Professional Feature Writing Bruce Garrison(5)

Podstrony

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.690)BEST SCIENCE ARTICLE SOURCES CHECK LISTOrganizations, such as professional or trade associationsResource books prepared for the news mediaProfessional associations and trade group conventions and exhibitionsProfessional meetingsProfessional journals and newslettersBibliographic indexes and abstractsOnline access bibliographic database servicesBusiness/industry publicationsUniversities and collegesResearch and technical institutesResearch groups and foundationsMuseums and librariesCommercial research organizationsInformation hotlines and WWW sitesKey Sources for ArticlesIn science and technical article writing there is a vast, rich lode of sources to mine.These include: professional and trade associations, professional and trade groups'conventions and exhibitions, regular local and national professional meetings, articles in professional journals and business/industry publications, researchers at local and state universities and colleges, area research and technical institutesPage 430and centers, research groups and foundations, scientists on staffs of museums, and commercial research organizations.Specialized publications can be a good starting point.Familiarize yourself with those in the subject areas that interest you.There are numerous special handbooks, guidebooks, and directories available for reference.Specialists in a field write many specifically for reporters and writers.The International Food Information Council Foundation in Washington, DC, recently prepared a 12page booklet titled How to understand and interpret food and healthrelated scientific studies for writers who cover the food and health industries ("Survey indicates," 1997).Journalists also prepare some of these resources for other journalists.For example, Edward Edelson (1985), science editor of the New York Daily News, wrote The Journalist's Guide to Nuclear Energy for the Atomic Industrial Forum, a collective of organizations involved in peaceful use of nuclear energy.This book and ones like it contain explanations, definitions, diagrams, and other helpful resources for writers.Veteran freelance feature writer Steele (1993, personal communication) uses research to find the human sources he needs.He says he goes wherever the needed information can be found.He uses both experts and principals involved in events about which he is writing: Sometimes on small jobs, it's just the library.Mostly I prefer going to live people who are the principals in the event or the experts in the subject.Library research will give you clues as to who and where these people are, as well as telling you what's already been covered.But writing entirely from what's already been covered isn't journalism; it's more like writing a paper for school.You sometimes have to go through PR people to get to the primary sources, and they can send you literature, but they're not worth much as sources themselves; again, what they tell you is what's already been covered, by them.In writing about science I always follow up references to technical journals, but don't find them very useful except for getting precise numbers and names of things right.They usually cover one narrow research event, and seldom put it in context.Another freelance science and cyberspace writer, Grossman (1998, personal communication), uses computer databases and networks of people for her reporting.She explained:"I use the magazine databases on CompuServe a fair bit.When I'm reviewing products, I also like to look in the vendor forums and see what people are complaining about.For the paranormalPage 431stuff, I use the network of skeptics; for computers, a lot of what I do is asking PR people to come up with appropriate contacts.I rarely read computer magazines, except, once in a while, Byte.Science News was recommended to me as a good source of science coverage, but in fact I'm finding BusinessWeek more useful, and I now have a subscription—it covers technology companies very well.One unfortunate thing is that most editors here won't let me quote from other magazines, which I think is unfair if the magazines have uncovered really useful material.A lot of journalists complain about PR people, but to a freelance they can be enormously helpful: Arranging loan and review equipment, supplying information about their clients, finding someone for you to talk to and making sure that person actually follows through with the interview, and so on.We're pampered far more here than journalists are in the U.S., partly because most of the magazines are so underfinanced.You have to watch it, of course, because obviously PR people are paid to put the best face on the company they can, but nonetheless they can save you a lot of time chasing people.As I have increasingly specialized in reporting about cyberspace, I find PR people and material are less and less useful except in introducing me to people from the many companies inventing Internetrelated technology.Most of the subjects I write about in 1998—junk mail, censorship, privacy issues, social and cultural stuff—are subjects I research directly on the Web or Usenet.Also, the presence on the Web of most technology companies means that UKbased journalists, who typically used to be fed press releases several months after their American colleagues, now have access to the original U.S.launch material—and since all of us read technology headlines on the Web, we all know what the news is.Many American organizations and events are buffered by the public relations specialists or other media liaisons whose job it is to provide writers with access to scientists and technicians who have the expertise needed for your article [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

bezglutenowo.pev.pl