«   |  Homepage  |   »

Board Notes: ACES Executive Committee's blog

 

Archive for June 2010

Word love

Posted June 30

I suspect most editors starting reading at a young age, as I did, and often read material that was written for a much older audience (I remember reading Nancy Drew novels in kindergarten.)

Whether it was the newspaper, Bible or Harlequin romance novels, I read a lot of words that weren’t a part of my everyday language — or they were and I didn’t recognize them in their written form.

To this day, I still encounter words that aren’t pronounced the same as I’ve been pronouncing them in my head. (University of Missouri J-school Professor Maggie Walter and I were recently discussing this, so I know I’m not the only one!)  (more…)

Posted in Musings | 4 Comments »

Feeling overwhelmed?

Posted June 17

The reports say the economy is improving, which may mean things are getting better at work or it may mean the pressure is shifting from surviving back to growing and/or excelling. Or maybe you’re just starting to realize how much extra work you took on with a smile because you didn’t want to lose your job …

Regardless of the reason, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Seriously, how can you juggle 25 stories, 15 captions and 15 pages that are due in the next two hours hanging over your head, plus that project your boss asked you to handle, those overdue employee reviews, the 200 e-mails in your inbox and all those blogs Teresa from ACES keeps pushing you to read?  Not even a multitasker on ‘roids can handle all that at once. (more…)

Posted in Musings, Shop Talk | No Comments »

Question yourself

Posted June 14

I’m always questioning myself: Am I good boss? How can I be better? Is my staff satisfied with their jobs? Am I doing a good job as the new president of ACES? Is the strategic plan too complicated? Too simple?

I ask these questions often not because I’m plagued with insecurities (OK, maybe not a lot) and want daily pats on the back (OK, maybe not daily but weekly would be OK). I ask because I’m curious. I know I’m a work in progress; a journalist, manager and human being who is constantly evolving. The question is whether I’m evolving in the right direction….  (more…)

Posted in Commentary | No Comments »

Promoting copy editing’s value

Posted June 3

How can readers Googling like mad tell a real journalism site from something an 11-year-old is putting together in his or her basement?

I know the definition of “real” journalism is ever-changing, but I define it as stories that adhere to standard journalistic principles and are produced by journalists who follow a code of ethics — content that actually gets edited and copy-edited before it’s published.

I was reading a blog by Ken Doctor of the Neiman Journalism Lab on the value of copy editing and how the standards have slipped due to cutbacks. Doctor suggests news websites prominently display their principles so readers can evaluate the credibility of the content. The principles should include the ethics of the organization, who pays for the content, and the organization’s practices, including whether the content is copy-edited.

He makes a great point and raises some excellent issues. Would readers be more likely to pay for content that they know wasn’t paid for by a political organization? Wasn’t written by a PR person? Has been verified? And edited? That the meal in the restaurant view wasn’t free? Would advertisers be willing to pay more to be on a credible site?

We know the ethical standards we adhere to, but do we bother to tell readers? Sell them on the value of our product? I think we don’t do enough. Just because we’ve been printing a newspaper for years, we can’t assume that affords us a certain level of credibility with Googlers.

With all the gibberish out there, it makes sense to me that we’d tout the quality and objectivity of what we do. Why wouldn’t we?

The idea is so intriguing that I’ve talked to the Reynolds Journalism Institute about including the idea in our research project on website quality and revenue.

I’d be interested in hearing what you guys think….

BTW: Neiman Journalism Lab is now also on my list of must-reads each week (thanks, Neil Holdway, for spotting it).

Posted in Commentary, Musings | No Comments »