Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet News Goes To Print

IEG News went to the printers today. This is a fourteen page publication that I’ve done with a group of senior high school students over the last three weeks.
The aim of the project was to give them an insight into professional journalism, strengthen their writing skills and build group cohesion. I also wanted to get them working with sources in the hope that this would feed in to their academic writing.

I was very impressed by the determination and professionalism of many in the class. They worked hard and yesterday’s final proof-reading session was a real insight into how confident they’re becoming about text structure. It was also good to see that they could challenge one another about language and editing issues as well as me. I moved from being “the editor” to “one of the team” and that’s a wonderful feeling in any class room situation.

If you’re a journalist and invited to work with schools, seize that opportunity. Nothing forces you to think critically about the way a production is put together than working with teenagers. They’re smart, stroppy and designed to keep you on your toes.

I found Apple’s PAGES sufficient for putting together a professional-looking design in the time allowed. It’s particularly good at handling images and multiple columns.

Work Samples

It’s difficult to know what articles showcase my best work. These are a few of the pieces that I’ve written for print media that have been linked to most on the Net.

A good sport - Research in Sweden into the effects of gaming on children’s behaviour should please worried parents. (The Guardian)
All change by degrees in Sweden (Times Higher)
“False King” upsets palace (The Local)
Surgical strike on Polish places (Times Higher)
Partial grading system change (Times Higher)
Fears for Norwegian as English papers rewarded (Times Higher)

You can also find reviews of my first novel College.com (Pulp Books, 1999) at Amazon. 

Interviewing People You Really Don’t Like

It’s not always easy interviewing people. You sometimes come across idiots you’d rather not spend more than a second talking to. Trouble is, as any journalist knows, you have to talk to sources to get the story.

I recently did an article for a website which required talking to a very eminent scholar. It took me over a week to get this person on the phone despite emails and numerous messages left on voice mail. Heck I practically stalked him across Europe by any digital means possible. And then when I finally got to talk to him, his opening gambit was “I assume you’ve read the 2000 articles about me on the Net?”

Now maybe this was an attempt at humour, but the tone of his voice suggested he was actually being completely serious. He then continued to talk about himself in the third person, reminding me somewhat of the arrogance of Hercule Poirot. Suffice to say, I didn’t exactly warm to him.

The important thing to remember in a situation like this is that you need the source for the story. You have to maintain your professional courtesy. Otherwise you can come in for a stack load of hassle.

Every step of the interview, I picked up warning signs that this person was trouble. So naturally, when he demanded (and I use this word quite consciously) to read a draft of my copy before I sent it to my editor, I was tempted to politely but firmly tell him where to get off. But after careful thought I actually did send him a section of the piece. I wanted to ensure I had quoted him accurately. Experience has taught me that you have to be 100% accurate in quotes because the person you interview is going to go through your article with a fine tooth-comb and question every comma and colon. And, yes, some people want to check them.

The article hasn’t shuffled into print yet, so I haven’t heard if he was offended by any chops and changes my editor made. I’m sure if he is, he’ll let me (or my editor) know.

The sad thing is –and people forget this sometimes– that in some walks of life it can be quite useful to be courteous to a journalist. After all, I’m the one promoting his work, building his name and reputation. As it happens, I haven’t tried to knock him or his work. In fact, he’s doing work I truly believe is important to humanity. But there’s no way I’d ever try to pitch an article on him again to a major news outlet as interviewing him was decidedly unpleasant.

Image: Daniel F. Pigatto

Proof-reader’s Marks

If you ever get into the situation where you’re publishing a manuscript, you may well need to use proof-reading marks. Especially if you’re working with an editor.

As part of the journalism project I am running at the moment with some students in Stockholm, I’m going over proof correction marks today. I’m giving students a draft copy of the magazine we’re putting together and asking them to see how they get on proof-reading.

Part of the aim of the exercise is to show them how important it is to work through a text that’s meant for print; it’s also a way of giving them more insight into the editing process.

There are some excellent resources on the web if you’re looking to find out more about industry standard proof correction marks: Journalism Careers has an excellent PDF available by Positive Concepts that’s well worth referring to. 

Word Power

I’m running a journalism project with some students at a school in Stockholm. The class are producing a newspaper and we’re going to print in the next week to ten days. Whilst editing articles today I came across a quote that seemed a little inflammatory. I double-checked the source and, yup, turns out the writer was engaging in a little creative writing. Cue hasty re-writes and re-interviewing.

The exciting thing is that these kids get it. They get the inverted pyramid. They get the fact that a news article can be provocative and engage its audience in a debate.

One thing that worries me though is that undertaking a journalism-project like this, some of them might actually get hooked on journalism. Hooked on writing. On finding an angle that engages an audience.
It’s exciting to see young people realizing how powerful words can be ---first hand.

It’s not the greatest paying career in the world, but journalism sparks. I suppose it’s like Margaret Atwood once said: “a word plus a word is power”.

Writing Journalism: The Inverted Pyramid

I’m talking to some Journalism students today and, apart from examining the kind of personal skills you need to work in freelance journalism, I’m going to look at what is undoubtedly the most used text-structure in news journalism: the inverted pyramid.

The inverted pyramid is a metaphor often used by writing instructors to illustrate how information should be arranged or presented within a news story. The pyramid’s broad base at the top of the figure represents the key information the writer means to convey.This is what the rest of the article will illustrate, often supported by quotes from individual’s involved in the story.

The inverted pyramid structure dominates the majority of news reporting on the web and in print media because as a structure it ensures that readers can leave the story at any point and understand it, even if they don’t have all the details.

If you’re going to get anywhere in news reporting you have to be able to do this structure with your eyes closed.

Writing Software: Scrivener

Scrivener, a full-featured writing program, came across my desk recently. After trying it on a journalism project I was doing (8 articles for Stockholm University) I bought a license immediately.

I really like the way you can keep research and drafts of a document in one place. I also found the excellent full-screen mode very useful for distraction-free writing.

Although Scrivener is targeted at novelists, it’s also a superb tool for journalists. If you’re like me, you have a messy approach to collecting research, juggling notes and hacking out a draft. You write some more, then type a little, then research a little, then type a little more, then move a few paragraphs around, then start over again until you start to get something that resembles an article together.

The great thing about Scrivener is that it seems to understand this is how journalists like me write.

To make writing less chaotic Scrivener encourages you to create “index cards” which contain a title and a short synopsis of what that index card is meant to contain. These cards live on a (somewhat ugly) “cork board” and each can be moved around, nested, put into folders, etc. You can view and edit these “cards” in the Outline view as well, if you like. In addition to the title and synopsis, each card is associated with a given section of the actual draft you’re building. This section can be anything from a blank page to a single sentence to a few paragraphs to an entire chapter if you’re writing a novel or larger book-length manuscript.

I don’t think Scrivener would suit academic writing as its footnote and endnote capabilities aren’t as good as (whisper it) Word or Pages. Nevertheless, for pain free, chaotic note-taking and drafting an article it is utterly superb. I wish I had discovered software like this fifteen year’s ago. It would have made my life much, much easier.

Scrivener 1.11, by Literature and Latte. Requires Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). $39.95. 30-day full demo available. 

Journalism

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