Media Ride-Along Report

I spent a shift shadowing Marilyn Young, metro editor for the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, on March 11, 2008. While there, I also spoke with metro assigning editor Tim Heider, ombudsman Wayne Ezell, and features context editor John Timpe. 

 

Diary of a Shift—Marilyn Young, Metro Editor

            9:30 a.m. Arrive in the office and check e-mails

            9:45 a.m. Have a “maestro meeting” with online database editor and online photo editor to discuss the presentation of stories that will also appear in the coming week’s print editions

            10 a.m. Morning budget meeting with all editors to discuss next two days’ papers. Those attending include the art editor, library director, interim editor, content editor, and wire editor. Stories are added and struck from the budgets in everyone’s hands. The interim editor says he does not yet have a centerpiece story for the next day’s paper and asks for suggestions. Someone says they should localize a wire story about restaurants’ cutting corners because of the economic recession. Another editor suggests making a story about the retirement of a veteran cold case cop into the centerpiece. The ombudsman says a business section headline was inaccurate in the previous day’s paper. He also says readers responded really well when the lifestyle section ran sample questions from the FCAT to test readers’ intelligence. The online editor reports a record number of page views when photos from a recent marathon were added to the Web site, Jacksonville.com.            

            11 a.m. Meet with assistant metro editor and a reporter to discuss a breaking news story he’s working on. He’s stumbled upon a lawsuit in an adjacent county wherein a young woman is trying to get the inheritance of her deceased elderly husband. Apparently, the woman and her boyfriend schemed for her to marry the rich old man and take all his money. Marilyn likes the Anna Nicole-esque scandal but warns the reporter to make sure the story is documented well.

            11:30 a.m. Check e-mails and respond to one from the Georgia bureau chief

            12-1 p.m. Lunch with metro assigning editor Tim Heider and features context editor John Timpe. Topics of discussion include the recent reorganization the newsroom had undergone. Apparently, the company did a massive “reorg” a couple of years ago, and this most recent reorg was to correct the problems created by the first. Now, the paper is hiring many new reporters. Tim tells me that in his 20 years of newspaper experience, he’s “never met a reader advocate [aka ombudsman] who was worth a shit.” He says they all “f—ed up” at some point in their careers and were made into reader advocates. For example, he says the T-U ombudsman used to be a publisher at a paper in South Florida, but he was completely inept.

            1:30 p.m. Attend another “maestro meeting” with two photo editors to discuss video for online and art for tomorrow’s paper

            2 p.m. Attend a training session with all other department heads to learn how to use new budgeting software. Each editor sits at a computer and watches a demonstration on an overhead projector while a disembodied voice narrates over a speaker phone. (We leave early, and Marilyn tells me this is the third updated version of the software with its own training session. She complains of the grotesque waste of time.)

            3 p.m. Meeting with interim editor Frank Denton to discuss a proposal the ombudsman has submitted. The proposal is for story package planning to begin weeks, even months in advance, in order for photo and graphics editors to better plan their strategies. Marilyn says she appreciates what he’s trying to do, but says the proposal is just not feasible because stories evolve so much during the course of reporting, and reporters shouldn’t be stuck in a corner because the art has already been done.

            3:30 p.m. Attend afternoon budget meeting to finalize tomorrow’s paper.

            Note: I left the paper at this time. Through my interview, I learned that Marilyn works until 12:30 a.m. some days. “If I get out by 10 or 11, I’m lucky,” she said. She spends much of the evening in meetings with various editors and reporters in the office and over the phone from the Georgia bureau. She also continues to get phone calls from work after she goes home for the night.

 

Hierarchy Chart

            Please see PowerPoint presentation. Note: Because of recent reorganization, the chart may be somewhat out of date. However, it is the best version available. Someday, the development editor plans to consolidate the chart and put it online.

 

Profile of an Editor

            Before coming to the Times-Union, Marilyn Young was the managing editor of a midsize Indiana paper for 10 years. She started at the T-U as the night editor and worked her way up to being metro editor within five years.

            When she started at the T-U, she worked with a staff of 27 reporters. Today, because of company reorganizations, the staff is down to 15 reporters, but Marilyn is in the process of hiring about five more, including a military reporter, a health reporter, and an investigative reporter.

            Marilyn knew she wanted to be a journalist since third grade, when she was in charge of the classroom newsletter. As soon as she got out of high school, she began writing for a paper in Jeffersonville, Ind. While attending classes at Indiana University, she continued reporting for the paper, contributing coverage about an adjacent county. Her first editor was her best editor, she says. She still calls him for advice, even though he’s been retired for five years.

            When she was a reporter, Marilyn had no interest in becoming an editor. She was working at her second paper when she was asked to step in for an editor’s monthlong hiatus. At age 27, she was then asked to fill the position full time. When the paper was bought out, she moved to the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind., where she started as features editor. She was city editor and then managing editor before moving to Jacksonville.

            Marilyn says her biggest career regret is leaving reporting so early. She plans to one day end her career in reporting because “it’s the greatest job in the world.”

 

Copy of Ethical Policy

            Please see hard copy on Wednesday. Highlights include:

n      Staff members may not accept any cash, gifts, samples, discounts, or free services

n      Staff members may not seek public office while employed at the paper

n      Editors may approve circumstances under which a reporter or photographer does not identify himself as a journalist to a news source

n      Some people should not be identified by address, including handicapped people, those with valuable collections, or those who have been featured because of physical attributes

 

 

 

Views of Ethical Policy

            Marilyn says, “I don’t know of anyone who violates it.” She says the paper takes its policy very seriously: “There’s no gray there.”

 

Policies

            Using anonymous sources

                        Using an anonymous source must be approved by an assistant managing editor or higher. It can only be done if the information has been verified by at least two independent sources and the department head knows who they are. Marilyn says 95 percent of the time, there’s a better way to get the information. When possible, the paper identifies the person the best way possible, for example by saying, “a courthouse official…”

            Identifying juveniles suspected of crimes

                        Juveniles are always identified when they are charged as adults and are sometimes identified if they are charged with violent crimes. 

            Identifying victims of crime, especially rape/molestation victims

                        The paper never does this, except in the rare case the victim wants to be identified.

            Fact checking

                        Marilyn says there is no written policy on fact checking, but it’s “just something we do.” Copy editors especially verify every name, phone number and Web address.

 

 

 

Outside influences on news content

            Marilyn said the only outside influence she could think of was suggestions from readers. As far as sacred cows, she says the paper had none. She says she actually killed a couple of them when she took over as metro editor. For example, she decided to not cover a fundraiser that had received prominent coverage for many years.

 

Training

            Before budget cuts, the paper used to bring in training sessions by Investigative Reporters and Editors and other groups for “journalism week.” Now, the paper sends one person to a training session or conference, and that person shares his knowledge with other newspaper staff at a brown bag lunch.

 

Editing Protocols

            The T-U doesn’t have written editing protocols, but many questions about the editing process are answered in other written documents: “Attribution and Sourcing Policy,” “The Florida Times-Union Policy on Plagiarism,” and “Values.” Marilyn explains that changes are rarely made to stories without a reporter’s knowledge because assigning editors work so closely with reporters throughout the reporting process. If something gets changed, the two meet the next day to discuss the reason. Copy editors have an unwritten rule that they never change a story’s lede, except in the case of very experienced copy editors who have a gift for improvement. Most importantly, copy editors must be sure to “keep a reporter’s voice.”

 

 

Pay and Unionization

            Marilyn says editors are not unionized and never seriously considered it. Assigning editors at the T-U make between $45,000 and $65,000 per year. Because she is a department head in charge of assigning editors, she makes more than that but wouldn’t specify the exact amount.

 

Convergence

            The Times-Union produces the Web site www.Jacksonville.com, with bureaus including http://www.myarlingtonsun.com/, http://myclaysun.com/, http://mymandarinsun.com/ and  http://www.shorelines.com/. Over the past year, the staff of Jacksonville.com has melded into the newsroom staff. Physically, the staff became one with the institution of a circular desk module, at which online and print editors sit in close proximity. Last year, the paper designated a “Rapid Response Team,” whose main mission is to put content on the Web immediately. Marilyn says, “As a newsroom, as soon as we know something, we post it.” She said exclusive stories used to be held until the next day’s print version, but now even they are immediately posted despite the danger a competitor might steal it. Any staff member can post content online from any computer in the newsroom. Some reporters have shot their own video to go online. Comments posted on online message boards are sometimes taken and put into the print edition the next day. Marilyn says the online product is seen as being equal with the print version. “I think we realize that if we all want to be working in 10 years, it’s equal,” she says.

            Convergence has presented plenty of obstacles, Marilyn says. She says all local and developing stories go online, but the paper needs to greatly improve their presentation. She said she works with online and art editors all the time to enhance presentation using photos and videos. She said now the paper develops a story for the print version and puts it online as an afterthought, but it’s moving toward creating stories for online and putting them in print as an afterthought. She said the goal is to create “platform agnostic” content, but it’s difficult for the newspaper culture to adapt.

            Wayne Ezell, the T-U ombudsman, said convergence has added dimensions to his job as a liaison between the readers and the news staff. He said he’s gotten more e-mails recently from people whose whole view of the paper appears to reflect the online product. This creates a “schism” is his mind between “paper people” and “online people.” With 750,000 recent page views of a single online photo gallery, he said the T-U staff recognizes the amount of time people are spending with the online product. He plans to start a blog in addition to his weekly printed column.

            Part of the newsroom is dedicated to a multimedia production space with green screens. So far, the space has been used to host a talk show about high school football that went online.

 

Career Advice 1

            For young journalists looking to start their careers, Marilyn said it’s of utmost importance to work under a great editor. A great editor, like the one she had at her first job, is patient yet firm, knows what makes a great story, and gets you to do it. For those who hope to become editors, she says to work as a reporter for as long as you can first. She said the relationship between editor and reporter is a “tough” one because the editor must work to earn reporters’ respect and trust. Therefore, a young editor would have an even harder time. She said the only time a young person should take on an editing position is if she works for a really small paper and also writes.

 

Career Advice: Resumes and Cover Letters

            Marilyn stressed that the cover letter is the most important part of an application. She said she sees so many resumes that they all start to look the same, so your big chance to grab her attention is in the letter. She can tell if you’re a good writer in one paragraph, she says, so there’s no minimum length. She advises students to avoid the cliché: “I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer,” even if it’s true. She would rather see great storytelling or a big dose of personality than tired old phrases. She says multimedia skills are important, but if you don’t have them, tell her in the cover letter that you’re willing to learn them. That way, you show that you realize they are important even if you didn’t get a chance to take an online class in school. (She suggests visiting apple.com and soundslides.com for free tutorials on how to produce multimedia.)

            In your resume, what you did isn’t as important as how you did it. She says to explicitly state your skills adds icing to the cake of your experience. For example, say what computer programs you used to edit copy at your last job.

 

 

Editing More Carefully

I watched “Shattered Glass” this weekend, and since then I can honestly say my edting has become more precise. At work at a daily midsize newspaper, I have found myself verifying more facts. I even found something in a story that was completely false the other day. The movie, about New Republic “fabulist” Stephen Glass, made me remember as an editor not to put so much trust in my reporters.

Week 11 Abstracts

Who Would Want to Be a Copy Editor?  

This article says copy editors as a profession are treated and perceived as the bottom of the food chain in the news room.  Because they are not respected in the real world, the author says, journalism professors often do not train their students for copy editing or espouse its importance. Auman says newsrooms would benefit from a restructuring that would increase the communication between reporters and copy editors, change the hours everyone works so the copy desk can begin earlier and create a panel of representatives to identify ways the copy desk’s job benefits readers. Then, she says, journalism schools would be more likely to suggest the job to their students.

 

As someone who has interned on the copy desk of a large newspaper and who has worked as a reporter, I can agree with Auman’s point that the copy editor is basically at the whim of the reporter. The editor can only do her job when the story is finished and must return to work when the reporter submits changes to the original. Also, the hours are not traditional: Copy editors began arriving around 3 p.m. and left around midnight each day. However, I don’t know if changing everyone’s hours is necessary or feasible. For example, reporters must do most of their work on workdays between normal business hours because that’s when most sources are available. Therefore, most interviews must be conducted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Then, the writer must finish her story. I don’t see how the time table for this could be dramatically shifted. Also, because newspapers want to have the most up-to-date news from wire services, someone must be in the news room until the last page is sent to the press around midnight. It only makes sense.

 

I do agree with Auman, however, that it would benefit everyone in the newsroom to have more of a dialogue between reporters and copy editors. Maybe an organized lunch would help everyone get to know each other and break down the physical barriers between the two groups.

 Goodbye Copy Desk, Hello Trouble?  

This article from 1997 brought to my attention the fact that some newsrooms were experimenting with integrating copy editing into other newsroom areas rather than retaining a separate copy desk. Proponents for this new setup said it increased overall newsroom efficiency, built stronger relationships between reporters and copy editors and in many cases gave copyeditors higher job satisfaction and better hours.

 

The article raised several questions about potential downsides to this drastic reorganization. One was “Who will serve as mentors for copy editors?” It went on to say that historically, the slot editor served as a mentor for younger copy editors and even reporters. I think there probably won’t be a void if the editors in new positions mentor their successors. If there were no more slot editor position, then no one would need to know how to do that job anymore. Instead, new editors would learn the new positions a reorganization would create. The jobs would just be more specialized.

 

Another question was something like this: “If the institution of a copy desk disappears, will there be a lack of institutional support for the job?” I think this is a quite valid concern because with less physical solidarity between editors, it will be easier for the newsroom to place more importance on other functions, such as reporting. The article says with the experimental reorgs at some papers, the result has arguably been more mistakes in the final product

 

I think a reorganization/ restructuring/ downsizing of this kind would require a fairly large paper with distinct departments. That way, the copyeditor can develop specialized knowledge and working relationships with certain reporters. But for a midsize paper with less clear divisions between departments, I think the copy desk should remain a separate entity in order to support each department equally.

 Editing the Project or Series 

This article appealed to me because we are required to edit a project in our advanced editing class. I am also writing stories as part of a series for a midsize newspaper, so I thought it would be helpful to get the editor’s perspective.

 

I was somewhat surprised at the main point: A copy editor should be involved with the creation of a series from the first planning meeting through publication. I must say that for the series I am working on, no copy editors have been involved in planning. We have four reporters and one senior assigning editor. But the idea appeals to me if for no other reason than to have another person helping the series be the best it can be. I especially liked the suggestions for the copy editor to do some independent research on the topic, to help come up with headlines (which can guide the theme of the entire package), and to assist with finding graphics.

 

I wonder if many copy editors would be eager to participate in a series. At the midsize paper where I work, I don’t know if one would be easily assigned to a single project like this. It would require him or her to come in for meetings well before her normal hours, for one thing. It’s interesting to consider whether the benefit to the series would be worth the resources and time a copy editor would invest on top of the reporters’ existing work.

   

Week 10 Abstracts

National Council on Public Polls: Twenty Questions a Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results: While reading the introduction to this article, I remembered a story I had recently read at USAToday.com, which used unscientific polls to survey bald and hairy company CEOs. This story said unscientific polls are never to be used, but the story used them and told readers that’s what they were. When I read the USA Today story, I got bored after a while and stopped reading because I didn’t feel the results were reliable or representative of the entire nation, or even of all CEOs, for that matter. I think the introduction to this article gets it right when it says only scientific polls have a place in “serious” reports.  The questions suggested here are wonderful! I really like how thoroughly they force the reporter to examine the poll. I think the questions pose a somewhat daunting task for writers and editors because they require much more research than simply taking someone’s word as gospel. But they are necessary to ensure news organizations are doing right by readers, who can be easily misled by faulty or unreliable information. I love the first two questions: “Who did this poll?” and “Who paid for it?” Those really are the most important things to know when evaluating its validity.  The article seems really strict sometimes when it says a poll’s results should not be reported unless the reporter knows it has a verifiable safeguard against age-inappropriate respondents, for example. These little things might not occur to news people but should.  One of my favorite questions was “What have other polls on this topic said?” That is such an excellent question and one possibly overlooked on a regular basis. This can help avoid embarrassment later on and keep the critics at bay. I think the theme of the whole article is, when reporting on polls, always stay one step ahead of the critics by anticipating any questions they might raise.  Stinkyjournalism.org This Web site critiques the way journalists cover issues and uncovers specific and general inaccuracies in published coverage. Many of the topics seem like ones we could cover in our open-ended blog entries for this class. For example, one post on the site criticizes a trend in covering dog attack stories to focus on and vilify one or two breeds of dogs rather than focusing on the causes of and circumstances leading up to the attack. Its author compares such coverage to law enforcement officers’ racial profiling.  The blog posts are helpfully grouped into topic, ranging from science to gossip. They are also searchable by date and publication. My biggest complaint with the site is that most of the posts are six or more months old. The most recent was from two weeks ago, but the majority of them were from last year and earlier. (In some categories, the most recent post is from 2005.) Despite the infrequent posts, some of the investigative work on the site is quite interesting. I liked one report on the site that exposed how a hunting fraud fooled the international media into thinking an 11-year-old had killed a “monster” wild boar. The report exposes business relationships and other circumstances that should have disclosed in the original reporting of the event. Investigations like this are important for journalism in general because I often wonder who will be the watch dog over the press, who is supposed to be the watch dog over the government. Independent sites like this one are a step in the right direction.  Calame comes down on NYT for math in single women story 

I remember this from the regular editing lecture last year. The New York Times reported on the front page that 51 percent of American women were living without a spouse and compared this census data with data from 1950 and 2000. The problem with the trend-spotting story was it failed to mention that the “women” in the story included 15- to 17-year-olds, 90 percent of whom still lived with their parents, until the second half of the story, which was continued on an inside page. The story was corrected after the NYT public editor Byron Calame wrote a column criticizing the report. The editor then responded within days, saying he would institute a new policy: to consult newsroom employees specializing in statistics before putting such stories in print.

 

Calame’s article then goes on to say that editors admitted that at the Page 1 meeting for that day, the story’s methodology was never questioned. This reminds me of my media ride-along experience last week. I watched editors at a large newspaper discuss whether to run a story on teenage girls and STDs. The AP story said one in four teenage girls have at least one STD. Editors from many departments immediately asked who conducted the study and how they knew it was right because the data seemed so inflated. I like Calame’s suggestion that all newsroom employees undergo some sort of numeracy training in basics like percent change, stats, etc. to keep us all skeptical of fuzzy numbers.

 Margin of Error 

This was a good one for us all to read. It’s always helpful for people to consider margin of error when comparing poll results over time. In order to do this, one might think of the margin of error as a range in which the answers could fall—if the polled sample were extended to the whole population. In other words, using the example from the criticized story, Dole’s popularity rating ranged from 34 to 42. These ranges become important when comparing results over time because if there’s overlap between two ranges, then neither result is statistically greater than the other.

   

Week 9 Abstracts

Rutger’s video about plagiarism  

This video gave a simple lesson on what constitutes plagiarism, followed by a real-world example of how to cite sources and an interactive quiz testing my knowledge of when it’s appropriate to cite a source. I scored four out of five on the quiz because I failed to recognize that highly lofty language could not possibly be a student’s own words and must be stolen from a more credible and intelligent source.

A video on plagiarism is a good thing for a journalist to watch. We all think, “Of course I know what plagiarism is, and I would never do it,” but it never hurts to be reminded. For instance, I did not know that reusing a paper for another class is considered plagiarism. I thought that if the paper satisfied the needs of both classes, then you were doing nothing wrong by submitting it to another professor. (Don’t tell my professors I said so, though.)

When writing a news story, it’s easy to get caught up in reporting the facts without attributing them to your sources. For the same reason academics must cite their sources in journal articles, journalists must consistently cite their sources to avoid losing credibility with the reader. I think a good rule of thumb would be to scroll over each sentence in a story and ask yourself, “How do I know that?” If the answer is anything other than, “That’s common knowledge,” you need to add attribution.

 Readers: Anonymous sources affect media credibility 

 I was glad to see that most readers agree that anonymous sourcing is sometimes necessary. I think that readers should be able to trust newspapers to use anonymous sources wisely and only when the story cannot be told any other way. If you trust a paper to say, “So-and-so said X,” then you should be able to trust the same paper to say, “An anonymous source said X.” Maybe I’m just optimistic about journalists’ ethics, but I believe stories based on anonymous sources are just as rigorously fact-checked as stories based on named sources. I just trust newspapers not to BS me.

That said, I think it’s important that papers not use anonymous sources when another source is available. Many people do not share my trust in newspapers and would feel comforted by a named source. For example, my grandfather recently referred to the New York Times story that quoted anonymous sources in accusing Sen. John McCain of granting favors to a female lobbyist. My grandfather called the Times a “rag” and said it’s the worst paper in America. I could not convince him otherwise.

As the article concludes, a set of criteria for using anonymous sources is helpful to avoid reader incredulity while being able to tell sensitive stories. I especially like the tip to think about the source’s motives for not speaking on record and including those in the story if possible. Asking yourself about someone’s motives is a helpful exercise for reporters and editors in general. For example, I recently approved a story for publication about an event happening on the UF campus. Later, after giving it more thought and doing a little research, I told the reporter to cancel the story because the event was created to promote a private business. While this example does not relate to the issue of anonymous sources, I believe it highlights the importance of questioning the motives of reporters and sources.

 How good is your word? This article on whether to grant confidentiality to sources left me with this main point: Newsrooms should discuss their sourcing policies well in advance of having to make any real-world decisions. Not only should reporters and editors know their organization’s stance on confidential sources but the publication would do well by its readers (and potential sources) to openly publish these policies. I think online forums would be a good way to let readers in on the discussion. That way, the organization is maximizing transparency and letting readers feel they have a stake in content. When a story is held or a source left unnamed, readers will be comforted to know why the paper has made these decisions.  

Knight Foundation Newsroom Diversity Report– (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union

 

The Times-Union reached its peak newsroom diversity in 1997, with 18.8 percent of the newsroom staff non-white. The latest data from 2004 showed 10.4 non-white staff. In the paper’s circulation area, 29 percent of the population is non-white. These figures combine to give the paper a 2004 diversity index score of 35 out of 100. The median score for all papers in its category is 64.  

    

Week 8 Abstracts

The Maynard Institute’s Newsroom Diversity Game

In this game, participants must pretend they are editors of a midsize daily newspaper whose goal is to bring staff diversity on par with diversity in the surrounding community by making a series of decisions. More points were awarded for the “best” decisions.

One scenario was that a managing editor position becomes vacant. We could choose between promoting the qualified white editor who already works at the paper, promoting the most ready minority editor who works at the paper, or conducting a nationwide search for the most qualified minority editor. According to the game, the best answer was to conduct a nationwide search, and the second-best answer was to promote the white editor.

I had chosen to promote the white editor first because I could imagine if I were in the white editor’s shoes. If I had put in my time at the paper and saw myself as a qualified for a vacant position, I would be offended if the paper conducted a nationwide search for someone else based solely on the color of their skin. If the paper conducted a search, it should be willing to hire the most qualified person, period.

Readers flummoxed by runaway headlines (2005)

This short article laments the ease with which copy editors fall into the habit of leaning on puns as crutches for headlines in a deadline crunch. The writer says there should be a two-pun maximum per section of the paper. While puns are easy fall-backs, he says the most memorable headline he ever read was “Police flummoxed by writhing raccoon,” a pun-less headline full of intrigue.

The article gave very little advice for creating good headlines other than avoiding unnecessary puns. It mentions that some stories with amazing headlines are disappointingly devoid of substance.

This article reminds me of a problem I have faced at work as a news editor. I will sometimes assign a story and work with a writer over several weeks to get it just right, only to see the story run in the paper under an inaccurate or misleading headline. I think it’s important for copy editors to read the story several times, if necessary, to get the facts straight before writing a headline. One suggestion for avoiding this inaccuracy is for editors to write a suggested headline on the story before sending it on to the copy desk. That way, the copy editor can get an idea of what the editor thinks is important about the story.

Newspapers search for Web headline magic (2007)

This article discusses techniques that online papers use for search engine optimization, or making sure that the search engine Web crawlers find their stories. Because of SEO, many clever or provocative headlines may have to be eschewed in favor of more boring but keyword-rich heads that tell explicitly what stories are about. While some papers have made major education initiatives to teach copy editors the art of SEO, the payoff, in the form of Web hits, can be huge.

In the words of The Poynter Institute’s Howard Finberg, who was quoted in the article, “How do you get eye-catching, interesting headlines that make people want to click but at the same time are relevant to search engines, which are nothing but dumb robots going around looking for keywords?” The answer, offered in the article, is to write longer headlines that offer more information while also grabbing reader’s attention.

In my experience with online journalism, I have found that the key to SEO is to include as many keywords as possible in the metadata at the top of a Web page, not necessarily in the page’s content itself. The article hints to this as well. For the coffee company story cited in the article, the metadata for the Web page would include words like “coffee” and “Starbucks.” Thus, Web crawlers would find the story regardless of the headline.

Pardon the puns: E-N headline writers told to play it straight (2006)

After a record nine pun headlines appeared on one day in the Express-News, editor Robert Rivard enacted a ban on puns. His complaint was that using puns often limits copy editors’ ability to be accurate and to reflect the tone of the story. With puns, stories are often inaccurately reflected in too lighthearted a way. (For example: “Border violence kills tourism.”) While puns can be accurate and appropriate, the all-out ban was intended to make copy editors think more carefully about headlines in general.

Like I said in my earlier abstract, I think headline writers should definitely be more careful to be both accurate and appropriate. I have experience as a copy editor, so I can appreciate the time and space constraints faced by copy editors as they work under a deadline. However, as a newspaper reader, editor and writer, I think copy editors should go beyond merely clever heds if they do not tell what is truly in the story. I support Rivard’s decision to ban puns on this premise.

For example, I recently edited a story about proposed legislation that would create a searchable Web site listing domestic violence offenders, similar to a sex offender database. I was quite unnerved to see the story in the paper the following day under the headline “Web site offers background check.” This headline implies the Web site already exists, which could seriously mislead readers, many of whom just scan the paper for pertinent information before tossing it aside.

Now, five days after the story ran in print, I can still find the offending headline in an online search of the newspaper’s Web site. This brings up another issue: Bad headlines live forever on the Web. That is, unless someone changes them. I think Web editors should encourage their staffs to revise past headlines that are inaccurate.

Story idea:

In national political campaign news, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign aides have accused the Hillary Clinton campaign of circulating a photograph of him, wearing traditional Kenyan garb, including a white turban on his head. Clinton’s aides have responded by saying that Obama should be ashamed to view the photograph as a bad reflection on himself because wearing the Kenyan outfit is nothing shameful.

My story would include UF students’ reactions to the accusations, but only as a lifting-off point for a greater discussion on presidential campaign propaganda. I would start by interviewing the presidents of campus student groups that support Obama and Clinton to get responses to the latest smear campaign allegations. Then, I would talk to average students with no requisite level of political involvement to find out if they are influenced by political candidates on both ends of the political spectrum talking badly about their opponents. Particularly, do students receive e-mails bashing one candidate or another? Do they read negative comments made by candidates about other candidates and become confused? How do they sort through all of the campaign rhetoric and know whom to support?

I would also interview Dr. Linda Lee Kaid of the UF College of Journalism and Communications because she has done extensive research on televised political ads. I would ask her what percentage of advertisements are attack ads, as opposed to positive stance ads.

Week 7 Abstracts

How Do You Photograph the Amish? Let Us Count the Ways 

This article examined the approaches of several photographers following the murder of five young Amish girls in a Pennsylvania school. The assignment was more seen as more challenging than a typical grief situation because the Amish’s religious beliefs prohibit their photographs from being taken. Some photographers, especially local ones who may have to encounter their subjects again, asked permission each time they wanted a shot. Others shot first and asked permission second. Still others shot indiscriminately with the justification that they were on public land and thus had the right to photograph anyone else on public land.

 

I agree with LA Times photographer Carolyn Cole, who said she found another way to communicate the story without violating people’s beliefs and wishes, whenever possible. She said that even though she might get some professional criticism for passing up great photo opportunities, she put more value on telling the story sensitively.

 

Most photographers quoted in the article echoed the similar idea that even when there is a blanket prohibition on photographer, as there is with religious Amish people, the true test comes on a case-by-case and person-by-person basis. Each photographer said that very few people asked directly not to be photographed. This may be because police kept the media at a considerable, unobtrusive distance. But even in cases where the photographers talked with the people ahead of time, many understood that they were part of a news situation and thus were open to photography.

 

This brings up the question of whether a “news situation” warrants insensitivity toward another culture’s religious and traditional beliefs. What if, for instance, the Amish not only believed photography was a sin but also that it steals one’s soul? Would photographers still shoot first, ask later? Or not ask at all? I think the bottom line to remember is that the subjects are still people, and the rule of thumb should be to always ask permission before shooting openly. 

About Those Photos of Little Girls and Artillery Shells … 

This article discusses a couple of AP photos of Israeli little girls doodling on artillery shells that were bound for bordering Lebanon shortly after. The photos got much play in newspapers and blogs around the world. Some commentators used the pictures to rally around anti-Israeli sentiment. Other editors picked up the photos, presumably, because of their powerful juxtaposition of innocence with combat.

 

The Columbia Journalism Review asks editors to consider not only the emotional impact a photo has but also its ability to convey the context of a story. To do so, it contacted another photographer who had been at the scene of the controversial photographs. She said the girls and their parents had just emerged from days in an underground bomb shelter while shells crached overhead. A new army unit had come to town, and the dazed and scared group of people had gathered around the artillery, joined by no less than 12 photographers, poised to capture the perfect shot.

 

These are the contextual details that are lost when a photo gets picked up to accompany a larger, less related story. I think it is important for editors to treat sensitive photos like this as their own story: They should question not only the accuracy of the photo but also the truthfulness. In other words, an editor can believe that the photo was taken when and where the caption says it was taken, but how much truth about the surrounding situation do these impersonal details convey?

 Readers question use of Lexington, Ky., crime scene photo 

After a young woman and mother of six was murdered, a Lexington paper ran a photo of a law enforcement officer photographing the dead body. The photo showed only the woman’s ankles and feet, still wearing sneakers. Readers wondered whether the photo was disrespectful to the dead woman and to her family and friends. They also wondered whether the photo would have run if the woman were a well-to-do white woman instead of a poor, minority drug user from a bad part of town.

Editors at the paper argued that since the murder was the latest in string of three over the past several months, the photo was a good visual reminder of the seriousness of crime. They said that sometimes, an impactful image speaks much louder than any story and that it’s just the jolt readers need to understand.

 

I think that images can be a great tool for conveying the horror of a situation, whether the situation is an isolated incident or a trend. However, I do not think the paper’s decision to run this particular photo in any way contributes to a solution for violence in the community. If the editor’s goal is to get readers to act or think differently in a way that will positively affect crime, I do not think running a picture of one dead body will accomplish the goal. If the accompanying news story is like most, it gave an accurate account of the body’s discovery—nothing more, nothing less. It would not give reasons for the string of crimes, nor would it offer solutions. Therefore, I do not think running a graphic photo is a substitution for a true analysis of the causes of crime.

 Story Idea: Woman of the Year 

UF’s deadline to apply to be Woman of the Year is March 3. I propose talking to Rachel Ebert of the Women’s Leadership Council to find out what makes a great candidate for the award. Last year’s winner, Adelle Fontanet, would make a great source as well. The story would give the history of the award and would profile a few of the past recipients. Mainly, though, it would be a great guide for UF women who want to apply and think they’re a great candidate. It would also give tips for those top five who go on to the interview portion of the application process. What are the judges really looking for?

 The online component would give profiles of winners of the award in recent years, and, depending on the award’s history, from long ago. It would include photos of each recipient, a list of their accomplishments while at UF, and what they’ve been doing since they graduated. If the award has been given only once before, this online component could be equally effective with the one former winner, Adelle Fontanet.  

Politainment

It’s nothing new to say that the media should focus less on politicains’ images and more on their issues, I’m sure. But I was particularly bewildered lately at the amount of coverage the presidential candidates receive on television’s evening entertainment shows, like “Entertainment Tonight.” A few weeks ago, one of the shows followed Hillary and Chelsea Clinton to a campaign rally, at which “Ugly Betty” star America Ferrara endorsed Clinton publicly.  Then, last night, a similar show (it may have been the same one–who can tell them apart?) ran a segment on Sen. Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, calling her “glamorous” and comparing her good looks to Jackie Kennedy’s. 

I think voters have a hard enough time sifting through the rhetoric to understand the truth about politics without entertainment programs like this making them into fashion segments.  

Week 6 Abstracts

Word Watch: Allegedly Innocent Suspects:  

This article drills in some of the points made by both Dr. Rodgers and professor Ed Weston in his pubic affairs reporting class. A discussion of what language to avoid when reporting on crime is always helpful because the errors are so common in rough copy and in final drafts that make it online or in print. I never really understood the distinction between “suspect” and “criminal” until this article so clearly illuminated it for me. I especially like the part where it states that suspects may not necessarily be the criminals sought for a crime, and the criminals may be lucky enough to never be a suspect in a crime they committed. Therefore, reporters must be extremely careful to make the distinction before submitting their copy.

I also like the point raised about using the word “allegedly.” The point is to think about who is doing the alleging and to attribute to that person whenever possible. If you don’t know who is alleging a fact, then you probably have more reporting to do before you can start writing your story.

 Abortion Distortions 

This article disproves arguments made by senators of opposing ideologies about the effect of Roe v. Wade on crime, suicide and deaths resulting from illegal abortions. Using statistics from the FBI, the authors show that claims by both sides are based on data that is either out of date or non-verifiable.

The lesson for journalists here is that when you talk to an “official” source, such as a U.S. Senator, don’t take any statistics or claims they spout off at face value. Ask the source, “How do you know?” Also, dig around for yourself, verify the stats with your own eyes. It is not our job as journalists to repeat whatever sources say without question. We must hold them accountable for the information they are trying to disseminate to the public. Remember, our first duty is to the reader.

 What the Mainstream Media Can Learn From Jon Stewart 

This article examines the success of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” a news satire program, and asks if mainstream journalists might be able to extrapolate some rules for success that might apply to more “objective” and “balanced” news. While no one says “The Daily Show” is a purely balanced program, some sources quoted in the article say that it is a more balanced presentation of news because it questions the politicians who say things instead of regurgitating their statements to the public. This technique is applied by other television newscasters as well, the article states, but their goal is truth telling, not humor. As these other newscasters have learned, I think what Jon Stewart has mastered is the art of exposing hypocrisy. usually by using video clips of politicians contradicting what they said in earlier clips. If regular journalists used such a powerful BS-meter, the public would benefit from the illumination.

Week 5 Abstracts

“Calling for Back-up” (2005)  

The main point of this Boston Globe article is that op-ed writers are often not held to the same rigorous standards as general assignment reporters when it comes to backing up assertions with hard evidence. The author cites a couple of high-profile examples of columns that seemed to make broad assertions while giving little idea of where the writer learned such “facts.”

I agree with the author’s suggestion that op-ed writers should include in brackets where they got their information so that editors can decide which assertions are truly valid. Chacón, the paper’s ombudsman, makes the point that op-ed writers are important arbiters of public opinion and the only writers at the paper who are allowed to draw conclusions in print. Therefore, their conclusions must be heavily sourced and completely defensible.

 “A Billion People Can Be Wrong” (2006)  

This article underscores the importance of checking the figures. In this case, “checking” does not merely mean running a few simple calculations to see if the sums match, but rather going back to the source to verify the truth of the figures.

While many news outlets report that a billion people will watch any given Super Bowl, a careful investigation of the facts revealed that the true viewing audience falls short by about 90 percent of that number. The gross misreporting is attributable to PR hype surrounding the game. What started out as a potential viewing audience of 1 billion becomes a guaranteed billion viewers as event promoters build a favorable buzz. Each news outlet that mimicked the inaccurate figure failed in its duty to verify the facts.

 “655,000 War Dead?” (2006)  

This article criticizes the methods used by a survey team from Johns Hopkins University that estimated the number of Iraqi civilian deaths at about four times greater than the figure arrived at by other similar studies. The author says that the sample size of respondents was much too small compared to the size of the Iraqi population and that surveyors failed to ask respondents any demographic information about themselves, precluding their ability to compare the respondents to the overall population.

The author warns that studies like this one have the potential to affect policy decisions for millions of people.  As editors, we should be aware of basic survey methods so as to evaluate the merit of survey results before printing them in our papers. I realize that deadline pressure may hinder our ability to thoroughly fact check; therefore, I would suggest imparting this knowledge to our reporters so that they can investigate methods while reporting on the results.  Case Study: “Violent Crime Increases in Gainesville”  

This story teaches us the value of knowing some basic math and knowing when to apply it. When you receive a story that is so full of figures and percentages, as this one is, first make sure that all numbers are both A. Necessary to the overall story and B. Well explained in context. For example, if the reporter says that the murder rate doubled, make sure he also mentions that it only doubled from one to two murders. Also, check all figures within the story against any accompanying charts or graphics. Finally, make sure any assertions in quotes are backed up by the accompanying figures. A “trend” is not really a trend unless you can back up your source’s assertions with hard statistics.