Tom from Tennessee

[prezbucky]

wassup, German chick?



Yes, I've tried that, and some sort of search bar pops up on the left quadrant (roughly) of my screen. Meanwhile, my word remains in regular font (or whatever it's called).

As for AP vs. NY Times, I cannot tell you off the top of my head... it would require painstaking research to ascertain the differences, if there are any.

THAT is what our in-house journalism student is for.

hehe
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[prezbucky]

here are some links to additional info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Stylebook

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Manual_of_Style_and_Usage
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[prezbucky]

Yankee

This is a bit about the style/usage guide that I referenced over in the quiz topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLA_Style_Manual
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[prezbucky]

My memorial to Robert Frost... from Bartleby.com, Wikipedia, and other sources.

------------------------------------
"The Road Not Taken"

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

---------------------

"Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening"

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

------------------------

"Mending Wall"

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Rosalisa]

Hi Tom,

At the moment, I would like to ask for your opinions about whether you agree or not about the statement that citizen journalims assumes its prominent roles in society so the professional journalism would no longer be needed in society.

Thanks for your suggestions. In my college, there is a class that teaches how to write professionally but I'm not taught now, until some time later.

Thanks.
_________________
If you want to change the world, be one of the change.

[prezbucky]

If people are willing and able to cover news in a non-professional manner (IE, sans pay or formal training), then I think that citizen journalism is fine.

There are just a few things that would make this difficult:

1) First-hand journalism requires (generally) quite a lot of travel, and traveling costs money. Journalism also requires a lot of research -- second-hand information. Most journalistic (media) outlets have a good deal of resources available to meet those research needs. Research costs money.

2) The utility of journalism really is measured by the ability of the journalist to write a meaningful and (mostly, at least -- it is almost impossible not to inject one's bias into his work, no matter how noble the effort to exclude it) unbiased story about something that has happened. Training can help one write clear, concise, structured stories that tell the tale effectively. I understand that some people are naturally great writers who could condense a thousand images into a few core pieces, but most would require at least some training to maximize their potential.

3) Journalists are privy to media through which to spew their stories. Producing and marketing newspapers, magazines and TV shows costs a lot of money. It is one thing to travel for, do research on, and successfully write a story. It is another to take said story from your PC or Mac, put it in print, and sell it to the eager masses. The web has changed this somewhat, but in a blogosphere or millions, can you really expect more than a few people to read your blog? Without advertising (or putting your blog spot at the top of the search lists, both of which cost money), it is probable that much of your desired market will not read your story.

In short, journalism as an art can be done by non-professionals, but in most writers, it is maximized through at least some basic journalistic (or other writing) training.

The second consideration is the amount of money necessary to cover a story -- time and money spent traveling and researching.

Third, how do we reach our target market? Again, the answer is money.

So the real answer is this:

Unless you are a natural writer, can divine facts without research, can fly on your own, and can woo customers with your mind, one needs money (at least) to be an effective -- and read -- non-professional journalist.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[prezbucky]

blogosphere or millions = blogosphere oF millions
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Yankee]

Hey, Tom

Thanks for the links and the quotes. (hehe)

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[prezbucky]

I humbly and respectfully accept your appreciation and extend mine in exchange.

hehe (I love melodrama).
------------------------------------
I like this one from John Keats:

"When I have Fears that I may cease to be"

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Rosalisa]

[prezbucky]

this is where personal bias, the accessability of the web, and the inability (whether negligent or not) to verify facts have led us... you can read ten blogs about a single event and have ten totally different interpretations, and all the while be unsure as to what's being reported/editorialized is fact or rhetoric-driven slop produced by a single person's cognitive lens.

You can check for blogs and get just about every conceivable angle on an issue... which is good for variety and sheer covering of every conceivable angle....

Which is okay, unless you are trying to form your own opinion -- how do you choose when there are so many differing views?

When I want to read news, I check three sources (ALL three):

Fox News (general right-leaning stance)
CNN (centrist-to-barely-left)
BBC or New York Times (left of the general American view, at least on some issues)

From those three media outlets, I can get a fairly good view of any issue.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Rosalisa]

Oh, I got it now. Thank you. So we also really need professional journalism to arrange the news properly and citizen journalism to express their different opinions which reinforce critical thinking and the truth?

Anyway,may I ask for your opinions about another question? Concerning interviewing people (if you have done it), what principles do you follow when you do it? I mean,sometimes the interviewees are willing to reason,to accept the truth,but sometimes they don't. What are your firm stances to persuade them? Im not really sure if I can ever do it well.

Rosalisa
_________________
If you want to change the world, be one of the change.

[prezbucky]

First paragraph: Yes, I think so too. Professional journalists have the resources behind them to get the job done. They're usually "professional" enough to stick with the story -- to avoid bias, or at least blatant bias.

Second paragraph:

Here are some thing you want to do:

1) Before you start the interview, tell them generally what types of questions you'll be asking... so you don't totally shock them. They'll appreciate this.

2) Be attentive -- don't sit there writing, staring at your notebook, while they talk. You have to take some notes, yes, but try to keep your eyes on them as much as possible, as bodily gestures can sometimes say as much as words.

3) Be punctual -- if you tell them that you're going to meet them at 3:00pm, make sure you're there at 3:00pm. In fact, if possible, try to get there a bit early.

4) Build rapport with them. It's much easier to ask the tough questions when the interviewee likes you, or at least is not openly hostile toward you. How does one build rapport with another person? I'd say that you can start by asking them a couple of easy questions first. Joke a bit with them before the interview and/or between questions. Smile at them, employ hand gestures when you speak, talk about the latest football game, whatever you have to do to make the person feel comfortable with you.

5) No matter how much you may dislike the person you're interviewing -- you can't like them all -- treat the person with respect. They're taking time out of their day to talk to you, so leave the anger/hate/preaching at the door when you walk into the interviewing room. Asking tough questions is one thing -- but you do it in a straightforward fashion, without adding any personal invective/hate/drool. And NEVER yell at them, no matter WHAT they say. Remember, the key word is Respect. Respect thy enemy.

6) So that you won't miss any salient portions of the person's answers, tape the interview (cassette tape). In addition to giving you the ability to quote them verbatim, this will allow you to spend more time watching your interviewee... spending less time with the notepad.

7) And, finally, and this is huge -- BY ALL MEANS, NEVER misrepresent them when you write your story. You have very little wiggle-room here. Do not overlay their quotations with your personal objective, do not put their quotes into questionable anecdotes or circumstances. If your questions are asked properly, they'll understand why you want to know what you want to know, and they'll give plenty of context as part of their answers.

If you misquote people, or shade an answer incorrectly by putting it in a context in which the person did not intend it to go... or cut out small tidbits of answers to fit your agenda... you will be viewed negatively -- not only by the person you most recently interviewed, but also by some you don't even know.

If you start with these seven things, you'll probably become known as a good interviewer, which will make it easy (or -ier than the altervative) for you to get interviews.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[FangFang]

Hi, Mr Hehe:
Would you like to accept my "interview"?
I noticed that you had some business ideas concerning journalism. It sounds full of challenges. Especially when you are facing a super big market of all kinds of newspapers , which seem to have worked quite well so far. Do you think the newspaper market has been saturated? And you mentioned research costed much money , how can you make sure that what you wrote can attract people's eyes rather than follow other media ideas? Thanks!
F.F

[Rosalisa]

Thanks, Tom (hehe) for your good ideas. Though it is not time for me to practice, I must bear them in my mind . I know that interviewing is inevitable but I'm not sure if interviewing people is always successful.

Hi FangFang,
How have you been? No long no talk. Well, I admit I missed our talking. Since then, I didn't have time to tell you something we talked before. I passed the exam . I'm happy to see you back again.
_________________
If you want to change the world, be one of the change.