Interview/Data
Part I: The language/style used by writers
1) As newspaper writers are you encouraged to stay neutral on topics you are covering?
It’s important to always try to stay neutral when covering topics where you are able to choose a side or promote a particular agenda. The point of writing news isn’t to tell people what they should think or behave, but to inform them as to the things that are going on around them and tell them how they can get involved if they’re interested.
2) Because you are writing to such a big audience what techniques do you use to make sure the reader can understand your language? (i.e using contraction, common vocabulary, avoiding words that that can be interpreted differently)
Writing for a newspaper is very different from writing essays for college courses; you want to keep your vocabulary on a level that allows you to best get across what you’re trying to say to the most people. Sometimes this means toning down the vocabulary that you use in the text, even if that means writing differently than how you speak.
3) Metin Timucin wrote an article pointing out different lexis used by newspapers. He explains that it is important to get on a conversational wavelength with the reader do you agree with this technique? What would you add?
I feel like the best kinds of articles are those that are both informative and enjoyable, or easy, to read. Writing the news in a way that feels like you would, say, tell somebody a bit of news seems to be the best way to make such an article. That being said, there are certain structural formats and general guidelines that most news articles usually follow that can make writing an article like this more challenging.
4) When writing for The Post, what are some techniques you use that would differ from if you were writing an academic paper?
While, as stated earlier, the biggest difference tends to be in the vocabulary used, another key difference is in the sentence style. Newspaper articles tend to get across the information with short, to-the-point sentences while academic papers often rely on long, flowery sentences with more elaborate vocabulary.
5) What is some language/vocabulary that is specific to a newspaper? (for example doctors say contusion instead of bruise or a football coach says left tackle not linemen)
Coming to The Post with little knowledge of the newspaper business, there has been plenty of lingo I’ve needed to learn to keep up with what’s going on around me. When you’re hired by the newspaper, the section that you’re assigned to write within the department within the paper (confusing, I know) is called a beat. So when I wrote for the Sports section of The Post last semester, I wrote the hockey beat. Within this beat, I had to learn what checking, the blue line, and a “hat trick” were, and how to use them in my articles to add variety to my vocabulary.
6) When writing an article that is about a specific discourse, what are some techniques for taking very specific information and make is understandable for the average reader?
I think that most often, the easiest way to make specific information understandable to the reader is to describe upon first reference what you’re talking about, or say where the reader can go to learn more if they are interested in the topic. After that first reference, you’re able to simplify or abbreviate the information in a way that allows you to focus on relaying the most information possible.
Part II: Style
1) The layout of the newspaper is very important how much do you think visuals impact the overall quality of a newspaper?
Put simply, I think that if the layout of a newspaper is confusing or dull, it’ll be hard to sell to the reader. Having an interesting, creative layout can make or break how much of the readership picks up a copy on any given day.
2) What are some techniques used to make newspapers visually appealing?
One of the biggest visual techniques is having a bold, eye-catching headline go with the front page’s centerpiece article. This is often the most interesting or important article in the paper, and the newspaper designers’ primary duty on a given night is to make sure that the visual aspect of the story will draw in readership. Other than this, I think that making sure that the paper is clean looking and easy to navigate is the easiest way for a publication to put out a paper that the audience wants to check out on a daily basis.
3) Another scholar Tatyana Thweatt explains that headlines are very important because many times people skim the paper and what they read in headlines is what they remember, do you agree with this assesmet?
I absolutely agree with this scholar. With the fast-paced lifestyle that most people live today, it seems rare that people have the time to sit down with multiple newspapers on a given day. If this is the case, the competition between which publication wins over the customer will come down to which one is most visually appealing, and headlines that are creative and informative are a key aspect to this visual appeal.
Interview Questions: Answered by: Pat Holms
· It's part of the job to be an unbiased reporter.
· Not publicly announcing a political affiliation on Facebook, things like that.
· Some journalists say they try to write at an eighth grade level. But I've seen some say third.
· Writing efficiently, getting to the point, using shorter paragraphs. News is rarely delivered in essay form.
· CP = Center Piece, our biggest story on that day's front page
· Lede = first sentence of a story
...things like that.
· Talking to professionals, interviewing the right people to have it explained. That's part of interviewing, part of reporting.
· They draw the eye in. Period. Can single handedly decide who looks at what and if they look to begin with.
· Not sure! Haha that's why I pay a design staff. Sorry.
· She's not incorrect, I guess? That's a fine way to look at it.
· Me personally? For it to be correct. I'm not a copy editor, though, so, that's just me. They'd want a rhythm to it, a snap to it, have it draw the reader in and be the right amount of clever.
1) As newspaper writers are you encouraged to stay neutral on topics you are covering?
It’s important to always try to stay neutral when covering topics where you are able to choose a side or promote a particular agenda. The point of writing news isn’t to tell people what they should think or behave, but to inform them as to the things that are going on around them and tell them how they can get involved if they’re interested.
2) Because you are writing to such a big audience what techniques do you use to make sure the reader can understand your language? (i.e using contraction, common vocabulary, avoiding words that that can be interpreted differently)
Writing for a newspaper is very different from writing essays for college courses; you want to keep your vocabulary on a level that allows you to best get across what you’re trying to say to the most people. Sometimes this means toning down the vocabulary that you use in the text, even if that means writing differently than how you speak.
3) Metin Timucin wrote an article pointing out different lexis used by newspapers. He explains that it is important to get on a conversational wavelength with the reader do you agree with this technique? What would you add?
I feel like the best kinds of articles are those that are both informative and enjoyable, or easy, to read. Writing the news in a way that feels like you would, say, tell somebody a bit of news seems to be the best way to make such an article. That being said, there are certain structural formats and general guidelines that most news articles usually follow that can make writing an article like this more challenging.
4) When writing for The Post, what are some techniques you use that would differ from if you were writing an academic paper?
While, as stated earlier, the biggest difference tends to be in the vocabulary used, another key difference is in the sentence style. Newspaper articles tend to get across the information with short, to-the-point sentences while academic papers often rely on long, flowery sentences with more elaborate vocabulary.
5) What is some language/vocabulary that is specific to a newspaper? (for example doctors say contusion instead of bruise or a football coach says left tackle not linemen)
Coming to The Post with little knowledge of the newspaper business, there has been plenty of lingo I’ve needed to learn to keep up with what’s going on around me. When you’re hired by the newspaper, the section that you’re assigned to write within the department within the paper (confusing, I know) is called a beat. So when I wrote for the Sports section of The Post last semester, I wrote the hockey beat. Within this beat, I had to learn what checking, the blue line, and a “hat trick” were, and how to use them in my articles to add variety to my vocabulary.
6) When writing an article that is about a specific discourse, what are some techniques for taking very specific information and make is understandable for the average reader?
I think that most often, the easiest way to make specific information understandable to the reader is to describe upon first reference what you’re talking about, or say where the reader can go to learn more if they are interested in the topic. After that first reference, you’re able to simplify or abbreviate the information in a way that allows you to focus on relaying the most information possible.
Part II: Style
1) The layout of the newspaper is very important how much do you think visuals impact the overall quality of a newspaper?
Put simply, I think that if the layout of a newspaper is confusing or dull, it’ll be hard to sell to the reader. Having an interesting, creative layout can make or break how much of the readership picks up a copy on any given day.
2) What are some techniques used to make newspapers visually appealing?
One of the biggest visual techniques is having a bold, eye-catching headline go with the front page’s centerpiece article. This is often the most interesting or important article in the paper, and the newspaper designers’ primary duty on a given night is to make sure that the visual aspect of the story will draw in readership. Other than this, I think that making sure that the paper is clean looking and easy to navigate is the easiest way for a publication to put out a paper that the audience wants to check out on a daily basis.
3) Another scholar Tatyana Thweatt explains that headlines are very important because many times people skim the paper and what they read in headlines is what they remember, do you agree with this assesmet?
I absolutely agree with this scholar. With the fast-paced lifestyle that most people live today, it seems rare that people have the time to sit down with multiple newspapers on a given day. If this is the case, the competition between which publication wins over the customer will come down to which one is most visually appealing, and headlines that are creative and informative are a key aspect to this visual appeal.
Interview Questions: Answered by: Pat Holms
· It's part of the job to be an unbiased reporter.
· Not publicly announcing a political affiliation on Facebook, things like that.
· Some journalists say they try to write at an eighth grade level. But I've seen some say third.
· Writing efficiently, getting to the point, using shorter paragraphs. News is rarely delivered in essay form.
· CP = Center Piece, our biggest story on that day's front page
· Lede = first sentence of a story
...things like that.
· Talking to professionals, interviewing the right people to have it explained. That's part of interviewing, part of reporting.
· They draw the eye in. Period. Can single handedly decide who looks at what and if they look to begin with.
· Not sure! Haha that's why I pay a design staff. Sorry.
· She's not incorrect, I guess? That's a fine way to look at it.
· Me personally? For it to be correct. I'm not a copy editor, though, so, that's just me. They'd want a rhythm to it, a snap to it, have it draw the reader in and be the right amount of clever.