Why are style guides so hard to find?
December 9th, 2009Adrian Weckler recently published the Computers In Business style guide - or at least an abridged version of it.
This is a priceless resource for any journalist looking to write for Adrian - and while it may not apply entirely to the rest of the Sunday Business Post it is also useful for those writing for others there too.
Quite simply, anything a freelancer can do to make their copy more publication-suitable will make them more attractive as a writer overall. The less work you are for the editors and sub-editors the more likely you are to get commissioned again (assuming your pitch is decent in the first place, of course).
Some of the advice is common sense journalism - keep your sentences short, avoid the American spelling, refer to a company as the singular - but some are title-specific. I know I committed a few of the sins in the last piece I wrote for the SBP but my defence (for some of them at least) is that they are habits I’ve acquired while following B&F’s style… not that that’s any comfort to the poor soul who has to fix my errors.
The whole thing got me thinking - why don’t all newspapers have their style guides available online?
The benefit to them if they did this would be immeasurable.
Every publication has its own way of doing things and it’s easy for a journalist to get it wrong if they don’t have clear guidelines laid out in front of them. This is especially true for a freelancer who writes a lot for one publication and so tends to write that way for all without thinking.
Even if a journalist carefully studies the publication in question before writing they are also bound to miss certain things that they are supposed to be doing - or perhaps even certain formatting tendencies that aren’t apparent in the final product.
(For example, The Sunday Business Post uses two back-quote marks to open a quote and two single apostrophes to close it as opposed to regular quotation marks. I’m not sure why - I assume it’s a formatting issue - but it’s not something you’d know unless you’re told and it’s easy to forget if you don’t write for them regularly.)
The end result can be a piece that - while technically and journalistically fine - is in need of serious tweaking before it can go forward to be laid-out.
Imagine having to trawl through a piece to add ‘Mr’ at every reference to an individual just because the writer didn’t know your publication gives titles where others don’t. Or having to de-capitalise job titles because the journalist didn’t know that that’s the way you do things.
Editors and subs have more than enough on their plates without having to do this kind of uninspiring donkey work and while nothing can ever eliminate it, making the style guide available to all would at least minimise it.
There’s nothing to lose in making the guide available online either - it’s not like publications are giving away the secret ingredient to their success or risking being copied by others by doing so.
From what I can see style guides aren’t even easy to get access to when you request them directly. Surely it would make sense if first-time freelancers were sent a copy of it when commissioned, if even to save the patience of the newspaper’s staff rather than the blushes of the journalist in question. Consider it a quick and nasty introduction to what’s expected of them when they file.
I can only imagine it’s an over-sight rather than intentional hiding of details on the newspaper’s part - here’s hoping Adrian has started something that others will follow very quickly.
Edited 17:30, 9th December 2009 to state Adrian’s style guide was for Computers In Business and not the Sunday Business Post as a whole (see comments below).
The Indo’s (non-existent) coverage of O’Brien’s INM play
September 24th, 2009As has been reported across various media today, businessman Denis O’Brien has finally made his play for control of Independent News & Media.
Coverage of the move in the Irish media is varied to say the least.
The Irish Examiner led with the story today in an article entitled “O’Brien launches plan for INM takeover”.
The Irish Times covers O’Brien’s move in its Finance section, describing it as a “last-ditch bid for INM control”, presumably because O’Brien would find it extremely hard to take control of the company should Gavin O’Reilly’s restructuring plan succeed. The newspaper even has some analysis of the move by Arthur Beesley, ensuring their coverage is thorough.
Curiously The Irish Independent’s Business supplement leads with a story on the progress made by O’Reilly’s proposal, something covered by The Irish Times - amongst others - a day before.
The Independent’s story does make vague references to O’Brien’s counter-proposal but resigns it to the last two paragraphs of the piece, stating:
A spokesman for Denis O’Brien, who owns a 26pc stake in INM, confirmed representatives of the businessman held discussions with lenders on a separate proposal yesterday.
However, he declined to comment on the outcome of these talks or on reports that Mr O’Brien had offered to put up €100m to part fund a restructuring.
So are The Irish Independent a day behind on a story about their own parent group and if so, how? Or is there another reason why the newspaper is focusing on the progress made by O’Reilly and not the moves made by O’Brien?
If you’re thinking of pitching to me…
July 10th, 2009PR agents and companies are always approaching journalists with information that they hope will be turned into stories - it’s (part of) what they do. Depending on the situation this may take the form of a mass press release or a more specific and targeted communique.
In my case I write a lot about Technology and Media and so these are the areas I tend to get approached about most, although they’re not the areas I’m exclusively interested in.
If you are approaching me with what you think is a story I’d be interesting in pursuing, here are five (by no means exhaustive) things that are worth keeping in mind:
1) I’m happy to receive a pitch via phone, e-mail, twitter, MSN, Google Talk or face-to-face but I expect it to be made clear that I’m about to receive a pitch from the outset.
2) If you’re pitching something for the tech spot I do for B&F remember it is fortnightly and so is outside of the daily news-cycle. Anything that will be stale (or covered elsewhere) in the immediate future is no good to me.
3) The B&F tech article also has a long lead-in time. The subject is decided a week and a half before the deadline and the deadline is almost a week before it hits the shelves. In other words I need to know well in advance if there’s anything interesting coming down the line that you think might be worth covering.
4) However the B&F tech piece is not the only thing I do. I’m primarily a freelance journalist and I write news stories and features in the areas of technology, media and current affairs. Pitch your relevant stories to me and I’ll let you know if I’m not interested.
5) Don’t tell me how great your new product, service or software is, let me see for myself. Trialling something directly says far more than any spec-sheet or picture ever will (that said high res. pictures are vital if the product is going to be reviewed).
Opening journalism (for better & for worse)
July 2nd, 2009My latest technology piece in Business & Finance has a different ending than usual - it has a link to an mp3 of the interview with Minister Conor Lenihan, conducted for the article itself (which can be found here - although be warned it’s quite long).
Opening up the process of journalism and giving readers additional content like this is, in my opinion, a perfect way to utilise the internet effectively. As a matter of fact I think it’s key to making journalism thrive and survive in the future. That said it’s a daunting venture to undertake.
When you give everyone access to the unedited interview you conducted for a piece, for example, you open yourself up to a lot of criticism.
Suddenly everyone knows the questions you asked and more importantly the ones you didn’t. They can see what you may have let slip and what you did or didn’t pursue aggressively. Some may even find a comment that you didn’t quote in the piece that was more valuable than you realise. It can all be very bruising to the ego.
On the contrary it can be extremely useful to open yourself up to scrutiny like this, not least because much advice can be genuinely constructive. Perhaps more importantly, however, it forces you as a journalist to analyse everything you’re doing as you construct an article and can help you be all the more aware of your weaknesses and flaws before the piece has even gone to print.
Put simply, when people have access to everything you do there is no room for you cutting corners, quoting out of context or getting your facts wrong - unless you want everyone to know that you’re not a good journalist.
The problem is, however, that the journalists who would be willing to open their process up to the world are least likely to be the ones to abuse their position. The people who quote out of context are not going to be in a rush to show their readers what they’re doing.
Equally some interviews or pieces of research material could not be shared, perhaps because they identify an anonymous source or undermine an ongoing investigation.
The idea that journalists may share their research and process where they can is appealing, however, and it’s one I’m sure we’ll see many newspapers making a policy of soon. At the very least it gives readers more confidence in what they are reading and could even encourage journalists to learn from each other in what they do.
Hopefully my contribution to this idea in the latest Business & Finance will not be my last - while it adds a little bit to the workload I think it is more than worth it.
How not to deal with a bad review
June 10th, 2009PR companies naturally crave good reviews for their clients’ products and are bound to be disappointed when that doesn’t happen.
Different companies seem to have different ways of dealing with bad reviews. Some just take it on the chin, some go cold with the journalist for a while and others simply assume the journalist doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Today I got into an e-mail conversation with the director of PR company who expressed her “surprise” at the bad review* I gave to a client’s product recently. Apparently I was the only one to do so and she felt in future it would be best if someone was sent out with the review units to ensure I was “getting the best” from the devices. She concluded the e-mail by saying “Maybe you weren’t aware of the key features [of the device]?”.
The basic suggestion here was that I didn’t ‘get it’ and that there was no problem with the product, just with me. The fact that allegedly no-one else gave the device a bad review cemented this idea for her, as clearly I was the odd one out for giving an “unnecessary bad review”.
I took issue with her suggestion that my bad review was a result of ignorance and the back-tracking reply was that sending someone out was now the client’s general policy for all journalists, not just me.
It is very rare that a good product truly needs a one-to-one tutorial to make it understandable to the user; in most cases it just means it’s unintuitive junk. It also affords the reviewer something that the average consumer would not have and so risks removing any fair representation of a device a review would have.
For those two reasons alone I won’t be accepting any review units that come with an assistant to “help” me use the device. I also won’t put up with any attempt by PR companies to patronise me into giving good reviews.
* The truth is it wasn’t even a bad review - it was a sub-par review.
“TV3″ Sports on the horizon?
June 9th, 2009An interesting line in The Irish Times’ grim report of Setanta Sport’s financial troubles suggests that Doughty Hanson, owner of TV3 and 3e in Ireland, could make a bid for the sports broadcaster in the coming days.
Setanta has found itself facing administration after years of rapid expansion and Doughty Hanson is seen as a potential bidder should the company - or parts of it - come on the market. Doughty Hanson already owns 20% of Setanta and has pumped significant money into the station in return.
Should Doughty take control of Setanta it would also gain an 80% holding of Setanta Sports Ireland, which The Irish Times claims is making a modest profit. If so-called synergies were found between Setanta and Doughty’s TV3 this profit margin could grow higher (although it’s unlikely that re-naming the station under the TV3 brand would be part of that).
To make things even more interesting the consortium run by TV3, Setanta and Eircom now hold the Irish DTT licence, opening the door-way for even greater co-operation should Doughty buy up the struggling sports broadcaster.
That fact in itself could create competition concerns but the ones most likely to be truly worried are in RTÉ, who would see the hand of their main rival grow all the stronger in a short space of time.
On RTÉ One after 12pm
May 25th, 2009I’ll be on RTÉ’s Campaign Daily this afternoon to talk about local and European election candidates using the internet as part of their campaigns.
If I’m not mistaken, I’ll be there with Damien Mulley.
You can catch it live on the website, on your TV (assuming you’re in Ireland) or on the RTÉ Player later on.
Dear RTÉ
March 25th, 2009To whom it may concern,
I am writing to express my sadness at the apology made by RTÉ News (Nine News, 24th March 2009) for their coverage of the ‘Brian Cowen nude paintings’ story. I also wish to express my anger at the censorship and revisionism undertaken by the broadcaster in the removal of the news piece from RTÉ.ie.
The story in question might be considered trivial however it did have uniqueness and a national relevance to make it news-worthy. In its reporting RTÉ was entirely accurate and was therefore within its right and remit to cover the incident.
RTÉ has apologised for the offence caused to An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, his family and his office however it was not the broadcaster’s place to do so - any offence caused was due to the actions of the artist and not those who spoke about his or her work.
It is unsettling to think that RTÉ sees it fit to apologise for the actions of others.
RTÉ is now failing its vision to ‘grow the trust of the people of Ireland as it informs’ (PDF file) and has also undermined its value of operating ‘in the public interest, providing News and Current Affairs that is fair and impartial, accurate and challenging’.
As a journalist I understand the importance of RTÉ in leading quality journalism in Ireland while as a journalism lecturer I am acutely aware of its importance in setting a benchmark for students and graduates.
Whatever damage RTÉ may have done in broadcasting this story it has done far more to the journalism industry by bowing to political pressure so quickly and completely.
To think that RTÉ sees it fit to apologise for doing its job does not inspire hope in the broadcaster at a time when we need it most.
Yours sincerely,
Adam Maguire
This is the first formal complaint I’ve ever written but I think it is necessary. Perhaps it will do nothing but it is possible that the more people voice their concern now, the less likely RTÉ are to give in to unwarranted pressure in the future.
Sleeping with the enemy: INM looking to old foes for help?
March 10th, 2009With Tony O’Reilly’s Independent News & Media facing financial difficulty, it seems as if the company is seeking out every avenue to turn things around - even if that means teaming up with its most bitter rival.
Roy Greenslade had an interesting, and arguable even bizarre, story recently from the Wall Street Journal about Independent News & Media.
According to the piece, O’Reilly had approached Rupert Murdoch / NewsCorp last year to ask for investment in his media company. Murdoch turned him down and the extent of the financial troubles facing IN&M has become apparent publicly since then.
If the claim is true - and bear in mind the Wall Street Journal is now in Murdoch’s stable so it may not be - it is not a good sign for the company’s stability. If it is in such a bad state financially that it turned to its biggest rival for help, giving Murdoch an ego-boost and market advantage in the process, things must be very grim.
Of course that story may be completely false - what is in no doubt is the existence of talks between INM, The Irish Times and Associated Newspapers about a merger of their respective Dublin freesheets; Herald AM and Metro Ireland.
Assuming this happens - and talks are said to be at an advanced stage - it will be the first time INM and The Irish Times has co-operated at any stage in the history of Irish print media. As Markham points out, there will be serious staffing connotations for workers at both newspapers but from a larger industry point of view it also indicates that INM can no longer afford to maintain vanity projects or loss-leaders in Ireland.
The Sunday Independent may dress it up whatever way it likes but The Irish Times isn’t the only newspaper suffering as a result of reckless spending.
New Irish journalism award
March 10th, 2009As pointed out by Adrian on Twitter, there’s a new journalism award on the scene in Ireland.
There are 14 categories in total, 13 of which have ‘Journalism’ in the title and the other being a Lifetime Achievement Award for journalism, which begs the question - why are they called The National Media Awards and not the National Journalism Awards?
Anyway, the deadline for entries is Friday 24th April and the event itself is due to take place in The Shelbourne Hotel on 24th June.
One thing potential candidates should note - you have to be a paid-up NUJ member if you want to participate. Also, as Adrian points out above, there’s currently no prize listed so winning may not be a way to ride out the recession either.
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