The Punctuation RAP Up

When I first sat down to think about what I would write about for my last blog, I had a small case of writer's block. I really wanted to go out big, do something different and exciting that would tie the entire semester together. But as I stared at my computer screen, all I could think about was the amount of work I have in these upcoming weeks and when I am going to start studying for our final lab test.

My eyes kept darting between When Words Collide and the AP Stylebook on my top shelf. I was going back and forth in my mind trying to give myself a brief summary of usage, case and, of course, punctuation before I started studying.

And then it came to me.

I have never done a link to a You Tube video. People always talk about the links to their videos when we discuss our blogs in class, but I’m old fashioned; I’d always rather just write.

When I was describing this class to one of my friends, I kept calling it my punctuation class. To this day, she does not seem to understand that we do not just practice placing commas and periods in the correct spot all day. I promise I’m going somewhere with this.

So as I said, it hit me. Even though I know I have learned rules about grammar, usage, case and more that I did not even know existed, I think I will always remember this class as my punctuation class. So as my farewell, I embraced punctuation and gave in to the rest of the class. I finally got a link to a You Tube video: The Punctuation Rap.

After just a few months of my punctuation class, I already find myself thinking about punctuation more than a normal person. Just yesterday, I was taking the Dow Jones Business Reporting Internship Test (what a mouthful), and I found myself thinking about punctuation. There is a section of the test where you simply need to choose between two words and pick which better fits the sentence; usage. But for some reason, even after I completed that section I could not stop looking at it because I wanted to correct the punctuation. It was not required and was not supposed to have mistakes, but I was positive that something was wrong. Oh punctuation class, what you have done to me….

The Best Coaches

A positive image does not usually come to mind when I think about coaches. I played sports, volleyball and soccer, for many years up until college. When I think about the coaches that I had on these teams, I think of men and women standing on the side line and yelling at me when I did something wrong; or pulling me out of the game because I’m not having a good day. The few coaches that have left positive impressions never really coached on game day. They would spend hours and hours during the week at practice working with each player and helping her correct any problems she was having before they happened.

This is why coaching writers also needs to happen early on.

If editors follow in the footsteps of who I consider to be great coaches, life in the newsroom will be much more relaxed. When stories are edited and reworded, they often lose meaning which is upsetting to the writer; however, if an editor steps in early in the process and gives constructive criticism, the writer will be able to come up with a great story and improve on her own without feeling like she has been insulted or forced to do something.

This past week in lab, we discussed coaching writers with Professor Follis. After going over main points from Roy Peter Clark and Don Fry’s book “Coaching Writers,” I followed up with the topic. Poynter Online has a great section where people can write in to an advice column about questions they have regarding journalism. I read a piece posted today titled “The Coaching Way,” which was a letter from a young editor at a small daily publication asking about how to properly coach writers. Although Chip, the columnist, had a long response, these were the four points he highlighted:

1. To make use of the knowledge and experience of the writer.
2. To give the writer primary responsibility for the story.
3. To provide an environment in which the writer can do the best possible job.
4. To train the writer, so that editing will be unnecessary.

After reflecting on my past athletic experiences, points two and four seem most relevant. As I said earlier, the best coaches do not look like they are coaching; the ones I remember and admire helped me before I had a major problem and made me feel like I was succeeding on my own. I feel like once editors master this philosophy, the newsroom will run more smoothly and writers will want to come to their editors for help and advice. And although it might take some work to really become a good coach, once editors are good coaches I think they will have cut out a significant part of their work load.

"Obama Wins"

It was incredible to see all of the different headlines and front pages the day after Barack Obama became the president elect of our country. I knew that his face would be on the cover of every American publication, but I was even more excited to see that he made it to the front of international papers as well; however, I can not say that I am that surprised. When I was abroad in Barcelona, Spain last semester, the first thing people would say to me when I told them I was from Chicago or America was “Barack Obama!”

At newseum.org, I found a few front pages that I really enjoyed, and a few that I really did not.

The Tribune from San Luis Obispo, Cali., had a great front page. It caught my attention because even though it featured Obama like the other papers, it was a little different. The picture is of his entire family, which I think is nice because I think seeing our next president with his loved ones shows how change really is coming our way. I also like the lay out and headline of the page. “American History” jumps out at me, rather than seeing another line that says “Obama Wins,” or “Change Has Come.” The lay out is also nice because it features Obama and his family as the center of attention, but also has stories underneath that follow up with the Congressional elections and the Democrat’s majority, which reminds readers that Obama winning was not the only news of the previous night.

The Gwinnett Daily Post from Lawrenceville, Ga., also had a front page I liked. The headline reads “Historic vote,” which shows the importance of Americans coming out and to vote for the first African-American president. The accompanying picture obviously shows that Obama won, so I think that it is nice the headline shows the story at another angle. I also like how the far left column gives the results of other national races, and then elections in Georgia to bring it back home, even on the front cover.

The front page of the San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, Calif., was not as appealing. When I first saw it, I thought that there had been some kind of background error because the photo showed Obama speaking during daylight, and his acceptance speech was at night. However, when I blew the cover up, I could tell that the shot was not of Obama giving his acceptance speech, just him speaking on another random day. I just think that there had to have been a better shot to use, or some way to get a photographer out to get a shot of the new president.

Collaboration: Do's and Don'ts

Should j-schools be partnering more closely with other academic departments in order to impart to students a more current and relevant skill set and mindset?

I do agree with Gahran’s point about collaborating with other departments. If journalism schools are more closely paired with other academic groups, not only would journalism students have an easier time getting into the job market, but other departments could learn about the important standards of journalism and apply them to their businesses, schools, etc.

In my opinion, it makes the most sense for journalists to collaborate with the business department. At this point in time, business journalism is the fastest growing area of journalism, so it would benefit students early on to have a backround in how to copy edit business work. In addition, a lot of business people have trouble with applying writing skills in their work when necessary, so they too could learn better editing and writing skills from the get-go. At our university, I think that business students also have an advantage in the job search, through opportunities like the business career fair and Symplicity, a Web site that allows business students to easily apply for jobs online. Perhaps if our departments merged, journalism students too could find jobs more easily.

Although at this point in time I think joining with the business school is most important, I think that if all of the departments could collaborate with journalism, they would all benefit. Writing and editing is such an important skill to have, no matter what career path one chooses to pursue.

After reading the comments on Grahan’s article, it does seem like there is an issue of time at hand. However, perhaps the merge could be started at a slow pace, making it a requirement for all students to take an editing class, and all journalism students to take a business writing class. The merge may take time, but I think it could do wonders for the students at any University.

"Another One Bites the Dust"

Unfortunately, print media suffered another loss this past week. Elle Accessories, a spin off of the popular Elle magazine, has temporarily halted publication. Anne Slowey, the editor of the magazine, shut down the production because she lost four key writers. Supposedly, Elle Accessories will return next fall.

To read more about what happened to Elle Accessories, check out this article on Fashion Week Daily Dispatch.

Of course I never like to hear that a printed publication is shut down, but I am especially sad to hear about this situation. I can accept that perhaps newspapers will eventually all be online; however I had more faith in magazines. I really thought that since magazines cater to a specific audience, i.e. fashion accessories, they will stay alive because they supply the pubic with information that generalized newspapers do not. On a more selfish level, I would be extremely upset to see magazines die out because next to a great book, they are my favorite things to read. Does this mean that all printed media, despite how specific, are on the downfall? Will every magazine we know of today eventually “bite the dust?”

Business Writing

This week was my first meeting with Lynn Holley who is my mentor in the College of Media this year. I decided to talk to her on occasion because as a graduating senior, I am in desperate need of finding a job.

I thought the hardest part would be starting to look for a job. I am still a little unsure of what kind of journalism or writing career I want to pursue, and it seems like an impossible task to get started on my own. However, the conversation that Ms. Holley and I had went a different direction than I had imagined. She encouraged me to look into the Dow Jones internship opportunities.

I am not going to lie, I have not been planning on taking the Dow Jones test. An internship in copyediting does not appeal to me, and I took the test last year and did horrible. But I forgot about the opportunities Dow Jones has in business writing, which is why Ms. Holley and I started talking about the subject anyway.

Business journalism seems like it is the fastest growing area of journalism right now; it is where the jobs are at. I showed Ms. Holley my cover letter for Sheila Solomon, the recruiter who is coming from the Chicago Tribune, and Ms. Holley said to focus on the writing I am doing for the College of Business. She said Ms. Solomon would be most interested in seeing those writing samples because that is now an important area of journalism.

Click here to check out one of the articles I wrote for the College of Business.

Despite the fact that I do not really want another internship after I graduate, I think I might just have to bite the bullet. Ms. Holley said that Dow Jones loved the intern they had in business writing last summer and offered him a job. So as much as I dread the days in class where I have to crunch numbers and practice for the Dow Jones test, I think keeping my options open my actually lead to a career in business writing.

Check out the Dow Jones News Fund website if you want to learn more about the internships opportunities.

The Bail Out Plan, Part Two

The most recent problem that our country has been battling is the financial crisis. After being rejected the first time around, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the revised $700 billion bail out plan; Bush signed it Friday October 3.

A CNN article posted last week describes the issue in greater detail: “Bush thanked all those involved and said the bill was essential to stopping the crisis on Wall Street becoming a crisis in the wider economy. Bush said it sent a message to the rest of the world that the U.S. was ready to take action to ease the credit crunch. He said it would take sometime for the bill to have an impact on the American economy.”

The bail out plan seems like it was a necessary precaution, however, I could not help think: When, or will, newspapers ever have to be bailed out?

In the CNN article, Bush said that he was glad the financial crisis could be stopped early on before spreading to the entire economy. Couldn’t there have been a way to stop the downfall that newspapers are facing sooner? Yes, I understand that it is a very different situation, but our country forgetting about the printed word and newspapers apparently forgetting how to appeal to their audience are problems that also need to be addressed. Of course, a financial crisis is solved with money. But what would it take, that is what law would need to be passed, to save newspapers? Maybe we need a law stating that the entire adult population in the country needs to pick up a newspaper everyday. Or a law that forces newspapers to cater to smaller, more specific audiences besides only running the obvious headline news, such as the bail out plan.

I also smiled to myself when I read the line that stated Bush said the bail out sent a message to the rest of the world that our country was fighting the credit problem. Well, what kind of message does the rest of the world get when part of our country can not get money to battle illiteracy, or the fact that slang is taking over our language and soon it may never be the same? Again, I understand the imminent danger of the financial crisis, yet perhaps a bail out should be considered for other parts of our country as well.