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Word nerd alert! The New York Times announces the 50 Most Frequently Looked-up Words of 2010. Check out Philip Corbett’s observations on 50 Fancy Words…
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Colleen Cotter, a scholar of linguistics, former news reporter and editor, and the author of the forthcoming News Talk: Investigating the Language of Journalism, talks about her expectations for the book and about the importance of initiating a cross-community dialogue. ----- News Talk: Epilogue By Colleen Cotter It is a truism in the news bizz that you have succeeded in writing a “balanced” story if all your sources take issue with and are unhappy with it. I never bought that (nor do others follow the precept).
Read MoreFair, balanced, unbiased, impartial. Journalism, in theory and by definition, hinges on an ideal of neutrality, an expectation of the direct presentation of facts and findings. Yet the process of news-making is a constant ebb and flow of editorialization. From the selection to the construction of a story, editors and journalists invariably serve as a filter – controlling everything we read, see, and hear. Today, Colleen Cotter, a former news reporter and editor and the author of the forthcoming News Talk: Investigating the Language of Journalism, dissects the inner workings of the media to define the processes and practices that go into crafting our understanding of the day’s events. -------- How to be a language savvy news consumer By Colleen Cotter All professions have them: routines of interacting and communicating that become normalized. That become part of the everyday routine of doing business. A pilot’s FAA-mandated cockpit routine revolves around safety talk. A Disneyland employee uses the specified vocabulary of the Magic Kingdom to enhance the visitor experience. A police officer’s question-asking style leads to “just the facts, ma’am” while the therapist’s are more personal. So it goes with news language. News language isn’t about “correctness” as such, although that’s part of the picture. It can also tell you a lot about what goes on behind the scenes in a newsroom, how reporters and editors think about things, and what the news conventions are. To become a language-savvy news consumer, you have to think both small (words and patterns) and big (culture and concept). Here are some suggestions:
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In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, a program designed to provide for the conservation of plants and animals on the endangered species list. The law made it illegal to harm any of the listed species and legislated against the degradation of their habitat. More recently, the government began looking into using the ESA as an avenue of recouping the vast losses caused by the BP oil spill. As they launch a criminal investigation into whether BP was criminally negligent, the ESA is one of the legal means with which they might be able to subvert the current cap on damages. While this may be beneficial in the short term, Craig Collins, author of Toxic Loopholes: Failures and Future Prospects for Environmental Law, looks at loopholes in the ESA itself to argue for a fundamental realignment of our approach towards how we legislate environmental protection. In the age-old battle between the environment and the economy, Collins asks us to reevaluate our priorities. -------- Endangered Species Act: Noah’s Ark or Titanic? By Craig Collins, Ph.D. California State University East Bay, Environmental Law & Policy The Endangered Species Act is the equivalent of a tiny bandage on a gaping wound. When Congress passed the ESA back in 1973, it was responding to intense public pressure to save a growing number of species from extinction. Groups like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the World Wildlife Fund raised public awareness and sympathy by showcasing the plight of a small group of cute or charismatic creatures—like pandas, bald eagles and blue whales—whose survival was threatened by human encroachment. This campaign was so effective that the media still portrays the struggle to preserve biodiversity as an altruistic endeavor pressed upon society by tree-hugger environmentalists trying to rescue wildlife from the brink of extinction.
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My Orientation to The Press and BookExpo America By Frances Bajet, Publicity As I’m completely new to both the Press and BookExpo America (aka BEA), I really had no idea what to expect when I found out on my first day that I would be working at Cambridge’s booth. To be honest, the idea of talking to the media and the general public about Cambridge made me want to hide in the supply closet — I had only started work on Monday and was assigned three days later to help run the booth for a full day.
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By Laura Evans, Marketing and Publicity Once upon a time, I was an archaeologist. That’s right, I, Laura Evans, once dug up the pre-eruption layers of ancient Pompeii, sifted through soil and muck in coastal Connecticut, and removed cow patties from a site in the Alps where once a Roman legion camped. For someone who loves the outdoors, archaeology is a great career. But in actuality, most archaeologists spend the majority of their time measuring, analyzing, researching, and looking for funds.
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Reminder! Monday, May 24, Marci Hamilton LIVE on Twitter from 8:00pm-9:00pm @AbuseStoppers – talking about the Stop Abuse Campaign, Statute of Limitations reform, and Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children…
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“I’m strictly a journalist.” – Martin Gardner Martin Gardner had no formal mathematical training. A newspaper reporter, publicist, freelancer for Esquire, caseworker, magician, skeptic, Navy sailor, and most famously, "Mathematical Games" columnist for Scientific American, Gardner displayed a boundless energy and enthusiasm for intellectual inquiry. A tireless advocate for science, his popular books and articles painstakingly argue against the dangers of pseudoscience in all forms. On Saturday, Gardner passed away at the age of 95 in Norman, OK. TSoTP takes a look back.
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