Paying the price for a really rookie error

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Maybe I been running too much and think I'm suddenly 30 again, but I made a rookie error Friday that made Sunday (and today) into a writing nightmare.

I attended a hearing (about which editors are waiting right now for a story) but left before it was over, naively (hence the rookie error) thinking I could talk with the big kahunas running it later in the day to get the policy implications and outcome. Then I went to the event in which the governor unveiled his budget revisions and I thought I understood what I needed to write and had the information (rookie error two, it seems). But the big kahunas disappeared Friday afternoon leaving a whole in my story the size of Crater Lake. And the budget, Jaysus, I can't even talk about it...

So this morning I'm waiting for the various folks to show up at their offices so I can quiz them, pound out the 500 or so words for each story and get my butt downtown to the courthouse for a trial, the basis for a third story (due Wednesday). It's all pretty standard reporting stress, but I got just a little too comfortable with that press pass hanging around my neck, forgetting that whenever you write, you stick your neck waaaay out there.

What hurts most is I know better - and even teach my students not to do what I did Friday. Another story for the classroom this fall, I suppose.

(Originally posted on From Where I Sit)

OP-ED IDEA OF THE DAY - In Rohnert Park, Calif. a girls rugby match got out of control in melee of parents, referees and eventually police. As we enter Little League summer, an op-ed about local problems in the past, coupled with what sports entities are doing might be very interesting column material.

Here's the link to the story about Rohnert Park:

Rohnert Park brawl

Use a tape recorder, don't take a chance

SACRAMENTO - I have preached to a generation of students - never use a tape recorder because when you need it most it will fail. I have tons of anecdotal evidence to back up my point.

But now, I'm about to use a recorder, digital to be sure, but a recorder.

What changed my mind? Sitting in a room full of journalists who all have recorders of one kind or another whose quotes will be exactly what was said, not a sort-of, 'the gist of it all,' that was the standard for years. No, you go to hear the governor speak and you better have exactly what he said, and not be off by a pronoun. Or think about a hearing where you are there with a gaggle of reporters - all of whom have fancy recorders and are getting every word. Of course part of my lecture about not using recorders is so obvious when I attend big events - these folks take only the most sketchy notes and have to listen to the entire meeting, speech or press conference again to write their stories.

But that is another story.

OP-ED for the day - How about that Mayor of Spokane, Washington? A straight, anti-gay Republican turns out to be, well, gay. So, where does this work into an op-ed? Lots of possibilities, many of which deal with public officials and their secrets. How about an op-ed about the lack of privacy our public officials have now? How about adding in the new chips that people are implanting in animals? Or the chips that are going into cell phones so people can see where you are all the time? Check the Federal Trade Commission and see what it thinks about privacy regulations on new technologies. HINT: Not much.

Check your sources, editors are watching

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Make sure your sources are correct - and will back up what you print. The Ethics Police are waiting in media grass to pull you over for any infractions.

In my personal blog, I wrote this morning about a columnist at the Sacramento Bee newspaper who was sacked for allegedly making up some people she featured in her column. Did she do it? Doesn't matter.

But what does matter, writers, is that you make sure your sources are locked down tight because if you write for the print media, people (editors) care about this kind of thing. If you are involved in broadcast, the rules are a little looser.

I keep several notebooks with sources lists and dates of contact and all the stuff most of you do, too. But I also keep my notes from interviews for a long time - sometimes years - because I don't want any crap to rain down on me for some petty detail someone takes issue with.

And, as much as I hate the damn things, I think I'm going to start taperecording my interviews.

OP-ED IDEA FOR TODAY - The United Airlines pension scandal is hitting all the front pages, but there a literally thousands of small pension funds that might be in trouble, more due to fiscal mismanagement than anything else. Find a person whose retirement income might be threatened (make sure they exist, please!) and use them as the lead-in to talking about the larger problem of their pension fund. This will require some backgrounding on defined benefit plans and how they work. But after all, you're going to retire someday aren't you?

For the blog about the Sacramento Bee columnist, see:

Michael's Blog

The ads are up and the money is, well?

The program is called ADSENSE, a part of Google and after six months of blogging, I've decided to dip my toe in that water. It's simple to do, just go to

Google Ad Sense

where you get walked through the process.

How much money do you make? Probably pretty pathetic, but you can start talking to your writing buddies about 'revenue streams, page impressions versus click-thrus' and all kinds of nonsensical crap that has very little to do with writing.

Here's a site I discovered that has almost up-to-date information about other web money-making outfits (through having ads where you have your writing).

Make Some Money

I haven't explored it fully, but if anyone suddenly starts getting checks from these other sources, PLEASE email me and I'll post it.

TODAY'S OP-ED IDEA - In San Francisco, a law prohibiting 'prejudicial language' has been passed. Jaysus. They say it will not interfere with anyone's first amendment rights. Well, we know that's not true. But as an OP-ED, it has great possibilities. It can be tied in to the speech codes universities have instituted (and generally regretted after the lawsuits were filed.

Here's the story:

SF Gate story

The brave new world of 500-word stories

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - When I was in college (the first time) we had to write in those horrid Blue Books, which a few of my more Neandertal teaching colleagues still use to torture students.

But the trick we learned at Villanova was to write as fast as we could - volume mattered, not a well-crafted essay.

For writers today, forget that crap. Magazines and newspapers (and especially web publications) DEMAND precision and short pieces. And as any good writer will tell you, it's a lot harder to write a short piece than a long one.

For one of my jobs, I have to condense a very complicated legal situation into a 400-word story right now. Most of the newspapers who wrote about it, did so in a minimum of 1,000 words, and they didn't touch some of the points I'm going to have to.

Lean and mean? Lean anyway.

OP-ED TIP OF THE DAY - The Associated Press carried a story yesterday about a couple who were cited by the police for letting their chicken cross the road. If that doesn't strike a chord, thing of any law you have that seems overly restrictive (no honking when you see the signs 'Honk for Jesus,' for example) and take a riff on it. Newspaper op-ed editors find such columns (500-600 words, MAX) irresistible.