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Matt
Anita's point about the styleguide is interesting - I gave a copy of it to all of my staff and they had to follow the rules before any content went live on the corporate site. Yet I find that many bloggers just don't care about spelling and the like. And sadly as much as I want to agree with Anita, readers just don't seem to care about that point.
I wrote a relevant post a while ago (http://nospinpr.com/2008/11/20/ten-mistakes-beg...). It's a long post, but this paragraph includes a link to some pretty high journalistic standards I think all bloggers should try to follow:
"The Canadian Press Stylebook was long considered the ‘bible’ for Canadian journalists but I prefer the Globe and Mail Style Book. The CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices are among the most stringent in Canada. It’s also still one of the best newsgathering organizations in the world." http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/accountability/j...
I use the AP style for numbers, but frequently abuse semicolons and commas. I've been known to spell check, but not as often as one ought to.
This might be the most helpful post a blogger could ever read. Most of us are wincing a little (or more than a little). Long term, we thank you.
Chris - Love the idea of having a pro journalist on your blog - really helpful for me. As i've only recently discovered your work for myself, i'm enjoying each day i tune in.
Thanks to you both.
This is as true for journalists as it is for bloggers.
Nice points to consider.
It is better to carefully review what you put out there than to try to excuse poor form later under the guise of "style".
Additionally, I would say that a journalist's job is to report facts - a blogger's "job" is to offer a personal view of these facts, and hopefully open up conversation. Two different approaches that probably cater to two different audiences.
I thank you for this advice... but according to your terminology, because I am not "trained," e.g. a graduate of journalism school, I am not a journalist. I suppose my hundreds of newspaper bylines accumulated through 5+ years of community newspaper reporting, Boston Globe travel essays, and "blogging" is meaningless to your standard?
As I commented earlier tonight on Jeff Cutler's blog where he also separates bloggers from journalists, I argue my content is equivalent to his (and to yours, Anita) evident from research, attribution, and understanding of slander, libel, and ethics.
Granted, every blogger does not adhere to the same standards as me, but are they any less than me? Doubtful.
When you consider most TV meteorologists would be unable to do their jobs during crazy weather days without inbound calls and emails from "weather spotters," would you criticize the spotters' measurements are not up to par because they never attended M-school? Of course not.
I learned your 10-step advice on the job and by reading books. Maybe I read your books. Maybe other bloggers did, too. Am I, or they, any less a journalist just because we are not trained in journalism?
I blog about PR and marketing. As a PR professional, I'm expected to write well and without errors, I want my blog to represent my ability to do just that (or something close). If I'm blogging for a client, this is also important. Many argue against PR people blogging, but I think PR people can make excellent bloggers IF they take the time to understand the nature of blogs before they go after it. This is because PR people are closely related to journalists and much of what has been outlined here is second nature (we have to think like journalists -- how else could we be so effective at getting journalists to write about our clients or allow us to submit contributed articles, etc.). The fact that so many fomer jouralists are becomming PR people and/or pro bloggers themselves, proves that point.
If “bloggers” mean non-traditionally trained content creators and “journalists” are those who are traditionally trained … all I can say is that there are good and bad bloggers and there are good and bad journalists.
And the competition between the two forces is good for any discerning member of the audience.
"Bloggers" will have to keep quality higher, and be a bit more reserved. "Journalists" must react quicker, take more chances.
In the end, the audience will eventually decide what kind/level of training — along with other factors such as independence and editing — they require for their critical news consumption.
Well written and covered a lot of ground.
Bloggers take note.
I think that your guest post shows very useful information and all that you said should be taken into consideration by any person who blogs. I think the hardest thing to do is to back away from the computer and from the web. Of course that this is depending on the theme of your blog but still I think it's a difficult thing to do. We all are so used to obtain our information over the Internet that we simply can't see it other way.
I'm not a journalist. I've found out that if you think first of what you're gonna write and you block down the headings then it's much more easy to do it. I use a structure like this one : summary, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 if needed, conclusion and between 500 and 800 words.
Thank you for your tips.
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Overall great list for us all to learn from.
"Granted, every blogger does not adhere to the same standards as me, but are they any less than me? Doubtful."
As far as blogging goes, no, they are not "less" than you. As far as respecting and adhering to basic journalistic standards - laws, fact reporting, libel, etc - by not adhering to these standards they can't therefore be classed as journalists - and this is the key difference. It will continue until bloggers who wish to be more respected by the mainstream start carrying out due diligence on what's being written - and that's not a criticism of blogging (of whose community I'm a fervent supporter of), merely a statement of fact.
"Precision is key. If you carefully consider each word and each sentence, then you’ve put yourself in another realm as a writer. Precision helps you gain respect and legitimacy because is (correction, should be it, not is) shows you’re taking your writing and reporting seriously, even if you’re writing humor. At the very least, consult a dictionary, thesaurus and grammar book. All the Web site flash and dazzle in the world won’t cover up poor writing riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. Trust me: If there’s one typo, one spelling error, someone is going to call you stupid. HELLO.
As for the "blurt" technique, I've been using it for years even thought I never went to J school. My thought was, I write whatever comes into my mind, and if it's garbage, I just delete it. Maybe it wasn't so easy back when people used a typewriter, but today it makes absolute sense to me.
It's "take a different tack", not "tact".
It's "home in", not "hone in".
It's a "moot point", not a "mute point".
Any others?
I like the 'blurt' tip. I tell people this all the time - it's as though they think every word they type is indelible and can never be edited.
I do think journalists have a lot to learn from bloggers too, so I'd be interested in a post just like this, but from a blogger to a journalist.
Anita -- Thank you for sharing some of the 'secret sauce' from the traditional world of media.
I wasn't lazy in my work; I spell-checked, referred to the AP as often as possible, and used the same trick you did to get beyond writer's block when it did hit me. And I always, ALWAYS used attribution.
But ya know what? I had an editor to answer to. I had a publication's reputation to uphold. I had a paycheck to continue receiving, and it wasn't going to keep coming unless I did my job and lived up to the title of "journalist."
Here at home when I sit down to blog it's different, and because I have no one to answer to but myself (and my readers, of course) I suddenly realize after reading this post that I am failing them and myself. (The only AP habit I cannot shake is the spelling out the numbers one through nine and writing out 10 and above.)
I should be putting just as much effort into what I write now as I did when it had a byline. After all, I have my own reputation to uphold, right?
Thanks for the much-needed reminder.
And,. then, if you choose to ignore the AP Style by doing your own thing, at least you are educated about it, not just ignorant. ee cummings knew that he was supposed to capitalize stuff but actively chose to ignore that rule. Whenever one of my writing students throw ee cumings at me for a failed capitalization, I immediately change their grade to a lower case of one grade lower. "You are no ee cummings."
Until you are a journalist/blogger/writer of the stature of Cronkite, Fuller, Woodward/Bernstein, Arnett or Rather, respect the AP Stylebook.
But you raise a tangential issue, something I also alluded to on Jeff Cutler's blog I linked above.
Suppose a 7-year-old child takes a picture. Would the shot, regardless of composition, focus, and photographic "standards," be any less than one taken by a trained photographer employed by some newspaper?
The strange thing about duct or duck tape that I've read is that it really was called "duck tape" by WWII soldiers because it is backed with a fabric called cotton duck. See this Wikipedia entry for probably more than you will ever want to know on the subject. :)
This happens all the time and I notice it happens to me all the time. It really helps to reread your entire post again because, sometimes you might say, "will", when you meant "won't", etc.
By the way....nice eyes.
Great tips, and yay for AP style.
You have focused and shared the essential requirements for the ' blogosphere' and bloggers wanting more than just passing interest in their thoughts. To be highly regarded and considered an authority takes time and effort.
Thanks to Chris Brogan for finding you and sharing his considerable audience. I look forward to reading more of your work!
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
Twitter.com/nachase
http://donotreadthisblogunless.blogspot.com/
Thank you for emphasizing the discipline that journalists earn by studying their craft! Admittedly, my patience to read posts which lack good English grammar is strained.
Here is "The Atlantic" magazine's Andrew Sullivan's article "Why I Blog". Wonderfully composed!
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/andrew-su...
This was a wonderful and necessary post. I'm sure we all try, at some level, to create writing worth the reading. If we're not quite there yet, you've given a lot of great advice on how to aim higher.
My favorite phrase from this post: "Don’t abuse the privilege." For me that sums up your top ten in a nutshell. Well said.
Chris,
Great guest post. Thanks for inviting Anita in!
Regards,
Kelly
I think that a lot of people think that email, blogs, online communities, and other online forms of communication don't require us to use as much care in what we write because these media are meant to connect people together and be personal. What these people don't understand is that just because the forum for discussion has changed, doesn't mean that the quality of discussion should be degraded. When we interact someone online, language is one of the most prominent (and sometimes the only) defining characteristic we have to form an opinion about another person, so we should be even more careful and intentional with what we write.
I particularly liked points 8 and 9.
Just like to add: one of the things that bugs me is when people fail to give examples of what they are talking about (I notice you make a point of giving an example) - in particular case studies.
"Precision helps you gain respect and legitimacy because is shows you’re taking your writing and reporting seriously, even if you’re writing humor. At the very least, consult a dictionary, thesaurus and grammar book. All the Web site flash and dazzle in the world won’t cover up poor writing riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. Trust me: If there’s one typo, one spelling error, someone is going to call you stupid."
Of course, she makes a typo in that very paragraph. It drives home to me the point of legitimacy. Practice what you preach and be authentic, or I, as a reader, lose respect for you and what you're doing. One easy mistake like this one is not a huge deal, but if I see more than one, then I just know the person is not taking the time to proof their own copy, which screams amateur.
While it's true that many bloggers don't adhere to Anita's standards, many journalists don't either. And let's remember that journalists, theoretically, have formal training, professional editors, fact-checkers, copy-editors, and a support organization. They also get paid to do this. For bloggers, it's usually a solo operation, and it isn't their day-job. They do it because the media giants like Gannett don't want to tell the story the bloggers want to tell.
Thanks again (from the UK).
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im sorry but nowadays it seems that there´s no difference betwen bloggers and journalists, with the last descending to the former´s level. this rises the question, what are good journalists dooing now?bloggers on the other hand are web like content: it goes with the wind and most times can not be trusted.but can we trust what we read in the papers??
I'm very detail oriented and noticed that "is" should be "it". =p It's just ironic.
Anyways, good info.