One of the biggest cardinal sins a reporter or writer can commit is to leave unanswered questions in their copy. Most beginner writers commit this sin at least once. They’ll […]
Okay, the election is over and the overall result is known, even if counting continues in close-run seats. Now can we just have a break from vicious political point-scoring? How […]
There are many French words that have slid nicely into everyday English language but a few of them continue to cause the occasional visage rouge when written down. Let’s look […]
I’d be a rich copy editor if I had $1 for every time I’ve seen – or, more importantly, removed – a too-common double-up in news and feature stories. A […]
Although people regularly make fun of the Australian vernacular and snigger at the likes of Kath and Kim, beginner reporters, broadcasters and writers everywhere need to catch themselves before they […]
Following on from yesterday’s mega-posting on getting attribution right, there is one bad habit creeping into reported speech that we should expunge from published news stories. It is particularly noticeable […]
Whether you work in a busy newsroom, a home office or for a magazine or book publisher, how you handle quoted speech is a clear marker of your professionalism. I […]
Here’s a quick tip for a Monday morning. There’s a simple way to remember whether to use practice or practise in a sentence. As n (for the noun) comes before […]
Earlier today (Saturday, August 31, 2013), I caught an excellent BBC World Service radio interview replayed here in Australia on ABC News Radio. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how two […]
How do writers know when their copy is pitched at the right level for their target audience to comprehend? Is the copy so “dense” that its readers will struggle to […]
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