We published three good news stories in today’s newspaper on enrollment, a follow on the young man who sadly ended his life, and a folo on the Vagina Monologues. The two same-sized photos, though, fought one another and the main story — the enrollment — did not get the boldest headline. I revamped today’s front page to illustrate how we could have both elevated the news and created a dominant image. 
ORIGINAL FRONT PAGE 
news-values-heads.pdf

REVISED FRONT PAGE  
 news-values-heads-revised.pdf  

Capital Times Stuns Staff, Shifts From Print To Internet MADISON, WI – The Capital Times newspaper in Madison today told readers that they are making a “major shift” to the Internet to reflect the “changing habits of afternoon newspaper readers.” The 90-year-old newspaper will cease six-day publication and shift to publishing a tabloid-sized edition only twice per week while “dramatically enhancing” its Web site.That was big news today in Wisconsin not only to the newspaper’s readers but to The Capital Times’ staff as well, who didn’t know anything about the announcement until a 8:30 a.m. meeting was called this morning.

Readers have no responsibility as citizens to read our reporting, and no responsibility as consumers to look at our ads, says a journalist. Instead, readers have the right, and ability, to go about their lives without ever once glancing at your publication. He makes some suggestions on ways to revamp our online and print products. Click here to read this story. 

Another student government gets angry about criticism from the college newspaper and cuts off funding. This happens at least once a year at colleges across the country, a reason student newspapers should avoid having student government have anything to do with editorial policies. At Eastern, we get our funding from the university and the director of publications reports to the vice president of academic affairs. There is nothing inherently evil about government, but there is an inherent problem when government holds power over the voice of those they serve. As Lord Acton said: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Here’s the beginning of the story in the New York Times. Click here to get the entire sad story.

In a rancorous dispute that has pitted student journalists against student government, the editors of Montclair State University’s weekly newspaper were forced to stop publishing last week after the student body president froze the paper’s financing.

The editors of the paper, The Montclarion, claim that the president, Ron Chicken, improperly used his authority, cutting off the newspaper’s funds to silence criticism of the student government.

The student body president, however, told the Montclarion’s editors that they had violated the by-laws of the student government association by hiring their own lawyer.

On the bruising civic proving ground of higher education, there is nothing novel in the fight between the editors of a college paper and the student legislators they cover.

“Those battles are usually fought on the editorial page,” said Frank LoMonte, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. “It is unusual to take this extreme step of pulling the plug on funding.”

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We had many stories in today’s expanded Monday edition of the DEN. Glad to see that beat reporters are starting to cultivate more stories. We failed to elevate the main story today, though, which was the fact that a large shopping center and new hotel will be coming to town. I revamped today’s front page (below) to reflect some changes that would have helped — moving this story from page 6 to the cover and elevating the library’s opening by adding a photo. Overall, we covered a lot of news. Just consider where we place them.
Revised page

Check out the following video that outlines the importance of proofreading. It’s illuminating and hilarious. (Warning: there is some adult content in this video.) I know you’ll check it out now.

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The New York Times has been running a tremendous blog on the elections that includes posts that offer breaking news, analysis and fun commentary. We need to develop blog topic areas as well — not for a single individual but for a more focused topic where several staffers can contribute. We could create blogs for topics such as campus, student government, sports, and activities for starters. 

Dann Gire, the movie critic for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, offers some terrific advice on writing reviews. Read it. Know it. Live it. (But don’t be it – - he hates the ‘to be’ verbs.)

In the concrete and deadline-ruled world of print journalism, space that once looked vast and wide-open has become like Manhattan apartments: scarce and competitive. In print, every word counts. Every thought must be concise and well-articulated. In short, print stories must be be air-tight. (So should on-line reviews, by the way.) With that in mind, I present the following suggestions on how to improve writing skills, based on the most common problems I spotted in the contest materials submitted in the Movie Review category:

Never fall back on “wind-up leads,” where it takes a paragraph or two or three before you get around to telling readers your real subject or point. We now live in the era of technological and cultural ADD. Get to your point.

Burn off the literary flab. Eliminate redundant verbiage. Just because you have time to read the same information over again doesn’t mean your audience does.

Dump space-wasting, mind-numbing filler phrases and weird idiomatic expressions. When people “find themselves” in a bad situation, did they get lost first? Why do people always “manage” to do something? Why don’t they just do it? How about those classic clichés “on the other hand” and the ever-popular “race against time”? This kind of writing can kill reader interest deader than a doornail.

Other suggestions:

If you ask a question in your copy, you must answer the question in your copy. Otherwise you create confusion and disinterest in the reader.

Can’t find your lead? I found five stories with their leads plastered to the bottom. Writing tip: When you think you’ve finished your story, take the bottom graph and paste it on the top. In most cases, you’ll find your true lead.

Free yourself from the tyranny of easy, slothful verbs such as IS ARE WAS and WERE. Kill them. Before they kill reader interest by sucking the action out of your sentences.

Do not command your readers to do your bidding. Don’t tell them they must see a movie, or avoid a movie. If you have properly done your job as a critic, they can make up their own minds, thank you.

Never praise a movie with faint damnation, such as calling a movie “worth the price of admission.” What does that phrase mean? Admission can be 10 cents or $10. Besides, admission prices have no relation to the level of quality in a motion picture.

If a movie sucks, it sucks. Period. If a Mandy Moore movie sucks, how does being a Mandy Moore fan make the movie suck less? Don’t pander to readers by undermining your critical analysis with caveats such as “Even though this movie sucks, Mandy Moore fans will probably like it.” Critics write criticism. Not predictions of what consumers will like (or won’t like).

The movie critique belongs to you, the writer. It should reflect your views, your education, your values, and be presented in your voice. If you use outside sources for the criticism (other critics, authors or authorities), you have written a feature report, not a critical review.

Never use abbreviations such as etc., et. al, e.g. or i.e. Your review should present a fascinating story for your readers, not sound like a legal brief.

Finally, take this pop quiz: How many times do the lethargic verbs IS ARE WAS WERE appear in the text of this memo?

Now ask yourself this question: Did you miss them?

Respectfully submitted,

Dann Gire

DEN staffers planning to interview for jobs and internships at the Illinois College Press Association’s job fair need to send resumes to the address listed in the flyer linked below by Feb. 8. Make sure resumes are saved under the proper heading and format as stated in the flyer. First, though, you will need to let either Joe or John know that you would like to attend this state conference. A sign-up sheet will be placed on the editor in chief’s door this week. Click on the following link to read the flyer — 2008-icpa-career-flyer-1.pdf  -30- 

Janice Hunt, who works for EIU, offers weekly story ideas. We should pursue our own stories, but we should also consider some of the angles she offers each week. In fact, we might want to use these ideas as a steppingstone to other angles related to the ones presented. Anyway, everybody should at least read the proposed stories each week to get jum-start our own ideas. Here are the ideas for this week.

EIU STORY IDEAS
Here is a list of some upcoming Eastern Illinois University activities, story ideas and photo opportunities you might be interested in covering. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free, open to the public and on the EIU campus. For an up-to-date calendar of public events at EIU, please see www.eiu.edu/~pubaff/calendar.php. For more information on these or any other EIU events, please contact Vicki Woodard (581-7649 or vwoodard@eiu.edu) or Janice Hunt (581-7400 or jlhunt2@eiu.edu).

EVENTS
— Nov. 12-16: Nontraditional Student Week. The School of Continuing Education has planned a variety of activities; for details, visit www.eiu.edu/~adulted and look under the Announcements box. Booth Library is also hosting an exhibit to highlight nontraditional students.

— 5-6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13: Hunger Banquet, a meal designed to raise awareness of the realities of hunger in the world. Hosted by EIU’s Haiti Connection, the event includes a time for dialogue regarding the root causes of hunger. The banquet is free due to support from area businesses and organizations; donations will be accepted at the door. Eighty percent of all money raised will go to fund projects in Haiti; the remainder will go to the Charleston Food Pantry. Space is limited to the first 200 participants. Newman Catholic Center, 500 Roosevelt Ave.

— 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14: Canned food drive to benefit the Charleston Food Pantry. Carman Hall lobby.

— 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14: Children’s Theatre Tour Show. One night only of the children’s tour as a public performance. All seats are $5. Call 217-581-3110. Village Theatre, 960 18th St.

— 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14: Musical performance by Michael Jacobs, winner of the 2003 Native American Music Award for Best Independent Recording and nominee for two 2007 Native American Music Awards. A Native American Heritage Month event. Bridge Lounge, MLK Jr. Union.

— 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15: HP Technology Day, sponsored by Hewlett Packard and CampusHP. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about some of the latest technology issues and solutions impacting learning institutions. Many hands-on learning opportunities will be available. To register, go to www.campushp.com/events/register.asp. 1895 Room, MLK Jr. Union.

— 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15: EIU’s “Biggest Winner” finale. This 10-week program, sponsored by the Health Education Resource Center, was designed to teach students how to healthfully lose weight and become healthier (as opposed to losing the maximum amount of weight in a short amount of time). Prizes will be awarded to the “Biggest Winner.” Martinsville Room, MLK Jr. Union.

— 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15: EIU Jazz Lab Band concert, including a variety of big band music by the 17-piece ensemble. Grand Ballroom, MLK Jr. Union.

— Nov. 19-23: Thanksgiving break, no classes.

GENERAL STORY IDEA
— Nontraditional students at EIU have a great resource in OASIS (Organization of Adult Students, Informal and Supportive). The group has weekly brown-bag lunch meetings, which are often attended by guest speakers from throughout the university. Students also discuss issues unique to their situation as adult learners. For information, see www.eiu.edu/~adulted/bgs/oasis.php.