AP Style

When first joining a newspaper staff, Associated Press (AP) style writing might seem a little foreign to you. I know it was for me when I first started. I thought that I would never remember the rules. Well, I was wrong. After one semester of copyediting, I had it down. If it happened for me, I know it can happen for you too. While working on the news staff, the AP Stylebook became my best friend. It needs to be your best friend as well. I am going to share with you some of he things that are happening in the AP world.

Just recently, the Associated Press has released the new 2010 AP Stylebook.   There have been quite a few changes to the guide. Here are a few to think about.

1. Spellings for different words have been changed. For example, Web site has changed to website.
2. Definitions for texting acronyms such as BRB (Be right back) and G2G (Got to go).
3. Social media guidelines on how journalists can use Facebook and Twitter are now included.

A Lede: Poetry in Journalism

I don’t want to even count the times that I have spent sitting at a desk, trying to figure out how to start my article. Agood lede isn’t something that just comes without any effort, you must dig to find the heart of the story and bring it to the front. By definition, a lede is the introductory section of a news story that is intended to entice the reader to read the full story.

According to Chip Scanlan of Poynter Online, “An effective lead makes a promise to the reader or viewer: I have something important, something interesting, to tell you. A good lead beckons and invites. It informs, attracts, and entices. If there’s any poetry in journalism, it’s most often found in the lead…”

So what makes a good lede? Here are three attributes of an effective news lede:

1. Short- In AP style writing, ledes should be between 35-40 words
2. Gives the heart of the information-  A lede can sometimes be like a thesis sentence in an English paper; however, there are other options to creating a lede.
3. Steers clear of question, quote, and topic ledes- Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to learn more about this

Learning InDesign

Now days, Knowing InDesign is a must if you have aspirations of climbing the ladder to becoming an editor. InDesign is used for the design and layout of newspapers. Also, To be honest, when I first started out as a writer, I didn’t know the first thing about using InDesign. I learned it through asking lots of questions and practicing. I would go into the news office even when I didn’t have to and help out the editors with their pages.

Steps to learning InDesign:

Branching Out

In my last post, I told a story about the head photographer of my school newspaper staff who captured some breaking news. Not only did he take the photos, but he wrote the story as well. I learned something really valuable from that experience. I learned of the importance of being skilled in more than one area. Not only could this student take great photos, but he knew how to write a good article too.

Branching out and having skills in more than one area will make you more marketable and will give you a wider range of jobs to choose from when you are looking to start a career. For example, if you are already a writer, you would want to find ways to gain experience in layout and design or photography. Now, you don’t have to be amazing at everything, but more experience you have, the more likely you will be hired by an employer.

WriterKathryn Vercillo made a great blog post on the top 10 tips for improving marketable job skills. Here is tip number nine:

Breaking News

I will never forget one of the best articles that my school news covered a couple semesters ago. I was working in the office when our head photographer clocked out for the day. About ten minutes later, he came rushing back into the office, threw open the office cabinets, grabbed his camera and ran back out in dash. There had been a man arrested with illegal drugs in his car. The photographer was able to take the photos and write the story. This breaking news made it in the paper the very next day. Our paper was the only one who caught this event in action.

You always have to be prepared for breaking news, even when it is inconvenient (which it usually is). There are two basic things that you need to carry around with you at all times as a journalist:

1. A camera- This doesn’t have to be a really nice camera, or even a digital camera. If all you carry is a cell phone, this is perfect because most cell phones come with a camera. The best way to go is to have a cell phone that can take video and photo. However, if you just have one or the other, that’s OK. Anything you can get will improve your article.

Look at this video to get some tips on capturing breaking news on your cell phone:

Letters to the Editor

In my last blog post, I talked about how writing letters to the editor can help you with getting yourself into the habit of regularly reading the newspaper. I thought it would be helpful to focus a whole post on writing letters to the editor.

Letters to the Editor are ways that people can get their opinion out for others to read. A letter can consist of something that a reader feels passionate about. For example, someone could disagree with a point that a writer made in the previous issue of the newspaper. This would be one reason to write a letter.

Writer and editor, Guy Bergstrom from About.com gave some guidelines on writing letters to the editor:

Read, Read, Read

I am going to be talking about topic that we sometimes forget, the importance of reading. Not just reading in general, but the importance of reading other newspapers. Yes, you heard me. You would think that it would be natural to read a couple of articles every day from your local paper, The Washington Post, or New York Times to be up to date on other’s writing styles. However, this is not always the case. Life just gets busy sometimes and we don’t make time to see what other newspapers are doing.

I remember one semester, I had an editor and chief who would periodically bring to class lots  of other newspapers from different college campuses and have us review them. We would share as a group what was working and what wasn’t working with the content, design, and photos. I learned some valuable insight for my own writing through reading other newspapers. In order to get better at writing, you sometimes learn by trial and error. Think about how many mistakes you can save yourself just by reading other newspapers and seeing what mistakes they made or what really didn’t work well for them.

Here are 3 ideas to making yourself a more avid news reader: