Posted 12:05 pm March 16, 2010 by Teresa Schmedding
Did you know newspapers lost 15,000 full-time editing and reporting jobs (27 percent) over the past three years? Pew’s latest study, as E&P notes, also found that revenue fell 45 percent over the same time period. I guess it’s good news that revenues fell more than staffing levels …
The report is worth reading, despite some of the depressing news in it. For example, did you know that the average reader spends only 3 minutes and 4 seconds on a news Web site? To me, that’s good data to make an argument that professional headline writers (us!) write heads for the Web instead of bypassing the desk.
Was there any good news? Yes. The report predicts things will get better for newspapers at the end of the recession, that staffing cuts should be at an end and that we can expect to see revenues tick up (though not surge).
And not as many newspapers went out of business as was predicted. “Only half a dozen of any size went out of business, and most of those were second papers in their market. More papers, nearly 100, cut back at least one day a week, but most of those were very small,” the report states.
Posted 12:31 pm March 11, 2010 by Teresa Schmedding
Do you need a fun break? I do. So I recently posed this question on Twitter and got a flood of responses.
Here’s the list from Twitter. Can you get any of these in a headline? Or can you get your own in a headline?
• “Schmuck.” I don’t see/hear it all that often these days, but when I do, I giggle.
• I was fascinated as a child by “antidiestablishmentarianism.” Out of use but has a modern counterpart antideinstitutionalisation.
• Mine is “kerfuffle” because it gives me images of chickens and chaos.
• Autumnal.
• “Defenestrate” is an excellent word, but only use it in birth announcements and obituaries if it’s accurate (from @FakeAPstylebook).
• You know I prefer “ombudsman.” So lofty. So versatile. So vague. So … perfect!
• Word that’s following me around: Mercurial.
• Ah, it’s hard to beat the fun of “winsome.” Lovely, fluid sound, slightly arcane.
• I like “elucidate.” I always think of a light bulb turning on over a person’s head.
• Fond of disgruntled, akimbo and higgledy-piggledy.
• “Cuspidor.” Sounds like a piece of armour, but the derivation, from “conspuere,” is appealingly frank.
• Best I’ve got into a headline was “borborygmus.” Went alliteratively with boobs & bums on story about online obscenity.
• I like “expunge” myself. There’s something politely violent about it.
• Love ameliorate. Almost got it into headline on story about major repairs for Apalachee highway in Tallahassee
• “Ersatz” is my favorite word
• ”Estuary.” No, I’m not a potomologist. I just like the way it sounds.
• Untoward is on my list. Another is irksome — because it sounds some much like its meaning.
• Smite.
Posted 2:20 pm March 9, 2010 by Teresa Schmedding
Steve Buttry has spent 38 years working in newspapers and, it seems, has been training journalists (formally or informally) for most of those 38 years. Steve is a cliff-diver in the industry. There’s no leap he has seemed too afraid to make as he constantly stays ahead of the curve in changes in our industry. He recently became director of community engagement for Allbritton Communications.
Whether you’re redirecting your career or rejuvenating it (or just aren’t sure how or whether to do either), Buttry gives some great advice in his blog. Here are some highlights: (more…)
Posted 7:04 pm March 4, 2010 by Neil Holdway
National Grammar Day — on Thursday, March 4 — certainly is something we copy editors can celebrate. We should party with all the English teachers who call us when they see mistakes in our material. I can’t believe we don’t get the day off for this. Anyway, as part of our celebration, I give you my years-old, grammatically disinclined music list. Its dated material will give you an idea of how long ago I put this together and perhaps how old I am.
Similarly, Teresa started a thread on our discussion board four years ago about songs with bad grammar; people contributed for months. You can check that out here. In the meantime, I’ll start you off with my list. (more…)
Posted 5:22 pm February 20, 2010 by Neil Holdway
I’m happy to say about 20 students attended my session on editing Friday at the Illinois College Press Association conference in Chicago. Not only did they attend, but they were sharp, understanding a lot of what I was telling them. And some were even called “copy editors” or “copy chief” at their college publications. And some were already as high as editor-in-chief and came to learn more about editing anyway.
(more…)
In praise of print (and new media)
Posted 3:05 am March 7, 2010 by Neil Holdway
I recently came upon two more votes for the survival of print media, one a large-scale vote from, well, a big player in print media, and one from a high school student. (more…)