It’s time once again for “Coffee Talk with the Pathfinder Critic” …
THE GOOD
Lots of scrumptious news in this issue, led by Kelly-Rae’s look at the new crew running the campus coffee booth and including several staff-generated reports on everything from pets languishing in hot cars and your chances of contracting swine flu this winter. Excellent work. That’s any newspaper’s primary obligation to its readership: keeping them informed.
On the opinion page, Jed told us tales of clumsy husbands and their adrenaline-stoked wives, Kelly-Rae scribed about dealing with early-semester blahs and Kasi gave us all pause to wonder what life was like before cell phones and PDAs. And let us not forget Sam Maynes’ latest “Doodling in Class” gem.
Oustanding content in A&E provided by Kaylee (a very readable movie review of “City Island”), Jeremiah (his insightful music review of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Mojo” [He's spot on about the groovy Mike Campbell guitar solos, BTW]) and Alex (another savory restaurant review, this one of Clarkston's funkiest eatery, the Burger Stop).
"Student Spotlight," featuring campus thespian Zach Brink, and the return of “Word on the Street” made at least one loyal reader’s week.
Another extensive look at what’s going on in the world of Warrior sports, capped by Jed’s best “Sports Shorts” column this semester.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD
In a couple places on the otherwise commendable cover, the dark type got sucked into the black-and-white photo. We need to find ways to make those teasers stand out better (i.e. shadowing, type font choice, white outlines, etc.), especially when it's in black and white. With any luck, we'll be printing in color before too long and it won't be as much of an issue. ;-)
The story about not leaving pets in cars was wordy. Remember: It’s best to say it succinctly.
Not sure what the genesis was for the brief on Patricia Coons’ death (Did someone on staff know her or her son?), but it was a tad bit dated and needed more details. Could’ve been a compelling story with a just little bit of leg work and rewriting. Here’s how we might have written it at the Tribune.
The movie review needed some explanation that “City Island” was a limited release film that is no longer in theaters but is available to buy or rent on DVD.
The news release on the Center for the Arts & History reopening needed some serious editing, particularly with its time elements. Remember: Any event that’s to take place within six days of publication should refer to the day of the week and not the date. Likewise, any event that occurred six days previous is also referred to as the day, not the date.
“Student Spotlight” could have been a little, shall we say, meatier, both in terms of the number of questions and the questions themselves. You can cram in all the person’s titles, major and upbringing into the intro paragraph and save the Q&A for more riveting topics, such as: How did you first get interested in acting? Who is your favorite actor and why? What are your ultimate goals as a thespian? Just something for future reference.
As I’ve noted before, the type can be hard to read when it sits under a gray screen, and this was indeed the case with "Student Spotlight." Here are the style rules we abide by at the Trib: Type size should be no less than 10 points with 10.5-point leading, preferably in a san-serif font, with the gray screen being no greater than 15 percent.
Anytime you’ve got a list of more than three items in a sentence, as in the swine flu story, try using bullets, like so:
- Wash your hands regularly with soap or sanitizer.
- Get your flu vaccine annually.
- Limit exposure by encouraging staff and students to stay home when sick.
The question asked in “Word on the Street” was kind of a loaded one — “What prevents you from attending campus events?” You’re assuming from the get-go that the person being interviewed doesn’t attend events. I suspect that’s why you only got three responses this time out. Let’s work a little harder to come up with more alluring questions, just to try to get more names and faces (and potentially hilarious answers; see video below) in the paper.
The news release on Warrior AD Gary Picone being named a supreme being by the NAIA kinda slipped into the paper unedited, I’m a’feared.
THINGS TO WORK ON
Wrong Right
temperatures in the low 80’s temperatures in the low 80s
Measures Melt “Measures Melt”
over 30 years more than 30 years
Associates Degree in Nursing associate degree in nursing
Registered Nurse registered nurse
It lead me to think It led me to think
Mojo “Mojo”
Gainesville, Florida Gainesville, Fla.
the band back to their roots the band back to its roots
first sixteen minutes first 16 minutes
BBQs barbecues
Rock n’ Roll rock ’n’ roll
Swine Flu swine flu
1-4 p.m. from 1 to 4 p.m.
Helena, MT Helena, Mont.
theatre theater (unless it's part of a proper name)
No comments:
Post a Comment