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Portfolio #3:

After completing well over half of the course, I have learned more about newspaper writing than I ever knew before. The first big coverage concept was editorials and I quickly thought about Whether You're Complaining or Praising, Just Be Nice!. This blog discusses how some news writers compose entries that are focused on making someone or something look negative based on their experience. It is extremely important, as a neutral reporter, to be as un-bias as possible. Heres a hint: If you are upset about something (e.g. dinner) then write all of your thoughts on a Word document instead of putting it out in the paper for the world to see. Believe me, you will look back at it and be proud.

The next coverage topic that we have just began was a book called Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists by Haiman. This book not only discusses problems in the news world, but it gives great suggestions for how to improve on specific issues. If I was a full-time reporter, then I would tell my co-workers to Just Please Look it Up - Hint AP Style Book before making a mistake. I wrote this blog in response to Haiman and also to the future of anyone in the class that wants to become a news reporter. One may think why should a news reporter be allowed to make mistakes, but a CEO can't mess anything up without getting into a lot of trouble. Do you see a bias? The need for more accuracy with the editors is important, but everyone should do there part in order to make the paper the best it can be.

In addition, another coverage entry consisted of when You Hide In Order to Attack. The use of anonymous sources is becoming a popular topic in the news industry. If a politics is named as being anonymous and is talking about their opposing opponent, then most people will know who it is. With Haiman still in thought, do you think that The Experienced Always Win or Not? I always find it uneasy to watch the television news when the reporters are interviewing a person who has just been through a terrible event. It makes the reporter seem unearthly and not professional. I know what some of you are thinking though and you are probably saying "well it is there jobs." Yes, I understand, but I believe that more sensitivity needs to be used in some cases.

My last coverage entry discusses how some people need to Use Some Positive Judgement. The news and newspaper love to write/talk about negative events and why is that? Based on my blog entry and my secondary sources, I believe that the negative news is what people will listen to. What if the news was always good and only mentioned the positive aspects of life? You will quit watching because it would not be "interesting." Sounds true, huh?

As for this third portfolio, I have written all of my coverage entries for each assigned text on time and each entry prompted discussion and feedback from my peers. Also, each entry was submitted in a timely manner and I interacted with my peers for each topic.

A more recent article of mine entitled Use More Positive Judgement uses outside sources and goes in depth with the topic. Not only did this entry go in-depth, but all of my entries went in-depth.

As for my comments, I wrote a comment grande on Jenn's blog entitled Editorials vs. Persuasive Essays which talked about the differences and similarties in editorials compared to persuasive essays. Within my comment, I linked to Gretta's blog entitled Be Careful What You Wish For because of how she wrote on a similar topic and used great detail in his explanation. In addition to this comment grade, I made a comment primo on Gretta's blog entry (Be Careful What You Wish For). Over a two day period and more than seven comments, I found this entry to be extremely helpful, so I wrote a reflection about The Spread of Information: Purpose and Meaning.

Aja wrote a blog entitled Bummer Dude and I made it a comment primo, grande, and informative because of how much disucussion it prompted. Finally, Gretta wrote another entry entitled You Better Have an Explanation which talked about credibility and I was the first to comment about the newspapers should consider writing, somewhere in the paper, about why they do what they do. So, the "whys" made me write about how Explaining the Answer is not that hard.

In addition to all of my entries being submitted very early, generating discussion, and prompting interaction among my peers, I wrote a reflection for each of the assigned text blog entries of mine. They included The Spread of Information: Purpose and Meaning, The Daily Words: Fact or Lie, The Power of Having No Name, and how reporters are Explaining the Answer.

Lastly, Whether You're Complaining or Praising, Just Be Nice! is my wildcard entry beacuse of how much interaction, discussion, and in-class feedback it generated. It is also a very important entry because if you are a reporter, then you need to use the AP Style book.

Click here for the course web page devoted to Newswriting.

"An environmental leader said, 'Bad behavior is rewarded because what gets reported is the most outrageous statement made.' For every reader who thought the press was guilty of showing a political or ideological bias in the news columns, there were many more who complained about what they called 'negative' bias" (Haiman 49).

Haiman, once again, brings up some very interesting and debatable ideas and topics about the news industry. The quote above made me think about newspapers and also the television media. What is the most common phrase that, most, people say about the media or news?

"All that I see or read is bad news. Where is the good news?"

This statement is so popular among the variety of people I talk to that it has become second nature to even think differently.

According to Marano, "it [our brain] is simply built with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant news" (1).

Marano wrote the above quote in Psychology Today and it matches our society and most people's brain. When you hear of an unusual or tragic event, then what do you do? I would think that you would find out more information or talk to other people about it. The same concept applies when writing a news article. The author wants to find the "news worthy" aspect of the story and they usually will do whatever it takes.

Dr. Nauert, in Psych Central, stated "The researchers found that news about local health threats increased attention and memory in readers more than news about distant, or nonlocal, health threats" (1).

It is amazing how negative news attracts more people than good news.

So, why does the media and newspaper usually report from a negative angle?

Click here for the course web page devoted to Haiman.

Gretta wrote a blog entry entitled You Better Have An Explanation which talked about what newspapers do and why they do it. I never thought about how an audience views a newspaper and their journalism techniques and styles. When thinking in a reader’s mind, then I became concerned at how people judge things that they do not understand. If the readers would take one class in journalism or even news writing, then they would understand that the newspaper staff have a lot of standards that they have to follow. Unless the writer makes a mistake, then they usually have a reason or it is because of the AP Style guidelines. If the newspaper would break-down one page and explain its reasons, then the readers would, most likely, begin to appreciate the articles and techniques. Overall, Gretta did a great job at making me realize that a reader does not always know what we know or understand the whys of the paper.

Click here for the course web page.

"As a best practice, the news staff should consider whether it is fair to behave differently when questioning ordinary citizens unaccustomed to being interviewed than with people experienced and knowledgeable about the press" (Haiman 32).

Sounds true, huh?

I always think about how ordinary people feel when being asked a question from a news reporter. The news personnel seem to try and invade other people's privacy and even when they say no with a thank you. Is this because they have to for their jobs?

If someone is interviewing a political figure, who is well known, then usually they will act much nicer than if it is an ordinary person.

Haiman added "But let’s not treat somebody’s old Uncle Harry or Aunt Millie the same way we treat the pols and the pros" (32).

It is very interesting how reporters have different attitudes in different situations, but it kind of makes sense. If you are in the presence of an important political figure, then you will act accordingly - probably very conservative. What if you have to interview someone at their house and they are just a typical citizen, then you will probably act much more relaxed and open.

Why can't news reporters treat ordinary people the same way they would treat political figures or important representatives? Is there a stereotype or tradition that says this? I was amazed at how news reporters treat non-important or traditional, everday citizens.

So, should news reporters act according to the situation?

Click here for the course web page devoted to Haiman.

After reading through Josie’s blog entry entitled, "The best quotes are those where the speaker is remembered -Anonymous,” I thought that she made many good points about the use of writing an anonymous quote or source. Josie mentioned that if someone is humiliating another person or group, then they should have the right to know who that person was. I think this is part of the reason of why people read the paper because not everything is clear or cited. This leads into the issue of citing someone as anonymous because they want to keep their privacy. The key word that Josie mentioned was how an article or paper keeps it reliability. I think that if a paper contains quotes that are continually anonymous, then the readers will begin to question what is true. No matter what the topic is, I believe that if someone wants to be anonymous, then they should have the personal right to do so. I highly agree with Josie and how several anonymous sources/quotes can lead to a paper’s dismal finish.

"The public sees the growing use of unidentified sources as a basic fairness issue. The public is particularly upset when it thinks the press is providing cover so someone can make an anonymous personal attack on another individual" (Haiman 21).

After reading the next section of Haiman, I found the quote above to be extremely important to the Newswriting world. I think that it is essential for the news reporter to be careful when citing someone if they say they do not want to be. This would be considered an unidentified source, but is it always good?

I think that unidentified sources are good for local stories, but how does it work when it comes to political and national stories. Here is an example case: What if the Vice President said a statement that the paper named as being an unidentified source. What if that source was used to make the opposing political party look bad? No one would have known that the V.P said that quote because it was unidentified, but the opposing team or political party would probably know.

I think that when it comes to politics, then the public knows who says what because of how widespread the topics are and how much coverage they receive. Is the paper using unidentified sources as a means of attacking another person of even another news paper company?

So, do you think that the paper uses unidentified sources in order to make the public read their papers? Is it a form of bias that people do not understand and simply enjoy reading about? Finally, could the unidentified sources be a way of attacking a specific audience - hint: news coverage?

Click here for the course web page devoted to Haiman.

Angela wrote a very interesting blog entitled "You don't have to be perfect" which made me think about the newspaper as being a person instead of a factual, non-human source. She mentioned about how everyone has someone that they trust in their life. What if that person lied to you every day? I bet that you would not believe that person very much and would not have much faith in them. It is this type of behavior that can be related to the newspaper. The newspaper seems to have too many lies or mistakes in it and this is causing people to become very upset. The newspaper workers get paid, with money, for what they do, so their behavior in editing the paper should be very good. The famous line of “everyone makes mistakes” holds true, once again, in this situation. It’s okay to have a few mistakes because a paper has many sections and pretty comprehensive. The overall paper should be much different meaning that it should be mostly-error free. If the newspaper employees do not care for their jobs and this is why the errors are occurring, then they need to find employment elsewhere. The newspaper comes with a dedicated task of informing the public, but it should not inform them with errors that could be edited.

Click here for the course web page.

"There is a broad feeling in the public that newspapers not only make too many
mistakes, but that they also are unwilling to correct them fully and promptly" (Haiman 13).

The first 16 pages of Haiman was a good read and also included many facts about newspapers and things that they do wrong. The quote, above, really stuck out to me because of how the newspaper makes so many mistakes. Now, I am trying not to be too harsh because I know it's hard, but they get paid for it.

That prompts a question then about newspapers. If someone is getting paid for working on the newspaper, then should it be error-free?

I think that a newspaper should correct their errors on a weekly basis, but if not daily. Agree?

When a magazine publishes each pamphlet, monthly, then there usually are some errors or mis-communication. I usually noticed that the very next issue (the next month) has a page that is dedicated to corrections and/or mishaps.

Every reader is bringing something personal to the paper when they read it and the paper cannot please everyone. I seemed to be being pulled from two sides because I think well they are getting paid, but then I think mistakes can happen - easily.

Should a paper be published without errors or if errors are found, then should the corrections be published in the following day's paper or even online?

Click here for the course webpage devoted to Haiman.

Greta wrote a great lengthy blog entry entitled Be Careful What You Wish For and it contained a visual chart that expressed similarities between an editorial and an academic essay. I had never compared the two types of writing before, but I now understand how similar they both are. It is amazing how an academic essay could be transformed into an editorial by simply changing some techniques and carefully inserting quotes. It may not be that easy, but it could probably be completed without, too, much emphasize. The only major difference that I notated between that two is being careful to credit or quote what is said. A newspaper writer does not want an editorial to look like an academic paper because no one will want to read it. I also love how Greta ended her blog entry by saying “be careful what you wish for” when writing an editorial. If you write something upsetting and the majority of people know you, then you could receive some staring eyes when people approach you. Overall, write for an audience with a purpose and not to simply write negativity or extremely pleasing information.

Click here for the course web page.

"Avoid simply listing complaints or attacking a silent opponent with a series of aggressive questions that you have no intention of researching" (Jerz, Editorials).

I have seen that before!! It is amazing how some news writers use their sections of the newspaper to either like or dislike something - especially restaurants. The paper is supposed to be un-biased, but it seems to convey a left or right message sometimes. The list that Dr. Jerz posted is very useful, but very true.

First, I think that "writing it tight" is a key element because people do not want to read a long boring editorial. There is a need to only write the words that are necessary and to not write just because it will fill space.

Secondly, "interviewing sources yourself" is a very promising approach because of how much more truth is involved. If you simply say, as Dr. Jerz stated, "Research said," then you are simply using something that someone else has already said. So, why even say it? If you get quotes from several people and incorporate them into the news article, then the piece has more personality and truth behind it instead of information that is already published somewhere.

Finally, the one that I enjoyed reading the most was about "writing for a reason and not just complaining." The example that Dr. Jerz listed was extremely helpful because of how it shows the negativity behind the topic. The food cost has risen and the editorial is complaining. This would probably lower the amount of money that the cafeteria makes because people will agree or disagree and attend or not attend. Put in some quotes from people who work in management or even supervisors and ask questions that prompt answers about this price increase and why. By simply writing a negative editorial, then you are showing your audience that you are complaining. When you write an editorial with facts and quotes, then you are showing the audience information and not your opinion.

Greta wrote a very interesting blog entitled Be Careful What You Wish For and composed a chart that listed comparisons about editorials and academic essays. There are so many comparisons between the two that make them both so similar. An editorial is like writing an academic essay because you do not want to convey your opinion in the paper, but only through quotes and worthy information.

So, is an editorial another way of writing a short academic essay?

OR

Is an editorial a small column that presents useful information about a useful topic?

Click here for the course web page devoted to Editorial.