Mar
16
Filed Under (Editing) by on 16-03-2011 and tagged

To my former students: You thought I was tough.

Thanks to the GAWKER you can see what a story looks like in the editing process when a Washington Post editor gets hold of it.

Here’s a Washington Post Story With All the Editor’s Notes In It

My edits only looked worse because I used green ink!

Mar
09
Filed Under (Skills) by on 09-03-2011 and tagged

Anyone want to run a class on comparing data tables and why some comparison are not accurate?

Does owning a passport reduce or prevent diabetes? The maps from Boing Boing seem to indicate it is so.

In today’s Folha de S. Paulo there is a story about how Brazil sold Libya the anti-riot trucks and tanks being used against the demonstrators. And that is a good example of reporting about an international event and showing the local connection. It informs the Brazilian people about what deals its government has concluded.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the world will not hear about this. Seems as of noon today Folha did not put that story on its website.

Here is a picture of the story from the paper just to prove it exists:

I am not saying Brazil does not have a right to sell its products to anyone who can pay. All I am saying is that many in the world press went after the USA for selling tear gas to Egypt. Why then, are there no similar reports of Brazilian or French equipment being used in Libya and other despotic places?

UPDATE: It seems the article is now available but only to online subscribers. And you have to search by the actual title of the article. Searches for “Libia” or “Urutu” — Brazilian Portuguese terms for “Libya” and “tank” — came up with goose eggs.

If you want to see the online article, here is the link: Folha de S.Paulo – Brasil vendeu veículos “antimotim” ao país – 21/02/2011.

Just remember you have to register with the paper.

Voice of America has a great blog entry about the trials and tribulations of international students in the United States trying to figure out that whole love and dating thing.

Love and Dating for International Students

It’s clearly too late for Valentine’s Day, but who says this kind of story can only be written at a certain time of the year.

For college journalists, the cultural issues that exchange and full-time international students face is an excellent opportunity to inform the larger campus population of the diversity on the campus.

For journalists in the community press, this issue presents a similar opportunity to discuss and explore the diversity of the community. It is also a good way to air out some of the cultural differences that could cause friction between the immigrant community and others in the area.

There is lots of information journalists can get from the Census Bureau.

I just posted some data on the DC SPJ site about African-Americans that the Bureau compiled. It is well worth a look. There are some interesting numbers that could easily lead to several good feature stories.

Black History Month: By the Numbers