Sometimes, it seems that the world of journalism is evolving faster than those of us already in the field can keep up with. Just when we think we’re on top of the latest advancements, trends, or even the newest entries in the AP Stylebook, bam, we’re back at square one. Unfortunately, the learning curve has a tendency to be on the high end, especially for those with years of experience. (I don’t want to turn this into an “old-dogs-doing-new-tricks” statement, but hey, it’s the truth.)
But when we look at the younger generation of journalists that include cub reporters and editors like me, you’ll often find that they’re not only more flexible and skilled, but just tend to figure things out faster than their veteran counterparts. We don’t know everything (even though we think so), but because we grew up tech-saavy there are a few tricks that I suppose we can offer our elders. So here are the skills any journalist should have in his or her tool kit in this digital age. First…
Skills needed specifically related to technology and new advancements:
1) Fact-checking gone wild. In the “old days,” a copy editor had to look everything up by hand, or through phone calls that could take time, especially with no answer. But today, the Internet can make everything both faster and more complicated. The Web is a huge place, and it can be easy to get lost in, well…the tangled web. (It’s late, leave me alone.) Ask yourself where to look for the information you need from its most official website. It’s often a lot simpler to go directly to the source (like rowanathletics.com for a Rowan soccer score) instead of wasting time digging through Google results.
2) Know the Web. There are a lot of crazy people out there, and the same holds true when we’re online. When coming across an Internet source, scope it out thoroughly before you trust it. Is the site run by people in your story or their official reps? If not, what credentials do they have? Does the information match up with what you can find on other sites? Always crosscheck if you can; search engines make this a quick job.
3) On social media: Just. Because. Someone. Tweeted. It. Doesn’t. Make. It. True. Ditto for Facebook, Tumblr, or even a blog on the person’s website (like an actress or a musician). You have no idea if the person is actually who they claim to be. (That little checkmark on Twitter means nothing.) It could be a rep tweeting things that aren’t true. The source could even be fabricating information. Look at the guy from the Washington Post that got fired for starting a false rumor on Twitter. In short, just don’t trust it. Stick to email – the old-fashioned way – or other sources.
But what about the skills we had already before the tech world took over the “real world”? Those reliable editing tricks are still necessary today.
Traditional copy editing skills:
1) Use the damn dictionary. And I mean the real, tangible one. My 70-plus freshman English professor at CCC told us that verbatim on our first day, along with this other truth: “The spell check lies to you. That squiggly line knows nothing.” Don’t trust a computer to do the things you should know how to do already.
2) Think critically. Sure, the journalistic writing found online is often a lot shorter than what we’d see in print, but that doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to ignore the details. Information gaps and holes in the story should always be filled. In order to be thorough, you need to know how to read between the lines and ask questions.
3) Learn your roots. Always know what resources are available to you in the newsroom and how to use them, even the traditional tools like the phone book, reverse lookup, and how to obtain public records in person. Let’s face it, the ‘net goes down sometimes. Computers crash. Your story gets eaten 15 minutes before deadline and is unrecoverable. It’s like being in Scouts: Be prepared. You never know when you’re going to need to do things by hand.
Oh, lastly...
Sleep when you can, if only to keep your eyeballs in their sockets. This copy editor has been at it for way too many hours today.
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