Category Archives: About media and the news
January News Round-ups
Everyone loves a top-10 list. And some of my favorite articles to read in January are the round-up reports of the previous year’s top stories. The Associated Press polls editors to determine the year’s top news events, and their list is always enlightening.
Here’s the one for 2012:
It’s always interesting to see if you agree with the poll of the nation’s news editors. I don’t think there will be any disagreement about the top story. Several of the top 2012 stories happened late in the year, but some years, I find that I’ve almost forgotten a big story from January a year earlier. That was not the case for 2012.
Some of you might enjoy reading about the top sports stories. Can you guess what the top sports story was before you click? Hint: it was the same story in 2011 and 2012.
Here’s another round-up that you might find of interest. This is “The best (and worst) media errors and corrections of 2012,” from Craig Silverman writing for Poynter.org. (Poynter.org is a reliable website to remember and visit if you have questions about various journalism topics as the semester progresses.)
The error of the year went to news outlets that misinterpreted the Supreme Court’s health care ruling. Why did experienced journalists make such a mistake? Because they began reporting the results before they finished reading the whole opinion. As journalists, you are learning to put the most important thing first in your stories. However, Chief Justice John Roberts did not write this way — he buried the lead! In order to get the full story, the reporters had to read the entire opinion.
Top Media Errors and Corrections
Do you remember the no.-1 item on the list of “Top 10 journalism standards for Writing for Media Markets class,” which we discussed in our first class session?
“A journalism story must be accurate in every detail.”
It sounds simple, but this basic principle can be a challenge even for seasoned professionals.
The columnist for Poynter gave credit for creative or witty corrections — some of them for seemingly trivial errors and some for strange and off-color topics. The best strategy — no matter the story’s topic — is to avoid the need for corrections by checking every fact.
