Welcome to 201, Principles of Editing.

Please copy this and then answer each question below in the comment section designated for your class. Make sure you (1) put your name at the top and (2) that you pay attention to spelling and grammar. After all, this is an editing class. Don’t push the button until you flawlessly edit what you’ve written. You may want to consider writing your answers in Word so you can spellcheck. Then, copy and paste your comments. Don’t forget: Blogs are public so anyone can read what you’ve written.

Finally, if there’s something relevant about yourself that you want to add, please do so.

Your Name. Year in school.
Where are you from?
Why did you come to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln?
What is your major?
Career Goals?
Why are you taking this course (besides the fact it is required)? What do you hope to get out of it?
Outside interests, hobbies, avocations, things you are passionate about?
Tell me one interesting or surprising thing about you – something that makes you unique?
Are you the first person in your family to attend a university?
On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being top-notch, how would you rate your knowledge of grammar, punctuation and AP style
What books are you reading or have read in the past three months?
What magazines, newspapers and news Web sites do you read regularly?
What is your favorite Web site?
Do you blog?
Do you have any media/communication experience? If so, what?
Are you pursuing a media- related internship or job at this time?
Do you have an updated resume in your files?

If you are in the 9:30 a.m. class (News 201, Section 001), post your bio comments here.

If you are in the 3 p.m. class (News 201, Section 003), post your bio comments here.

Writing headlines is truly an art form. It’s not easy to capture the meaning of a story in just a few words. And the best headline writers know their job is intrigue  readers, making them want to know more. Anne Glover, of the St. Petersburg Times, offers simple tips for writing strong headlines. The best headlines are clever without going overboard. Michael Nelson, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star, recently wrote a column about a headline in his paper that he thought went too far and ended up misleading readers.

Your assignment: Find a headline that you like. I’m assuming it makes you want to read the story? Tell me what the headline says, where the headline was published, and why you like it. What do you think makes it work? Is it the word choice? The verb? The tone? Be specific. Post your responses in the comments section for your section by the beginning of class Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Post your comments here if you are in the afternoon class.

Post your comments here if you are in the morning class.

Fort Hood shooting suspect

As the Fort Hood shootings story unfolded last week, many details that were reported initially proved to be incorrect. At one point, some news outlets reported that three suspected Islamic gunmen were responsible for the massacre. As the story developed, news outlets were quick to identify the shooter as a Muslim. Charlie Gibson, on ABC News, for instance called him A Muslim soldier in his first reference. Alan Mutter, a former editor and now a media consultant and professor, called the coverage “ugly ethnic profiling.” Richard Prince, in a column for the Maynard Institute, said much of the news media was careful in its reporting – but not everyone. Read both Mutter and Prince in the links I’ve included.

Now read this report about the news coverage after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Then give me your carefully considered comments in the comments section below. Was it OK to identify the Fort Hood shooter as a Muslim even before any links to Islamic extremists or terrorism were determined? Would it have been handled the same way if he was Catholic or Baptist? As breaking news develops, what kinds of questions should editors ask before race or ethnicity is included in a story? What does AP say about this? Did the story about the Oklahoma City coverage change your thinking at all?

Your comments are due at the start of class on Thursday, Nov. 12.

If  you’re in the AM class, post your comments here please.

If you’re in the PM class, post your comments here, please.

Being an editor isn’t always easy.  Editors make dozens of decisions daily. Many of the choices they have to make aren’t black and white, but involve shades of grey. Today you are the editor. Would you run this picture? Would you run it on Page 1? Yes, that is a real dead body and real person’s legs sticking out of the ice.

Now that you’ve made a decision, read the story about this picture. Is your decision the same? Does the story change your mind? If the picture was in Detroit, would you run it on the front page of  The Detroit News? Would you run it in the Lincoln Journal Star?

Read the column written for an alternative weekly after the picture ran in The Detroit News.  What do you think of the columnist’s view? Post your well-considered answers to all of those questions in the comments section for your class. This assignment is due by the beginning of class on Thursday, Oct. 29.