Words

 Characteristics
1. What are they?
2. What do they do?
3. Why are they used?

    When writing for media, always use concrete instead of abstract words as it makes stories more interesting to the reader. Abstract communication not only obscures reality, it distorts it. Sticking to the concrete will also help you manage overwhelming subjects, e.g. It's one thing to say a college athlete must manage his or her time; it's another to actually follow an athlete for a week during their day-to-day activities.

    Just because you know $5 words doesn't mean your reader will. It's better to be clear than profound. In short, follow George Orwell's advice: "Never use a long word where a short one will do."

Six major elements of a news story:

• Accuracy, i.e. Misspellings = FATAL errors and communicators never ASSUME.
• Proper attribution - you cannot know what people think, feel or believe; use said
• Balanced & Fair, i.e. Balance v. Bias (from within) Overcome your biases by remembering to always be fair and take great care when using adjectives and adverbs. When you don't, expect the reader to find out more about you than about the subject.
• Objective, i.e. Power of the pen
• Brief & Focused - Write lean and remember to KISS.
• Well-written (see the FOG index)

Reasons to hit the Delete Key (pp. 50-51)

Flowers vs. Nails (passive v. active voice) - Make it do it to it

Redundancies and Journalese

Wordiness, e.g. Appositives/Split Infinitives - In short, remember to delete excess. Any paragraph, sentence or word that's inessential should be removed. You've started the sculpture, so now it's time to remove the imperfections, i.e. tight makes right.

Spell Check - This poem will remind you that even the best spell-checkers will never provide an adequate human substitute.

Grammar - The great writers know grammar rules aren't so much restrictions as necessary aids in communication. If you haven't read Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style," do yourself a favor and read it a.s.a.p. Serious writers know where commas should go, when to use "who" or "whom," and how to master sentence structure.

Punctuation - Without it, you don't have a point.

   Finally, remember an editor is your best friend. Weigh each and every suggestion without becoming defensive about it. Don't expect the editor to look up your mis-spelled words; use the dictionary and help cement the correct spelling in your head, i.e. do your own homework.

   The editor acts in the best interests of the reader by striving for clarity. Editors also save writers from embarrassing mistakes. That being said, it's possible to over-revise as you work against a deadline. Typically, the best reporters are seldom satisfied with what they've done as there's always another call to make, always a better way to interpret the data and always a simpler, clearer way to inform the public.

If you don't understand something in this Web note, please e-mail Dr. Sitton.