A salute to the troops

There is nothing unique about printing letters to the troops. Local newspapers —  including some of our own — have been printing them for ages. The reason is threefold: The letters are passionate and appealing; they are attractive to advertisers; and it’s just the right thing to do. American service men and women deserve to know we care.

But few news organizations have gone as far as the Sierra Vista Herald. Check this out.

It started with dozens of letters from local high school students, addressed to “Dear Soldiers” or “Dear Hero.” One letter writer even included a CD with Christmas music. Then publisher Phil Vega stumbled on an offering from the Joint Hometown News Service, which I think is a division of the U.S. Army and Air Force. The news service produced short videos of local soldiers, sailors and airmen bidding the folks at home a happy holidays. It’s a free service. All you have to do is sign up and the military will send them to you for your area…

Creating points of entry

Years ago, when I worked for Gannett, the top brass fell in love with what they called “points of entry.” These were the many things that could hook a reader onto the merits of a story. As I remember it, they included photographs, cutlines, headlines and subheads — and those little fact boxes that writers and editors too often neglect to create.

You know what I’m talking out. These are those short boxes, often running in the shoulder of a story that we at the Half Moon Bay Review refer to as “at-a-glance boxes.” They can be a great way to tell readers quickly where the event is, who to call for more information, etc. (The Republican American in Waterbury, Conn., does a great job with points of entry.)

As a reader, I love ‘em; as an editor … I know, they are a pain.

Why is that? Well, I think it may be because we have just crafted this beautiful 15-inch story about the upcoming event, and we are sure that every word is genius. We can’t possibly boil that filet mignon down without making mush of it. Am I right?…

The qualities of great editors

I have no idea where I got it, but the other day I unearthed a dog-eared and stapled clump of Xeroxed commandments from some long-ago journalism seminar. You probably know what I’m talking about. You go to virtually any journalism conference and there are bound to be handouts.

Well, the first page of this little treasure trove is headlined, “The Qualities of Great Editors.” It purports to come from the mind of William Connolly, then senior editor of the New York Time. (He literally wrote the book on Times style). In keeping with tradition, Connolly’s qualities are a list of 10 commandments.

“Editing, not reporting, is the basis of a great paper,” Connolly begins. “You can have a staff of baboon reporters and put out a decent paper if you have good editors. But if you have great reporters and your editors are the baboons, forget it.”

Connolly does not say what will result if your newsroom consists of one chimp on the sports desk, three orangutans on the copy desk and a gorilla in the editor’s office. I assume you could expect a lot of monkey business. Anyway, here is Connolly’s list, abbreviated where I feel like abbreviating…