Something Special for Environmental Reporters

Here is a site with direct links to places that should help African Reporters who cover the Environment.

New Fall additions to this training source

• I really want to keep this blog as useful as possible for those who use it.
  Here are some new links that will help with writing.
  All three of these come from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
  
  First is a writers blog from Roy Peter Clark
  
  Next Chip Scanlon shares thoughts on writing style on his blog
  
  The final link is NEWS UNIVERSITY a free online source for lots of journalism training. You must register. The training is administered by Poynter and funded by the Knight Foundation.
  DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN!
• Check out this Online course of "Grammar for Journalists"
  

Judith Roales Webpage

Click here for Judith Roales web page and training materials.
Contact Judith at judith @roalesusa.info
Contact Bill Recktenwald at [email protected]
Contact Jim Kelly at [email protected]
Contact Jeff Williams at [email protected]

Radio Links

Jeff Williams news director for WSIU radio at Southern Illinois University suggests these links for broadcast journalists.
The Radio and Television News Directors Foundation
www.rtndf.org
The National Association of Broadcasters
www.nab.org

The United States Federal Communications Commissionwww.fcc.gov

The U.S. National Telecommunications & Information Administrationwww.ntia.doc.gov

The Society of Professional Journalistswww.spj.org

The Corporation for Public Broadcastingwww.cpb.org

To contact Jeff Williams his e-mail is [email protected]

Great links from Judith Roales

Links to thousands of newspapers all over the world:
http://www.newspaperindex.com/

New ideas in how to gain readers, from Readership Institute at Media Management Center, Northwestern University:http://readership.org/

A site that specializes in blowing the lid off today's multi-billion dollar propaganda-for-hire industry, naming names and revealing how public relations wizards concoct and spin the news, organize phony 'grassroots' front groups, spy on citizens, and conspire with lobbyists and politicians to thwart democracy. From the Center for Media and Democracy:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/index.html

A way to see all the media properties worldwide that are owned by companies that own US media. From Columbia Journalism Review:
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

Simple explanations of statistics most journalists use incorrectly:
http://nilesonline.com/stats/

Help in understanding all the difficult events, institutions, and concepts you meet in covering business and finance. From the Initiative for Public Dialogue at Columbia University:
http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/j_intro.html

What should a newspaper stand for?

"I know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty."

-- statement by Joseph Pulitzer, April 10, 1907

Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy

"An editor has a right to expect a number of things from a professional reporter. No one of them is more important than the right to expect that the reporter's copy will be absolutely, unquestionably, unexceptionally accurate."
Bob Haiman, St. Petersburg Times (Retired)

Here are two reasons you must check, recheck then double check your facts.

"The Daily Evergreen would like to sincerely apologize for an injustice served to the Filipino-American, Spanish-speaking and Catholic communities on the front page of Thursday's Evergreen. The story "Filipino-American history recognized" stated that the "Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza," the galleon on which the first Filipinos landed at Morro, Bay, Calif., loosely translates to "The Big Ass Spanish Boat." It actually translates to "Our Lady of Good Hope" the information was plagiarized from an incorrect website."

Or This from the AP

WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a Nov. 30 story on trips by White Houseemployees paid for by outside groups between 1998 and 2004, TheAssociated Press cited a report by a Washington-based watchdog thatturned out to have numerous errors.
The Center for Public Integrityattributed the mistakes to data entry errors discovered after itreleased the report.
Its corrected report says:
_The value of the trips by White House employees during sixyears of the Clinton and Bush administrations was $1.5 million, not$2.3 million.
_The number of White House officials who took more than $10,000in sponsored trips was 23, not 51.
_Only one, rather than 29, worked in Vice President Al Gore'soffice.
_AFL-CIO unions spent $18,087 on such trips, not $200,000.
_The World Anti-Doping Agency, not the AFL-CIO, was the largestsponsor of such trips, spending $40,260.
_Drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. spent $2,226.29 on such trips, notmore than $20,000.
_Harvard University spent $28,857 on trips, not $85,137.

Here is a link to a fine column on accuracy.

Google the Reporters friend

Google is the very best search engine for reporters, but most only use the basic Google.

For better results use the advanced search, write a word or two in the second line, and search. THEN scroll to the bottom and "search within results." Try it, you'll like it!
Take time to read the "Advance search tips"

What are others writing on your subject? Google Advanced news search scan the last month in more than 4,500 news sources. (suggestion--for breaking news narrow the dates searched)

Google has a special search section to look at web logs. Blogs can be started by anyone, be very cautious about information found on blogs, just because it is published does not mean it is accurate.

Fact or fiction? When you read something that seems unbelievable, it just might be an "urban legend" here is a site to help you check.

Media and the Iraq War

Much has been written about media coverage of the Iraq War. These links are but a few and represent various views.

That we can freely access and discuss them speakes well of freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the United States.

Here is a piece from the Media Education Foundation.

The Global Policy Forum of the United Nations has several thought provoking stories.

The Multi-National Security Command also has a daily newsletter.

The Independent Media Institute has a collection of stories about the war.

Tune up your journalism skills

There is no better place online to sharpen your reporting and writing skills than the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Poynter offers a new, FREE way to train at News University You must register, but that is easy. I suggest your first course be "The Writer's Workbench: 50 Tools You Can Use " Roy Peter Clark will help make you a better writer in just a few hours. Tell your friends www.newsuniversity.org