Ich möchte Deutsch sprechen

I was once an 11-year-old violin student, struggling to be the star my violin teacher wanted. Every week I would be greeted with a disappointed look if I had not practiced. I also never really got the hang of scales, which happen to be the backbone of almost every musical instrument. According to Renata Rozmus, I peaked around age 14, but continued to play until I was 21.

One week I decided to impress the hell out of Renata. I practiced my Kreutzer etude endlessly, the way Renata taught me, phrase by phrase and at a slow pace until I could speed up. When I played it for her, I effortlessly glided through each measure, topped it off with vibrato and finished (almost) perfectly. “Brava,” she said, eyebrows raised. Yes, I had done it- impressed Renata.

I want to do that with Christine in our German classes. I’ve fallen behind on my lessons, and I know she doesn’t get why I’m such an idiot when it comes to German grammar. But it’s really hard for me! However, this weekend I plan to study like a nerd until I’m as fluent as Susi says I am.

On the same note, I want to impress my host family. And… I want to prove to myself I can be amazing!

Tonight we’re all going out for Miriam’s birthday. She’s officially legal in her home country, Canada! I look forward to a fun weekend with amazing weather. Patricia and Nadine have theater performances Saturday and Sunday, so wish them “break a leg.” Fabienne’s birthday is Sunday, and P&N and I have been working on painting a mobile for her.

Lindsey, Marina, Katy and I are all booked for AMSTERDAM April 3-5! Rome is somewhere around April 16-20. LUGANO is March 28, since they have a chocolate carnival! Lugano also has cable lifts over the mountains. Paris is yet to be determined. And I’m waiting for my man to get to Europe before I go to Dublin.

Speaking of my man, it’s been three months with Kevin today and I couldn’t be happier!

Glossary of Important Switzerland People

Susi- Is my host mother. She is a wonderful and amazing woman. She raises three girls, cooks, does laundry, plays with the kids, loves her husband, and tells me random stories about her day. “Aha!” She will say. “I read in the newspaper that a 13-year-old girl had a baby the other day. Thirteen!!” or… “My friend decided to start yoga but she doesn’t like it.” However, sometimes I don’t feel like I’m getting full honesty from her because both times we had serious talks, I had absolutely no idea that I had been doing anything wrong. But I want to be friends with Susi because I recognize the fun person she is.

Kevin- Is my boyfriend who lives in Gainesville. He just started his master’s degree in civil engineering, and he also took on a position as a TA for an engineering class and he works part time for an engineering company. He’s completely wonderful and is worth waiting for when I move back home. He makes me want to be a better person and every night I wish I would wake up next to him the next morning. We video chat a lot, which makes him an Important Switzerland Person. His face shows up on my computer in my room very often.

Rene- Is my host dad. It’s a bit awkward with him because he doesn’t speak English as fluently as Susi, and also I have seen him mosey into the kitchen wearing undies. One time in Davos, I had to take a long walk with him and Fabienne, and I babbled the whole time to fill the spaces in between. But he drinks more espresso than even I, so he is cool. He taught me how to ski.

Patricia- Is 3 years old and can speak German, Swiss German and stunted English. She gets confused when I try to speak German with her; I think it’s because she doesn’t know how much German I know (not much). She loves hair. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and when she’s cranky she screams about nothing. But she is also sweet, and it’s really cute when she tries to explain things in English. She is very social and will talk to anyone. I don’t think she knows how much it hurts my feelings when she doesn’t want to play with me.

Nadine- is 5 years old and also speaks three languages, on my count. She is smart and thoughtful, and will spend 30 minutes drawing one picture. She’s very quiet and does this weird thing where she opens her jaw at random times. She also lets out pretty long farts. She is the only 5-year-old vegetarian I know. She’s really sweet but, like Patricia, can be pretty crazy. Also like Patricia, I don’t think she knows how much she can hurt my feelings.

Fabienne- Is 1 year old on March 15. She eats, poops, laughs, crawls, tries to walk, and cries. She’s a pretty sweet kid.

Katy- Is one of my very besties. I met her last August at Katie Wassink’s wedding shower in Gainesville. I met her once more in October at the wedding, and the whole wedding party became great friends during that time. I don’t know what I would do here without her. During the first few weeks, she slept over here almost every night and we drank and ate. I am so glad someone else loves eating and wine like I do.

Lindsey- Was on the same flight to Switzerland that I was on! I met her through Camey at my first Wednesday au pair meeting. She lives a five-minute walk away and I am so grateful to know such a wonderful friend. She’s always happy and cheerful, and I can talk to her about almost everything. Katy, Marina, Lindsey and I are a great foursome.

Marina- Is from Germany, and is here as a nanny/teacher. I think she tells the funniest stories and I love how she loves America. Because goddammit, I love America too.

Christine- Is my German teacher. She is quiet and kind. But I feel like an asshole when I don’t even know what page I’m on in the book during class. Perry used to serve as the buffer, the person who knew what was going on in class. I have no idea how to use “eine,” “kein,” and so on. I am screwed.

Grossmami and Grosspapi: Are Susi’s parents. We go to their house and eat lunch every Wednesday. The first time I went to Davos, Grossmami helped with the kids. I thought she was kind of crazy and loopy but she is actually pretty awesome. The first time I went to her house, she made sure to show me the best view on the balcony. Her English isn’t perfect, but I don’t know German, so we work with it. I think it’s really cute how she translates everything for me, because Susi forgets much of the time. Grossmami texts me sometimes. Grosspapi speaks very little English, but he tries. He’s super fun and silly.

Oma and Opa- Do not speak English. We go to their house every Tuesday for lunch. Patricia absolutely adores Oma, but I kind of want to be like… what about Grossmami? However, Oma and Opa are super nice. Awesome food and pie.

Meilen Mondays

Today is Monday, and I love them. Why? Because I feel like I actually bond with the kids. I take Patricia and Fabienne to Migros to play on the playground, eat croissants, drink juice and meet up with Lindsey and Fynn. We get home just in time for lunch and then the kids generally play with Susi before going to theater class. While Patricia and Nadine are in theater, I take Fabienne for another walk and she falls asleep – a.k.a. I have a small break. After theater, there’s a stampede of children who invade the Schneider house. Today I had an arts & crafts project waiting for Patricia and Nadine: take leaves and branches from outside and paint with them. They loved it, thankfully. Then we all made a pizza, which is always fun.

Now I am babysitting and the kids are all asleep. I’m taking time to unwind. This past week was pretty good. I measure “good” in that I heard “I love you” a few times from Patricia and Nadine, I kept them entertained, Susi was impressed by the snow globes we made, Fabienne was smiling a lot, German class went fine, I got to talk to my love on G-chat, my parents are doing fine and I’m accepting my plan for the next year or so.

The weather has also been sehr gut, and at times I can just wear my pea coat instead of my down jacket.

I am so exhausted. I think I’m going to sleep. Gut nacht….

Month Two in Switzerland

The weather is beautiful in Meilen, and it’s mesmerizing on days like this. I like to stand on one of the balconies and look at the Zurichsee, with the little Swiss towns on the other side, and shade my eyes with my hand to block the blinding glimmer from the lake. The Alps are to my left and the city of Zurich far to my right. Straight ahead is Horgen, where Katie Wassink was an au pair last year. She’s the one who got me interested in this wacko job.

Month two was easier in some ways and much harder in other ways. After my first month, my host mom sat me down and told me what to work on. I’m “messy, disorganized and sad.” Shocked, I had no defense. Ok, I will work on it, I told her awkwardly. Thank you for letting me know.

Then I visited Florida after five weeks of being here. When it was time to return to Switzerland, it was torture to step onto the plane. I was a cranky traveler the day Kevin dropped me off at the Tampa airport. When the Delta check-in woman brusquely told me my suitcase was 13 lbs over the weight limit and that it would cost $150 to keep it, I stared blankly at her until Kevin told her we’d figure something out. I turned around so she couldn’t see my face and started crying like a child. What an embarrassment. I had even told Katy I would bring stuff back to her, and I had to throw her under the bus and leave it with Kevin.

I slept in a depressed heap on the eight-hour flight to Zurich. The man who sat next to me didn’t talk much, and that was probably because I cried most of the time I was awake. Kevin’s note was tucked into my back jeans pocket, where he put it before sending me off. “Schatzle,” it began, “I know you don’t want to be leaving right now. Know that I am here waiting and I will keep on waiting.” There was more, but it’s private. Trying to cheer me up, he took a Delta luggage tag and wrote his address on it, along with “return to if found.” He fit the string around my wrist. I read that note and my Valentine’s Day card several times on the flight. I also peaked at a picture of us kissing, but it just made me cry more.

When I got to Zurich, I meandered through the airport and onto an S7 back to Meilen. I didn’t give a shit that I didn’t have a ticket to the HB or to Meilen. Let them audit me, even extradite me. I dragged my huge suitcase through the snow, up two steep hills and up a dozen stone steps to my apartment under the Schneider house. The family wasn’t even home to cheer me up- they were in Davos.

I arrived in Davos two days later. This is when I snapped out of the funk that gripped me. I had to let America go. My friends, my family, they could deal with it. I had to deal with the homesickness. Every au pair deals with it. I could not go home. I could not fail. There were reasons I came back. It was a big step to come back to Zurich, especially after I discovered things related to my host family while I was in the states. I could have easily stayed in Florida, especially since I knew as fact the Schneiders did not want me back. But I could not return home permanently without trying to prove them wrong.

While in Davos, I had no Internet connection and no way to talk to my friends and family back home. Being so cut off, in a place so gorgeous, forced me to accept Switzerland.

I know it took too long to adjust, but at least it happened. Now I take a run through the streets of Meilen in the mornings and pause at the dock, where the Zurichsee is majestically close to me. I meet with Lindsey at Migros for kid playdates. I say “Gruetzi” when I see someone I know. I say “genau” when I mean “exactly” and I say “doch” when I want to negate what you say. I string together sentences in German and hope they work. I tell Susi funny stories about my day and I enjoy hers too. I play tag with Patricia and teach the kids how to make snow globes. I’m here to be a great au pair, and I want to be here.

Most of what I’ve learned has to do with the very subject I want to earn a master’s in: international communications. When I confronted Susi about an urgent issue, she was blunt, slightly rude and nonapologetic. This was not the Susi I heard stories about from Krystle and Camey, this was more like the Swiss I knew as a whole. Swiss people, in general, don’t show their feelings very often and worry about organizing themselves. I want to think about this and try to explain it later, because it’s complicated.

Another communications issue is the language of kids. Camey told me kids are like peanuts- you can try to open one and shatter the shell, or you can do it carefully and crack it perfectly along the line. I’m not sure if this metaphor is so great, but I got the picture. It’s a walk over eggshells sometimes with these girls. I don’t want to crack them the wrong way (?) It’s a psychological game many times I want something done. I’m getting used to it, and I wouldn’t bother if I didn’t think these were great girls who deserve a great au pair. With kids, I had to accept that their feelings toward me will change and sometimes they will be bratty. Some days I’m an asshole. Everyone is. But it changes every day.

On Wednesday, Nadine freaked out and started crying because Susi told her she had to sit next to me. In German, Nadine wailed, “but I had to sit next to her at breakfast.” However, on Monday Nadine and Patricia fought over who would get the privilege to sit next to me. They both wanted to. Today, even though it is my day off, I followed them for about an hour while they took my hand and showed me secret surprises around the front and back yard. “I miss you. I love you,” Patricia said. “Yes, but silly, I saw you yesterday!” I replied. “And I love you too.”

I think I can handle this.

Month One in Switzerland

The first month in Switzerland can be compared to a 10k run: it hurt like hell but now that it’s over I’m glad I did it. And there are 11 more to go.

I arrived in Meilen, Switzerland, where Camey picked me up from the airport, or “flughafen.” I had never met her, only Facebook-stalked through her albums of being an au pair for the Schneider family during 2008. She greeted me with a hug, I greeted her with news that Swiss Airlines had lost my two suitcases. I tried to hide the anxiety that was racing through me: I moved to another country because I couldn’t find a job in journalism; I found an amazing guy named Kevin days before I left; I wasn’t sure if this was for me; and finally, my fucking suitcases were gone.

The next week was spent getting accustomed to the Schneider family and 30-degree weather. Camey was a great guide, and my first two nights out in Switzerland with other au pairs were appropriately crazy. My suitcases returned within 24 hours.

Snow fascinated me. Living in Texas for the first eight years of my life was eroded by photographs that take place of real memories. I don’t remember snow, I can only see pictures of me playing in it. For days, I gingerly poked at the frozen white powder, stomped on it, slipped on it, blew on it, tried to form it into snowballs, kicked it, nudged it, and finally grew tired of it. Snow is just white and cold… but it is magical.

Katy Dose, who was a bridesmaid with me in October, joined me in Switzerland on Jan. 8. She was to be an au pair in a neighboring town. The first time I saw her in Switzerland was after I missed two trains trying to meet up with her in Kusnacht and after 20 minutes of stressed-out crying in a train shelter. “KATY!” I yelled when I finally got to her. “Kim!” she replied. We hugged. For the past three weeks, we haven’t been separated for more than a few days.

“How is the family?”

“How are the kids?”

“How is the weather?”

“Are you homesick?”

“Is it cold?”

These are the most oft-heard questions from the past month. It’s Switzerland, what do you expect? It’s zero degrees Celcius most days, but I wear a down coat, scarf, gloves, hat and appropriate shoes. The cold is fine. It’s not the cold that is freaking me out. For weeks, I was constantly sick over whether the three girls liked me. Did the parents like me? Am I too loud at night? Is it ok that Katy spends most nights in the extra bed in my apartment? What would I do if Katy weren’t here? Am I really dating a guy across an ocean? Am I transatlantacizing?

The girls I am an au pair for are three of the most beautiful children I have ever met. But how could three sisters be so different? Patricia, 3, is social, bold, loud and fickle. Nadine, 5, is quiet, smart, sweet and shy – but impish. Fabienne, 10 months, has been crying a lot. It’s really worrying me. At first, it seemed none of them cared I existed. Nadine and Patricia called me “stupid cow” in German and I was constantly trying to tune into the Swiss German conversations that were taking place right in front of me at the dinner table. Every suggestion I made for games to play was shot down. When I asked simple questions – how are you? – I was eyed suspiciously and ignored.

That changed somewhat after three or so weeks. Nadine was sick and decided to nap on my lap for hours at a time. Yes! Victory was mine. She needed me. Then Susi, my host mom, took Patricia, Fabienne and I to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. Patricia and I had made little progress in the last few weeks. Here was the test. We bonded through walks to the Bolgen Plaza restaurant, where hot chocolate and ’90s American music was featured. Grossmami, what we called one of their grandmothers, was with us the whole time.

I knew Patricia and I would be ok, somehow, someday, when suddenly she woke up in the middle of the night in Davos, while Susi was still working. She was shrieking, asking for her mom, covering her ears and hitting Grossmami, who tried to help. Grossmami took Fabienne to another room while I took Patricia’s face gently in my hands and told her she needed to stop. Now. This wasn’t ok, and Mami would be home soon. I picked her up and she did this thing where she plays with my hair and says “snip, snip!” I carried her to the kitchen and got her some water and asked if she was hungry. She said no. She hugged me and said “I love you.” I carried her back to her room and she asked me to sleep in her bed. I did until Susi got home 20 minutes later, and I went back to my room and reflected on the fact I was in another country with a family I barely knew.

The next day I thought constantly of leaving. I know everyone could tell I was not adjusting appropriately. I washed the dishes absentmindedly after dinner and thought of a conversation I had with Kevin right before I left for Davos.

“There must be a reason you’re staying, because you’re not home. So think of those reasons and you’ll be fine,” he said. Something to that effect.

As I rinsed another plate I looked up through the window over the sink. My breathe caught in my throat and I think a sound escaped from my mouth. As the sun was setting, its light filtered through intensely vivid green pines that were coated with frozen white snow. Clouds formed around the mountains that rose up casually in the distance. Light scattered off the clouds that made red and aqua blue. And it wasn’t just one mountain or 10 trees- Davos is a panorama of beauty and winter wonderland.

In Switzerland, all you have to do is look out a window to remind yourself why you stayed.

Moving to Switzerland; Auf Wiedersehen!

When editing class ended, I allowed my blog to collect proverbial dust. PenAndNotepad sat here, waiting for the day I would have career news. Oh, penandnotepad. I am deeply saddened that your writer has no such news on the journalism front.

For three months, I worked as an intern at The Fort Myers News-Press. After that ended, I waited to be hired, only to be told that there were only layoffs in the near future. I freelanced for the News-Press for four months until I decided to make a drastic decision.

I’m moving to Switzerland for a year to travel and be a nanny. This will be my blog, and I hope to write copiously about my travels and the new food, etc I will be trying.

At the bottom of the Totem pole

After reading “The Existential Copy Editor,” I agree with the fact that the copy desk isn’t treated with enough respect or understanding. We’re the lowest of the paid; the last afterthought; at the bottom of the Totem pole.

I can’t help but to turn to my experience at the Alligator. Writers have, in the past, thanked me profusely for fixing a fact error, and once or twice a section editor has told me they think I’ve done a good job at editing an article. But when a typo or error gets through, then it’s all the copy desk’s fault and we’re back to square one. All of a sudden, especially to our top editor, the copy desk is a loathsome creature. Again and again I have written about this frustration. In fact, it’s almost enough for me to get out of copy editing.

It’s frustrating. The other day, a section editor blew off a recommendation of how to punctuate a quote so it could made sense. It angered me that editors could choose not to listen to the copy desk when it’s our job to make those recommendations.

According to the article, “in 1996, Merrill challenged journalists to reject a herd mentality and embrace the freedom and responsibility valued so highly by existential philosophers.” Existentialism, according to the article, values “intensity, as manifested in acts of free choice, individual self-assertion, personal love, or creative work”

So I suppose copy editors have to just ignore the disrespect and try to shine in the middle of an occasionally negative environment.

I do think copy editors have to try harder to earn respect. An editor at a newspaper recently told my friend, “reporters are a dime a dozen. Get into copy editing.” I think if we embrace our job and become good at it, we can earn that fulfillment and be respected at work.

Since I argue that copy editors can one day coexist with the rest of the newsroom, I do understand the finger-pointing to an extent. It is our job, after all, to catch these mistakes. I think back to reporting class, when writers were so terrified of getting that 50-point reduction for a fact error that they obsessively checked all the facts.

I wish all writers could be as anal. But then, where would be copy desk go if writers all of a sudden became excellent grammarians and headline-writers? They need us. And we need to excel in order to be the last line of defense for our newspapers.

I just wish the newsroom acknowledged how much they need us.

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,