Newspaper PR: Special inserts can have early deadlines

From time to time, I receive questions about effectively sending items to newspapers. (I worked several years as an editor for a northern California newspaper. I also served as volunteer publicist for weekly church listings and a Toastmasters club.)

One recent question concerned special publications like a weekly Arts & Entertainment tabloid, produced by a newspaper publisher and inserted into the regular newspaper. My questioner was concerned because a listing he’d submitted was not published by the newspaper.

CalPoets relocates to Santa Rosa

Here’s a potentially exciting development in the realm of poetry in Sonoma County classrooms: California Poets in the Schools, a statewide literary nonprofit, has relocated to Santa Rosa.​ ​(Source: Press Democrat, Aug. 2, 2018.)

I am most familiar with this organization through the Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest. CalPoets co-sponsors Poetry Out Loud, with the California Arts Council.

(As former newspaper arts editor and volunteer-producer of an Arts Council newsletter, I used to follow and report on Poetry Out Loud in Lake County, California.)

High-school students memorize and recite a famous poem, beginning at the school-wide level. Doing so helps them to “master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life,” according to the Poetry Out Loud website.

Local winners advance to regional/state competition and then to the national finals.

Within Sonoma County, according to the Press Democrat, “CalPoets reaches nearly 30 schools and 4,000 K-12 students, and within the state it reaches about 28,000 youth.

“With the move to Santa Rosa, CalPoets plans to extend its reach, with more poets in schools, more poetry booths at art festivals, and poetry in parks and parking lots.”

Canceled book-contract lawsuit draws attention to editing’s significance

An editor’s markup of a conservative media pundit’s manuscript — now part of a lawsuit’s documents — draws attention to the craft of editing and its role in publishing books.

Online access aided by public library

First weekend in a new apartment in Santa Rosa, Calif., and freelance work as an editor brought me to Sonoma County Library. I often make use of print and digital resources (including books, eBooks, DVDs and audio recordings) but today found me making use of access to the Internet. I’ve long celebrated the role of libraries to bridge the “digital divide” between people who do, and who do not, have reliable access to the Internet, so SCL especially deserves a “shout-out” today as I relied on it in that capacity.

Sonoma County, Calif.: Seeking professional opportunities

I have significant news to share with network contacts. My family is in the process of relocating to Sonoma County, Calif., and today I submitted the “Intent to Return” document that, in this case, communicates that I will not return this fall to Bellview Elementary School.

Steve Buttry, my journalism mentor, dies at 62

Steve Buttry

My condolences to the family of Steve Buttry, who died Feb. 19 of pancreatic cancer at age 62. I met Steve when I worked in the newsroom of a California newspaper; his employer, Digital First Media (DFM), provided management services for the newspaper’s parent company.

Our newsroom was transitioning to a multi-platform publishing strategy that placed an emphasis on “digital first,” and Steve came to our newsroom during a tour of member newspapers to share resources and strategies, and also to bring back with him any challenges we might face at our stage of implementing.

Good PR verifies deadlines and procedures

A few months ago, I volunteered to submit “Religion Briefs” each week for my church to the local newspaper. Doing so made sense, because it compliments my work as professional Web Content Editor — of updating the upcoming Sunday service on the church’s website.

Body Support Systems: Debut blog post

My debut blog post for Body Support Systems, Inc. went live on its website today. The post highlights an appearance by owner/founder Tom Owens at the World Massage Festival this coming week.

Body Support Systems produces the bodyCushion™, an orthopedic positioning system that therapeutic practitioners, including massage therapists, use when treating their clients. I have worked part-time with the company for a little more than one year.

Editing and blogging are activities I enjoy, so I appreciate having this outlet as part of my professional responsibilities. I have a few more posts incubating and look forward to posting them soon.

Professional communication and editing

My part-time work for a local church includes posts to social media, “MailChimp” email campaigns and updates to the church blog. The spirit of connecting people with information and resources infuses my work with the church, and is consistent with my work in the field of library service.

LinkedIn ProFinder locates freelance candidates

Setting aside the hyperbole of the headline (with media coverage by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Dallas Morning News, it simply isn’t true that “nobody” noticed LinkedIn’s entry into the “freelancer-for-hire” marketplace), John Nemo offers an interesting analysis of the new LinkedIn ProFinder.

‘Strega Nona’ and lesson in Integrity

Strega Nona’s magic pot with spaghetti spilling out of it

I work as both web editor for the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and as administrative coordinator for its Religious Explorations program. When I post announcements about R.E. activities to the church’s blog, these two positions’ responsibilities intersect.

During Religious Explorations classes on Sunday, the pre-kindergarten to second grade had a lesson in Integrity through the story of “Strega Nona” acted out and expressed through art. While Strega Nona is away, her assistant uses her magic pot to make spaghetti. But he can’t make it stop and the spaghetti overruns the town. After Strega Nona gets her magic pot to stop, her assistant must make things right by cleaning up the mess he made.

Editors’ filters reshape authors’ worlds

At Huffington Post, Deborah Plummer examines the impact of an editor upon the radically different portrayal of Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, compared to his depiction as “racist-rhetoric ranting, card-carrying member of the Klu Klux Klan” in Lee’s Go Set a Watchman.

RVUUF website goes live

A new website went live this morning for Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship​. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working as its web editor: generating or locating content, editing it for style consistency and populating the site.

RVUUF web editor

Among professional developments this week, I signed a letter of agreement to work as web editor for the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (RVUUF).

Continuing interest in information literacy

Learning to evaluate websites for credibility has been an ongoing subject for concern, revisited this week in response to an assignment for LIBT 210, School Library/Media Center Operations.

I make use of ‘startup resources’ at my library

With Samantha Cole highlighting the “Hidden Startup Resources at Your Local Library,” it seems timely to express my appreciation for the professional resources available through Jackson County Library Services.

TurnItIn identifies 10 ways to rip off others’ work

Detail from an infographic
by TurnItIn.com: The degree
on a scale of 0 to 10
to which types of plagiarism
are considered problematic

In an infographic, TurnItIn identifies and provides examples of 10 types of plagiarism.

“Each type of plagiarism has been given a digital moniker to reflect the significant role that the Internet and social media play in student writing.”

It’s worthwhile viewing for anyone who works with composing or editing of text.

“The Plagiarism Spectrum,” according to TurnItIn, “moves plagiarism beyond the black-and-white definition of ‘literary theft’ to one that captures the nuances of how plagiarism can take form in student writing, with a severity scale based on student intent.”

A full study, which presents results from 879 secondary and higher-education teachers, is also available for download.

No respect for journalists who condone child murder

At Mediaite.com, writer Tommy Christopher calls for a complete retraction and discipline for everyone involved in a CBS This Morning report that excused the murder of Alex Spourdalakis, a 14-year-old child with autism.

“On Friday’s CBS This Morning, reporter Sharyl Attkisson delivered a report that was fatally flawed on several levels, but I hesitate to even mention the reporting itself, because even if everything in the report was 100% above-board and true, it would not support the sick conclusion that permeates it: that Alex Spourdalakis’ mother had no choice but to murder him. This sounds like an exaggeration, surely, but it is not. This was the explicit message of CBS News’ report.”

Christopher offers a lengthy analysis of omissions and distortions in the CBS report. I won’t duplicate his efforts. Suffice to say the choice of footage and commentary suggests a no-win, hopeless situation in which child murder was the only way out.

Paper.li: Auto-curating can’t mimic editor’s touch

At ALA Think Tank, an open Facebook group, a member asked about the pros and cons of using Paper.li, a “custom newspaper” publishing site, to keep abreast of professional news.

I shared my perspective as someone who advocates the continuing importance of the information professional — the journalist and the librarian. (From the Grumpy Cat meme, blog readers can glean an insight into whether I believe Paper.li has earned the name of “newspaper.”)

Autism reporting needs better sources

Shannon Des Roches Rosa, writing at BlogHer.com about autism in the media, urges journalists to “work harder, find better sources, seek out fairer messages, and help the rest of society learn to better accept and understand autistic people.”

As she aptly states,

“Would you want someone patronizing you in front of the entire world, or writing headlines about how awful your life is and how much you suck? Well, autistic people don’t want that either, and neither do autism families -- yet those are the autism stories most frequently in the news.”

This former journalist, diagnosed in adulthood, appreciates Rosa’s stance. When I worked for a California newspaper, I placed personal emphasis upon accurate, respectful portrayals of people with disabilities. I continue to advocate greater representation by people with disabilities in the field of journalism.

What I appreciate most about Rosa’s essay is that she goes beyond merely complaining about bad sources and misinformation in the media. Instead she has curated an impressive list of authoritative, credible sources.

Adult autistics, autistic parents and neurotypical parents of autistic children, autism professionals, autism science, research and pseudoscience debunking; journalists and autism communities are included in her list.

(Aspiring library professional that I am, I salute effective curating. I also advocate greater diversity among library professionals.)

 With their position of power, journalists have a responsibility to portray autistic people accurately. My thanks to Rosa for her efforts toward advancing this aim.