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Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [journalism]

This tag should be used for questions about writing practices relating to journalism, such as style guides, ethics and ways to publish.

This tag should be used for questions about writing practices relating to journalism, such as guides, and ways of .

67 questions
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6 answers

How do I avoid getting depressed after receiving edits?

I just wrote my first op-ed for my college newspaper, and I've always considered myself a pretty okay writer; but after receiving my first round of edits I just feel so low, like I've disappointed the entire editing staff, and I never want to write…
Carson Edwards
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13
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4 answers

How can I distance myself from an article published under my name, with edits I disagree with?

I wrote an article for a university newspaper that summarizes incidents involving racism on campus. After edits, the sentence structure became uniformly long instead of varied, straightforward vocabulary was placed with ten-dollar words, and two…
Anonymous Student
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13
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5 answers

Citation in AP style journalism

I'm writing feature articles and trying to adhere to AP style, but I'm not sure how to attribute a source. I'm familiar with academic citation (APA, MLA), but have never done this in journalism. What's the preferred way to completely acknowledge a…
Caveatrob
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12
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7 answers

What's the difference between academic and journalistic writing?

I'm not talking about "boring" academic papers that are 99% science and 0% interesting. But in comments on a draft of my senior thesis, my teacher made the comment that my writing style was quite "journalistic" and ought to be more academic. I…
Thomas Shields
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9
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6 answers

How long does it take to write a 1000-word news article?

I write tech articles for my blog and for a news outlet here in my country (mostly in French). I've been doing this for years, but I've always thought that I was slow in readying my stories. I am not talking about the 'seek-and-collect' information…
ahmed
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9
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4 answers

When quoting a person's informal speech, how much liberty do you have to make changes to what they say?

Even during a formal interview for a news article, people speak informally. They say "uhm", they cut off sentences half-way through, they interject phrases like "you know?", and they make innocent grammatical mistakes. As somebody who wants to…
Jason Indigo
9
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5 answers

Why one sentence per paragraph in these news articles?

Lately I've noticed some news articles using (usually) a single sentence per paragraph. Some examples: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29341850 http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/61477320/five-years-in-bali-jail-possible-for-nz-man.html I…
Malcolm Crum
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8
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2 answers

Should blog posts be reformatted to past tense after an event?

A writer is doing blog coverage of an event which is time sensitive (happens annually). The writer uses present tense for the coverage posts. Should the writer go back and reformat the old posts to past-tense after the event? I am a webmaster for…
Sean Patterson
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7
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2 answers

Breaking into journalism without a degree

I am a fairly experienced writer, but I have little experience in journalistic writing and no formal education in journalism. I believe I can pick up the craft aspects of this form of writing. However, I don't really know where to begin in terms…
sjohnston
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4 answers

Accusing private figures of crime in print

I am the editor of a small college magazine. In an article that was recently submitted to me, as part of the story, the author named two people who ragged him (harassed him). I have sufficient proof to believe this is true. It is also important for…
anon
7
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3 answers

Would George Orwell get hired in today's expert climate?

I've asked the question a few times before about how to get published in newspapers and magazines, and the most common response has been, by far: "what are your qualifications to write about the piece?" This had me interested. What qualifications…
user31078
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2 answers

Why do newswriters separate women when they report on disasters?

It's commonly known that the news reports female casualties separately. As in "four people were shot, including one woman". What is the reasoning behind this? Is anyone who knows about the news reporting process able to answer?
James Altizer
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2 answers

What is the role of editors in news media today?

Back when rocks were soft and the world wide web hadn't yet been invented, I worked on a college newspaper that, I was told, followed the same patterns as professional papers. (That is, the skills we learned doing this would transfer.) Between the…
Monica Cellio
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1 answer

Is focus more important in journalism than truth and facts?

Take the following short story. Let's imagine that it's an important even that should be reported on. One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said to her, “Take this basket of goodies to your grandma’s cottage, but don’t talk to strangers on the…
user3280964
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What should be done if there is a dispute of opinions within the editorial team?

In a magazine where an individual author's name is not published with the article, it seems obvious to me that the article can be presumed to reflect the consensus of the entire editorial team on whatever has been written in the article. Now, in…
ACat
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