Ventura County Star Universal Desk

-30- Rock 'n' Roll

2008-11-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

Two years ago on Nov. 30, I created this blog for the Ventura County Star’s Universal Desk. And this Nov. 30, five years after coming to work at The Star, will be my last day as an employee at the paper (My last day in the office is Nov. 21). I and 16 other newsroom colleagues (44 paperwide) have been laid off.

The past five years have been exciting, challenging, fun, hectic, rewarding, frustrating, interesting, tiring, exhilarating – I could go on, but copy editors hate too many adjectives. I’ve worked as a journalist for 27 years and I don’t yet know if my next job will be as a journalist.

To those who remain at The Star: It’s been a pleasure working with you. If I could give a bit of advice, it would be to compliment your colleagues more for jobs well done. Don’t let complaints and criticism be the only things co-workers hear about.

I read an interview with Ted Turner in Time magazine, and he said this: “You can’t always stay in the place where you’d like to be.” (He was referring to his marriage to Jane Fonda, but what the heck.) Anyway, to those who are leaving, my hope for you is that you find a new place where you’d like to be.

Feel free to keep in contact with me (job notices, employment tips, notes of support or just to say hi) by e-mail at patricia (at) patriciapix.com.

-30- Rock

(Thanks to graphic artist/editorial cartoonist Steve Greenberg for my caricature. Greenberg has been laid off as well.)

Note: I have been allowed to keep this blog up, although nothing else will be added to it after I leave.

All a-Twitter

2008-10-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

I came across an interesting post on a site called "The Next Newsroom Project." Chris O'Brien writes about "Ten (small) things you can do right now to reinvent your newsroom." We do a couple of these already, but others are worth considering. I liked the live online chat idea and the idea of everyone being on Facebook, with reporters promoting their stories there. You can read the entire piece here.

Lighthearted Font Humor

2008-10-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hello, all. Yes, I know it's been quite some time since I posted anything. I was searching for something positive, uplifting, funny to post. At first, all I could find was gloom and doom: layoffs, buyouts, eliminating an entire copy desk, outsourcing copy editing to India. But I searched some more and I found a hilarious video on fonts. Not sure you can view and hear it from work, but give it a try. It's very funny. See the post below this one.

The Font Funnies

2008-10-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Where was the copy editor?

2008-06-29T20:49:00.001-07:00

Photojourlism
Originally uploaded by MarkDM

Mark Dodge Medlin, a former A1 designer at The Star and now on the copy desk at the San Diego Union Tribune, captured this hilarious sign at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar.

We ar not a dyeing brede!

2008-06-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post, tongue firmly in cheek (that's the one on his face), thinks the era of the copy editor is gone. He talks about their importance in the old days, back when copy editors worked on the stories of cigar-smoking, fanny-pinching reporters with such names as "Scoop" (not Zeke) who had that card that said "PRESS" stuck in their fedoras. I'll let W. explain his reason for saying "good riddance" to the copy editor. You must read Gene's story carefully from start to finish. (Cartoon by Eric Shansby)

'Wronged by a Thong?'

2008-06-19T13:55:00.001-07:00

I saw a segment on the "Today" show this morning about a woman who is suing Victoria's Secret over a thong she purchased from the store. She says the metal decoration on the undergarment snapped off and injured her eye. The title running at the bottom of the screen was so funny I had to share it.

Wronged by a Thong?

Then I went searching online to see if I could find other headlines for this story. Here are many more:
Dinged by a G-string?
and
Woman sues Victoria's Secret over a thong 'malfunction'
and
What a thong and dance: Woman sues Victoria's Secret over G-string injury
and
Victoria's little secret lawsuit?
and
Granma injured by a thong! EWWWWWWWWW!
and
The thong did it

What headlines could you come up with for this story? Send them to me.

'Where's the Section on Copy Editors?'

2008-06-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, the fancy new Newseum opened in Washington, D.C. The Newseum is a tribute to the news industry. The New York Times' Lawrence Downes checked it out. He asked museum employees where the section on newspaper copy editors was. Turns out there was no section on copy editors. In his column, Downes pays tribute to copy editors. Here are a few excerpts:

Besides fixing grammar, punctuation and style and writing headlines and captions, he says, copy editors "also do a lot more. Copy editors are the last set of eyes before yours. They are more powerful than proofreaders. They untangle twisted prose. They are surgeons, removing growths of error and irrelevance; they are minimalist chefs, straining fat. Their goal is to make sure that the day’s work of a newspaper staff becomes an object of lasting beauty and excellence once it hits the presses."

He continues: "The copy editor’s job, to the extent possible under deadline, is to slow down, think things through, do the math and ask the irritating question."

His column talks about the evolving job of the copy editor. His entire column can be read here.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)

Seeing Red

2008-06-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

Now here's a case where such a headline isn't so unrealistic or outlandish.

My "King" Is Leaving Newspapers

2008-06-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

OK, so this has nothing to do with our Universal Desk. Instead, it's related to my universe so I felt like sharing it. After 35 years as a newspaper journalist, my husband, George Foulsham, is leaving newspapers for a job at UC Santa Barbara. George is also a big hockey fan (L.A. Kings specifically), and he was asked to write a blog item on his last day at the L.A. Daily News. It appears on the "Inside the Kings with Rich Hammond" blog, and George's item can be found here. (In the photo above, George is in a suite at Staples Center with his great niece, Allison.)

Si Se Puede! Yes I Can! -- Leave The Star and Go Hollywood!

2008-05-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

We said goodbye to page designer Nick Martinez on Friday. "Mr. Hollywood" is off to Variety, where he'll be a graphic designer. He bragged about how he'll get the opportunity to go to Cannes. (What graphics need to be produced there?)

John Moore told the story about how young Nick would come into his office with his Page 1 designs, which sometimes were a little bit different, and after John expressed some concern about whether the page would work, Nick just stood there ... and stood there, until John would sign off on the idea.

In the photo here, I caught Nick bringing one of his arms down and it looked so much like "Si Se Puede!" I couldn't help but use that as the headline.

Good luck, Nick! We'll miss you. Adios! Power to the Hollywood People!

A Female Editor Speaks

2008-05-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

I came across a blog called "Editrix." It's self-described as "A blog for editors, editors at heart, and anyone else who thinks grammar is hot."

It has two features I thought you might be interested in. The first is a new one for the site -- "(Least) Favorite Mistake" -- in which editors are asked what their most embarrassing mistake is. One copy editor tells her embarrassing tale when she didn't follow her own advice: that everyone needs an editor -- even an editor. You can read about it here.

The second feature is called "5 Questions With..." in which authors, editors and other journalists are asked the same five questions, such as "What punctuation mark are you fondest of?" and "If you weren't in your current line of work, what would you be doing instead?" You can find a few of the interviews here, and the rest of the interviewees are listed here.

Now it's your turn. Why don't you send me your answer to one of these questions, and I'll publish the responses. The question:

"If you weren't in your current line of work, what would you be doing instead?"

Please send me your responses. Thanks.

Welcome to the Universal Desk, Karen!

2008-05-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

We have a new editor on the Universal Desk, Karen Gindick. Here's John's April 14 e-mail:

Subject: Karen Gindick

We are happy to announce that Karen Gindick has joined the newsroom as a copy editor.

Karen comes to us from the Los Angeles Daily News where she has held a number of positions during her tenure, including copy editor, copy desk chief, opinion page editor, wire editor, designer and assistant news editor.

She also taught editing, headline writing and design at USC. We are thrilled to have Karen join our desk.

She started today, so if you get a moment please go by and introduce yourself and welcome her to The Star.

John

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

2008-04-12T23:53:00.001-07:00

rich ramirez 1962-2007
Originally uploaded by hellvetica

Martin Gee, a designer at the San Jose Mercury News, writes on his Flickr site: "the last round of layoffs and buyouts really hurt me. i mean, each one does but this one especially. this place feels like a morgue. an abusive relationship. remnants and artifacts everywhere. empty cubicles. empty chairs. abandoned office equipment. goodbye emails. besides looking for a new job, this is a way for me to deal." The way he's dealing is to document the aftermath in images. His Flickr set of photos, called "reduction in force," can be seen here. The photo displayed here is from his set. It shows the empty nameplate for my friend, Rich Ramirez, who took his life a day after finding out his position was being eliminated. Martin adds a note, however, saying he wasn't trying to imply that this news caused Rich to do what he did (read his note with this photo for a full explanation). The photos are pretty dramatic, and having worked there for almost 6 years, I was saddened to see what the place is like now.

Martin's blog is here. Couldn't help but laugh at the photo at the top of his blog.

We Have Slogans!

2008-03-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

I received some great ideas for possible slogans for the Universal Desk. Here they are:

From Tony Sin:

"When news breaks ... We fix it"

and:

"Copy editors kick ass and take names accurately"

From Darrin Peschka:

As a fan of "Project Runway" my first slogan suggestion would be,

"Make it work"

My second would be:

"You're f-in kiddin' me"

Definitely more appropriate but probably not as couth. : )

From Rebecca Whitnall:

This isn’t original, as I saw it on a t-shirt (who knew there were copy editor t-shirts???) but I thought it was cute:

"To infinitives and beyond"

And from Steve Greenberg:

"Three times the work, for the same pay!"

and:

"So much work, so many empty desks"

Which one is your favorite?

Any other ideas?

In Headline Heaven

2008-03-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Some headline writers delighted in the Eliot Spitzer scandal. (Darrin admitted she resisted the urge to use "Mr. Clean" in our headline.) I did a search of A1 headlines of papers in the greater New York area, and here are a few gems:

New York Daily News:

PAY

FOR

LUV

GOV

Niagara (Falls) Gazette:

ELIOT MESS

Prostitution scandal may bring down governor

The Record (New Jersey):

'Mr. Clean' soiled

Spitzer in Bergen call-girl scandal

And a favorite, in the New York Post:

HO NO!

On MSNBC, Chris Matthews was interviewing a New York Daily News reporter today. He asked her if she had ever met those "guys in the green eye shades" who write those great tabloid headlines for her paper. He said he assumed they were guys. The reporter said no, she had never met them, but that they had "a rare skill." Guess we should take comfort in the fact that our reporters have met us. And we aren't all old guys wearing green eye shades!

We Need a Desk Slogan!

2008-02-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

ACES member Kathy Schenck, at her blog, Words to the Wise, proposed a contest to pick a slogan for her Milwaukee Journal Sentinel copy desk. Here are some of that copy desk's ideas as well as slogans proposed by others:

"You write it, we right it."

"We delete in serving you."

"It's way too late to fix this."

"To write is human, to edit is divine."

"Nobody knows the garbles we've seen."

"My typo people."

"Word woes loom; betterment eyed."

"Edit free or die."

"It's never banal to be anal."

"The less hed, the better."

"The first cut is the sweetest."

"This chop shop makes a fortune in stolen participles."

"Surgery first, liquid anesthetics later."

"The scene of a brutal slotter."

"My kid can out-edit your honor student."

"We save more butts than ‘Baywatch.'"

Read the rest of her entry here.

Now, what about us? Do you have ideas for a Ventura County Star Universal Desk slogan? Send them to me and I'll post them.

Dynamo Departs

2008-01-06T00:04:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, we said goodbye to News Editor Carole Ferguson, who's heading to Redding (hey, that rhymes) to be managing editor. There were speeches, laughs and lots of stories. Carole displayed a schedule that showed there were 26 people on the Universal Desk when she first started at The Star. With her departure, we are down to 17. Of course, you could say we are down to 14, since she did the work of four people. The desk presented Carole with a lovely parting gift: a basket chock-full of goodies that represent the grand county she is leaving: Ventura County. She received county fair souvenirs, a framed photo, a Star newsrack piggy bank, even a postcard of Camarillo. At the end of the night, Amanda presented Carole with a going-away page.

Christmas Wish Granted

2007-12-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

Santa brought us a present just in time for Christmas: a new news editor. Here's John Moore's e-mail to the staff:

Subject: News editor

Joe and I are pleased to announce our appointment for news editor of The Star: Darrin Peschka and Amanda Reiter.

We asked Darrin and Amanda to serve as co-news editors, and they have accepted. We know they will make an excellent management team, working together to run our desk.

They are excellent journalists and we're excited about the contribution we know they will make to The Star. We hope you take a moment to congratulate them. They have both earned this promotion through their efforts, and we look forward to their continued growth as journalists and managers.

-- John

Darrin and Amanda took some time to pose for their official co-News Editor portraits (just kidding!) and they are shown above and below. It may give you some indication of their management style.

Congratulations, Darrin and Amanda!

Hey, Mistakes Happen!

2007-12-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

Once again this year, Regret the Error has published its list of the top media errors and corrections. I always enjoy reading these. Here are a few gems I've copied and pasted from the page (a link to the whole column is at the bottom):

New York Daily News:
A headline in Monday’s Daily News, “He regrets his role in ‘postal’ vid,” implied that Richard Marino, the subject of a YouTube video, was sorry for an incident in December at a Brooklyn post office. Marino, in fact, is not sorry. The News regrets the error.

Typo of the Year:
The Houston Chronicle, like just about every other North American media outlet, spent a lot of time reporting on Anna Nicole Smith this past year. In attempting to explain her, um, humble origins, the paper gave itself a measure of comeuppance. And that’s what makes it the typo of the year.

A photo caption in the paper read:
“When Redding, a longtime scout for Playboy, discovered Smith, the model could barely right a sentence…”
Who’s illiterate now?

Runner Up:
Reuters, the reigning back-to-back champ in this category, didn’t win but did come in second place by calling the Muttahida Quami Movement the “Muttonhead Quail Movement.”

Daily Telegraph (UK):
APOLOGY: In Friday’s article on Liz Hurley’s wedding it was wrongly stated that the actress is holding a pheasant shoot on the Sunday after the ceremony. Game shooting is of course illegal on Sundays and the pheasant season ended on Feb 1. We apologise for the error and accept that if any shooting is to be done it will be by the paparazzi, who have no season and do not observe the Sabbath.

Portland Press Herald:
A story on Page B4 on Wednesday about foraging for edible mushrooms contained a photo of amanita muscaria, which is a poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom. It was a copy editor’s error.

Best Meta Correction, The Guardian:
We misspelled the word misspelled twice, as mispelled, in the Corrections and clarifications column on September 26, page 30.

Most Puzzling Correction, The New Scientist:
Several readers complain that the dancing cow illustrating Feedback, 20 January, appears to have six teats. It was of course drawn as seen by an intoxicated fellow dancer.

Monterey County Herald:
Monterey X-rated movie director Inkyo Volt Hwang’s nickname was Wanker Wang. An article on page A1 Saturday misspelled the nickname.

You can see the full report here, which includes people's comments at the bottom that correct Regret the Error's writer for his mistakes!

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

2007-12-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

I came across a couple of headlines earlier this month that struck me -- one for how clever it was and the other that seemed sensationalistic. Both, once again, come from the L.A. Times.

On the Times Obituaries page on Dec. 13 was this headline:

Ike Turner, 1931-2007

Rock pioneer

was known for

abusing wife

Tina Turner

I think that Turner was first and foremost a musician and singer, but this headline downplays that and plays up the abuse angle. Yes, the abuse was a significant, much publicized part of his life, but it seemed odd to me to have that be the main headline. I guess I would have preferred to see information like that in a deck. I think another reason this headline struck me was that it appeared in the L.A. Times. It seemed out of character for them. Now, if I had seen this in the L.A. Daily News, I wouldn't have felt quite the same way (though I would still think that angle was overplayed).

On the same day, the Times' front page had main art and a story about a real estate agent in Stockton who takes prospective buyers on a free Repo Home Tour, going by bus to see foreclosed homes they might want to scoop up. In one column, four lines was this fabulous headline:

A magical

misery

tour in

Stockton

Perfect!

Smiling Stars

2007-12-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

As part of a challenge to ourselves, the photographers in a group I'm a part of are photographing a portrait a day for the month of December. Finding subjects to make this task a reality means I've needed to ask co-workers if they'd pose for me. Thought I'd share in a collage four of the portraits I've done of Star staffers. Thank you to them for being such good sports! Anyone want to be a portrait subject for me this month? I'd appreciate it!

Big Girls DO Cry

2007-12-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

The news came last Thursday that Carole Ferguson is leaving us. Assistant News Editors Amanda Reiter, left, and Darrin Peschka reacted to that news with tears and screams; even Santa couldn't console them (nor could the half-price coffee the next day soothe them). (ANE Alicia Hoffman was too upset to visit with Santa). Here's the e-mail from John:

Joe and I are sad to announce that Carole Ferguson will be leaving The Star. Carole has accepted the position of managing editor of the Redding Record Searchlight. Her last day here will be right after the first of the year. This is a wonderful opportunity for her and we are excited for Carole, and know she will make an excellent managing editor in Redding. Their gain is definitely our loss. Carole started with us as a copy editor in 1999 and became news editor in 2003. She manages the largest staff in the newsroom while spending most of her time each day working hands-on on tomorrow's paper and making sure we make deadline. Silas Lyons, editor in Redding, which is the other Scripps-owned paper in California, had this to say about Carole in announcing the appointment to his staff: "She has a genuine commitment to community journalism and a passion for what we do. She also understands exactly what it takes to get the paper out every day. Those of you who interviewed her had great feedback. ... I'm absolutely thrilled to have her coming on board in such a critical role for our newsroom. I think you'll find her to be an able leader and a valuable colleague." I know she will provide excellent counsel to Silas, a young, dynamic editor (I gave him his first job out of college ... a few years ago). Sometime between now and her departure we will squeeze in an appropriate good-bye. --John

(Photo courtesy of Sun-Sentinel Scared of Santa photo collection)

A Hit and Miss

2007-11-29T12:43:00.000-08:00

I came across a couple of headlines recently in the L.A. Times that amused me, one in a good way and the other in a bad way.

In the Times Business section on Nov. 15 was this head:

Uncertainly pulls down markets

Major indexes fall after Macy's lowers a sales forecast and retail spending shows only a slight rise in October.

I was puzzled when I read this. At first I thought "Uncertainly" was the name of some company. After I read the lead, however, I could see that what the headline should have said was: Uncertainty pulls down markets.

The California front on Nov. 13 had a story about the iconic LAX restaurant, Encounter, reopening after repairs and renovations. The main head said:

George Jetson,

party of 4, your

table is ready

Space Age dining returns to LAX as iconic eatery is patched up. One delighted customer: a 5-year-old named Jet.

I really loved these headlines. They're fun, and along with the four photos used (2 on the cover, 2 inside), they draw the reader in. In fact, the lead of the story was nothing special; it wasn't fun and playful like the headline. But at least the headline drew me in. I would love to see us loosen up and do more of these in the news pages, when appropriate to the story, of course. Now, you can beam me back up to my copy desk.

Writing 'Heds' Isn't as Easy as It Might Seem

2007-10-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Deborah Howell, the ombudsman for the Washington Post, writes of the power and perils of headlines. She quotes the Post's Editorial copy desk chief, Vince Rinehart, who says: "Perhaps the greatest challenge in copy editing is reading 1,000 sophisticated words on a complex topic and finding six words to tell the story and convey its nuance and tone, often with less than five minutes to do so." I'm not aware that our Universal Desk has written guidelines for headlines (when I was at the Dallas Morning News, I was on a committee to come up with a "mission statement" on the kind of headlines we were to write, and we ended up implementing it), but the Post does have such guidelines. Howell says The Post's stylebook states that headlines "must be accurate" and "capture the essence and tone of the story, as well as the most important element." Headlines should also "invite readers into the story. Use vivid words. Avoid headlinese . . . and deadening, bureaucratic language whenever possible. Headlines should be written in understandable, conversational English." TheSlot.com's Bill Walsh, The Post's National copy desk chief, listed many factors copy editors must keep in mind when writing headlines. Howell writes: "particularly important for Page One stories, (Walsh) said, is deciding whether to concentrate on the specifics of a story or on the bigger picture it might illustrate." Howell also writes about how page design figures prominently into the headline: For example, should there be a label? Does the story need a deck? Howell's column also goes into the differences when writing headlines on editorials and OpEd pieces. The ombudsman also says that even the good heads "often go unnoted except by the souls on the rim or by the slot." So since we're more likely to hear complaints rather than praise from readers about our headlines, perhaps we should be patting one another on the back more often. Nice head! You can read the entire column here.

A Ravishing Headline

2007-10-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

The six-day-a-week Santa Barbara Daily Sound, which began publishing in March 2006, made a boo-boo in large display type on its Oct. 22 cover over its staff-written fire story. Oops! Look for this one to appear on Leno. To ravish: to seize and carry away forcibly. To rape (a woman). To transport with joy or delight. To ravage: To destroy violently; ruin.

The Copy Editor: "Eliminating Fixed Costs"?

2007-10-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I posted an entry on the American Copy Editors Society's Discussion Board. I had read a Bloomberg article in which Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group detailed how it hopes to triple sales from its Internet sites by 2012. The president of MediaNews, Joseph Lodovic, said: "We have to find ways to grow revenue or become more efficient by eliminating fixed costs." He went on to say: "Why does every newspaper need copy editors? In this day and age, I think copy-editing can be done centrally for several newspapers." I found that to be an amazing comment. I raised that question on the ACES discussion board and invited responses. I said that in light of the fact that I had a loved one working at one of those papers, I would not post my own thoughts. My posting sparked comments and a number of postings on other people's blogs. John McIntyre, the Baltimore Sun's assistant managing editor for the copy desk (and former president of ACES), weighed in on his blog with this entry, titled "Just sack all the editors." Pam Robinson, founder and former president of ACES, wrote her take on her blog, "Words at Work." University of South Carolina journalism professor Doug Fisher issued his "Clarion call for copy editors" on the matter. And McIntyre links to an interesting article on "Grade the News" about the problems, including a destruction of credibility, that occurred when MediaNews papers in the Bay Area combined their copy desk operation. They're worth reading. Check them out.

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough ...

2007-08-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

Former Star staffer TJ Sullivan, in reaction to the news that the Albuquerque Tribune will be sold or closed, writes on his blog about a day nearly 13 years ago when the then-editor of the Tribune, Tim Gallagher, left the Tribune to come to The Star. Here are a few snippets:

"I worked for Gallagher at both The Trib and the Star, and was often advised by him to focus on what I could change, which was what the staff of The Tribune did best. ...

"Trib staffers didn't just look out their windows, they examined their own operation as aggressively as any. This was the culture during and after Gallagher. When I was a part of it, the staff questioned its bosses as aggressively as it did bureaucrats and business leaders. So when Gallagher decided to leave, and a corporate VP dropped by to make it official (and to introduce the new editor, Scott Ware), the staff fired away. People wanted to know if this was the beginning of the end.

"The matter was also addresed frankly in that December 30, 1994, story, which I pulled out to review this week and found the following Gallagher quote regarding the circulation situation:

"We're fighting an uphill battle here, the trend away from evening newspapers. I quit blaming myself for it. I went through the Stuart Smalley 12 steps. I'm doing what I can, we're putting out a good newspaper, everybody knows it's a good newspaper [SNIP ...] Don't get worked up about these numbers. This is still a very profitable business."

"Gallagher's departure was not the beginning of The Trib's end. It has continued to publish for the past 12 1/2 years since he left. And although the staff size has been considerably diminished during that time, along with circulation, The Trib's product has continued to be recognized with national awards.

"Quality, however, doesn't always sell."

You can read the entire piece here.

'Fake News Was My Day Job': Weekly World News Revisited

2007-08-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

There's a funny piece in the Los Angeles Times Opinion pages today about a comedy writer (Mark Miller) who worked for Weekly World News. As previously mentioned, the paper is discontinuing publication in print form. Here are some snippets from his column:
"When my career as a stand-up comedian and sitcom staff writer started winding down, I took on a number of freelance comedy-writing jobs -- writing jokes for Jack-FM stations, for other comedians and for Cracked magazine. My Cracked editor went to work for the WWN and invited me to contribute stories. Before long, I had five or more stories in each issue. Fake news was my day job. Imagine my mother's pride: " 'France Makes Hanky Panky Mandatory' ... my son wrote that!" I was, at first, confused about whether I was supposed to write true offbeat news, general satire or complete fabrication. So I asked. The response was loud and clear: "complete fabrication." Yet each piece was written as if completely real. So when, for example, Bigfoot got married, launched his acting career and became involved with Kabbalah, each story got a dateline, quotes from "sources" and "experts" and followed a typical Associated Press structure. In fact, much of the original staff came from mainstream newspapers. The standard? It had to seem true. "Half the readers realize the stories are tongue-in-cheek; the other half believe they're all true," my editor explained. "You have to write the stories to satisfy both groups." ...While most of the supermarket tabloids constantly recycle one another's celebrity gossip and diet plans, the WWN went unashamedly for the bizarre, unbelievable and tasteless. For any creative writer, the gig was a gold mine. Inspiration was everywhere. One day I wondered just exactly how snug is a bug in a rug? Shortly thereafter, I sold "Researcher Determines Snugness of Bugs in Rugs" to the WWN. Photoshop was the graphic department's best friend. On their pages, Elvis lived, Bat Boy rode atop subway cars, and space aliens shook hands with world leaders. Explorers discovered Noah's ark, the Garden of Eden, Jesus' sandals and the world's fattest cat. They had just as much fun with the less spectacular news items. For one of mine, "African Tribe Worships Barbra Streisand's Nose," they created a gigantic stone statue of Streisand's head in profile to show off her famed schnoz and surrounded it with spear-toting natives in loincloths. ...One thing's certain -- waiting in line at the supermarket will be a lot less fun." You can read the full piece here.

Are You Old Enough to Remember When ...?

2007-08-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Melinda Brown sends this along, a correction that ran in the New York Times. ... Also, this is belated, but thanks to John Weigle for the post on the Weekly World News. Now, for the NYT correction:

New York Times, July 30

An article on Thursday about the arraignment of three men in the shooting of two New York police officers, one of whom died, misstated the schedule set by a judge for a trial in the case. The trial is expected to begin by February, not by "Feb. 30. "
The error occurred when an editor saw the symbol "- 30 -" typed at the bottom of the reporter's article and combined it with the last word, "February." It is actually a notation that journalists have used through the years to denote the end of an article.

Elvis Sightings Expected to Plummet!

2007-07-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

"The World's Most Reliable Newspaper" has died at the age of 28. The New York Times has passed away, you asked? Or perhaps The Wall Street Journal? Nope, it's the Weekly World News, that paper that has amused us at the checkout lines for years. Emil Steiner, a Washingpost.com blogger, writes about its demise in the printed form. Starting on Aug. 27, the Weekly World News will only be available online. So in light of this shocking, amazing, earth-shattering news, Steiner decided to list his favorite headlines from the paper over the years and asked his readers to add their own. So here's a sampling of those gems you wish you could have written:

Man Poses as CPR Dummy To Meet Women

Mother Nature Endorses Gore for President

Astronomer Rebuked For Endless Staring into Space

Man Marries Computer -- Becomes Gigamist

Pit Bull Eats Mobile Home

200 ELVES LAID OFF! Santa moves operation to Honduras sweatshop

VENGEFUL FROGS EAT FRENCH CHEF'S LEGS

VENTRILOQUIST IS IN COMA -- BUT HIS DUMMY'S STILL TALKING!

GRAVY TRAIN DERAILS!

Chocaholic Mom Has Sugar-Coated Baby

MEEK SUE TO INHERIT THE EARTH!

Woman gives birth to baby rabbits

Hitler's Brain Found in Mayonnaise Jar

HITLER'S NOSE ALIVE IN A JAR -- AND IT'S GROWING A MUSTACHE!

Gay Dinosaurs: the real reason they went extinct

Doctors Reattach Siamese Twins

Man searches for his own severed head

CONCRETE ENEMAS A BAD IDEA, DOCS WARN

You can read the full blog item here. (George Bush photo by AP)

Headlines Headlines

2007-07-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

I went outside today to get our two daily newspapers. As usual, Bella, our year-old Golden retriever, went to retrieve The Star (we taught her to retrieve The Star when she was just a pup, taking the reins from our beloved, now-deceased Golden retriever Bixby) and I went to grab the L.A. Times. Surprise! When we unfolded what we thought was the L.A. Times, we found that it was the New York Times. We're still not sure how that happened, but I did take the time to look at the paper.

I found something interesting. When I went to the jump page of a story, I saw that the headline on the jump page said virtually the same thing as the headline on the cover.

Here are some examples:

Cover of The Arts section:

Down by the Boardwalk, a Two-Ring Circus of Bands

Jump head:

Two-Ring

Circus

of Bands

A1 head:

An Unlikely Adversary Arises

To Criticize Detainee Hearings

Jump head:

An Unlikely Adversary Arises to Criticize Hearings

Business Day cover:

Barbie Gets Another Accessory: an MP3 Player and More Stuff on Her Web Site

Jump head:

Barbie Gets Another Accessory: an MP3 Player and More Stuff on Web Site

Business Day cover:

Oops! ... They Did It Again

Defying Expectations, a Teen Pop Label Grows Up

Jump head:

Defying the Expectations of Critics and Rivals, a Teen Pop Label Grows Up

I don't know how long they've been doing this, but I began to wonder why they decided to do this. I came up with two possible reasons:

1. It's easier for the reader to find the jump of a story.

2. It's easier and quicker for the copy editor to duplicate the headline on the jump page.

If these are the reasons why they duplicate headlines, I'd say that both the reader and the copy editor benefit.

In these days when we are doing more with fewer people, is this something we'd want to consider? If the idea would be something that would make copy editors' jobs easier and more efficient but would negatively affect the reader, it wouldn't be worth considering. But when we are making things better for the reader while at the same time helping ourselves, why not consider it?

What do you think?

Have You Hugged a Journalist Lately?

2007-07-03T12:03:00.001-07:00

I lost a special person recently. His name was Rich Ramirez. When I was a young copy editor with so much to learn at the San Jose Mercury News in the early 1980s, an enthusiastic, hard-working intern with a great smile came to work on the copy desk. Rich was fresh out of USC. Rich never left the Merc. He went on to hold a number of reporting and editing positions at the paper, the last 12 years as assistant to the executive editor. Just days after organizing a highly successful National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention and one day after learning there would be dozens more layoffs at the Merc and that his position would likely be eliminated, Rich apparently took his own life. We had kept in contact over all these years, including an e-mail a day before his death. My sympathies are with his wife and other relatives, as well as the "Mercury News family" that those of us who have worked there over the years have become a part of. I went to Rich's memorial service last week, and was amazed at the huge crowd of mourners. It was evident Rich had touched so many lives. The comments in this online guest book reinforce that. Rich and I shared a love for photography. He had wanted to know if I was coming to the conference so he could share photos from his three-week European vacation with me. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend. However, I was able to see some of his images in a slide show presentation that was shown at the service. I am so fortunate to have known him.

A number of stories have been written about him. I particularly enjoyed an opinion piece written by a friend of his, John Diaz at the San Francisco Chronicle. Here is an excerpt from that wonderful piece. You can read the entire article here.

Smooth-running conventions don't just happen. Behind every successful
convention are the volunteers who handle all the essential details. Behind every
effective band of volunteers is an organizer with a vision, a checklist and the
right blend of charm and persistence to cajole the troops.

At NAHJ that was Rich Ramirez, a 44-year-old executive assistant, from
the San Jose Mercury News.

In the weeks leading up to the convention, Ramirez was peppering his
colleagues around the country with e-mail requests, big and small. He sent
spreadsheets with detailed marching orders for volunteers. He made last-minute
pitches for editors to shake down their publishers for $1,500-a-hole
sponsorships for the charity golf tournament. He even sent out an appeal for a
baby sitter on behalf of a CNN producer.

The convention was a huge success and no one seemed to be having a
better time than Rich when I caught up with him at an opening-night reception.
As always, he was quick with a smile and quick with questions about how things
were going with my life and job.

Four days after the convention, Rich Ramirez was found dead in the backyard of his Livermore home, with a knife wound in his midsection. Police still suspect it was a suicide, by about the most painful and difficult method imaginable.

Those who knew Rich Ramirez could not say which was more inconceivable:
That he would take his life or that someone would want to hurt a man who
radiated such brightness and generosity. One could only speculate: Was it the
angst and uncertainty that has gripped the profession he loved? Or was it a
deeply personal pain that no one who thought they knew him ever recognized?

On Thursday, Rich was eulogized at a memorial service in San Jose. The
church was overflowing with family, friends, colleagues.

... One question came up, over and over, as his friends and colleagues
marveled at the size of the crowd and depth of sentiment at the memorial
service: "I wonder if he knew how much he was appreciated?"
I know what you're thinking about the Rich Ramirezes who bind the communities in your lives. Don't wait, don't assume they know. Tell them.

Punctuation Infatuation: Life of a Newspaper Copy Editor

2007-05-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

At the recent American Copy Editors Society conference, Bob Garfield of NPR's "On the Media" interviewed Merrill Perlman, director of copy desks at The New York Times. Here are a few excerpts:

BOB GARFIELD: [LAUGHS] Now, at the risk of stereotyping, how would you describe a typical copy editor? What kind of people are they? [John Weigle -- typical copy editor? -- is pictured at right for illustration purposes only]

MERRILL PERLMAN: I'm not sure there is a typical copy editor. I think they share some common traits. They all share that love of language. They all share that desire to get it right. Sometimes it's an obsession to get it right, and that's not necessarily a good thing. They don't so much care about the public recognition, but they like to bitch about not having the public recognition, so they're a complaining bunch.

BOB GARFIELD: I must say [LAUGHS], over several decades copy editors have saved my sorry ass more times than I can really count. Literally I can't count them, because I don't remember a single episode. What I do remember is the few times that copy editors edited errors into my stories. ...

MERRILL PERLMAN: There's sort of an unwritten credo that you do not damage somebody else's work. That no one should be surprised to read something under their own byline. So, you know, when copy editors do edit errors in, I think they probably flog themselves more than a lot of reporters will flog themselves, because that's worse. Now, the flip side of that is all the catches that copy editors make that they're never recognized for.

BOB GARFIELD: Yeah. There are those.

You can read the entire transcript here.

A Star Is Born: The Slide Show

2007-05-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

If you missed The Star's grand opening ceremonies recently, you might want to take a look at a musical slide show I created. NOTE: You won't be able to view it at work, because the site requires that you download an applet and our system won't allow that. So when at home or elsewhere, go here and after downloading the application, click on "A Star Is Born." Start viewing the show and if you'd like to view it full screen, right-click on the show and choose "Full Screen." Hit the Escape key to get out of full-screen mode.

Top 10 Signs Your Newspaper Is in Trouble

2007-05-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dave Letterman's "Late Show," CBS, April 30:

10) "Covers all the news that happens within one block of the office."

9) "Today's exclusive: 'Nixon Dead!'"

8) "Reporter sent to jail for refusing to divulge a source...Oh, and he
also killed a dude."

7) "All horoscopes: 'Now would be a good time to get out of the
newspaper business.' "

6) "Paper's motto: 'Suck It'"

5) "Every 'hot gossip' item is about Jack Klugman."

4) "Managing editor and guy who wheels around breakfast? Same guy."

3) "Under 'weather,' it just reads 'yes.'"

2) "Instead of 'Garfield,' has a comic strip called 'Garfunkel.'"

... and the No. 1 sign that your newspaper is in trouble is: ...

1) "You endorsed Dennis Kucinich."

Inside the Brains of Our Readers

2007-04-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

For the past few years at the ACES conference (see previous post about the conference), there has been a session where ACES brings in a few news readers off the street, so to speak, to find out what they like and dislike. Here's another blog posting, again from Katie Schwing, on this fascinating session:
"Sometimes it can be hard to distance yourself enough from your paper and look at it objectively, which is why I found the 'Inside Readers' Minds' panel fairly enlightening. Five people who all take in news in different ways were kind enough to spare some of their time to be quizzed by journalists. (What a fun Saturday!)It's hard to make too many generalities about what readers like, as this was far from a scientific or significant sample size, but it was interesting to hear what they had to say nonetheless.
Some observations:
They like short, easily digestible pieces of information, a la the front page of The Wall Street Journal, bulleted lists, raised quotes, etc.

They said their eyes often fall on pictures first, and those can give clues about what the story's about, even when the headline is more abstract.

Design matters. Some said that how the paper looks affects if they'll pick it up.

Sometimes we try too hard to be "hip" and conversational, and they don't always appreciate that.

Information presented should be as clear and specific as possible, and clear labels spelling out what information is where on the page are appreciated.

We're readers, too, of course, but it was nice to hear opinions from people outside the newsroom and to see how they feel about what we spend tireless hours putting together. Sometimes we can be all too close to the final product. I enjoyed hearing from people with a bit more distance."

Posted by katie schwing

Copy Editors Descend on Miami

2007-04-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

A whole lot of copy editors are meeting in Miami this week for the 11th national conference of the American Copy Editors Society.

Those of us not lucky enough to attend can follow along on the ACES conference blog, which 13 conference attendees are contributing to.

Here's a posting about one of the interesting sessions they had this week:

Who's afraid of the big bad Web?
The people packed into the "Leaving Print for Online" felt almost like traitors, seeing how the other half works. But the impression given by Jay Wang and Jim Kavanagh was more positive than you might think. Turns out, you have all the skills you need to edit for the Web right now:
Solid news judgment.
Snappy headline skills.
Passion for accuracy.
Ability to work quickly and efficiently.
No fancy HTML coding skills required. (Though, honestly, it probably wouldn't hurt.) It helps to be able to write different kinds of heds for the same story; for example, ones that read differently for the front page of a Web site vs. an inside page.

Most importantly, it seemed, was this message: Newspapers need to stop seeing the Web as a threat. It's a tool we can use for more content and a bigger audience than we've even imagined -- if we can get away from the way we're used to doing and thinking about things.
Posted by katie schwing

They Shoot Copy Editors, Don't They?

2007-04-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

What does this kitty have to do with copy editing? To find out, read the article that ran in the latest issue of the American Copy Editors Society's newsletter. I have scanned it as jpegs, so you'll have to call up the first segment of the story, which is here. Then link here to read the last part of the story. Actually, this story is about how one Universal Desk, at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, operates. It explains such things as how they're set up, who does what, what their philosophy is and how they have fun. While their entire setup may not work for us, you may find some interesting ideas in this.

The Latest from Apple!

2007-04-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Want to see the latest product from Apple? It's absolutely amazing. What, you say, could be better than the iMac ... the iPod ... the iPhone? Well, get a sneak peek by going to this link. Steve Jobs will show it to you. PLEASE NOTE: This link takes you to a video that will start playing. If you're going to watch it and listen to it at work (and you've got to listen to it), put on some earphones so as not to distract your colleagues. And have fun!

Grazin' in the Mass Media

2007-03-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

By now you've no doubt heard about the controversy-scandal at the L.A. Times regarding the editorial page editor's choice of Hollywood producer Brian Grazer to "guest-edit" the Sunday opinion section, Current. Andres Martinez, the editorial page editor, resigned after Publisher David Hiller killed the section upon learning that Martinez was dating a publicist for Grazer. The perceived conflict of interest was the reason Hiller gave for killing the section. After Martinez resigned, he commented on some blogs, blasting various people, including Times media columnist Tim Rutten. Rutten responded on a blog, and there was one comment from him, about journalism conflicts of interest, that caught my eye. I'm sharing it only because it made me laugh and I thought it would amuse you too. Though, of course, it's also an important reminder that we need to be careful about conflicts of interest. Here's what Rutten said:
"I've always subscribed to the late Abe Rosenthal's standard for journalists: 'I don't care whether my colleagues sleep with elephants, so long as they don't cover the circus.' "

The Myth of a Neat Newsroom -- Exposed!

2007-03-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

By now, we are all settling into our new digs in Camarillo (no, not the newsroom seen at left), enjoying our ergonomic chairs, flat-screen monitors, and the open, light, bright and airy room. Everything is so neat and clean and uncluttered and pretty. But is that what a real newsroom generally looks like? San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub thinks movies and television shows misrepresent the look of a newsroom. He says they glamorize the rooms with neatly organized desks that hold books stacked just right and cups that are well-stocked with pens and pencils. He says the latest movie to get it wrong when it comes to journalists' work spaces is "Zodiac," which includes scenes from the director's vision of what the Chronicle newsroom looks like. Hartlaub says the neatly organized desks in "Zodiac" are the first mistake. He writes: "In real life, newspaper reporters just lie down a few of their heavier books horizontally to keep the others from falling, or they cram everything into the shelf tightly so all solid matter surrounding it is unable to move, like a well-played game of Tetris." He says the typical journalist's work area may contain: a dead plant, partially covered by a pile of used reporter's notebooks; a bunch of stuff the ergonomics consultant dropped off two years ago, in an unopened pile; and half-eaten ham sandwiches and birthday cake. Referring to Drew Barrymore's "Never Been Kissed," in which copy editors have their own offices, he writes: "Every group of copy editors I've worked with is lined up in two evenly distributed rows of tightly packed cubicles, like a team of basketball players flying in coach." So Hollywood's depiction of the newsroom may not have always been accurate in the past (though "All the President's Men," pictured here, is generally regarded to have gotten it right), but with our shiny, new digs here, we may demonstrate that a newsroom can indeed be neat and orderly. You can read the entire article here. My thanks and two thumbs way up to Trinity for posing for the photo above, back in our old offices, which were dark, cluttered and in disrepair.

Fire the Wire, Save a Copy Editor

2007-02-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

A writer for Editor & Publisher has an interesting proposal. He'd like to save the jobs of copy editors and others, and he's got a novel suggestion for how to do so. He thinks newspapers should get rid of their wire services!

Here's an excerpt from the article, by Mark A. Phillips, in which he explains why papers should do this:

Wire service copy has become a commodity that is sent around the globe via the Internet at blistering speed. Wire is accessible through Yahoo!, Google, or any number of Web sites. By the time your valued local newspaper reader gets a copy of your paper, the news could be a day old. Is this really serving your readers? Don't you want to give them something they truly cannot get anywhere else? ... Before you throw that rock at me, look at the monthly wire and photo costs in your budgets and compare those to what you spend on local news and sports employees. Does it shock you that those resources are going to services that many of your readers get for free on the Web? It should. Take the money you spend on wire and hire more news and sports reporters, more editors, more photographers. Instead of wire, wire, wire, I want you to hire, hire, hire. Bolster your local news and sports coverage and it will pay dividends.

The complete article can be found here.

What do you think of his idea?

Headless Body in Topless Bar: Writing Headlines for the Web

2007-02-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Alicia, who has pointed out an interesting article about SEO.

SEO? Huh?

SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization." The article points out that when a newspaper's Web site simply picks up the headlines we've written in the print product, those words may not be the most easily searchable.

On Web sites, headlines need to be written differently, the article says, loaded with key words and phrases that can easily be found when Googled.

The full article is here. As Alicia says: "It’s a very interesting article and since we are likely to be doing more Web editing with the reorganization, it’s something we should be thinking about."

E-Mail Addresses (From John Weigle)

2007-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

From: John Weigle
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:31:37 -0800
To: VCS Editorial Group

Subject: E-mail addresses

We're getting some very strange e-mail addresses in stories (i.e., jweigle//www.venturacountystar.com).

No matter what a source might say, that won't work. The form has to be, using the same sample as above, jweigle@venturacountystar.com.

Here's the introduction to the Wikipedia article on the subject:

"An e-mail address identifies a location to which e-mail messages can be delivered. The word e-ddress is also used as the formal pre-registered authoritative electronic mailing delivery site for an individual (example: an attorney's e-mail address registered for delivery of proof of service digital copies of legal pleadings).

A modern Internet e-mail address (using SMTP or Usenet) is a string of the form jsmith@example.com. It should be read as "jsmith at example dot com."

The part before the @ sign is the local-part of the address, often the username of the recipient, and the part after the @ sign is the domain-part, which may be a host name or domain name which can be looked up in the Domain Name System to find the mail transfer agent or Mail eXchangers (MXs) accepting e-mail for that address."

John Weigle
Copy editor and stamp columnist
Ventura County Star

Ages in Stories (as of Jan. 22, 2007)

2007-01-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

From: dpeschka
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:05:16 -0800
To: vcsuniversaldesk@venturacountystar.com
Cc: "Moore, John"

Subject: Ages in stories

Hi all,

Because there is still debate over ages in stories, please do not delete or put in notes mode any ages that come across in copy. A policy on this is still in the works.

Thanks,

Darrin

Nothing to "Boast" About: List of Banished Words

2007-01-24T16:37:00.000-08:00

My apologies to Melinda Brown for posting this so late. In mid-December, she sent me a link to Lake Superior University's 2007 "List of Banished Words." One of the words on it is one of my pet peeves: "boast." We often say "the home boasts four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a media room and sun room." It sounds so boosterish, like a real estate advertisement. When I see the word, I always change it, generally to the simple word "has." Check out the list here. And you can see others' comments about the list (and add your own comments) here.

Two All-Beef Panties ... Errors to Hoot Over

2006-12-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

A site called RegretTheError.com posted its picks for errors of the year here.

I actually liked some of its "other" favorites, such as:

From the Chicago Tribune:
An editorial in Friday’s paper incorrectly stated that Florida Cresswell, a candidate for state representative in the 28th District, was convicted in 1999 of battery and stealing Tupperware. In fact he was convicted of stealing a battery from a van as well as Tupperware that was inside the van.

From The New York Times:
A film review on Wednesday about “Little Miss Sunshine” referred incorrectly to contestants in the fictional children’s beauty pageant of the title. The critic intended to compare the contestants to underage prostitutes, not to “underage fleshpots.”

From The Oregonian:
A headline on Page One on Saturday should have made clear that Oregon Health & Science University will be studying the effects of meth, not cooking it.

From the Los Angeles Times:
A listing in Sunday Calendar said hot dogs would not be allowed at the Scandinavian Autumn Fest and Marknad on Sept. 17 at Vasa Park in Agoura. No canines will be allowed at the event.

Typo of the Year
The reigning champ in this category is Reuters for its report of the recall of "beef panties":
Quaker Maid Meats Inc. said Tuesday it would voluntarily recall 94,400 pounds of frozen ground beef panties that may be contaminated with E. coli.

Have you seen or heard about any doozies? Please share them here.

Bah, Humbug! 'Tis the Season for Those Cliches!

2006-12-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

John McIntyre, The Baltimore Sun's assistant managing editor for the copy desk and a past president of the American Copy Editors Society, writes a blog that looks at issues of language and writing, particularly grammar and usage, as they come up in The Sun's reporting. Here's a link to his main site:
http://blogs.baltimoresun.com/about_language
I would like to reprint one of the articles he posted there (in early November), having to do with those tired holiday cliches. Do you have any other cliches to add to his list? Post them here.

Still no prisons? Still no workhouses?
Halloween may be just past and Guy Fawkes day tomorrow, but already the holiday catalogs clutter the mailbox and Christmas merchandise creeps onto the shelves. So before the impulse to use prefabricated phrases can overpower the unsteady hand, here is a reminder from The Sun’s in-house policy on holiday cliches to eschew. This list, compiled by Sun copy editors and colleagues in the American Copy Editors Society, appeared as the third posting of this blog and was also published in an earlier form on the Poynter Institute’s Web site under the title "Avoid holiday cliches."

"’Tis the season": Not in copy, not in headlines, not at all. Never, never, never, never, never. You cannot make this fresh. Do not attempt it. "’Twas the night before" anything: 'Twasing is no more defensible than ’tising. (And if you must refer to the Rev. Mr. Moore's poem, if indeed he wrote it, the proper title is "A Visit from St. Nicholas.")

"Jolly old elf": Please, no. And if you must use Kriss Kringle, remember the double s.

Any "Christmas came early" construction.

"Yes, Virginia" allusions: No.

"Grinch steals": When someone vandalizes holiday decorations, steals a child's toys from under the tree, or otherwise dampens holiday cheer, this construction may be almost irresistible. Resist it.

Give Dickens a rest. No ghosts of anything past, present or future.

Delete bah and humbug from your working vocabulary. Treat Scrooge as you would the Grinch, i.e., by ignoring him.

"Turkey and all the trimmings": If you can't define trimmings without looking up the word, you shouldn't be using it.

"White stuff" for snow: We should have higher standards of usage than do television weather forecasters. Also avoid the tautologies favored by these types: winter season, weather conditions, winter weather conditions, snow event and snow precipitation.

And the tautologies favored in advertising: free gift, extra bonus and extra added bonus.

Old Man Winter, Jack Frost and other moldy personifications can safely be omitted. If the spirit of ecumenism and inclusion requires mention of Hanukkah in holiday articles, these points should be kept in mind. Hanukkah is a holiday more like Independence Day than Christmas, and it is only the coincidence of the calendar dates in a gentile culture that has caused the holiday to mimic Christian and secular elements. The holidays are coincidental; they are not twins.

Pray do not ring out or ring in an old year, a new year, or anything else.

Parodies of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are, if possible, even more tedious than the original.

Some readers (and, sadly, some writers) lap up this swill. It is familiar, and the complete lack of originality is a comfort. It is for such people that television exists.

Winners or Sinners??

2006-12-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone,

I'm back from vacation, so I'd like to start posting here. I'll raise issues, make comments and pass along information. But I do want to stress that any comments I do make are my own opinions, not official pronouncements for the desk. I hope you will join in and add your remarks and thoughts on various issues.

I'll begin by passing along an e-mail message I received from Timm Herdt. He in turn was passing along an e-mail he received from a reader.

It had not occurred to me before that it might be inaccurate to say that someone "won" a medal of valor. But after reading this e-mail, I thought the reader had a very good point.

I'd like to know what you all think about this reader's comments. Is it wrong to say someone "wins" a medal of valor, something they didn't compete for? Or do you think it's so much an accepted part of speech to say someone won a medal or commendation that it's acceptable use?

Please add your comments to this posting.

Thanks.

Patricia

Subject: FW: Traffic Officer Valor Article

Patricia, FYI, I pass along a note from a reader. My view is that he has a decent point; "winners" carries the connotation that the recipients were actually competing, as in the Academy Awards or something. These medals acknowledge valor in the face of danger; no one actually sets out to"win" one. A small point, perhaps, but I think a worthy one. -- Timm

-----Original Message-----
From: wgherbert@adelphia.net
To: therdt@VenturaCountyStar.com
Sent: 11/30/2006 7:59 PM
Subject: Traffic Officer Valor Article
Timm: This is not meant to be a slam on your journalist abilities. My comment about the article, and several before in the Star (Not necessarily yours...) has to do with the headline on page A8. Police officers do not "win" medals for valor. They certainly don't compete for the recognition. The choice of "Winners" might better have been awardees, recipients or even honorees. I'm sure there are several other choices, but not "Winners."
Cheers, Bill Herbert 642-4436 Ventura
------ End of Forwarded Message

Welcome, Universal Desk!

2006-11-30T20:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome, everyone, to our home on the Web.

Our new Web site address is stardesk.blogspot.com.

There are no set rules for what we can do with this blog. I hope we can use it to stimulate discussion on issues of importance to us, whether it be grammar and style issues or headline and page design concerns. I hope we can have some fun with it too. I plan to post AP style rulings John has announced, tips of the day from Darrin, announcements of staff meetings, etc. I'll also post things I've come across that may be of interest to you and I'll bring up topics for discussion. This format is such that you can add your comments to a posting or originate a posting of your own, so I hope you will all join in and make this site yours. Thanks, and once again, welcome to Star Desk. --Patricia