Worth Reading - are American newspapers the odd ones out?

Earl Wilkinson of the International News Marketing Association, has some interesting observations from Australia, where those in the news industry suggested America is not the best example of newspapers' future.

Among the observations he sends on:

The two trains of thought among publishers worldwide are that:

• The United States is an early warning system of consumer and advertiser behaviour.
• Or, that the U.S. publishers have so under-invested in their print products that they have no root system when disruption hits. Thus, the U.S. story is avoidable in other parts of the world. ...

 What the Americans get wrong in print, I was told, is projecting a templated, soulless environment for the consumer who wants to slowly browse. In the past decade, this is an increasingly gaunt-looking print environment reflecting poorly on local media brands that haven't gotten a workout in decades. While quality print newspapers should be platforms for deep engagement, U.S. publishers have created tools to get readers in and out of their print pages in shorter and shorter time increments.
Advertisers won't invest in such a platform, my friend said. They don't want to be associated with platforms devoid of sizzle.

Worth reading- paper on news aggregation

The Berkman Center and Citizen Media Law project have a new paper out on the pros, cons and best practices of news aggregators.

Worth reading.

So 'which' one is it

Lord knows enough ink has been spilled on the that-which distinction and whether it matters much anymore.

But there are times when the distinction, aided by some inept editing, does make a difference as seen in this passage from an L.A. Times story in The (Columbia, S.C.) State:

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been grappling with the issue of homosexuality for nearly 40 years.

The General Assembly meets every two years. In July, the assembly voted to repeal that requirement, which effectively blocks the ordination of openly gay ministers. Now the denomination's 173 regions, or presbyteries, have two years to vote on whether to ratify that change.

But the wording, "the assembly voted to repeal fthat requirement, which effectively blocks ...," is likely to make some readers come up a bit lame. Written, with the comma, it's easy to read the sentence so that the the relative clause applies to the entire concept of the vote - meaning the vote to repeal actually has effectively blocked ordination.

There's a hint in the next graf: The current balloting will be the fifth time efforts to ordain gay clergy have gone to such a vote. But your readers don't pay you for the thrill of solving a riddle.

Using "that" and no comma makes it clearer the clause refers to "requirement."

In July, the assembly voted to repeal that requirement that  effectively blocks the ordination of openly gay ministers.

 Making it "that had effectively blocked" makes things even clearer, but in this case it might not be so correct. Remember, there are two years to ratify the change, so the wording has not been officially repealed yet. I don't know enough to say, so I'm playing it cautious.

It wasn't a problem in the LAT original.

Words got connotations, too

There is, as the oft-cribbed Mark Twain phrase says, a lot of difference between the right word and the almost-right word.

That is never more true than in the silly season - i.e., the weeks before Election Day.

So why do we forget that?

(Disclaimer: What I am about to say should not be interpreted as favoring one candidate or another. We're talking language, not politics, here.)

In an AP story by Seanna Adcox* on the S.C. governor's race between Democrat Vincent Sheheen and Republican Nikki Haley is this graf:

Haley wants to eliminate those [corporate income] taxes, while Sheheen called that a bad idea in a state that already has one of the nation's lowest corporate tax rates. Though Sheheen said he would aggressively use incentives to bring companies to the state, Haley took a more apprehensive approach, saying it would depend on factors such as a company's long-term plans in the state.

The problem is the word "apprehensive." Words have connotations, and the connotation of apprehensive is not just cautious, but anxious, almost fearful. I'm betting that wasn't how Haley reacted as she spoke to a room full of business people. I know the writer was trying to draw a negative parallel with "aggressive, but "cautious" would be the more neutral word, and for that matter, why is it needed at all?

Though Sheheen said he would aggressively use incentives to bring companies to the state, Haley took a more apprehensive approach, saying said it would depend on factors such as a company's long-term plans in the state.

By using the questionable word, the writer risks deprecating her work among the partisans and among those who have a discerning eye and ear.

This is why we have editors, to make sure writers don't color outside the lines, and in the silly season editors' tone detectors should be on the same power as their B.S. detectors - ultra-high.

*Follow that link while you can - The State has a habit of deep-sixing such links rather quickly.

FOI Abuse: Little town wants big money for records

The little town (about 800) people of Swansea, S.C., is asking $10,000 to provide basic financial records under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

File this one under continued abuse of the copying and retrieval cost provisions of many state FOI acts. I especially like the line that if the woman made the copies on-site herself, it still would not lower the bill. So I guess the 10-cent-per-page copying cost is a sham (or maybe scam) after all.

Journalism warning labels - gotta have 'em

Oh, I love this! (A tip of the hat to former student Justin Fenner for the pointer.)

British comedian Tom Scott has prepared a set of journalism warning labels that can be printed off and pasted on your favorite dead-tree version (or, we assume, in a corner of your TV set or computer monitor).

These hit soooooo close to home (and, of course, that is why they are so dang funny, if not sad at the same time). In the U.S., the British spellings give it a nice little twist.

Google Wave to shut down

Missed this while I was on my trip in Denver. Google is shutting down development on Wave and will probably shut down the site.

However, some of the code is open-source and other parts may show up in other Google apps.

We tried it in my classes but never could come up with a seamless workflow and application for it.

Missing in plain sight - 1

First in an irregular series ...

As I have retooled my editing class from copy editing for editors to editing for reporters, one of my core beliefs is that looking at the big picture and uncovering what is missing in a story - omissions often hidden in plain sight - has become even a bigger part of that teaching.

Those niggling little questions that copy editors used to ask now seem to get passed over more and more. And it's understandable. Reporters are immersed in stories. So are their line editors. What may be "obvious" to them is often not so when you step back and look at it from a slightly detached view.

These things are missing in plain sight because there is information there - just not enough to actually be useful to the majority of your readers and viewers. For instance, there's the story that said a man died when his car crashed on an interstate highway exit ramp. While it specified the highway, it never said which interchange.

I most commonly see this with geography. Study after study shows that our readers/users are geographically challenged. Even in small cities (under 100,000), one side of town often does not know the other. And in metro areas such as Columbia, with about 750,000 people, the other side of town might as well be the far side of the Moon.

So I've done a program for the American Copy Editors Society on "Missing in Plain Sight," and here's a typical example that just came in yesterday's paper (for the moment, if you get all hung up on AP style, ignore the "cancelled" or that without a time element in the lede "have canceled" would be better).

State transportation officials cancelled a median on two blocks of busy U.S. 378 in Lexington in the wake of opposition stirred by Town Councilman Ted Stambolitis, who owns a shopping center there.

Some members of an advisory town traffic panel are upset about the lack of no-left-turn barriers, saying their absence will continue bottlenecks and worsen safety.

“If the medians aren’t put in, this plan is not going to do a bit of good,” said David McGehee, a member of the panel, which urged restoration of the feature Tuesday.

State traffic planners recommended the median as part of a series of improvements to reduce congestion on the town’s main commercial route.

Stambolitis fought the idea as an inconvenience that would drive away shoppers from about 80 merchants in the area. Nearly a quarter of those stores are in the Shoppes at Flight Deck, the center he owns.

Widening the road to six lanes and intersection improvements would “provide more than ample enough improvements,” Stambolitis said.

The package taking shape now would allow turns in that stretch of the road despite a warning from planners that is dangerous.

There was more, but it was no more enlightening.

The "Shoppes at Flight Deck" are a help - if you happen to be an immediate resident of Lexington. But this is on the front page of the Metro section to be seen by a lot more people across the area. The Shoppes at Flight Deck is just a fancy and bit quirky strip center. It's not a major regional mall or center (of which the Columbia area has four, one of which is dying).

So for many people, even after reading this, the question remains, "What is 'that stretch of road'?" And what intersection? (U.S. 378 snakes its way for several miles through Lexington and environs, and most of it is heavily built up and congested, with busy intersections).

Fact is, it's one of the busiest intersections in the area - U.S. 1 and U.S. 378 just north of downtown. Now readers have a better sense. These are the sorts of little things good copy editors did. Now it's going to be more and more up to reporters and line editors to step back and look for that information missing in plain sight.

Resource link - styleguide check, weather in your inbox

A new site by Mary Beth Protomastro, www.onlinestylebooks.com, searches style guides across the Web.

Interesting idea and somewhat useful, but basically seems to be a Google search tailored to various style locations. It still won't get you into AP or Chicago, both of which are subscription. It does get you to the AP ask-the-editor section, but as you quickly find out that is of limited use because if you don't have an AP subscription, you can see only the most recent entries - even though the one you want has disappeared into the paywall.

(Here's a search I did on "workforce," one of those AP directives for two words when much of the world has gone to one.)

Still, if you want to get a sense of what's going on in that big, scary style world out there, it's good to have in the bookmarks.

---

I've mentioned here before the usefulness of Emergencyemail.org to get weather and other alerts in your inbox. Now, the free service mails you once a day with links to your daily weather as well as tropical storm updates, Gulf oil updates, etc.

Did anyone think to call the deputy?

Sit down. Grab a nice cup of coffee, tea, or whatever your beverage of choice is, and humor me for a minute by reading this story. (Though I have linked to it, the paper in question has a habit of making things go away, so I am reprinting it here because the entire story is the unit of criticism.)

The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI are investigating the beating of an inmate at the Kershaw County Detention Center, which resulted in the firing of one sheriff's deputy.
The inmate, Charles Edwin Shelley, 38, was struck several times Thursday around his shins by Sgt. Oddie Tribble Jr., said Capt. David Thomley of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department. Tribble, a 12-year veteran of the force, was fired Friday, Thomley said.
Tribble hit the inmate at least 25 times with a baton, according to a video of the beating released by SLED through a Freedom of Information request. The video footage is from two security cameras outside a carport where officers drop off inmates to be booked at the detention center.
Shelley remained in the Kershaw County Detention Center on Monday on charges of driving on a suspended license and giving false information to a police officer, Thomley said. He suffered a leg fracture, cuts and bruises, said SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd.
The Kershaw County jail incident is one of three recent reports of law enforcement officers assaulting inmates in South Carolina. SLED and the FBI are investigating all three cases for possible civil rights violations, according to a statement released Monday by SLED.
The other two cases are:
The July arrest of two S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice correctional officers who were fired for allegedly assaulting a juvenile
The July arrest of a Sumter Police Department officer who allegedly assaulted a suspect during a traffic stop. That officer also has been fired.
Lloyd said the cases are being investigated as possible civil rights violations because it gives law enforcement a wider reach. “We take a look at the whole issue of who was present, who should have intervened,” he said.
In the Kershaw County incident, at least one other sheriff’s deputy was present during the beating. And the beating happened near a large window where two or three correctional offices are standing inside the jail. The Kershaw County jail is operated separately from the sheriff’s department, Lloyd said.
Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill contacted SLED to investigate as soon as he learned of the incident, Thomley said.
In the Kershaw detention center video, Shelley arrived at the jail at 8:29 p.m. with nine other prisoners in a white police van. Two officers escort a handcuffed woman out of the van and then bring out Shelley, who also has his hands cuffed behind his back.
Shortly after that, Tribble begins hitting Shelley with his police baton. All of the strikes were below Shelley’s knees.
After 22 hits, Shelley falls and Tribble strikes him three more times while the inmate is lying on the ground. The final blows happen after Tribble lifts the inmate back on his feet and walks him to a different area of the carport.
After the incident ends, the officers unload the remaining prisoners and take them inside the jail.
However, the jail employees would not accept Shelley because of his injuries. The two deputies them drove him to the hospital in the van, Lloyd said.

Do you notice anything missing?

Whatever happened to the basic idea that in journalism we at least try to get ALL sides - and that means making an attempt to contact the deputy? I don't see any attempt to contact Tribble here - or even an acknowledgment that the reporter and editors thought about it and maybe could not locate a name or address. Or that they thought to ask others if Tribble had told them why he did it?

Second-day story, same thing. The paper even goes out of its way to say it could not get hold of two other people. But any attempt to contact Tribble is MIA.

State and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the actions of a second Kershaw County sheriff’s deputy and several correctional officers at the county detention center who last week witnessed an inmate being beaten.
State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said the second deputy, who has not been named, has been interviewed. It was unclear Tuesday whether that deputy remains on the force.
“Anytime you have someone in custody of police or a prison system you have a duty to protect them,” Lloyd said. “I don’t want to comment on what he should or shouldn’t have done, but that conduct will be looked at also.”
Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill on Friday fired Sgt. Oddie Tribble, a 12-year department veteran who was captured on video as he beat a man in handcuffs with a baton. The second deputy in the video stands nearby and appears to twice push the inmate back onto a curb as the inmate tries to avoid blows from the police baton.
Several correctional officers at the jail can be seen in the video as they stand behind a large glass window at the detention center’s intake desk. The video did not include an audio recording, but it does not appear anyone tried to intervene.
Attempts to reach McCaskill and Peggy Spivey, director of the county-run jail, were unsuccessful.
The FBI, the U.S. attorney for South Carolina and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice also are part of the investigation. That approach allows Lloyd and the federal agencies to investigate the roles of other law enforcement officers who were on the scene.
On Monday, SLED released video footage of the beating, which was filmed on two security cameras installed in a carport where suspects enter the detention center.
In the video, Tribble strikes Charles Edwin Shelley more than 25 times with a police baton. All of the blows were around Shelley’s shins and calves. He suffered a leg facture and cuts that required stitches, Lloyd said.
Shelley, 38, had been arrested during a highway traffic check and charged with driving with a suspended license and providing false information, police have said. He was one of 10 people being transported to the jail in a police van. During the ride, Shelley had argued with the deputy, Lloyd said.
Lloyd, who has watched the video, described it as “disturbing.”
“Without speaking to this case, you probably should never be hitting anyone with a baton when they’re handcuffed,” Lloyd said.
The case is one of three recent incidents under investigation in which S.C. law enforcement officers have been accused of assaulting someone in their custody. Lloyd said it his agency’s policy to investigate such cases as possible civil rights violations and to include federal authorities.
“We don’t think this is typical behavior in South Carolina, but we think it’s disturbing behavior,” Lloyd said.

Back to Journalism 101.

FOI - score one for the good guys

Situation: Fire commission holds closed meeting to fire the department's chief. Tosses out reporter. Apparently continues to violate S.C. Freedom of Information Act in other ways.

Action: Newspaper tries to get prosecutor, sheriff's department and State Law Enforcement Division to follow-up on possible criminal penalties (which are allowed under the law). Gets nowhere. Prosecutor, for instance, says it's a misdemeanor so not interested. Sheriff's department says arson investigators have to work with fire departments. SLED - well, it's just missing in action, apparently.

Action 2: Newspaper and its lawyer swear out their own warrant, and magistrate signs it! Apparently first time in state criminal charges sought.

Hooray! And great - but interesting - that it's one of the smaller papers in the state, not one of our big-time dailies.

Outcome: Hearing set for Sept. 21. My prediction - the fire commission folds like a cheap suit, issues mea culpas and gets slap on the wrist so we never really get to the heart of the matter. We can only hope the little Hometown News gives some of the larger papers in the state the kahunas to do the same thing. It's the only way the point will be driven home that this is the law.

(Update: Here's the AP story on it.)

Further Update: Fire commission chairman tells Spartanburg paper "We didn't know" the law.


(I've often said that if I ever win the lottery, one of the first things I will do is set up an FOI legal foundation to relentlessly pursue S.C. officials who seem to think the law is there to be ignored.)

Tumblr - what's old is new again?

I was struck by the New York Times article this weekend on how media companies are suddenly discovering Tumblr.

Is there anything new here, other than that media companies are about five years behind. Or maybe that Tumblr is about three years behind in actually getting a clear message out about what it is.

Tumblr and another site, Posterous, loosely fall under a genre called "lifestreaming," sort of between blogging and tweeting/texting. Steve Rubel switched his blog, MicroPersuasion, to Posterous a couple of years ago. And he posted a good synopsis of lifestreaming and why he moved from a blog.

Among other things, lifestream sites make it easier to post multimedia elements. For instance, you might send up a series of images and some will automatically create a gallery.

(Update: Here's another good Tumblr explanation from Mediaite.)

Anyhow, if you are considering going this way, there are words of warning from the Times article:

Unlike Twitter, where it is not uncommon for publishers to simply set up accounts that automatically publish links to their articles and blog posts, Tumblr requires publishers to add more commentary and interaction if they want to win favor with its community.

North, S.C.

One of my great joys as an AP news editor was conversations with the New York general desk about localisms.

For instance, there was the time a New York editor during our coverage of the killing of James Jordan (Michael Jordan's father), told me that the distance from Columbia to McColl on the N.C.-S.C. border where the body was found (about 90 miles as the crow flies and a fair amount more by rural two-lane road) looked to her "like a short cab ride."

But my favorites were sending New York stories with South Carolina's strange datelines: Norway, Denmark, Ninety Six, Due West, etc.

None was funnier than to send the desk a story with the dateline of "North, S.C.," which brought the inevitable call*:

N.Y.: Hi, xxxx on the general desk. About this story. North what ...

Me: Just North.

N.Y.: Yes, but North what?

Me: North. North, South Carolina.

N.Y.: Yes, I know. But North what in South Carolina?

Me. No. Just North. The name of the town is North.

N.Y.: Yes, I understand. But North what?

etc.

(*Any resemblance to the old Abbott and Costello routine is entirely intentional - and real.)

Meanwhile, others on the desk, hearing my side of the call and knowing it was from New York (we'd given the general desk folks a special number so when it rang we knew it was them), were splitting a gut in laughter.

Don't believe me? Check out this You Tube video from the revival of "You Bet Your Life" with Bill Cosby:

The value of editing

From a pointer by John McIntyre, over at IBM they did a little experiment -- take some unedited webpages with high traffic and run them through editing, then measure the results by number of clicks on desired links.

Read the results. They are pretty interesting (though, as noted, could use replication).