Blogs, blogs, blogs.

Here’s a piece from todays New York Times. While the story focuses on sports blogs, the issues raised are germane to the evolution of journalism in general. As journalism is the only profession/business specifically protected in the Constitution, changes here echo out into the culture at large.

Read the piece and respond to the issues raised: Who controls content? Are news organizations promoters or impediments to the free distribution of information? Are professional news organizations the final word on accuracy or do blogs, with their nearly instant vetting of information, allow readers to get the “real” story? If bloggers are getting paid, who is a professional? Do you read blogs? Do you write blogs?

Have at it.

The Alternative Press

I’m really laying it on now. This is an awesome piece from the Washington City Paper.  It is classic alternative press writing – cuss words and everything. This is gritty writing full of punch and attitude. But notice how closely it hews to AP style. And all the exact detail – addresses, etc. It’s all there. Enjoy.

Comment about how the story is structured, the details (again!) and if you think the story is fair.

Talk of the Town

Here’s a recent piece from the Talk of the Town section of the New Yorker. It;s compact, punchy and thoroughly New York. It’s a quick profile of a local character. Notice the detail, the quotes and the speed of the piece.

Comment as you wish but let me know what you think. Does it fit our beloved AP Style? If so, how so? If not, …well you get the idea.

The Best

OK, it’s time to move on to the big leagues. This week we’re going to read a piece from the New Yorker.  It’s a story about the current and future state of newspapers in America written by media writer Eric Alterman.

Yes, it’s a long piece. Yes, it’s a bit on the academic side. But read it anyhow. And read it well. It’s chock full of history, insight and passion.

Tell me what Alterman is saying here. What is his point? And point of view? Can you find a narrative? Is there a story here? Let me know.

A Nice Piece

In preparation for the midterm Wednesday, here’s a nearly pitch perfect example of news writing for you to read. Alan Finder, longtime New York Times education writer, has constructed a fine, clear piece about the changing landscape of college enrollment.

Now you might not think this is the most sexy topic in the world but read it and you’ll see how tight form and straight ahead language makes the story flow. This is a subject that millions of Americans face. The story demonstrates quite nicely how the nuts and bolts of good story structure can make a relatively esoteric subject very readable.

Finder is a classic newspaper reporter.  He gets right to the point and keeps it simple. Notice the inverted pyramid. Strong lede right into a clear nutgraf followed by the lead quote. Then tightly packed grafs with seamless transitions. Notice how for the kicker Finder comes back to his first “character” in the story. He ties it up with a bow. Bingo.

This is a model piece of news writing. Read it and give me some feedback about how you think it works. Give me some examples of the elements of structure that you find in the piece – grafs, language, transitions, etc. Enjoy.

Numbers, numbers, numbers…

Following up on my hypnotic lecture on reporting with numbers, I’ve got a couple of pieces for you to read.

The first one is from todays New York Times. If you remember, the topic came up in  class Wednesday when we were discussing  Sara’s presentation about Ted Conover.  Read the story and comment about how Adam Liptak used the numbers. Is it confusing? Enlightening? Do you think he presents the numbers fairly? Completely? Then follow the link to the original report (on the left hand side under the info graphic) and find another number or combination of numbers and tell me how you’d present that information.

The second story is from the LA Times.  I really like this story. It’s much less numbers driven than the first but it still uses a lot of figures to underpin the impact of the story. The other reason I like it is that it’s a business section story with a really human angle. And I’d never heard of the subject before so of course I’m intrigued.

So read this and comment on how the writer uses the numbers – too much, not enough? Are the sums he writes about no big deal? For a little extra, tell me how you think the journalist handled the subject matter? Is he fair? Or do you detect a bias?

Have fun. Steve

Trend Piece

This is a good example of a trend piece. The subject is golf but the idea is the classic trend piece – looking at a change in a topic of interest. Read it and take a look at the sources the reporter uses to give depth to his idea.

Here’s another…

The key to being a better writer is to read, right? Well that is doubly true in journalism. Good journalism is a alchemy of singular ideas, never-say-die persistent reporting and the hard earned mechanics of compelling, clear writing.

So along with the story above from the New York Times, here’s another piece of solid feature writing from a big time daily newspaper, the Washington Post. Read it and notice the idea behind it. Think about how the journalist came up with the idea. Then describe some of the reporting techniques you think the reporter used. Be specfic. Also come up with at least one question you wish the reporter had asked/pursued.

Oh yeah, read this for fun.

You may have to sign up for the Post and the LA Times to read these. It’s easy and free. And we’ll be reading more as the term goes on.

A story to read

This is feature from the New York Times.  Read it paying special attention to the reporting the journalist has done and the overall structure and flow of the piece. Comment on this post by 1) Indentifying the lede and nutgraf and 2) Identify at least three sources the reporter used.

Welcome

Welcome to the Journalistic Reporting and Writing Section A01 blog. We will use this blog to read, critique and explore journalism as it’s happening now. We will comment, post and create an ongoing dialogue throughout the semester about the current state of journalism and what the future holds.

To kick things off, here’s a piece from the January 20th Outlook section of the Washington Post. Written by David Simon, a former newspaper reporter and currently producer of the HBO series The Wire, the piece is both a quick recent history of the print news business and a heartfelt lament about how he feels it has all slipped away.

It is a bracing take on the business and vocation we are going to immerse ourselves in over the next 16 weeks.

I, for one, am excited.

You may have to register at the Washington Post to read the story. It’s free.

Steve