As I was brainstorming about the ridiculous ways I could stretch the topic of "news editing", I thought about Wikipedia and it's loose editing process. As an experiment I went in and edited the page about Stephen A. Smith to say he was born in 1968 instead of 1967. I am curious how long it will take for this to be changed back to the correct version. Of course I am not going to check it with hourly regularity so the experiment will be analyzed once a day.
I feel like Wikipedia is a copy editor's worst nightmare. The site is edited for content and punctuation by anyone who feels like signing up and editing. All I had to do was give them an email address that I hardly use and chose a user name. If you care to look me up I go under the pseudonym "MrEdits". It was MrEdits' opinion that Stephen A. Smith was born in 1968 and he has a website that proves it.
This is the even more ridiculous part about Wikipedia. Most of the time you don't really have to prove where you got your information. I would only have to cite my sources if I wanted to make a major edit to the content. But apparently a man's date of birth isn't too major.
I would be a liar if I said I haven't used Wikipedia to look up important information. I'm just saying that before you look up an illness or information for your research paper due in the morning, I would be wary about what you read on a self-editing Web site. There's a reason why things get edited by professionals and why there's the process of attribution. Those people are trained and actually know what they're talking about.
But hey, if you want to become a professional Wikipedia editor like me, just check out the Wikipedia page on Wikipedia page editing... it even has its own manual of style.
B
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
All For The Team
In my time as a sports writer covering basketball and tennis I have heard a lot of athletes talk. It also doesn't hurt that ESPN is on the TV in my living room for most of the day because my roommate and I are crazy. And what really deflates my internal basketball is when athletes give the mind-numbing, "I did it for the team" response and the reporter doesn't prod any further.
Yes, I understand sports and I have played them my entire life so I get it that most of them are based on the output of the team as a unit. But I feel like athletes hide behind the language that they are programed to use. Tell me what you really think AMARE STOUDEMIRE. Yes I know your team is not producing and your coach was fired, but what's actually going on behind the scenes??
And I think the biggest part of this rests on the shoulders of the reporter to get through the programmed athlete language and get at the really good quote hidden underneath it. Reporters can't settle for the programmed response. It's embarrassing. If an athlete credits an individual reward to his or her teammates, you better ask them specifically why or how that's possible. I'm sick of the "goober" quotes I see in print and hear on TV or radio.
However before I sound like the quote police, I will insert one caveat to my rant and rave. There is always the exception. I understand that there are times when a reporter cannot get to an event due to extenuating circumstances. I'll be honest, as a student without a car, there isn't much I can do about getting to Penn State to be part of a press conference. And thus I am thrown on the mercy of my sport information director who gives me the quotes he wants me to have.
But yes I want to call out the average sports reporter and tell them to get through the muck and get at the truth. Don't let an athlete off the hook when an issue comes up. It's easy to take down the first thing an athlete says as your "money" quote, but it's a total other thing to get them to be real with you. Put your reporting hat on and get to it. Don't give those general news people any ounce of fuel to think they are better than us ... because that's just silly.
B
Yes, I understand sports and I have played them my entire life so I get it that most of them are based on the output of the team as a unit. But I feel like athletes hide behind the language that they are programed to use. Tell me what you really think AMARE STOUDEMIRE. Yes I know your team is not producing and your coach was fired, but what's actually going on behind the scenes??
And I think the biggest part of this rests on the shoulders of the reporter to get through the programmed athlete language and get at the really good quote hidden underneath it. Reporters can't settle for the programmed response. It's embarrassing. If an athlete credits an individual reward to his or her teammates, you better ask them specifically why or how that's possible. I'm sick of the "goober" quotes I see in print and hear on TV or radio.
However before I sound like the quote police, I will insert one caveat to my rant and rave. There is always the exception. I understand that there are times when a reporter cannot get to an event due to extenuating circumstances. I'll be honest, as a student without a car, there isn't much I can do about getting to Penn State to be part of a press conference. And thus I am thrown on the mercy of my sport information director who gives me the quotes he wants me to have.
But yes I want to call out the average sports reporter and tell them to get through the muck and get at the truth. Don't let an athlete off the hook when an issue comes up. It's easy to take down the first thing an athlete says as your "money" quote, but it's a total other thing to get them to be real with you. Put your reporting hat on and get to it. Don't give those general news people any ounce of fuel to think they are better than us ... because that's just silly.
B
Monday, February 9, 2009
Grammarphobia Gave Me Blogphobia
Right off the bat, I have to say that the Grammarphobia blog has one of the ugliest color schemes I have ever seen. There's nothing like getting blasted by pumpkin-orange and McDonald's yellow. Plus, inside the yellow portions of the background there are phrases without punctuation that could break a copy editor's heart.
But in all seriousness, I thought the content of the blog was very solid. I think it's a great idea to use the question and answer format to teach people about grammar. Also with all the links on the side, you can access lots of information about grammar use and abuse.
Although I did find it a little nauseating that they were pushing their books at every opportunity they could. But hey, where would a blog be without pushing an agenda. Check out my brother Ben on Fox's Hell's Kitchen every Thursday at 8. And yes, that is actually my brother.
But in all seriousness, I thought the content of the blog was very solid. I think it's a great idea to use the question and answer format to teach people about grammar. Also with all the links on the side, you can access lots of information about grammar use and abuse.
Although I did find it a little nauseating that they were pushing their books at every opportunity they could. But hey, where would a blog be without pushing an agenda. Check out my brother Ben on Fox's Hell's Kitchen every Thursday at 8. And yes, that is actually my brother.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Not Just a Name
When I was thinking about errors in print, the word that came up most in my head was actually my own first name. More people in my life have misspelled my first name than you could ever imagine. My first name is Bret. Ya that's right, it's with one "t" .
My parents decided before I was born that they would configure my name in such a way that I would have to awkwardly correct over a million people in my lifetime. Maybe it was a ploy to make me more outgoing. If I can tell someone I just met that they spelled my name wrong, then I can say anything ... I guess.
But in reality when I asked my dad why they decided to don me with such a spelling, he told me it was because he is Gary with one "r" and my grandpa was Philip with one "l". Honestly I think Bret with one "t" is much rarer than the other two. In fact, I typed in the name "Bret" into Google and found only three famous people with that spelling that I will be linked to for eternity.
First is Bret Michaels. Honestly, I don't like his music or his sellout personality that sparked such reality shows as "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels", its sequel and then now, "Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels". But I still have to give him respect for his first name ... but that's about it.
The next is Bret "the Hitman" Hart. He was a famous professional wrestler for years in the United States and Canada. He started off in olympic-style wrestling until he got an offer from the WWF. Unfortunetly for him, he received a career-ending head injury in one of his matches. But that didn't stop him from writing an autobiography. So there is a Bret with a legitamate writing career.
The last famous Bret that has had to deal with mispelling is Bret McKenzie. He has an HBO show called "Flight of the Concords", that I hear is very funny. He is from New Zealand originally, and was in one of the Lord of the Rings movies - which doesn't do much for me. But what I like about him is that he has made it in the realm of comedy.
So like these three celebrities, I have had my name spelled incorrectly in every way imaginable. I have had gift certificates, name tags, awards, rosters, assignments, emails and even professional documents with the wrong name printed on them. I still have family members that think my name has two t's. But you know what, it's OK. Not everyone has a copy editor by their side 24/7. I have come to somewhat accept my name either way. However, when I do see it spelled the wrong way, I'm not going to lie, I cringe a little. And honestly, I will still probably tell someone I've just met that they spelled it incorrectly.
B
My parents decided before I was born that they would configure my name in such a way that I would have to awkwardly correct over a million people in my lifetime. Maybe it was a ploy to make me more outgoing. If I can tell someone I just met that they spelled my name wrong, then I can say anything ... I guess.
But in reality when I asked my dad why they decided to don me with such a spelling, he told me it was because he is Gary with one "r" and my grandpa was Philip with one "l". Honestly I think Bret with one "t" is much rarer than the other two. In fact, I typed in the name "Bret" into Google and found only three famous people with that spelling that I will be linked to for eternity.
First is Bret Michaels. Honestly, I don't like his music or his sellout personality that sparked such reality shows as "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels", its sequel and then now, "Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels". But I still have to give him respect for his first name ... but that's about it.
The next is Bret "the Hitman" Hart. He was a famous professional wrestler for years in the United States and Canada. He started off in olympic-style wrestling until he got an offer from the WWF. Unfortunetly for him, he received a career-ending head injury in one of his matches. But that didn't stop him from writing an autobiography. So there is a Bret with a legitamate writing career.
The last famous Bret that has had to deal with mispelling is Bret McKenzie. He has an HBO show called "Flight of the Concords", that I hear is very funny. He is from New Zealand originally, and was in one of the Lord of the Rings movies - which doesn't do much for me. But what I like about him is that he has made it in the realm of comedy.
So like these three celebrities, I have had my name spelled incorrectly in every way imaginable. I have had gift certificates, name tags, awards, rosters, assignments, emails and even professional documents with the wrong name printed on them. I still have family members that think my name has two t's. But you know what, it's OK. Not everyone has a copy editor by their side 24/7. I have come to somewhat accept my name either way. However, when I do see it spelled the wrong way, I'm not going to lie, I cringe a little. And honestly, I will still probably tell someone I've just met that they spelled it incorrectly.
B
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