Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
Author's Note xi
1 Language: Pompous, Pedantic and Plain 1
2 News Writing: Information Is Not Enough 7
Wasted Words, Wasted Space 9
The Anemia of Abstractions 11
People Power 12
Hold the Adjectives 15
Qualifiers: Hedge If You Must 17
Put Verbs to Work 19
Be Short, Familiar, Specific 20
Corral Those Modifiers 21
Who's Who? 22
The Elegant Variation 22
Avoid Palling Passives 23
Mismanaged Background 24
3 Leads: The Agony of Square One 27
Don't Bury the News 28
Too Much, Too Little 29
Try Writing "Visually" 31
What's the Difference? 32
Action Speaks Louder 33
Pitfalls of Attribution 34
Horse First, Then Cart 36
Second-Cycle Woes 37
Watch the Bouncing Ball 39
Legalistic Leads 40
The Time Element 41
4 The Case for the Period 43
A Few Last Words/Conclusion(?) 49
5 Journalese 51
6 Tone: The Inner Music of Words 57
Avoid Sudden Shifts 58
We Are Not Amused 59
Beware the Personal Touch 61
Don't Be Absurd 61
Dealing with Motive 63
No Hints, Please 64
Watch It, Kiddo 65
Euphemism: Use and Misuse 65
Simplicity Will Do 67
7 Pitfalls: Attributive Verbs and Loaded Words 69
Said Usually Says It Best 69
Some Widely Misused Attributives 70
Beware Loaded Words 72
8 Quotes: Your Words or Mine? 75
When to Quote? 76
The Uses of Quotes 78
Pertinence May Decide 79
Help Wanted (Sometimes) 81
The Said of Trap 81
Haphazard Attribution 82
Fragmentary Quotes 83
Watch the Context 83
Overextended Attribution 85
A Band-Aid May Help 86
Expletive Deleted 87
Paraphrase to the Rescue 88
9 Color: Dip Your Brush in Small Details 91
Small, Specific Details 92
Pseudo-Color Won't Work 94
Don't Overdo It 95
When Color Works 96
10 Pseudo-Color: Clichés and Other Trespasses 99
Clichés at Arm's Length 100
Sports Page Pariahs 101
The Overreachers 103
Metaphors: Mixed and Protracted 104
The Personification Peril 105
Other Poisonous Mixtures 106
Words to Swear At 107
Doubleheaders 108
11 Features: A View from the Poets' Corner 111
First, the Beginning 112
The Interest Is Human 115
No Precooked Dinners 117
Chronological Approach 118
Where Solemnity Palls 122
Poetic License Forbidden 123
Artists at Work 123
12 Usage: Handling Those Hectoring Hangups 135
Split 'n' Polish 135
Genderly Speaking 136
Substitutions: Terminal and Incipient 137
It's All Relative 138
Legalism 138
Subjunctivitis 139
Dash It All 140
Lay On, MacDuff 141
Et Cetera 142
Numbers Game 142
That's That 144
What's in It for Me? 145
13 Bestiary: A Compendium for the Careful and the Crotchety 149
News Writing for the Digital Age-An Introduction
14 The New Media: Writing for the Web 163
Headlines 164
Structuring Stories 166
Linking 167
Social Sharing as a Journalist 167
15 Writing Beyond Reading-Broadcast Journalism 171
Writing for the Ear 172
The Core Elements 172
Writing a Broadcast Lead 173
Sourcing and Attributing 175
Sight or Cite? 175
Remember Your Basics 176
