It's distressing and shocking to realize that some people are more willing to spread conspiracy theory shit than it they…
Students who put a lot of effort into learning the editing guidelines in the AP Stylebook might benefit from the…
Americans can fairly and legitimately differ on important values. Freedom or security? Peace or justice? Which short-term sacrifices are worth…
AP Style follows the standard English practice of capitalizing proper nouns. They stayed with Uncle John at Gracious Living Inn on the shore of Grenada…
A Facebook meme that claims "3 of these 4 honorable men were killed by 'protesters'" is false. I don't mean…
This morning a journalism student told me a friend in a different class was complaining that "the media" was stigmatizing…
I can sympathize with the sentiment, but the top part of this meme (the white text on black background) is…
Confirm what your sources tell you. Fact-checking makes the difference between ethical journalism (which sometimes upsets the powerful) and propaganda…
I have nothing against essays, but not every writing task requires an essay. I tell my students they will be…
Updated an older instructional handout with a bunch of new examples and some fancy red/green color coding. To write a…
Journalists prefer the neutral "said" to attribute a source's statements, opinions, and emotions. Using "claimed" generates doubt. Using "explained" confers…
Sometimes when I find myself putting more than a usual amount of creativity into a comment on a student paper,…
Jerz > Writing > Journalism Using the inverted pyramid structure is one of the major differences between a news story and a personal essay.
New instructional web page -- Verify or Duck! Confirm all details you didn't witness. #fridaynight #partylikeaprofessor.
“Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” I first heard that quote from a newsroom mentor. It’s now one of…
The point of “the Rosenthal Rule” is not to penalize any one political viewpoint; rather, the cub reporter who wanted…