Two items on journalism from yesterday’s "Best of the Web Today", which is published Monday through Friday by the Wall Street Journal, and is indispensable, not least because it is sometimes very funny. The first item:
The Associated Press plans to offer its member newspapers "two different leads for many of its news stories," reports Editor & Publisher, the news industry trade magazine:
*** QUOTE ***
"The concept is simple: On major spot stories--especially when events happen early in the day--we will provide you with two versions to choose between," the AP said in an advisory to members. "One will be the traditional 'straight lead' that leads with the main facts of what took place. The other will be the 'optional,' an alternative approach that attempts to draw in the reader through imagery, narrative devices, perspective or other creative means."
*** END QUOTE ***
The E&P piece concludes with these examples:
*** QUOTE ***
Traditional
MOSUL, Iraq (AP)--A suicide attacker set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners Thursday, splattering blood and body parts over rows of overturned white plastic chairs. The attack, which killed 47 and wounded more than 100, came as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad said they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government.
Optional
MOSUL, Iraq (AP)--Yet again, almost as if scripted, a day of hope for a new, democratic Iraq turned into a day of tears as a bloody insurgent attack undercut a political step forward.
On Thursday, just as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad were telling reporters that they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government, a suicide attacker set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners in the northern city of Mosul.
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That "almost as if scripted" is a wonderful touch--a confirmation that many journalists have their own bad-news script in reporting on Iraq.
And here is the second item, which provides a good example of a typical journalistic mistake:
The Associated Press reports that "the snowy weather has taken a bit of a toll" on Connecticut's two casinos:
*** QUOTE ***
Officials with Foxwoods Resort Casino said that the casino cleared $67 million from its slot machine customers in February while Mohegan Sun cleared $68 million.
The slot revenues at both were down compared with last year.
In February 2004, Mohegan Sun reported slot machine revenues of nearly $69 million while Foxwoods reported revenue of $68.5 million.
*** END QUOTE ***
That means revenues were down 2.2% at Foxwoods and 1.4% at Mohegan in February 2005 as compared with February 2004. But given that February 2005 was 3.4% shorter than February 2004, attributing this to the weather makes no sense.
This reminds me that I just read, but foolishly did not write down the source of, an article in which the writer described round tables being arranged facing the stage. As editor of my college newspaper I had to correct this same mistake in one of our reporter's stories about a banquet. The correction proved for him "a teaching moment," actually.
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