Every once in awhile I go back to school: I read up on the basics of writing a good story or essay. Here are some of the lessons I've recently learned, courtesy of the Columbia School of Journalism's site, journalism.org, and csmonitor.com:- Organize your material: Put it in a rough sequence, in an order that will be sensible and engaging to the audience
- Write the first draft quickly, then go back and self-edit
- Ask 'who cares?' about every sentence, and be ruthless excising extraneous material
- Be original: A different spin, original research or investigation, an interview or first-hand account, a personal photo, a chart -- all of these can add enormous value and readibility
- Never make anything up, even if it's plausible
- If something from one source is suspicious, check another source
- Always credit your sources
- Don't let pressure to produce compromise the quality of your work
- Use the title, first sentence and (if the article is long or complex) a two to three sentence abstract up-front to both inform and draw in your audience
- Close with a memorable sentence
I will hyperlink several MSM print online articles and look for a pattern of words or phrases regarding the appointment of Senators by the PM in an attempt to evaluate a bias exists. For this excercise I will not include other media including TV or Radio.
Don Martin: Are party loyalists the best Harper can come up with?
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