitions. A friend of mine in the journalism college is double-majoring in religion, which would be good for writing a religion beat. The more communication, education and resources copy editors can get, the better the stories and newspaper will be.

NEW YORK TIMES READERS’ GUIDE

This is another resource that I love – it’s like a legend on a map. Keys or resources are great for communicating to the readers how to read or understand the story. This Web site explains and describes each format of the NY Times, such as the editorials, news analyses and journals. The site explains that an editorial is written by the editorial page editor, the deputy and assistant editors, and a group of writers with expertise in a variety of fields.

I think this lends to credibility in a newspaper, since most readers don’t know who what goes into editorials or news stories. Most readers also don’t know how editors plan to keep bias out of news stories.  All semester we’ve discussed general guiding themes in journalism, and I think communication drives each theme.

This key to NY Times formats openly shows readers how each format is written, the religion style book communicates consistency and  the Poynter article shows how communication in the news room can enable a peaceful, efficient work environment.

Questioning poll results

“20 QUESTIONS A JOURNALIST SHOULD ASK ABOUT POLL RESULTS”

In this National Council on Public Polls article, Sheldon R. Gawiser and G. Evans Witt assert that journalists should always question the veracity of poll results.

Journalists, ideally, should be unbiased and objective when writing stories. But they can argue that if they include both sides of the story, then the story is accurate and fair. Journalists can also possibly claim that if they only portray one side, it’s fair because one person truthfully gave those quotes.

I learned about the dangers behind “man-on-the-street” quotes when I interned at The Gainesville Sun. I learned that  three random students who agree on a point doesn’t equal a developed story or portrayal of an issue.

The same goes with poll results. Journalists should be aware of polls that aren’t executed in a scientific way – they yield inaccurate results. Just like reporters can cherry-pick people to quote and therefore reveal a possible bias, reporters can also handpick poll results to conform to their stories. This is why it’s important to ask questions about a poll, and this Web site provides the necessary questions.

The questions are excellent points to consider when reporting on poll results:

1. Who did the poll?
2. Who paid for the poll and why was it done?
3. How many people were interviewed for the survey?
4. How were those people chosen?
5. What area (nation, state, or region) or what group (teachers,lawyers, Democratic voters, etc.) were these people chosen from?
6. Are the results based on the answers of all the people interviewed?
7. Who should have been interviewed and was not? Or do response rates matter?
8. When was the poll done?
9. How were the interviews conducted?
10. What about polls on the Internet or World Wide Web?
11. What is the sampling error for the poll results?
12. Who’s on first?
13. What other kinds of factors can skew poll results?
14. What questions were asked?
15. In what order were the questions asked?
16. What about “push polls?”
17. What other polls have been done on this topic? Do they say the same thing? If they are different, why are they different?
18. What about exit polls?
19. What else needs to be included in the report of the poll?
20. So I’ve asked all the questions. The answers sound good. Should we report the results?

“THE IMPOSSIBLE MEASURE OF DIMNESS” and “WE SCREAM, WE SWOON. HOW DUMB CAN WE GET?”

This “Swoon” article, written by Charlotte Allen for The Washington Post, caused controversy when Allen called her own gender dumb and far too prone to changes in emotion. The “Measure” article, written by Rhonda Roland Shearer, explores the issues surrounding the messages that society and media send the female sex.

Shearer asserts that messages surround us, telling us silently that women are somehow inferior and should be relegated to the position of “wife.” Using sculptures in New York City and articles written in newspapers, Shearer makes a compelling point. Media shouldn’t be a facet of society that reinforces gender bias, but the “Swoon” article ridicules women for proving their inferiority.

Broadcasters, reporters, copy editors and everyone involved in media should be sensitive to gender bias. It’s a very precarious game to balance coverage between races, genders and culture, but it must be done in order to provide accurate and fair coverage.

Allen’s article outright decries the women who fainted at Sen. Barack Obama’s speeches. So women fainted – maybe it had to do with the heat. Maybe it had to do with Obama. So what? It doesn’t prove inferiority, and shame on Charlotte Allen for insinuating that it might. I hope Post editors and the copy desk held at least one discussion on why it might not be a good idea to publish this article.

“655,000 DEAD: REPORTING THE REPORTING”

It seems that in this Media Matters to America article, written by Eric Alterman, the investigators asked those 20 questions of the poll results. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health doubted the 30,000 dead that President Bush announced and set about on a way to correct that number. This proves that journalists should always question the accuracy and scientific qualifications of a poll or set of statistics.

Alterman asserts that Bush’s administration tried to hide the veracity of these statistics, and was called out in a “Daily Show” interview by Suzanne Malveaux. Bush quickly denied that the study was scientific and nothing more was said. Alterman claims the media helped cover up an important argument that day.

This is why media matters. Reporters are the watchdog of government, and even when the U.S. government reveals that 30,000 have died in Iraq, reporters scrutinize those results. I supposed the moral of this blog is to question everything – even seemingly correct poll results.

“STATISTICAL ASSESSMENT SERVICE”

I liked this Web site a lot – its goal is to “correct scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge; and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on major scientific issues and controversies.”

In light of this week’s topic, I’ve learned that a service like this is greatly needed. When journalists don’t have access to a service like this, they can rely on those 20 questions. But this Web site is great for exploring important studies.

In each case explored on this site, STATS backs up each claim with a set of statistics from every year or time period that is applicable. However, I wonder if STATS trusts the information that is given to them from government institutions like Centers for Disease Control. Since journalists couldn’t trust the Iraq casualties data given to them by government, I wonder how much research goes into checking the veracity of these results on the stat pages.

In one instance, STATS debunked a New York Times article that clearly stated that infants will probably die if not breast fed. STATS looked into the statistics behind this article and found that the “death rate” had to do with injuries that infants suffered, such as rolling off a table. So the Web site team does in fact conduct in-depth research on the statistics.

“MARGIN OF ERROR”

I’m not sure what else can be said on statistics. It seems like the answers to all of our abstracts boil down to three main points: Question everything; accuracy and fairness is paramount and includes ethics and gender/culture/religious diversity; and AP style and grammar are the nuts and bolts to writing– get them right. Statistics fit into this conversation because of those 20 questions journalists should ask about poll results in order to be fair, accurate and inquisitive.

This Web site is really no different. We discussed margin of error in class one day. Robertniles.com discusses several issues pertaining to journalism, one of them being the margin of error.  Certain passages within the Web site points to the all-encompassing theme:

Question everything:

“No news organization should fail to fully investigate all political candidates who will appear on the ballot in that news organization’s coverage area. Journalists should not forget to ask these basic background questions of all political candidates they cover.”

Accuracy/Fairness:

“The people or documents you use when reporting a story are called your “sources.” In your story, you always tell your readers what sources you’ve used. So you must remember to get the exact spelling of all your sources’ names. You want everything in your story to be accurate, including the names of the sources you quote.”

Nuts and Bolts:

This is included in his math and statistics section and in his “What is journalism?” section. This Web site is extremely useful, and I plan to use it in the future.

still being edited/written

“New black newspaper stirs debate,” a St. Petersburg Times article by Eric Deggans, explores the issues of a newspaper about Gainesville’s black community. The Gainesville Sun formed a committee to produce ideas that furthered cultural diversity in the area, and came up with the Gainesville Guardian. This is much like the diversity game that we played last week for our case study. In the game, we had to make choices about what could best diversify “our” newspaper.

I’ve had an article published in the Guardian. It was written in summer 2006 and was about a shooting that happened at the predominantly black nightclub, 238 West. The initial story was published in the Sun and the Guardian, because it was important for all people in the community to read about – five people were shot, but no one died.

My story surrounded the security precautions that 238 West put in placed the next time the club opened. The story ran in the Campus Sun as well as the Guardian. It followed one of the basic news tenets: audience. The story was about students as well as black people in the community.

I support the idea of a black newspaper in a city where 40 percent of the population is black (according to the article). As a marketing tool, it’s important to package the product with consumers/audience in mind. Many television stations and magazines are black-oriented, so why shouldn’t a newspaper follow suit? But to gain credibility, the newspaper should include a team composed mostly of black editors/writers/design people etc. and should emphasize good writing, clear photographs and good design. Otherwise it will fall into the ranks of Mahogany Revue, a shoddily-produced black biweekly.

However, I do see the issue about why a new newspaper should be created to give prominence to black issues. The issues should warrant front-page importance on any paper, whether black- or white-oriented. But the Guardian focuses much on spirituality, so it’s more of a cultural newspaper. And like in the 238 West shooting story, articles can be published in the Sun and the Guardian. The Guardian just places many stories together that are of immediate importance to a part of the community. The Guardian is available for free on the UF campus, in front of Weimer Hall. Thus, it’s available to people of any race.

Accent or no accent: Anglo newspapers struggle with little black marks

In this La Prensa article, written by Laura Wides-Muñoz, the usage of diacritical marks is discussed. This is something I’ve often thought about when copy editing. The Alligator uses the marks because we can. (That’s what the editor told me once. I think this means it’s because our software is able to type them.)

The marks should be used if it’s an issue of accuracy, but especially if it’s a cultural heritage issue. How can newspapers hope to be diversified if editors can’t even recognize the cultural spellings of words? How can copy editors be accurate if “ano” and “año” are completely different? Ano means anus and año means year.

I don’t even see why this is an issue at all. Get the software that enables your copy editors to be accurate. This is ridiculous.

NEWSROOM DIVERSITY ATTITUDES AFFECT CONTENT

In the American Society of Newspaper Editors article, written by Doug White,