Editing Detective, Jennifer Carbert

Due to the pace of the journalism business mistakes are bound to happen. However, Ricki makes a good point in her blog post, Editing Detective when she says "These errors don't necessarily impair judgement of the readers, yet they make the original compositions look unreliable, as though no one cared enough to correct these mistakes at all."  The small mistakes made by the writer, or missed by the copy editor, makes the publication look lazy and discredits the facts of the story.

The editor of Reuters India missed a repeat word when reviewing the Polish plane crash highlights 'lamentable' fleet. The error seems to be from an earlier revision. The writer or copy editor decided the sentence worked better with said in a different place. However, when revising the story the writer or editor forgot to remove the original word. Although this is a simple error, as Ricki said, it reflects poorly on the publication.


Writers also have a responsibility to their readers. Readers want to know they are more than simply a number or a pay-check. A common phrase heard among journalists is, "I got into this business to inform the public." If this is so, then care about them are double check all work that has a potential to be published. Sloppy work reflects to the reader that the writer did not care enough about them, or the story to glance at it again.

Writers must remember the stories they publish represent not only their own diligence, work ethic, and competence, but also reflect on the intellect, and dedication of the publication. Let each story, caption and picture reflect an attitude of self-respect and honour.

Note: Image from cartoonstock by Joseph Farris

Final Blog Post, Jennifer Carbert

This semester I have learned about blogging and the role of the internet in the world of media. Writing, editing and interacting with the online world has become a part of the journalists job. Although I don't agree with Peter Horrocks who was quoted about the importance of technology by the BBC as saying: "I'm afraid you're not doing your job if you can't do those things." There are plenty of really good journalists who do not like using the online tools simply because they have mastered their craft in print. There is a newspaper in Meadow Lake SK, which does not even have a business website and does really well in the community. 


Online editing, in my opinion, is much more difficult than print editing. Catching mistakes on a computer is harder to do than finding them printed out on paper. Another reason editing for online becomes difficult is because of the change of pace. Articles written for online sites are written in less time than the print articles and sometimes are updated as new information is discovered. The sheer speed and constant updating of online news stories makes it difficult to keep up with the editing process.


In my future I see technology playing a very important role in my writing and publishing processes. The major reason is because I intend to use my skills overseas for Canada. The Internet, blogging, facebook, twitter, and e-mail have all made this opportunity available. Learning how to write and build a blog has been helpful in that sense. The second reason I see technology being important in my career as a journalist is because most people receive their news online. Although I still prefer flipping through a physical newspaper most people would rather receive updates electronically, this is simply the way the business is moving. As Katrine said in her blog post, The Power of Blogging, "One of the advantages of blogging for journalists is the exposure it creates." She is completely correct, blogging allows people around the world to quickly self-publish which can lead publishers to find some amazing journalists.


Note: Image from Boston University Office of Disabled Services

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The role of Social Media, Jennifer Carbert

Part of the journalists's job is to build relationships. Relationships are what allow journalists's to gather information and find answers. The Internet and advances in social media have changed the way relationships are built and maintained. According to an article published by the University of Colorado Social Media is a way to get information that would otherwise have been next to impossible to get. "Social media supports “backchannel” communications, allowing for wide-scale interaction that can be collectively resourceful, self-policing, and generative of information that is otherwise hard to obtain." Social Media allows large amounts of people access to information, and allows people to stay in contact half a world apart, with so many connections gathering information is much easier.

Social Media has changed the way people interact and allowed information to flow much faster and easier. However, not everything about social media is good. Social Media encourages people to be more dramatic and more opinionated than they might have been otherwise on order to gain followers on twitter or friends on facebook. Katrine Sorenson in her blog post The Importance of being you  said: "Since success is measured in the number of followers on Twitter or the number of friends on Facebook, it has become very important to have a distinct personality or controversial opinions to break through the digital wall." In order to be someone online the writer needs to be distinct and different. Sometimes this can lead journalists, especially citizen journalists who are not held accountable for their words, to say defamatory or offensive things simply to gain followers and friends. Stephen glass is an example of a journalist who wanted readers and was willing to say anything to get them.


Another downfall of social media is the anonymous factor. Although stories may come from following someone on twitter or befriending them on facebook, journalists can never be sure who wrote those things. The name attached to them may not be the same person who wrote the comment. People who forget to log off their facebook accounts are hacked by friends, and incriminating things are posted as a joke by friends. A name on a computer screen does not mean total reliability on the keyboard.


With careful consideration and thought social media can be successfully used in the Journalism world. Information is easier to find, and stories are finding their way into the public sphere. With so much information journalists need to be careful which sources they choose and which posts they believe. Twitter and facebook are a great starting place to get in contact with people and find out who they are, but good journalism should never end with a twitter post, or facebook comment. The information needs to come from the source, face-to-face, or at very least over the telephone.

Note: Image from Politicus.us

Importance of Numbers, Jennifer Carbert

Numbers are a part of many newspaper stories; National statistics, increases, decreases, and budgets. With all the different possibilities for numbers in a accuracy, not only in recording the right numbers, but in the wording the writer uses to give meaning and context, is vitally important.


According to Nelson's Creative Editing for Canadian Journalists copy editors need to make sure that all the numbers are correct: the addition and synthesis of journalists is correct. In stories such as "Pension consultations too narrow: critics" in the Edmonton Sun, it was important for the journalist and editor to  make sure all the numbers used were correct before publication. Sometimes a journalist needs to do addition when statistics have increased or decreased to show the difference. In the bottom of the article, "Most Alberta tuition hikes rejected" in the Edmonton Journal, the author probably did some math to figure out that NAIT had purposed to increase tuition 40 per cent. A copy editor probably double checked the mathematics to ensure 40 per cent was the correct number.


Numbers that are correct and that accurately represent the subject matter can be crucial to a story, for this reason they need to be given care and attention by both the writer and the copy editor.  Just as Ricki Cundliffe said in her blog post "Editing Detective": "...there is no reason why the writers themselves cannot take the time to once-over their work to save everyone time and trouble." Looking over numbers is supremely important as they are often difficult for a copy editor to double check.


Image from My World is getting smaller every day

Changing times, Jennifer Carbert

Journalism 2.0 is emerging in the online world and changing the ways in which people consume news and facts. Journalism 2.0 creates a new dynamic in which backpack journalists are becoming dominant because they know how to include text, video, and audio. There is also a change in the perspective of citizen journalist. Official news sites are inviting readers to leave comments, create blogs and share stories using social media interaction. The new Journalism 2.0, although not eliminated the need for journalists and solid facts, will change the way news is gathered, composed, and received.

Today consumerism has changed. People no longer go to the street corner to pickup the newspaper, instead they go online and find the stories they want to read. Readers scan the material to see if there is anything relevant before actually reading the material. "In radio and television time is limited. In print journalism space is limited. But on the Internet there is essentially an unlimited amount of time and an unlimited amount of space. The limitation is the attention span of the Internet users," said Vinton G. Cerf in his article How the Internet is Changing the Concept of Journalism .The online world also lends itself to a more diverse media setting. Previously news could be found in either audio, video, or print. With the Internet and Journalism 2.0 all three of these factors can be combined to create a compelling story. CBC is a great Canadian example of a news agency which has adapted to online. CBC combines the text of the news, audio from the radio, and video from the television.

A large majority of news sites also offer a chance for readers to become interactive. Instead of writing a letter to the editor and waiting for the response to maybe eventually make the way into the newspaper, responses can be posted, read and responded to by many almost instantaneously. With interaction a new dynamic of deciding which sources are trustworthy and which are simply rambling on a certain topics has become prominent. Many sources do research and have trustworthy information, but not all, sometimes the information is completely fabricated as Jayme stated very well in his previous post Independent Journalism when he said, "Since anyone and everyone has access to the Internet, you can't just assume a blogger who does no fact-checking is going to be giving you anything other than his outlandish opinions. The responsibility falls on both the reporter, to maintain his credibility by stating sources for information, as well as the reader, for insuring what they are reading is, in fact, fact". The reader must decide which information is trustworthy.

Journalism is in the infant stages of online development as Karen Zypchyn would say. We are still learning how best to adapt information gathering for the Internet. Combining audio, video, text, and images along with linking and creating an article that is scannable and searchable are all things which the 2.0 Journalist must consider on top of double checking facts and validating sources. The future is both scary for journalists and exciting to see what is coming, the era of backpack journalists who can be versitle in every medium and gather information quickly and accuratly is on the horizon.