Journalism: The basics

1. Journalism: The basics Writing, grammar, spelling, style, and newswriting

2. Spelling • You don’t have to know how to spell every word – but rather how to know when to look one up • Don’t always trust spell check.

3. Common spelling, usage errors • Affect, effect • Medium, media; datum, data; graffito, graffiti; criterion, criteria; phenomenon, phenomena • Its, it’s • Their, there, they’re • Accept, except

4. More common errors • Capitol, capital • Then, than • All ready, already • Compose, comprise • Continual, continuous • Bad, badly; good, well

5. Spelling tips • After writing your story, close it out, walk away for a few minutes or an hour – then open it up and follow word by word, checking just for spelling and grammar.

6. Simple writing • Use simple words • Use “said” rather than all the variations • Shorten your sentences; most should be 30 words or less • Shorten your paragraphs; one idea per graf is all you need • Use quotes for emphasis. Practice restraint

7. Parts of speech: Nouns • In newswriting, use the most concrete and specific nouns possible • Paint a picture for the reader; being as specific as possible helps you do that

8. Avoid these vague nouns • Factor • Aspect • Area • Situation • Consideration • Degree • Case

9. How to fix vague wording • Consumer demand is rising in the area of services. • Consumers are demanding more services. • Strong reading skills are an important factor in students’ success in college. • Students’ success in college depends on their reading skills.

10. Avoid noun strings Instead of: MHS has a hospital employee relations improvement program. Write: MHS has a program to improve relations among employees.

11. Instead of: NASA continues to work on the International Space Station astronaut living-quarters module development project. Write: NASA still is developing the module that will provide living quarters for the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

12. Parts of speech: Verbs • The best verbs convey strong actions, and are concise and direct • Help the reader visualize • Pay close attention to tense Instead of ‘is aware of’ or ‘has knowledge of’ use KNOWS Instead of ‘is taking’ write TAKES

13. Voice • Active voice is almost always preferred over passive voice • It it less wordy • It does not camouflage responsibility • Passive voice is often much less clear The dog bit the man. NOT: The man was bitten by the dog.

14. Avoid unnecessary prepositional phrases • It is a matter of the gravest possible importance to the health of anyone with a history of a problem with disease of the heart that he or she should avoid the sort of foods with a high percentage of saturated fats. • TRY: Anyone with a history of heart disease should avoid saturated fats.

15. Avoid inflated words • Cognizant of: Aware of, knows • Facilitate: Help • Implement: Start, create,carry out, begin • Subsequent to: After • Utilize: Use

16. Sourcing and fact-checking • Jon Stewart skewers CNN for lack of fact-checking: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/tlwgqa/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-cnn-leaves-it-there • Politifact: Truth-o-meter http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/

18. Newswriting: Identify main point • One- to two-sentence summary of what the story is about and why it is newsworthy • This central point may be your lede, or your nut graf. It depends on the story. • Review notes and draft a simple outline • Order of importance of material

19. Be concise • Avoid redundancies: Dead body Exactly identical Armed gunman Split apart Unexpected surprise

20. Remain objective • Reporters are neutral observers, not advocates or participants • Your opinions have no place in a news story – commentaries, columns, editorials are the place for opinion • Avoid loaded words: Tragic accident, pricey tickets • Attribute opinions to sources

21. Avoid stereotypical ‘-isms’ • Racism: Avoid stereotyping African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans and other groups • Mention race, religion or ethnic background only when the fact is clearly relevant to the story Wrong: Police identified the robber as a black male wearing a red shirt. Right: Witnesses said the bank robber was a white man, about 50 years old and 6 feet tall. He weighed about 250 pounds, was wearing a blue suit and escaped on a Honda motorcycle.

22. More ‘-isms’ • Sexism: Avoid occupational terms that exclude women, such as fireman (firefighter), mailman (mail carrier), policeman (police officer). • Avoid awkward or contrived words such as chairperson. Instead, use chairman or chairwoman as appropriate. • Avoid female or woman when describing someone unless you would correspondingly use male or man. (The female coach screamed at her players when they lost the lead.)

23. And more ‘-isms’ • Ageism: Avoid stereotyping the elderly, including using words such as “spry,” which makes it sound like it is unusual for an older person to be energetic. • Disabilities: Avoid words such as “handicapped” or “crippled,”; don’t say “confined to a wheelchair.” Instead, describe the person first: A person with a disability, a man who is blind, a woman who has cerebral palsy. Only make reference if it’s appropriate to the story.

24. Clear writing • Be simple • Use subject-verb-object order whenever possible • Use active verbs • Avoid complicated words • Give detail • Pace your writing

25. Understand what you write • If you don’t understand it, you can’t explain it to the reader • Translate jargon, avoid cliches, avoid bureaucratic terms or cop speak. Avoid journalese • Use quotes that are understandable. • Limit use of acronyms

26. Check, polish, self-edit • Check names, make sure math is correct, check the facts • Prune words and phrases • Eliminate the complex • Find ways to self-edit that work for you. Read aloud, or read paragraphs from the bottom up; close up the story then go back to it later.