Of crimes and ’alleged’ victims (wink wink)
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
Lately I have been troubled by headlines and leads in the Post and the Athens News about rape trials.
The heads and stories referred to the person whose complaint led to criminal charges as an “alleged victim.” I’ve seen this on local stories and on national ones.
November 16, 2009 | comments (0)
Breeding Headlines in Real Time
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
From the The Huffington Post comes word that editors are using instant feedback from Web readers to write better headlines.
The story says writers post two versions of headlines on the same story. Some readers get one; some get the other. Within five minutes — an eternity in Web journalism — each headline gets enough hits to see which one triggers the most hits.
posted in: headlines, marketing, Web journalism
October 16, 2009 | comments (0)
Dealing With Words That Hurt
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
Is it just me, or are Americans becoming more accustomed, at an earlier age, to hearing, reading, and saying words that used to be taboo?
For a quarter-opening exercise in my JOUR 441 class, I asked each student to bring two short magazine clippings to share with the rest of class. One was to be an example of an engaging, non-inverted pyramid lead. The other was to be a bit of concrete (as opposed to abstract), “show, don’t tell,” detail.
posted in: profanities, vulgarities
September 16, 2009 | comments (0)
The Rules (and the Mysteries) of Threes
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
For anyone trying to improve narrative structure through parallel syntax, three is the magic number. You could say it is a virtuous triumvirate.
When you want to make a point by providing evidence, three examples are best. Two examples don’t seem satisfying, and four seem like overkill. So, if I were describing the values held dear by the tribe of my Dinka friend, John Dau, as I did when writing at home last night, I might say the Dinka believe in hard work, strong faith, and early education.
September 10, 2009 | comments (0)
The New Art (sigh) of Headline Writing
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
The Web is erasing a fine, old, delicate art: The crafting of a good headline.
Headlines that appear in print publications are incredibly hard to write well. They must say something engaging, yet fit the allotted space. It’s no good to have a clever headline that won’t fit the six inches or so of white space above a three-column story on the front page.
August 12, 2009 | comments (0)
Test Yourself on AP Style
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
If you’d like to see how well you know Associated Press style, try taking this test without looking in the stylebook.
INSTRUCTIONS: Find the errors. Each sentence contains zero, one or two errors addressed by the AP Stylebook. If the sentence is correct as written and this were an actual test, you would not change it. (Leaving it correct as written would give you full credit for that sentence.) Do not delete information unless it is redundant.
posted in: Associated Press
August 5, 2009 | comments (0)
Answers to AP self-test
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
Answers to the AP practice exercise.
1. He ate 15 doughnuts at the fair. (OK as written)
posted in: Associated Press
August 5, 2009 | comments (0)
My Guide to AP Style
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
(Note: Versions of this page have been linked to editing sites at dozens of American universities. The author is a writer for the National Geographic Press and a former copy desk chief at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.)
As you read the AP Stylebook, pay extra attention to these entries:
August 5, 2009 | comments (0)
A plea for care in crime stories
by Michael Sweeney, Professor; Associate Director for Graduate Studies
The first homicide was pretty clear-cut. So was the news account of it.
Journalism, out of necessity, has grown muddier since the days of Adam and Eve’s children. Newspapers and other media must exercise caution when reporting about one person killing another.
