NYDaily Targeting a Child

Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, was recently featured having a meltdown in the NYDaily News. A story written about her having an, "apparent meltdown," over a puppy received a full page. There have been scandalous entries about celebrities published in one way or another. However, iMediaEthics said that it was disappointed to see such a large paper and Pulitzer prize winner use such an, "invasive photo of a child."They also remarked on the fact that it took up a whole page instead of, "actual news."Other news outlets and entertainment sites were soon to follow this popular paper with tweets and further reporting the incident.

Fritinancy

The blog Fritinancy is still continuing to put up random fun and interesting things for readers. In a recent post the author informed her followers about the blog's "Life or Death Week", which seems like it will be an interesting addition to her posts. Her recent post about the release of Adidas' new shoes was also interesting because it points out that the "grammar is deliberately off".

CJR: Language Corner

The author of this blog described a term created in a 2009 article called "cisgender" which relates to people who are comfortable in the sex they have been born with. This word is much more specific than heterosexual because it implies the opposite of "transgender" where "trans" means opposite and "cis" comes from the prefix meaning same side. The author also describes when to use transgender, transsexual or gay. It truly gave some valuable insight on when to use certain words that are often questioned.

Headsup: The Blog "Random Images"

This blog post discussed the common use of stock photos that accompany stories and their irrelevance. The author poses several questions regarding the common habit of this, the necessity of their usage, and why editors allow these types of photos. As a reader, these generic types of photos add zero substance to the story and in most cases the photo is comical. If a stock photo is going to be used along with a story, it should at least contain some type of relevance to the existing story and engage the reader.

Guthrie No Answer for Today Show Woes

The replacement of long-time co-host of The Today Show, Ann Curry, has not improved ratings of the show and if Savannah Guthrie's poor start does not improve, Today's competition, Good Morning America will surpass the show in ratings. Don Irvine points out that the new co-host, Guthrie, may be having a slow start because viewers are already upset about Curry's departure. Today has been able to command top dollar from advertising, but if rating continue to drop, that will no longer be the case. Apparently, the NBC network has no complaints thus far of Guthrie, but stated the Today show is using the Summer Olympics to "revitalize" the show.  

The Editor's Desk

I thought it was interesting how he referred to his publishing as a complement to daily news organizations. They get down to the less flashy news that effects Raleigh citizens everyday. They typically have a reporter in all of their council meeting covering the city's budget and the economic development committee.

I also enjoyed how Mr. Duncan splits his day up between his office and the city. It was interesting how he would daily ask around and get a pulse of whats going on in Raleigh. He also mentioned spending a lot of time working on the website, which has become important doe news organizations.

NYT Blog After Deadline Courtesy and History

     The Time's use or omission of courtesy titles, Mr., Ms. or Mrs., when referring to dead people can be confusing but it's the most interesting. Some readers and writers think these titles should not be used after someone dies and others based it on some moral judgment. The Time's stylebook says to drop courtesy titles for historic figures no longer living. But a dead person being discussed in the context of current news events would most often keep a title, for example, Mr. Jobs, the Apple founder.

AP style on ethnicity and nationality

AP Style came out with revisions on ethnicity and race in February that give all of the appropriate terms to describe someone's race or nationality. I was surprised to see that "black" was an accepted term to describe someone's race when African-American was also on the list. It was also news to me that a hyphen is needed in between the words African and American as well as Asian-American but not in Native American. Another thing I found surprising and interesting was that Chicano was an acceptable term to describe a Hispanic person along with Latino.

Regret the Error Follow-Up

The article I found most interesting was about a study following accuracy in newspapers. The study began in 1936, and found that 50 percent of stories had some form of error in them. In a 2007 study, based on the initial data, 59 percent of articles had some form of error in them. This figure is shocking to me, and as a journalist it is somewhat disconcerting. Newspapers are organized so that these errors do not occur, and I can't decide whether the reporters, the editors, or the general public is to blame for the mistakes. However, as a student, these errors make me feel that I can eliminate errors from my stories, and actually be able to compete in the field.

Regret the Error 3

This blog was dedicated to  news sources and their errors. For a site like this to exist, there must be many errors made each day, and credible sources also appear in the blog like Fox News. While it is important to monitor the news and make sure it has the correct information, I believe that a site where you can personally submit errors is the best way to monitor news. This format makes a viewer more skeptical from the onset, looking for any mistake, and cementing the idea that all journalists are lazy liars. I still believe in teaching students proper mechanics and ethics earlier and having very strict penalties for mistakes in those areas. This will ensure that our next generation of journalists won't fall prey to the Blair and Glass syndrome.

New York Times Editor Compares Adelson, Koch Brothers to Watergate Era

This blog pst was interesting because the executive producer of  the New York Times stated that she was proud of the way the super PAC stories and broadcasts were handled and even compared the coverage to that of the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson during the Watergate scandal. Don Irvine wonders why the executive producer didn't mention George Soros.  Irvine thinks this comparison would have been better because to compare the coverage to that of those who reported during the Watergate scandal implied that the donations that were made were criminal when they were not.  

Alan Colmes Says That All Americans Are Liberals

Alan Colmes writes in his new book, Thank the Liberals, (that will be published in August) that he thinks all AMericans are actually liberals and that supporting liberal idea will better the country.
Agrammaticl error that I found was: "Which liberals is Colmes talking about?"
He should have written, "are" instead of "is" because "liberals" is plural. 


The blog was funny because Don Irvine clearly disagreed with what Colmes writes in his book. 

For Obama Campaign, Health Reform is Still a BFD

This blog was interesting because it points out that the Obama campaign feels ObamaCare will help the President be re-elected in  November.  On the other hand, the law still isnt popular among everyone.  Don Irvine doesnt really state his opinion in this blog, but simply says that taking into consideration all that is going on in America now, the fate of Obamacare is to be determined.   

Headsup The Blog: Millions in Dark

Choosing the correct words and phrases to summarize the event you are writing about is a crucial aspect of reporting. The slightest mistake or wrong choice of words can steer the articles fate, as well as reader's interest. Making sure the correct words and titles are used to head your story is vital.

CJR: Language Corner

Another post by the same author was very useful because it told of how to write a quote with a destination. "The President said Wednesday he would go to Europe" is misleading because the date of the quote is confused with the date of the trip. The author stresses that the word "that" after Wednesday would make the sentence and many sentences like this more clear.

CJR: Language Corner

I read another post by the same author about using the word "basis" such as "on a daily basis" or "on a legal basis". She made this post much more interesting and useful because she spoke of how these can be simply put as "daily" or "legally" just as our tests and AP Stylebooks exemplify.

Fritinancy: Swagger alert JC Penny

I thought this post was very funny. The main reason I chose this was because of how the author starts the post comparing JC Penny to things like Jay-Z, Old Spice, and Rick Perry. I also thought that including "can get it for you wholesale," was a funny touch to the post.

Fritinancy: If you give a dog an Umlaut

I thought that this post was interesting. The author was able to find a unique topic (frozen yogurt for dogs) and explore it. However, I felt that this could've had a different angle and provide more information than it did.

Fritinancy blog response: Names in the Wild: The Little Shop of Hoarders

I personally found this post very funny. The picture with "The Little Shop of Hoarders" was classic. I also think that it is nice that the author of the blog included something fun in her blog.

Word choice is key

Jordan Kurzweil's recent piece about how newspapers need to rethink their digital strategy, he proved why a copy editor is such a necessity. His article read: "The paywall, whether for Gannett or other publishers, is a finger in the dyke, a cover-up for tectonic shifts in their businesses." A good copy editor would have seen dyke and finger in the same sentence like that and would have changed dyke to the more commonly accepted spelling, dike.

Nerve-racking vs nerve-wracking

The Common Sense Journalism blog offers some insight on deciding between using "nerve-racking" or "nerve-wracking." The AP Style Book has always been a bit unclear on the difference between the two and when looking at the definitions of the words rack and wrack, the difference is still hard to notice. "Rack" in the AP Style Book is defined as torment: He was placed on the rack. She racked her brain.From this one could draw the conclusion that nerve-racked person is being tortured by their nerves. The wire service has recently released a clarification, however. "The noun wrack means ruin or destruction, and generally is confined to the phrase wrack and ruin and wracked with doubt (or pain). Also, nerve-wracking." So now you have to decide which definition you feel is the most accurate in context to what you are writing.

Words to Watch: ‘Advocate’ NYT Blog After Deadline

    Certain words have to be used with caution, especially when they allow readers to do a double-take.  “Advocate” is a transitive verb that should take a direct object so the word can't be proceeded by the word "for." A person advocates healthcare, not a person advocates for healthcare. Also, the construction of an "anti-[blank] advocate," has unintended messages. Instead of using anti-abortion, "opponent," or other opposing words convey the opponent's message unbiased. The typical reaction to the word "anti" is negative and it prohibits writers to present both parties fairly without bias.

Latin Words We Love Too Much NYT Blog After Deadline

     After Deadline examines the grammar, usage and style by writers of the Times. This blog addresses the use of the Latin word "bona fides." This word is best replaced with words like “good faith,” “sincerity” or  “credentials” because it is singular and its multiple meanings could easily be misunderstood by readers. It is better used in commercials, for example, the famous Popeye's commercial advertising their "bona fides" chicken, but in print, the interpretation of this word is left up to readers and writers have to be mindful that this is not a plural word.

CJR: Language Corner

The language corner blog was an interesting blog that was a collection of posts from authors that illustrate or describe sectional language that we might not understand completely. One of the posts was describing the confusing language of golf. The author described the difference of par and bogey and the different interpretations that golf created around the world. I thought the article was very confusing mostly because of the organization and diction. It seemed as though the author of the post was not understanding of the game as a whole, but only on the technical level where it seemed that most explanations were dictionary definitions.