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This week we will be finishing the last two chapters of Rene J. Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing . We will be looking at chapter 12: Usage: Handling Those Hectoring Hangups and chapter 13: Bestiary: A Compendium for the Careful and the Crotchety. In chapter 12, Cappon talks about sentence structure. In the chapter, Cappon talks about when to place certain words in sentences like but and and . Cappon explains that these words have different context in a sentence depending on the topic of the sentence. Cappon also explains when to use dashes and commas. Cappon goes through other types of words in sentences and how to use them properly like et cetera, the proper use of lay vs lie , handling numbers and using the word that. In chapter 13, Cappon makes a short dictionary of words to help the reader understand how to use these words and place them in sentences. Cappon also goes into the meaning of these words to help the reader further understand when to use them

Whenever Apple releases a new iPhone the device is covered extensively and featured on many news sites and television. The new iPhone is being showcased by Apple and they go on and on about all the new features the phone can do. Much like the new product Apple produces with new features there is a type of news called features. In Rene J. Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing Chapter 11: Features: A View from the Poet’s Corner, Cappon goes into detail on how to write a feature. This week we will be looking at the eleventh chapter in Cappon’s book. In this chapter, Cappon talks about features, which are a news story that are less limited than hard news. Cappon explains a problem some writers have when writing features. This problem is that the writer spends too much time trying to decorate the story with fancy words rather than being straightforward. It is okay to be descriptive, but the problem is the overuse of adjectives and generalities often found in the writing

There is a lot of clichés in writing and it is no different in journalism. Writers try to hard to be clever with their words at times that they become strained and irrelevant to the topic. In Rene J. Cappon’s Associated Press Guide to News Writing chapter 10: Pseudo-Color: Clichés and Other Trespasses – Cappon writes what clichés in writing are and how to avoid them. This week we will be looking at the tenth chapter in Cappon’s book. In this chapter, Cappon ties in his last chapter about color, but this time talking about the pseudo-color of clichés and other things that could ruin a writer’s work. At the start of the chapter, Cappon makes it apparent what clichés are and how to avoid them. Cappon explains not all clichés are obnoxious, but there are some that should be used by any self-respecting writer. Using cliché phrases can bog down a story by either making the reader’s eyes roll or by using an overused cliché that is unnecessary to the story. Cappon harkens back to the ide

Writing is like cooking. For cooking you need to have the ingredients flow, work together, and be properly cooked. In news writing you need your words to flow and sound good with your story. The words need to have color. In the ninth chapter of the Associated Press Guide to News Writing by Rene J. Cappon, the chapter talks about color in news writing. This week we will be looking at the ninth chapter in Cappon’s book. Cappon writes that color is matter of the right details that are observed directly from witnesses, with the breath of actuality. Color helps give a precision of visual detail and paints a vivid image in a story. Color is a way of seeing a story which allows reporters to give their readers insight to the story. Colors are words that are for description and insight into a story. This chapter was hard to follow because of the way Cappon paced it. Cappon gives quite a bit of examples in this chapter but he doesn’t explain why these examples were perfect for color or

As a reporter getting quotes from your interviews is imperative. In the eighth chapter of Rene J. Cappon’s the Associated Press Guide to News Writing: Quotes: Your Words or Mine? he goes over the importance of quotes and how to properly write them. This week we look over this chapter and review it. Quotes are indispensable to reporters and Cappon makes sure you know that. When writing out quotes it is important to attribute quotes to the source that said and to enclose the captions around it. In this chapter Cappon explains a lot of basics of quotes like when to quote, how to use them and where to place them. Cappon expresses that the importance of placing said properly and effectively.   In a way to avoid fragmented quotes, Cappon explains the importance of paraphrase and how it can save choppy quotes. This chapter had more examples than explanations. Cappon goes on and on too much about the basics of quoting which hurts the flow of this chapter. This chapter becomes deriv

Attributing quotes is an important thing in the news industry. Attributive verbs compliment the tone of a quote. In chapter 7 of Rene J. Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing , he says the best attributive verbs are shot, clear, neutral, and unfailingly accurate. This week we will be looking at chapter 7 of The Associated Press Guide to News Writing: Pitfalls: Attributive Verbs and Loaded Words. Words have a time and a place and attributive verbs are no different. Cappon expresses the importance of good attributive verbs due to how they affect a quote. Cappon writes that attributive verbs must be plan and neutral. Loaded words are also something Cappon talks about in this chapter. Cappon explains that some words can carry news writers beyond what they intended to say and import value judgments into stories where they don’t belong. Certain terms and words can have a double meaning and can affect how sentence is portrayed. The readers of these sentences may interp

In writing it is hard to pick up tone, but phrases convey tone in writing. In Rene J. Cappon’s Associated Press Guide to News Writing chapter 6: Tone: The Inner Music of Words – Cappon goes into the importance of tone. This week we will looking at this chapter and see how well Cappon conveys his message and why he expresses the importance of tone. In the chapter Cappon explains that certain news stories have a certain kind of tone. Usually descriptive words can throw a meaning of the story off. One of the examples Cappon uses, “In 1917, when the czar got the boot…” A czar is forced from his phone, not boot or fired. While the meaning maybe similar to what happened, it is not accurate for the sake of the story. Cappon explains the necessity of having a transparent message in a news story because while a phrase may sound clever for your story it can throw the overall tone off. Overall this chapter was not a bad addition to Cappon’s guidebook. It tells you what you are learning,

A lot of genres have a sub-category and, in some cases, a sub-language. Like in sports you have sports talk. There are many variations of things like this and journalism is no different. Journalese is the so-called language of journalism as aptly put by Rene J. Cappon in his guidebook The Associated Press Guide to News Writing. This week we will be looking at Journalese, the fifth chapter in Cappon’s guidebook. In the chapter, Cappon talks about journalese. Journalese is an artificial language of news style used in popular media. In journalese, phrases that are not necessary to the story are often pushed in for dramatization. Cappon again inserts his overarching message of directness and simple writing. Journalese is used to get attention and Cappon believe it is not the best way to get it. Overall, this chapter was bit repetitive for explaining what journalese is and could have been trimmed down to be a shorter chapter.

Like in any writing sentences are important. Long sentences can be too convoluted and become less readable. The trick is to know how to shorten long sentences and turn them into functional components that are simple. This is exactly what we will be looking at this week in the fourth chapter of Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing : The Case for the Period. This chapter focuses on the importance of directness for sentences in news writing. Cappon admits that there is not really a limit on how many words make a perfect sentence. Cappon states that when a sentence length climbs above 20 words the writer risks making the sentence convoluted to the readers. However, he does believe the sweet spot length of a sentence is about 16 to 20 words.   Cappon again tells the reader the importance of creating a transparent message in their writing. This time he does it by expressing the importance of having short sentences that get straight to the point. Cappon succeeds in te

For every news story there is a lead. It is one of the most important parts of a news story. It is the hook that lures the reader into the story. This is exactly what we will be looking at this week in the third chapter of Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing: Leads: The Agony of Square One. This chapter focuses on the importance of leads. Cappon states that a lead must be clear and specific. Cappon compares a lead to a speech, in that it shouldn’t mumble. A neews lead must be loud and clear, so it can speak directly to the reader and captivate their attention. Cappon shows a lot of examples in what are good and bad news leads in this chapter. Again, in this chapter we see that Cappon stresses the importance of simplicity and clarity in news writing. Cappon succeeds in teaching the reader the importance of writing good news leads in this chapter. Cappon also succeeds in continuing his overarching message in his book within this chapter. Overall this was an exce

For a reporter to report effectively you need more than just information. This week will we be looking at chapter 2 of Cappon’s The Associated Press Guide to News Writing : Information Is Not Enough. In this chapter Cappon talks about how reports made by journalists need to be not only reliable but also compelling enough to withstand the competition of the news industry. Cappon writes that reporters need to make stories simple, concise and most of all include only the important details. Stories must not contain fluff they need to get straight to the point and the heart of the story. Much like in the last chapter Cappon conveys the importance of sentence structure and the importance of having a transparent message. The second chapter of the Associated Press Guide to News Writing is a follow-up to the first chapter. It continues the message Cappon stated in the first chapter in that all news writing should aim for simplicity and directness. Cappon continues that message by expa

The Be an Editor Game is a simulation game on Newsu.org. The game is to help give you the feel of what it is like to be a managing editor for a newspaper. The game is an interactive video. that is pre-recorded with actors who are acting as section editors. Yours job in this simulator is to listen to the pitch of each section editor and choose two of the best stories from the four sections to put into your news budget for the next newspaper.  The game itself is rather easy. The game tells you what your audience is and what they want. So as an editor in this simulator you want to choose the big head turner stories. On my first try I got the two best story choices when I published the article. It was a no brainer that the top story choices in the simulator would be the Fire at the Cheese Factory and  the Johnson Dam Water Rising. The game while easy does a good job of conveying how the workplace of a newspaper office would be like. While the acting of the section editors was hok

There’s a lot of things that go into journalism. The third edition of the Associated Press Guide to News Writing by Rene J. Cappon serves as a guide to journalists. The purpose of the guidebook is to teach the reader to write like pros at leading news services. We will be looking at each chapter each week to review and critique Cappon’s book. This week we will be starting with chapter 1 of the book: Language: Pompous, Pedantic and Plain. The chapter starts off as an introductory chapter of sorts. It tells you what Cappon has planned inside the guide and what the reader can expect to learn from Cappon. In the chapter Cappon addresses the importance of sentence structure and how it is important for the reporter to have a transparent message in their writing. The reason behind this, is so the common reader can understand what is being reported in a straightforward and effective way. The overarching message that Cappon wants to convey in his book is that all news writing should ai