[Journalists] Journalists Digest, Vol 45, Issue 3
Kevin Burton
yskev at yahoo.com
Thu Feb 25 13:53:44 UTC 2010
Liz,
Thanks for the welcome! I am now the recruiter for Envision, which is the Midwest's largest employer of people who are legally blind (www.envisionus.com).
Most of my writing these days comes in my role as president of the Wichita Beep Baseball Association and coach of the Wichita Sonics beep baseball team. We have a website and I write most of the stories (www.wichitasonics.com). I've done all the press releases so far.
It's great to hear you have such a high-profile job at such a large paper. Surviving the cuts is not easy these days. Whole papers are going down! I did some government reporting at four of my jobs, but the largest paper I ever worked for was the Muscatine (Iowa) Journal.
I am willing to help blind journalists any way I can. It's enjoyable to read the messages on this list. Very good to hear from you.
Kevin
i can help
--- On Wed, 2/24/10, journalists-request at nfbnet.org <journalists-request at nfbnet.org> wrote:
From: journalists-request at nfbnet.org <journalists-request at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Journalists Digest, Vol 45, Issue 3
To: journalists at nfbnet.org
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 1:00 PM
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Today's Topics:
1. read the best (Kevin Burton)
2. Re: About writing for school newspapers (Kerri Kosten)
3. Re: About writing for school newspapers (Corbb O'Connor)
4. Re: read the best (Elizabeth Campbell)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:32:43 -0800 (PST)
From: Kevin Burton <yskev at yahoo.com>
To: journalists at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Journalists] read the best
Message-ID: <183183.86267.qm at web52703.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Humberto,
???About the time?I broke into professional journalism I was reading a lot of books and magazines on tape via the talking book program. I found the writers at Newsweek and Sports Illustrated magazines in particular to be very skillful at painting word pictures and?weaving current American popular culture references into their articles when appropriate. they also helped expand my vocabulary.
?? So I advise you to read the best, not to mimic their style but to learn the craft of writing.?
?? Pardon me, got to go to spell check now!
?
Sincerely,
Kevin Burton
former print journalist?
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:32:02 -0500
From: Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com>
To: Blind Professional Journalists List <journalists at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Journalists] About writing for school newspapers
Message-ID:
<e5a820711002231732v1d6ff215p947600025bbca219 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hi:
I am a sportswriter for a website.
I would definitely read, read, read...that has helped me tremendously.
I am a college student...and I know how you feel...I often doubt
myself and compare myself to others and think my writing is not that
great but you've gotta just try your best and work through it.
I would also definitely use spell-check and also when you are finished
with your story, after it is spell-checked, read it over using your
screenreader or a braille display. Often, when you do this, you find
errors you've missed that spell-check didn't catch or sometimes you
come across sentences with words you need to change that may make the
story sound better.
Also, consider yourself one of the equals on the team...work on what
you think your strengths and weaknesses are...don't let blindness
stand in your way or think you have to do things better or worse
because of your blindness!!
Everyone I work with is sighted too...and I am in a bunch of clubs
including RTNDA, and SPJ and a group for women who work in sports
media called AWSM...everyone is sighted.
There are certainly blind journalists out there but it is definitely a
predominantly sighted profession if you know what I mean by that.
Hope this helps!
Kerri
On 2/23/10, Elizabeth Campbell <batescampbell at charter.net> wrote:
> Hello Barbara and other listers,
>
> I workk for a daily newspaper,and we are required to run a spellcheck on our
> stories before we submit them to our editors.
> Even then, spellcheckers don't catch all of the errors, especially on
> unusual names or terms. So, it is always best to "tripple check" as we say.
> I think it's great that we've got a high school student on this list.
> The list caters to people on all levels, from students to professionals.
> Our goal is to share ideas and methods of accomplishing our goals and moving
> forward with our careers.
>
> Liz Campbell
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Barbara Pierce" <bpierce at oberlin.net>
> To: "'Blind Professional Journalists List'" <journalists at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 7:04 AM
> Subject: Re: [Journalists] About writing for school newspapers
>
>
>> You should not presume that the sighted students have strengths that you
>> do
>> not because of blindness. You apologized for your spelling errors, and I
>> suspect that you connect poor spelling with blindness. If you are not a
>> Braille reader, that may be the case, but you can overcome the problem if
>> you decide to work on it. I never send out an email without running my
>> spellchecker on the text. Certainly articles should not be turned in
>> without
>> very careful proofing and checking of the spelling. I feel certain that
>> other members of the newspaper staff struggle with spelling as well, so do
>> not excuse yourself or presume helplessness in dealing with poor spelling
>> because of blindness.
>>
>> I suspect that English is not your first language. Nothing but reading a
>> lot
>> of well-written English will help you with the finer points of grammar and
>> syntax. I hope that you use NEWSLINE. That is your best hope for exposing
>> yourself to the best journalists writing today.
>>
>> Barbara Pierce
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: journalists-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:journalists-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On Behalf Of hmp
>> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 8:03 PM
>> To: journalists at nfbNet.org
>> Subject: [Journalists] About writing for school newspapers
>>
>> Hello to all in this list: I'm sure the majority of you are all
>> journalists. I need some advice for writing stories on my school
>> newspaper.
>> I'm not a professional journalist, though I write for a high
>> school newspaper. I am a staff writer. I write articles for
>> Eisenhower High School which is the name of my school in Yakima,
>> WA, and the name of my school newspaper (kind of small) is the
>> Five Star.
>> I'm not sure if this list is appropriate for non-professional
>> journalists, or for starters, but please apologize me if this is
>> not appropriate for the list, and/or because I'm not a
>> professional journalist I am not suppose to write on this list.
>> Anyways, I need some advice, I'm pretty sure that you all have
>> experiences. I write and when I join my group every day, I am
>> surrounded by sighted people, all my fellow staff writers are
>> sighted. I am actually in a Journalism class in which I join and
>> participate daily. We are very independent, but we have a pretty
>> nice adviser.
>> Anyways, because everybody in my class/Journalism club is sighted
>> except for me, I would like to know something:
>> As a blind journalist, what things do I have to know, such as
>> strengths, or things I should consider doing more or less than my
>> other fellow partners? What things do I have to work on better or
>> less? I understand all of what journalism implies now that I
>> joined the class, such as how to interview, to give a voice to
>> the public, about the freedom of press and etc. All I need is to
>> know these things and if someone can advice me that'll be great.
>> Also, any suggestions will be always very appreciated. Sorry if I
>> have many spelling errors. But thanks.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Journalists mailing list
>> Journalists at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Journalists:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/journalists_nfbnet.org/bbpierce%40pobo
>> x.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Journalists mailing list
>> Journalists at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Journalists:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/journalists_nfbnet.org/batescampbell%40charter.net
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Journalists mailing list
> Journalists at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Journalists:
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>
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:09:10 -0500
From: Corbb O'Connor <corbbo at gmail.com>
To: Blind Professional Journalists List <journalists at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Journalists] About writing for school newspapers
Message-ID: <F3CF79A6-0593-471B-9813-C3A92D57C511 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Hi there,
I'm a senior at The George Washington University in DC, and am
currently interning for NBC News. While I agree with everyone who has
responded to you so far, I'd like to add another idea.
When I served as the Managing Editor for my high school yearbook, the
Editor in Chief and I asked all of our staff writers to cover two
sports teams each season. Editors, because of their extra
responsibilities, only had to cover one sport. I was nervous about
covering a sports team...I mean, as a blind guy, I thought, how can I
describe the most suspenseful moments of a game or match when I can't
see it? Part of my trepidation, too, was that I'm not much of a sports
nut. Far from it, actually, unless it involves the Chicago Cubs.
But I found a solution: I interviewed the teams and covered stories
that were interesting to even the non-sports fans. Sometimes that was
about how the team connects with one another. Another story was about
how the boys gymnastics team, despite competing in individual events,
used their practices to coach and support one another as they learned
new routines. Sure, I had to work in some of the competition stuff,
but to get those details, I interviewed the coaches, players, and
spectators afterwards. I asked them to describe the most suspenseful
moments. From my cane, and later guide dog, they knew I was blind, so
they were happy to help. That reporting, too, made the stories
stronger, because I had the chance to get more connected with my
sources who, in turn, gave me more story ideas.
I encourage you to do the same, and to write me anytime with questions
about high school journalism...or professional journalism for that
matter!
Best of luck,
Corbb O'Connor
On Feb 23, 2010, at 8:32 PM, Kerri Kosten wrote:
Hi:
I am a sportswriter for a website.
I would definitely read, read, read...that has helped me tremendously.
I am a college student...and I know how you feel...I often doubt
myself and compare myself to others and think my writing is not that
great but you've gotta just try your best and work through it.
I would also definitely use spell-check and also when you are finished
with your story, after it is spell-checked, read it over using your
screenreader or a braille display. Often, when you do this, you find
errors you've missed that spell-check didn't catch or sometimes you
come across sentences with words you need to change that may make the
story sound better.
Also, consider yourself one of the equals on the team...work on what
you think your strengths and weaknesses are...don't let blindness
stand in your way or think you have to do things better or worse
because of your blindness!!
Everyone I work with is sighted too...and I am in a bunch of clubs
including RTNDA, and SPJ and a group for women who work in sports
media called AWSM...everyone is sighted.
There are certainly blind journalists out there but it is definitely a
predominantly sighted profession if you know what I mean by that.
Hope this helps!
Kerri
On 2/23/10, Elizabeth Campbell <batescampbell at charter.net> wrote:
> Hello Barbara and other listers,
>
> I workk for a daily newspaper,and we are required to run a
> spellcheck on our
> stories before we submit them to our editors.
> Even then, spellcheckers don't catch all of the errors, especially on
> unusual names or terms. So, it is always best to "tripple check" as
> we say.
> I think it's great that we've got a high school student on this list.
> The list caters to people on all levels, from students to
> professionals.
> Our goal is to share ideas and methods of accomplishing our goals
> and moving
> forward with our careers.
>
> Liz Campbell
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Barbara Pierce" <bpierce at oberlin.net>
> To: "'Blind Professional Journalists List'" <journalists at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 7:04 AM
> Subject: Re: [Journalists] About writing for school newspapers
>
>
>> You should not presume that the sighted students have strengths
>> that you
>> do
>> not because of blindness. You apologized for your spelling errors,
>> and I
>> suspect that you connect poor spelling with blindness. If you are
>> not a
>> Braille reader, that may be the case, but you can overcome the
>> problem if
>> you decide to work on it. I never send out an email without running
>> my
>> spellchecker on the text. Certainly articles should not be turned in
>> without
>> very careful proofing and checking of the spelling. I feel certain
>> that
>> other members of the newspaper staff struggle with spelling as
>> well, so do
>> not excuse yourself or presume helplessness in dealing with poor
>> spelling
>> because of blindness.
>>
>> I suspect that English is not your first language. Nothing but
>> reading a
>> lot
>> of well-written English will help you with the finer points of
>> grammar and
>> syntax. I hope that you use NEWSLINE. That is your best hope for
>> exposing
>> yourself to the best journalists writing today.
>>
>> Barbara Pierce
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: journalists-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:journalists-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On Behalf Of hmp
>> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 8:03 PM
>> To: journalists at nfbNet.org
>> Subject: [Journalists] About writing for school newspapers
>>
>> Hello to all in this list: I'm sure the majority of you are all
>> journalists. I need some advice for writing stories on my school
>> newspaper.
>> I'm not a professional journalist, though I write for a high
>> school newspaper. I am a staff writer. I write articles for
>> Eisenhower High School which is the name of my school in Yakima,
>> WA, and the name of my school newspaper (kind of small) is the
>> Five Star.
>> I'm not sure if this list is appropriate for non-professional
>> journalists, or for starters, but please apologize me if this is
>> not appropriate for the list, and/or because I'm not a
>> professional journalist I am not suppose to write on this list.
>> Anyways, I need some advice, I'm pretty sure that you all have
>> experiences. I write and when I join my group every day, I am
>> surrounded by sighted people, all my fellow staff writers are
>> sighted. I am actually in a Journalism class in which I join and
>> participate daily. We are very independent, but we have a pretty
>> nice adviser.
>> Anyways, because everybody in my class/Journalism club is sighted
>> except for me, I would like to know something:
>> As a blind journalist, what things do I have to know, such as
>> strengths, or things I should consider doing more or less than my
>> other fellow partners? What things do I have to work on better or
>> less? I understand all of what journalism implies now that I
>> joined the class, such as how to interview, to give a voice to
>> the public, about the freedom of press and etc. All I need is to
>> know these things and if someone can advice me that'll be great.
>> Also, any suggestions will be always very appreciated. Sorry if I
>> have many spelling errors. But thanks.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Journalists mailing list
>> Journalists at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Journalists:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/journalists_nfbnet.org/bbpierce%40pobo
>> x.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Journalists mailing list
>> Journalists at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Journalists:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/journalists_nfbnet.org/batescampbell%40charter.net
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Journalists mailing list
> Journalists at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Journalists:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/journalists_nfbnet.org/kerrik2006%40gmail.com
>
_______________________________________________
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To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Journalists:
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------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:07:16 -0600
From: "Elizabeth Campbell" <batescampbell at charter.net>
To: "Blind Professional Journalists List" <journalists at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Journalists] read the best
Message-ID: <B29B2E5D9E1F44E19B92B39D31C86798 at OwnerPC>
Hi Kevin,
You mentioned you are a former print journalist. What are you doing now??
I'm a government afairs reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and I've
survived the rounds of layoffs and other economic woes of our industry thus
far.
Good to have you on the list.
Liz
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Burton" <yskev at yahoo.com>
To: <journalists at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:32 PM
Subject: [Journalists] read the best
Humberto,
About the time I broke into professional journalism I was reading a lot of
books and magazines on tape via the talking book program. I found the
writers at Newsweek and Sports Illustrated magazines in particular to be
very skillful at painting word pictures and weaving current American popular
culture references into their articles when appropriate. they also helped
expand my vocabulary.
So I advise you to read the best, not to mimic their style but to learn the
craft of writing.
Pardon me, got to go to spell check now!
Sincerely,
Kevin Burton
former print journalist
_______________________________________________
Journalists mailing list
Journalists at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/journalists_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Journalists:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/journalists_nfbnet.org/batescampbell%40charter.net
------------------------------
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End of Journalists Digest, Vol 45, Issue 3
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