Pew report on where people get their news

This link goes to the .pdf of Pew's study on where people and communities go for their news. The summary from Pew is here.

College journalist defies administration

A student journalist at Bryan College defies the administration and self-publishes a piece about the sudden (suspiciously quiet) departure of a professor, who turned out to be arrested "after having attempted to meet with a minor child” at a gas station. Jim Romenesko (@romenesko) published the piece, and then things got interesting: The student contacted him and asked that the piece be taken down. Jim, however, suspects coercion by the college president.

Welcome to copy editing, Fall 2012

Hi, everyone, Thanks for your attendance Tuesday. I think we will have a good class this semester. Please get your text and stylebook soon if you don't have them already. Please read Chapter 1 of the text, so that you will be prepared to discuss the material in class. Please begin to familiarize yourselves with the stylebook, too. You may use it during quizzes and tests, but the more you know how to navigate it now, the less time you will spend having to figure out how it works. I hope you also have browsed around the class Blackboard site to see what's available so far. More will be added as the semester proceeds. Among the items there are some extra-credit forms that may prove useful this semester. If you have any internship or work where you do what amounts to copy-editing-like work, you can print out forms and get them signed by a supervisor, and I will give you extra credit for your outside work. Editing at the Whit also is acceptable; just get the adviser or editor-in-chief to sign, in that case. Each task must be 1 hour minimum, worth 5 extra credit points, and I'll accept five such signed sheets, maximum. Either way, the total available extra credit in this area is 25 points toward your final semester grade. I will explain more on Thursday, but I would like you to have your blogs set up by Tuesday's class. Next Thursday will be the day your first blog assignment is due: I'm asking for a biosketch. A life history is not necessary, but please tell me a bit about yourself, your experience (journalistically and otherwise), your interests and your aspirations. This blog entry will be worth 10 points. Beyond the four walls of Room 131, I would recommend that you friend Rowan Copy Editing on Facebook (after which I will add you to a closed class group on Facebook) and follow @RowanCEProf on Twitter. I'm looking forward to the semester. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about what's going on, and I'll do my best to answer them. While e-mail generally will take care of most situations, if you think a phone call would be more expedient, please include a number where I can reach you. Talking by phone might be better than playing e-mail tag. Prof Woodell

Welcome to the Class of 2016 - the Mindset List

The link is here if you want to share it. The Mindset List for the Class of 2016 For this generation of entering college students, born in 1994, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy have always been dead. They should keep their eyes open for Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman orientation. They have always lived in cyberspace, addicted to a new generation of “electronic narcotics.” The Biblical sources of terms such as “Forbidden Fruit,” “The writing on the wall,” “Good Samaritan,” and “The Promised Land” are unknown to most of them. Michael Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.” If they miss The Daily Show, they can always get their news on YouTube. Their lives have been measured in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds. Robert De Niro is thought of as Greg Focker's long-suffering father-in-law, not as Vito Corleone or Jimmy Conway. Bill Clinton is a senior statesman of whose presidency they have little knowledge. They have never seen an airplane “ticket.” On TV and in films, the ditzy dumb blonde female generally has been replaced by a couple of Dumb and Dumber males. The paradox "too big to fail" has been, for their generation, what "we had to destroy the village in order to save it" was for their grandparents'. For most of their lives, maintaining relations between the U.S. and the rest of the world has been a woman’s job in the State Department. They can’t picture people actually carrying luggage through airports rather than rolling it. There has always been football in Jacksonville but never in Los Angeles. Having grown up with MP3s and iPods, they never listen to music on the car radio and really have no use for radio at all. Since they've been born, the United States has measured progress by a 2 percent jump in unemployment and a 16 cent rise in the price of a first class postage stamp. Benjamin Braddock, having given up both a career in plastics and a relationship with Mrs. Robinson, could be their grandfather. Their folks have never gazed with pride on a new set of bound encyclopedias on the bookshelf. The Green Bay Packers have always celebrated with the Lambeau Leap. Exposed bra straps have always been a fashion statement, not a wardrobe malfunction to be corrected quietly by well-meaning friends. A significant percentage of them will enter college already displaying some hearing loss. The Real World has always stopped being polite and started getting real on MTV. Women have always piloted war planes and space shuttles. White House security has never felt it necessary to wear rubber gloves when gay groups have visited. They have lived in an era of instant stardom and self-proclaimed celebrities, famous for being famous. Having made the acquaintance of Furby at an early age, they have expected their toy friends to do ever more unpredictable things. Outdated icons with images of floppy discs for “save,” a telephone for “phone,” and a snail mail envelope for “mail” have oddly decorated their tablets and smart phone screens. Star Wars has always been just a film, not a defense strategy. They have had to incessantly remind their parents not to refer to their CDs and DVDs as “tapes.” There have always been blue M&Ms, but no tan ones.’ Along with online viewbooks, parents have always been able to check the crime stats for the colleges their kids have selected. Newt Gingrich has always been a key figure in politics, trying to change the way America thinks about everything. They have come to political consciousness during a time of increasing doubts about America’s future. Billy Graham is as familiar to them as Otto Graham was to their parents. Probably the most tribal generation in history, they despise being separated from contact with their similar-aged friends. Stephen Breyer has always been an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Martin Lawrence has always been banned from hosting Saturday Night Live. Slavery has always been unconstitutional in Mississippi, and Southern Baptists have always been apologizing for supporting it in the first place. The Metropolitan Opera House in New York has always translated operas on seatback screens. A bit of the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, has always existed in space. Good music programmers are rock stars to the women of this generation, just as guitar players were for their mothers. Gene therapy has always been an available treatment. They were too young to enjoy the 1994 World Series, but then no one else got to enjoy it either. The folks have always been able to grab an Aleve when the kids started giving them a migraine. While the iconic TV series for their older siblings was the sci-fi show Lost, for them it’s Breaking Bad, a gritty crime story motivated by desperate economic circumstances. Simba has always had trouble waiting to be King. Before they purchase an assigned textbook, they will investigate whether it is available for rent or purchase as an e-book. They grew up, somehow, without the benefits of Romper Room. There has always been a World Trade Organization. L.L. Bean hunting shoes have always been known as just plain Bean Boots. They have always been able to see Starz on Direct TV. Ice skating competitions have always been jumping matches. There has always been a Santa Clause. NBC has never shown A Wonderful Life more than twice during the holidays. Mr. Burns has replaced J.R.Ewing as the most shot-at man on American television. They have always enjoyed school and summer camp memories with a digital yearbook. Herr Schindler has always had a List; Mr. Spielberg has always had an Oscar. Selena's fans have always been in mourning. They know many established film stars by their voices on computer-animated blockbusters. History has always had its own channel. Thousands have always been gathering for “million-man” demonstrations in Washington, D.C. Television and film dramas have always risked being pulled because the story line was too close to the headlines from which they were ”ripped.” TheTwilight Zone involves vampires, not Rod Serling. Robert Osborne has always been introducing Hollywood history on TCM. Little Caesar has always been proclaiming “Pizza Pizza.” They have no recollection of when Arianna Huffington was a conservative. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has always been officially recognized with clinical guidelines. They watch television everywhere but on a television. Pulp Fiction’s meal of a "Royale with Cheese" and an “Amos and Andy milkshake” has little or no resonance with them. Point-and-shoot cameras are soooooo last millennium. Despite being preferred urban gathering places, two-thirds of the independent bookstores in the United States have closed for good during their lifetimes. Astronauts have always spent well over a year in a single space flight. Lou Gehrig's record for most consecutive baseball games played has never stood in their lifetimes. Genomes of living things have always been sequenced. The Sistine Chapel ceiling has always been brighter and cleaner.

AP issues election style guide

AP has put together a style guide to help folks covering the presidential election.

Journalist Security Guide

The Committee to Protect Journalists has a new guide to keep journalists safe, from digital to physical dangers. A link to the guide will be provided here at the blog.

ACES handouts

If you missed the national copy editing conference sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society ( @copyeditors ), you can grab quite a few of the handouts.

How to verify what you see on social media

Here are some highlights of a webinar to help you figure out what's good stuff and what's not.

Religion and journalism

A new report from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism reveals that reporters don't know much about religion.
One of the consquences, according to the report, is that readers think religion coverage is too sensationalized.

Fixing mistakes is hard, but ...

..with the right amount of discipline and effort, it can be done, writes Craig Silverman on Poynhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifter.

Video storytelling

Not really specifically related to our class, but for anyone interested in honing their video storytelling skills, you might find this useful.

NPR issues new ethics policy

Here is the link to the National Public Radio's new ethics policy; a link also will be added to the resources on the right.

Grammar quizzes online

Here's a good place to test your grammar skills.

Grammar quizzes online

Here's a good place to test your grammar skills. And here's another .

The Oxford comma

The debate remains intense for whether to put a comma in front of "and" in a short series. AP style recommends against it, but there are convincing arguments for it. Here is one. And yeesh, it even has its own Facebook page.

AP revises social media policy

The Associated Press has revised its social media policy, including how its staffers should correct their erroneous tweets.