The democratization of the media

May 13, 2010


It’s Sampras vs. Agassi (again)!

March 14, 2010


Joe LaPointe retires from the NYTimes

February 11, 2010


Common Errors: The Aught Decade

February 10, 2010

To my disappointment, and likely to some of yours, too, I saw many of the same errors (especially comma faults and compound adjectives), five factual errors (compared to one in your sports autobiographies), and some very poorly crafted sentences.

Whatever happened to CRAFT every sentence?

Whatever happened to reread, revise, rewrite and proofread (far too many typos)?

The average grade for this assignment dropped from 86 to 75 (thanks, in part, to three assignments that weren’t turned in compared to one).

That’s not good enough.

If you didn’t attach your sports autobiography as instructed, you lost one full grade.

Oh — there was one absolutely superb story. It got an A+/100. I’m keeping it. The story demonstrated critical thinking and taught me something. Thank you.

The common errors:

  • Once again, comma faults.
  • Once again, if you start a sentence with a dependent phrase, the dependent phrase must be followed by a comma.
  • Once again, if you use a non-essential phrase, like this, you must set it off from the rest of the sentence with commas.
  • Once again, compound adjectives, which describe nouns, must be hyphenated. The problem, I believe, is that many of you don’t understand parts of speech and don’t recognize adjectives and nouns. Sad, but true. Examples of compound adjectives: three-consecutive championships; drug-related story; first-ever Super Bowl; last-minute comebacks; all-time leader; single-game scoring; highest-paid player; 11th-seeded GMU; No. 1-seed Connecticut.
  • Misuse of “orphan quotes.” Don’t use them.
  • Overuse of sentence fragments. Don’t overdo it.
  • Wordiness. This results from a lack of rereading and revising your story.
  • Using the wrong word. If you don’t reread, you won’t eliminate wordiness.
  • Don’t write “needless to say.” It’s needless to say.
  • Don’t write “I think.” What you write is what you think.
  • If you don’t know how to punctuate, don’t write compound sentences.
  • Avoid long, run-on sentences. Learn the beauty of the simple declarative sentence: subject-verb-object.
  • Sports are an active pursuit. Good sports writing demands the active voice. Avoid the passive voice.
  • Far too many ambiguous pronouns. A pronoun is a euphemism. Unless the pronoun replaces the immediately preceding noun, it is ambiguous. You gotta know your parts of speech to fix this.
  • When did swimming, an Olympic sport, become a “fringe sport”?
  • If you quote someone, and you didn’t talk to the source yourself, you must credit the source of the quote (i.e., Phelps said to the Associated Press). If you don’t, it’s plagiarism.
  • Words like “netted” and “exploded” are euphemisms.
  • Pronouns stand in — poorly — for other words. Avoid prounouns (see: pronouns). Pronouns weaken your writing.
  • Missing words indicate a lack of proofreading.
  • Don’t start a sentence with a numeral or a year.
  • The phrase “never looked back” is a cliché.
  • A team can take a 3-0 lead in games, NOT an 0-3 lead.
  • Factual errors included confusing the writer Tim Donahue with the referee Tim Donaghy; stating the average Olympic medal performance per athlete is 1-to-2; misspelling Plaxico Burress; misspelling Shaquille O’Neal.


Who’s your columnist/blogger/Tweeter #2

February 2, 2010

Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco has thousands of fans following him on social-networking sites.

Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco has thousands of fans following him on social-networking sites.

Your comment must be posted by 30 minutes before the Tuesday Feb. 9 class. You must include the URL of the column or blog item so that others can read it, too. Let me know if you have any questions.

Pictured above: Joe Russo should find this an interesting week to follow the Tweets of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco at the Super Bowl. And check out the OCNN Network.


Maureen Nasser: 3 things

January 26, 2010

masonpatriotsdecal_largeMaureen Nasser is in her sixth year as Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.

Here’s an interview with Maureen.
Also see this
site for information about covering sports at George Mason.

If you plan to cover a George Mason sports event, you must notify the instructor by e-mail a minimum of 24 hours before the game or event so that I can forward your e-mail to the sports information office.
Your SUBJECT line MUST include Comm371-001/Sports Writing & Reporting, the game or event you want to cover, and the date.

GRADED EXERCISE: In the comments section below, add the three things you learned from Maureen Nasser’s presentation. Deadline is 30 minutes before class on Tuesday Feb. 2. No exceptions!



Who’s your columnist/blogger/Tweeter #1

January 26, 2010

Mike Wise interviews a basketball fan at the Verizon Center.

Mike Wise interviews a basketball fan at the Verizon Center.

Your comment must be posted by 30 minutes before the Tuesday Feb. 2 class. You must include the URL of the column or blog item so that others can read it, too. Let me know if you have any questions.

Pictured above: The Washington Post and WJFK’s Mike Wise with … well, you know with who. The class will visit WJFK on Tuesday March 2. Colin Fitzgerald will be following Wise this semester.


Is social media fad?

January 13, 2010


Not your father’s Sports Illustrated

December 3, 2009

Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5 from The Wonderfactory on Vimeo.