Helpful tips for communication students.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Spring 2010 Copy Editing Handbook
The following handbook was prepared by Ramapo College's Copyediting class.
Helpful tips for communication students.
Helpful tips for communication students.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tensions Rise for Twitter Outside App Developers
by Jillian Parker
Over the past year Twitter has grown immensely. People are now writing 50 million posts a day instead of the 2.5 million they had just a year ago. The developers did not charge anything for Twitter accounts because they had advertisers and applications being bought. However, they are now starting to feel it is getting more complicated to make money. Twitter has waited a long time to decide that they are ready to create apps that will get them more money. Although, they are afraid that people have no more room for Twitter apps on their phone. When twitter was created, it was still incomplete. Overtime they have been building it up and are now finally ready to make apps outside of Twitter that people can buy. The questions is, is it too late.
A recent New York Times article, Evan Williams, Twitter’s co-founder and chief executive, stated: “When we launched, Twitter was incomplete, so developers rushed to fill those holes, but eventually we’re going to have to build a lot of features in because they should be there. We want to set those expectations." Fred Wilson, the Union Square Ventures partner who invested in Twitter and serves as a director, echoed that sentiment in a blog post last week that immediately put many developers on edge. “I think the time for filling the holes in the Twitter service has come and gone,” he wrote. “Twitter really should have had all of that when it launched or it should have built those services right into the Twitter experience.”
Twitter developers always seemed to have the upper hand, and now twitter is ready to gain that title back and start making their own money. They have made it clear that they are trying to do what Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Facebook have all done. Twitter has let developers reach into their data. Because of this the developers have been able to use twitters tools to make money off of their own apps without having to get any contracts signed from Twitter. In addition, Twitter is paying for the apps their developers are creating, by using Twitters data. “The problems we’re solving are so big that we need a lot of people working on them and we need to give them the same level of access,” said Ryan Sarver, the director of platform at Twitter.
“If developers build something Twitter wants, the company has three options — let it exist separately, create its own version, or buy the start-up, as Twitter did in 2008 with Summize, which created a Twitter search engine, and last week with Atebits”. One of the things created by their developers is Co Tweet. This allows businesses to track customers and employees conversations. A few companies such as Ford and Coca-Cola have starting paying for this service.
Twitter obviously messed up, and needs to start coming up with some of their own ideas to make money, instead of the same ideas that Facebook and Google had. They were not well prepared enough when they started sharing Twitter with the world, and now they are paying the consequences. Ways for them to make money is to come up with applications for phones that is a must have, such as blackberry messaging. It is $30 a month, but everyone wants it badly enough to pay for it, which is the idea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/technology/12twitter.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology
Over the past year Twitter has grown immensely. People are now writing 50 million posts a day instead of the 2.5 million they had just a year ago. The developers did not charge anything for Twitter accounts because they had advertisers and applications being bought. However, they are now starting to feel it is getting more complicated to make money. Twitter has waited a long time to decide that they are ready to create apps that will get them more money. Although, they are afraid that people have no more room for Twitter apps on their phone. When twitter was created, it was still incomplete. Overtime they have been building it up and are now finally ready to make apps outside of Twitter that people can buy. The questions is, is it too late.
A recent New York Times article, Evan Williams, Twitter’s co-founder and chief executive, stated: “When we launched, Twitter was incomplete, so developers rushed to fill those holes, but eventually we’re going to have to build a lot of features in because they should be there. We want to set those expectations." Fred Wilson, the Union Square Ventures partner who invested in Twitter and serves as a director, echoed that sentiment in a blog post last week that immediately put many developers on edge. “I think the time for filling the holes in the Twitter service has come and gone,” he wrote. “Twitter really should have had all of that when it launched or it should have built those services right into the Twitter experience.”
Twitter developers always seemed to have the upper hand, and now twitter is ready to gain that title back and start making their own money. They have made it clear that they are trying to do what Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Facebook have all done. Twitter has let developers reach into their data. Because of this the developers have been able to use twitters tools to make money off of their own apps without having to get any contracts signed from Twitter. In addition, Twitter is paying for the apps their developers are creating, by using Twitters data. “The problems we’re solving are so big that we need a lot of people working on them and we need to give them the same level of access,” said Ryan Sarver, the director of platform at Twitter.
“If developers build something Twitter wants, the company has three options — let it exist separately, create its own version, or buy the start-up, as Twitter did in 2008 with Summize, which created a Twitter search engine, and last week with Atebits”. One of the things created by their developers is Co Tweet. This allows businesses to track customers and employees conversations. A few companies such as Ford and Coca-Cola have starting paying for this service.
Twitter obviously messed up, and needs to start coming up with some of their own ideas to make money, instead of the same ideas that Facebook and Google had. They were not well prepared enough when they started sharing Twitter with the world, and now they are paying the consequences. Ways for them to make money is to come up with applications for phones that is a must have, such as blackberry messaging. It is $30 a month, but everyone wants it badly enough to pay for it, which is the idea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/technology/12twitter.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology
Vatican Sex Scandals
by Erica Buchman
According to The New York Times, the Vatican posted online yesterday, for the first time, a guide to the procedures it requires bishops to follow in abuse cases. They said, “civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed.”
This irritates me to no end. The Catholic Church has a long history of priests sexually abusing children left in their charge, so why is all of this only coming out now? In 1985, the future Pope Benedict XI had resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including ''the good of the universal church". Spare me. These men took a vow of chastity and when Jesus said, "Suffer the little children, come unto me" that's NOT what he was talking about!!!
Ignoring these pleas to spare the man shame is no better than spitting in the face of the abused children. Forget the Church and remember the law. There ought to be hundreds of priests in prison right now serving time for the blatant crimes they have committed. I'd like to see a priest with a history of molesting children share a jail cell with a convicted rapist and see how he likes bending over.
I absolutely hate it when the Church learns of a clergyman who deliberately and repeatedly abuses children, and yet they do nothing. They might send the pervert to therapy and claim that he was "cured", but then he'll go back to do exactly what he was doing before. They all claim that they have asked God's forgiveness and he has bestowed it upon them, but I don't think I want to believe in a God who can so easily forgive these evil men.
The Church will do anything to protect their reputation, but how quickly they forget how unethical they're being when they choose not to involve the police. Not only is it unethical, it's downright illegal. The clergymen who protect the guilty should all be arrested with obstruction of justice. It doesn't matter that the Church is shelling out $2 billion dollars in damages. What about the psychological damage done to these poor children?
It doesn't matter how much publicity is shone on these cases of sex abuse and it doesn't matter how much money the Church doles out to the victims and their families. There will always be men of the cloth who can't keep their hands to themselves and their pants zipped up; it's only a matter of time before this whole thing blows over and then we wait another twenty years before another scandal comes to light.
According to The New York Times, the Vatican posted online yesterday, for the first time, a guide to the procedures it requires bishops to follow in abuse cases. They said, “civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed.”
This irritates me to no end. The Catholic Church has a long history of priests sexually abusing children left in their charge, so why is all of this only coming out now? In 1985, the future Pope Benedict XI had resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including ''the good of the universal church". Spare me. These men took a vow of chastity and when Jesus said, "Suffer the little children, come unto me" that's NOT what he was talking about!!!
Ignoring these pleas to spare the man shame is no better than spitting in the face of the abused children. Forget the Church and remember the law. There ought to be hundreds of priests in prison right now serving time for the blatant crimes they have committed. I'd like to see a priest with a history of molesting children share a jail cell with a convicted rapist and see how he likes bending over.
I absolutely hate it when the Church learns of a clergyman who deliberately and repeatedly abuses children, and yet they do nothing. They might send the pervert to therapy and claim that he was "cured", but then he'll go back to do exactly what he was doing before. They all claim that they have asked God's forgiveness and he has bestowed it upon them, but I don't think I want to believe in a God who can so easily forgive these evil men.
The Church will do anything to protect their reputation, but how quickly they forget how unethical they're being when they choose not to involve the police. Not only is it unethical, it's downright illegal. The clergymen who protect the guilty should all be arrested with obstruction of justice. It doesn't matter that the Church is shelling out $2 billion dollars in damages. What about the psychological damage done to these poor children?
It doesn't matter how much publicity is shone on these cases of sex abuse and it doesn't matter how much money the Church doles out to the victims and their families. There will always be men of the cloth who can't keep their hands to themselves and their pants zipped up; it's only a matter of time before this whole thing blows over and then we wait another twenty years before another scandal comes to light.
Media Discuss: Is Female Track Star a Man?
An ethical issue in today’s news I picked to discuss has to do with a female track star and her struggles with her gender. The issues this topic touches relates to gender, race, and ethical issues when reporting a story. The media displayed this athletes life and her struggles to the world. 18-year-old, Olympic athlete Caster Semenya has had a lot of speculation following her. After she was claimed the women’s 800-meters gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the speculation arose. Officials proved that her testosterone levels are three times as high as those normally expected in a female.
A little background information about Caster Semenya. She was born January 7, 1991 in Pietersburg, South Africa. She comes from a poor rural background in Limpopo province in northern South Africa. She has four sisters and one brother and lived in a low developed village called Fairlie 40 miles from the nearest town. Living in a village meant for a girl chores such as fetching water, washing dishes, and cleaning the house. However she always preferred playing soccer with the boys. In high school her principle said it took her until the 11th grade to realize she was a woman and always wore pants never anything lady like. Family members said when she was teased about her appearance she passed it off and went for a run, and rarely showed emotion.
A little background information about Caster Semenya. She was born January 7, 1991 in Pietersburg, South Africa. She comes from a poor rural background in Limpopo province in northern South Africa. She has four sisters and one brother and lived in a low developed village called Fairlie 40 miles from the nearest town. Living in a village meant for a girl chores such as fetching water, washing dishes, and cleaning the house. However she always preferred playing soccer with the boys. In high school her principle said it took her until the 11th grade to realize she was a woman and always wore pants never anything lady like. Family members said when she was teased about her appearance she passed it off and went for a run, and rarely showed emotion.
Twitter: Helpful or Hurting Network News?
by Jared Silva -
It's understandable for TV news networks to be up-to-date with all the latest technological advanced to help promote their shows and make them even more in-depth for the viewer. One of the latest and most popular technology trends is Twitter. With little text blurbs, it can reach millions of people in seconds to get information out to others. It's great for personal use, but is it good for the newsroom? Is Twitter helping or hurting the integrity on news networks?
Twitter is a website where you have 140 characters to say anything you want, just like text messages on cellphones. The difference though between cellphone text messaging and Twitter is that while texts go from one person to another or a small group of friends if you select them, Twitter updates with every message gets sent to everybody who is "following" you. If you supposedly had 1,000 people following your "tweets," every message you update with gets sent to them instantly, and with their search feature, every single tweet is archived and can be searched by anybody. The accessibility and rising popularity of the website quickly got news stations attached to the idea of using this service as a way to get user feedback on specific news topics.
This is honestly a great, revolutionary way for news shows to get quick, almost instant feedback on anything they want to talk about, but is this just being lazy or is this just the wave of future news? Whereas before, to get user feedback from the people before Twitter, you had to interview them on the streets and there you were most likely going to get a more honest opinion from them. Now all they have to do is sit behind a computer with full anonymity other than their user alias and say whatever they want.
Twitter on news programs hasn't gotten to be too overused, but one network in particular, CNN, as gotten very close to that point. There are many, many, many examples of CNN using Twitter to get user feedback on topics of discussion and they seem to use it almost everyday as a source for people's opinions. It's gotten to the point that, from the looks of it, CNN would rather use Twitter followers as reliable opinionated sources than an actual source of information. This could be because CNN has the most followers on Twitter for news related tweets, so they would be very attached to the service.
The problem I have with this is that news used to be more personal. When you had a man on the street interview about something, you got to see the person's face and heard them talk. On Twitter, you just get anonymous replies from "whoknowswho". I can see the positives with using the service, but what makes the Twitter user's opinions credible? To use it instead of getting personal feedback is making news more boring and it's hard to associate yourself with an opinion of you have no idea where it is coming from. My overall point is that Twitter can be used for good, but it is getting overused at this point. Maybe once the next big technological breakthrough rolls around, Twitter will become obsolete. Hopefully, this new breakthrough adds more personality to the news again.
It's understandable for TV news networks to be up-to-date with all the latest technological advanced to help promote their shows and make them even more in-depth for the viewer. One of the latest and most popular technology trends is Twitter. With little text blurbs, it can reach millions of people in seconds to get information out to others. It's great for personal use, but is it good for the newsroom? Is Twitter helping or hurting the integrity on news networks?
Twitter is a website where you have 140 characters to say anything you want, just like text messages on cellphones. The difference though between cellphone text messaging and Twitter is that while texts go from one person to another or a small group of friends if you select them, Twitter updates with every message gets sent to everybody who is "following" you. If you supposedly had 1,000 people following your "tweets," every message you update with gets sent to them instantly, and with their search feature, every single tweet is archived and can be searched by anybody. The accessibility and rising popularity of the website quickly got news stations attached to the idea of using this service as a way to get user feedback on specific news topics.
This is honestly a great, revolutionary way for news shows to get quick, almost instant feedback on anything they want to talk about, but is this just being lazy or is this just the wave of future news? Whereas before, to get user feedback from the people before Twitter, you had to interview them on the streets and there you were most likely going to get a more honest opinion from them. Now all they have to do is sit behind a computer with full anonymity other than their user alias and say whatever they want.
Twitter on news programs hasn't gotten to be too overused, but one network in particular, CNN, as gotten very close to that point. There are many, many, many examples of CNN using Twitter to get user feedback on topics of discussion and they seem to use it almost everyday as a source for people's opinions. It's gotten to the point that, from the looks of it, CNN would rather use Twitter followers as reliable opinionated sources than an actual source of information. This could be because CNN has the most followers on Twitter for news related tweets, so they would be very attached to the service.
The problem I have with this is that news used to be more personal. When you had a man on the street interview about something, you got to see the person's face and heard them talk. On Twitter, you just get anonymous replies from "whoknowswho". I can see the positives with using the service, but what makes the Twitter user's opinions credible? To use it instead of getting personal feedback is making news more boring and it's hard to associate yourself with an opinion of you have no idea where it is coming from. My overall point is that Twitter can be used for good, but it is getting overused at this point. Maybe once the next big technological breakthrough rolls around, Twitter will become obsolete. Hopefully, this new breakthrough adds more personality to the news again.
Capitalization
By: Morgan Balog
I know that identifying what you should and should not capitalize for cases involving AP style can be frustrating. Certain things aren’t capitalized but others are and by the end of your story, you have no idea what to do. Well after doing a little research, you can easily differentiate what has to be capitalized or not capitalized. You can look for articles to learn from the professionals.
Here is an example: (link). There are many different subject titles in this story, some capitalized and some that are not.
Titles and well known organizations and nouns are always capitalized. In the article they capitalize the words, “Kim Jong Il”, “North Koreans, The Associated Press, Sejong Institute, The National Defense Commission”, and several others. It may seem odd to capitalize “The National Defense Commission”, but because it is a national organization that has public recognition, it is capitalized.
Normal nouns that are used in every day sentences do not have to be capitalized at all though. For instance, you would not capitalize the names of animals or types of food. But stuff that is publicly recognized as separate from a group, like the names of diseases or government officials, should be capitalized.
Academic degrees, geographical regions, and stuff involving government, politics, religion, titles and trade names should almost always be capitalized. But if you’re not sure, just check your AP Stylebook.
I know that identifying what you should and should not capitalize for cases involving AP style can be frustrating. Certain things aren’t capitalized but others are and by the end of your story, you have no idea what to do. Well after doing a little research, you can easily differentiate what has to be capitalized or not capitalized. You can look for articles to learn from the professionals.
Here is an example: (link). There are many different subject titles in this story, some capitalized and some that are not.
Titles and well known organizations and nouns are always capitalized. In the article they capitalize the words, “Kim Jong Il”, “North Koreans, The Associated Press, Sejong Institute, The National Defense Commission”, and several others. It may seem odd to capitalize “The National Defense Commission”, but because it is a national organization that has public recognition, it is capitalized.
Normal nouns that are used in every day sentences do not have to be capitalized at all though. For instance, you would not capitalize the names of animals or types of food. But stuff that is publicly recognized as separate from a group, like the names of diseases or government officials, should be capitalized.
Academic degrees, geographical regions, and stuff involving government, politics, religion, titles and trade names should almost always be capitalized. But if you’re not sure, just check your AP Stylebook.
The Uncertainty of Addressing Titles
By AMY FEZZA
While stating a person’s position or title within an article, AP style chooses to describe titles in a specific way. When addressing a title, two question come into play: when does one capitalize or lowercase a specific title and when does one abbreviate a title?
The New York Times, a specific articles premise revolves around a particular senator. Senator Evan Byah’s title was not only capitalized, but was spelt out. This is because his title was put before addressing his name, rather than after. Also it was spelt out because the New York Times seem to have their own style to follow rather than following the traditional AP Stylebook 2009 edition format.
This is frustrating because while copy editing any articles, one hopes that it will stay consistent and will be followed properly. This leads the person who is editing to doubt themselves and to constantly be checking back to the AP guide on what is considered to be the “correct” way of editing.
Also in another article provided by the BBC, regards U.S. forces. Many military positions are addressed in a certain manner. When addressing Lt. Gen. Nick Parker, “Lieutenant,” as well as, “General” are both abbreviated because they are both before the name.
Every lieutenant or general listed in the article has been abbreviated because they are stated before the name. This happens to be an easy way of addressing a title because something like this is usually the same with every news organization.
While stating a person’s position or title within an article, AP style chooses to describe titles in a specific way. When addressing a title, two question come into play: when does one capitalize or lowercase a specific title and when does one abbreviate a title?
The New York Times, a specific articles premise revolves around a particular senator. Senator Evan Byah’s title was not only capitalized, but was spelt out. This is because his title was put before addressing his name, rather than after. Also it was spelt out because the New York Times seem to have their own style to follow rather than following the traditional AP Stylebook 2009 edition format.
This is frustrating because while copy editing any articles, one hopes that it will stay consistent and will be followed properly. This leads the person who is editing to doubt themselves and to constantly be checking back to the AP guide on what is considered to be the “correct” way of editing.
Also in another article provided by the BBC, regards U.S. forces. Many military positions are addressed in a certain manner. When addressing Lt. Gen. Nick Parker, “Lieutenant,” as well as, “General” are both abbreviated because they are both before the name.
Every lieutenant or general listed in the article has been abbreviated because they are stated before the name. This happens to be an easy way of addressing a title because something like this is usually the same with every news organization.
AP Numerals
By Lindsey de Stefan
The rules pertaining to numerals in the world of copy editing are both extensive and, in some cases, difficult to remember. We must take into consideration that numerals encompass ages, addresses, percents, dates, lengths, weights, decades, and centuries. However, numerals are also figures, letters, or words that represent a number.
A general rule of numerals is this: the numbers one through nine must always be spelled out. For example, two girls or seven days (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page 176). However, the numbers 10 and higher are written numerically. For example. 12 years (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page 176).
Ages do not apply to this general guideline. For example, a 5-year-old girl uses the numeral instead of spelling out the number (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page 176).
When a number is the first word of a sentence, it is always spelled out. However, if the numeral is a calendar year, it DOES NOT need to be spelled out. An example of this would be 1976 was a very good year (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page176).
All of these rules are enough to give a person unfamiliar with AP Style a very bad headache. And these are only the guidelines deemed most noteworthy. For a complete list of guidelines, see the numerals entry in your AP Stylebook.
The rules pertaining to numerals in the world of copy editing are both extensive and, in some cases, difficult to remember. We must take into consideration that numerals encompass ages, addresses, percents, dates, lengths, weights, decades, and centuries. However, numerals are also figures, letters, or words that represent a number.
A general rule of numerals is this: the numbers one through nine must always be spelled out. For example, two girls or seven days (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page 176). However, the numbers 10 and higher are written numerically. For example. 12 years (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page 176).
Ages do not apply to this general guideline. For example, a 5-year-old girl uses the numeral instead of spelling out the number (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page 176).
When a number is the first word of a sentence, it is always spelled out. However, if the numeral is a calendar year, it DOES NOT need to be spelled out. An example of this would be 1976 was a very good year (AP Stylebook 2004 edition, page176).
All of these rules are enough to give a person unfamiliar with AP Style a very bad headache. And these are only the guidelines deemed most noteworthy. For a complete list of guidelines, see the numerals entry in your AP Stylebook.