Some of us like our coffee and some of us take it as a preventative measure.

Adam@Home

I don't how many times non-journalism students in my classes complained that using the rules of writing for journalists is unfair and not necessary for them.

My basic response is that writing is meant to communicate. And one cannot communicate well unless one is concise and precise.

To me "concise and precise" means stripping away the passive voice structure, eliminated adverbs and writing in short declarative sentences. This has nothing to do with only journalism but has everything to do with good writing. 

And now the U.S. government -- that bastion of the run-on sentence, the passive voice and the obscure wording -- has decided to join the ranks of the good writing crowd thanks to the new Plain Writing Act.

Say what you mean: Government pushing plain English For example: Read more »

The Census Bureau just released the population center of the country. It is near Plato, Missouri.

That really doesn't mean a lot but the interactive map (also below) the Bureau put up on their website does help to show how the population shift in the USA is moving south and west.

Always loved this movie.

Click here to see a YouTube clip of "How to run a newspaper."

And I trust that by now everyone knows that the reason we never see the faces of newsreel reporters tracking down Rosebud is because journalists are always supposed to be in the background. Faceless.

In the Apr. 20 LEDE column on the New York Times website, Robert Mackey discussed the coverage of the Arab uprising.

Latest Updates on the Uprisings in Libya and Syria

About half way down, Mackey takes on  videos by citizern journalists posted at YouTube and simialr sites from the fighting.

He talks about the motivation behind the postings: Read more »