Reading for the Week

The first reading came from the AP 2007 Stylebook. In reading the guide to punctuation, I came across a number of regulations that I would like to note. I may have been careless about them in the past, but this guide serves as a nice reminder for me. For example, I did not know that in the case of words ending in s, that you do not add an 's when the next word starts with s (hostess's invitation versus hostess' seat) When giving ownership to something that is not quantifiable, simply add an apostrophe (as in two days' work). Use a colon to introduce long quotations within a paragraph. I think that I tend to overuse dashes - but they can be used for a series or list within a phrase. I also learned that a period can be used at the end of a rhetorical question if it leans toward a suggestion. I found the reading to be very helpful, and it is something that I will make references to in the future.
The first concept in the chapter readings of News Reporting and Writing is that of convergence. Convergence is a subject that I find very interesting as well as something that I am knowledgeable about. I wrote my Journalism Research paper about YouTube, which is a prime example of convergence in the media. It is something that I think all people should be aware of, and I am interested to see how much it will continue in the future. When I was an assignment editor for newswatch I had to work on my news judgment skills - the book provides a useful set of criteria - including novelty, prominence, conflict, proximity and timeliness. I think that impact is the first and most important.
Unfortunately, the text provides research that claims that audiences believe television is the most biased news source. While I am glad that people are starting to recognize it, I think it is sad that very little is being done about it. I value objectivity highly, especially in the realm of politics (see last entry) because it is the job (as stated in the text) of journalists to monitor power. This can not be done fairly from a biased point of view. This makes me most related to a civic journalist as described in the text. An excellent reference for foundations of ethics can be found on the Poynter website.
Looking further into the future, the concept of Internet journalism must be introduced, and the text provides a number of important examples of sites that converge from print to the web, and so on.
The newspaper section has an excellent visual representation of the hierarchy within a newsroom, and the many people who put together opinions to make a decision (page 32). Interesting comparisons were made between newspapers and magazines - for instance, newspapers tend to work on deadlines so strictly that writing errors sometimes ensue, which are not tolerated at magazines.
I have worked at a news station for 2 years now, and I can closely relate to the information in the broadcasting section, because I have gotten to know people who occupy the positions described (anchors, videographers, desk assistants, etc).
Chapter 3 was a simple review of the concepts introduced to me in journalism research. When taking that class, I learned my strengths and weaknesses in the interviewing process. For example, I think that I am strong in the area of establishing rapport with sources, because I am outgoing and easy to talk to. I learned that preparation is an essential component to conducting the interview with ease. I struggle with controlling the interview, as discussed in class, and I need to practice this. The text gives a few short suggestions that are vital: Ask open ended questions, keep the questions short, and build to the point. Hopefully my interviewing skills will continue to improve as I write for this course.