14 THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, September 2009 Writer teaches journalism students how to write Clark’s Critique BY TERRY CLARK, Journalism Professor, University of Central Oklahoma TClark@uco.edu “Watch people. Listen. Write short leads. Find the human side.” How do you teach writing? It’s about as hard as writing itself, because what worked with one group of students may not work the next semester. But I know this… students have to be exposed to good writing and good writers if they’re going to improve. That’s why I asked M. Scott Carter to speak to my feature writing class recently. Carter, one of the top wordsmiths in Oklahoma journalism, recently joined the Journal Record in Oklahoma City, coming from the Norman Transcript and Moore American. What has captured my interest in his writing is his ability to find the human side of almost any issue, and to tell a story that grabs you and makes you read more. So what follows are some excerpts of the advice he gave my students. They lapped it up, mesmerized by his anecdotes and humor. He was there to talk about interviewing, but their questions and his experiences broadened the lessons of the day. Here are some Carter quotes I think all journalists need to be reminded of: “Journalism may be a business, but journalism is about people. You are the historians, the storytellers. “I like people. I like watching people. I like weirdos, not the chamber of commerce. I grew up with the underdog. I may be losing my hair, but I’m charming as hell. “You have to be interested in people, and you can’t interview them from a phone. Unplug the technology. There is no replacement for a good interview, two people sitting face to face. “Interest yourself in the subject. Write what you want to know.” Carter uses a recorder for “99.7%” of his work. “People are used to little silver things all over the place. I think a notebook puts them at unease. That way I get all the quotes right.” Carter said he learned to write short leads from Mark Twain. “Look at ‘Tom Sawcat and “two smelly dogs” live in yer.’ The lead is one Oklahoma City. word: ‘Tom.’ Next paraThe lead on his bio reads: graph: ‘No answer.’ “M. Scott Carter has spent a life“You have to learn time breaking the rules. to write a lead. Avoid “And enjoying it.” English teachers. My CLARK’S CRITIQUE: Lot of goal is to get people to examples in our state press of the plunk down 50 cents kind of writing Carter is talking and read. about, including some ideas you “People will read can steal. Here are a few: your stuff if, (a) you Julie Harding, city editor of slap them up against the the Weatherford News, under “To head to get their attenTweet or not to Tweet” writes: tion, and (b), it’s easy “If you are in business and aren’t to read. tweeting, blogging or posting notic“I can’t write the es on your Facebook fan page for rest of the story without your clients and customers, experts writing the lead first. warn you might be left behind by The lead is the signpost your technology-forward, Internet that says ‘go here.’” savvy competitors.” He illustrated his Marie Price of the Oklahopoints with examples Mustang News gets fans ready ma City Journal Record, under from his writing and for the bedlam football game “Climbing our way out of the red” stories about how he with big play on the front page. Enid News & Eagle tells the story writes: watches people in malls with big photos and excellent packaging. “OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoand on the street. He ma budget leaders find themselves said feature techniques clip and put on their refrigerator doors. like emergency management officials tryshould be used in news writing. That’s better than awards. ing to assess damage while the tornado “Find the human side to the city council “Every issue has a human component,” is still raging, asking not ‘What the heck story. How does it affect me or my readers, he concluded. WAS that?’ but ‘What’s happening?’ and, and write about that. If it’s a boring meetCarter got his start in journalism at more importantly, ‘What do we do now?’” ing, write about people. They’re your best age 13, sweeping floors at The Yale News Maunda Rust of the Lawton Constitusubject. for Homer Ray, who he describes as “my tion writes of people who live with chronic “Approach your story with how it hero.” He made 50 cents an hour, enough pain: affects the people. to buy a cherry limeade, and had his first “As 22-year-old Jim Horinek approach“Print is not dead. Print’s problems are story published when he was 14. He credes the large metal doors at the end of a itself, cutting back on staff and not writing its his father’s storytelling around a camp hallway at Cameron Village, his irritability stories to be read. It’ll be around as long as fire with getting him started. is perceptible through gritted teeth because you want it to. He’s bounced around, attending Northhe knows the elevator is already malfunc“Yes, the big papers are in trouble ern Oklahoma and OSU where he was editioning. because of debt and technology, but not tor of both student newspapers. He worked “‘This always happens’” …. mid-sized and small papers. at the Blackwell Journal-Tribune and the Cathy Spaulding of the Muskogee “Write about things that affect people.” Stillwater NewsPress. Phoenix profiles a local Rosie the Riveter He spoke fondly of the late Lee Bell at He’s also spent time in public relations of WWII: the Stillwater NewsPress. for the Oklahoma State Senate, for speak“Flora Tye couldn’t begin to count all “If you want to be great, let someone ers of the Oklahoma House and the Metthe rivets she riveted during her three years rip your stuff to shreds. ropolitan Library system before returning with Douglas Aircraft during World War “Lee Bell was crotchety, but one hell to journalism. He’s currently working on II. She just knew she was fast. of an editor. I turned something in, and he a master’s degree in professional writing “‘I could shoot them so fast, my partner attacked it with his red pencil. Finally, he at OU. would holler and say, ‘slow down,’ she just wadded it up, threw it in the wastebasHe’s won a lot of awards, and his recalled.” About 1,500 of these WWII vets ket and growled, ‘Go do that again.’” essays and stories have appeared in major die every day folks. What’s your excuse Carter told the students they had to newspapers. He’s a member of SPJ and on for not telling their stories? read to become good writers, and to learn the board of the Oklahoma City Literacy Donny Cofer, managing editor of The to listen. Council. Seminole Producer, under “My Dad the “You never know all the people you He, his wife Karen, four children, one oilman” writes: touch with good stories – the stories they Continued on Page 15 15 THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, September 2009 Newspapers must file Statement of Ownership by Oct. 1 Postal Notes by BILL NEWELL, OPA POSTAL CONSULTANT All periodicals must submit a completed Statement of Ownership (PS Form 3526) to their post office of entry by October 1 of this year. Reminder: Look at your print schedule for the period Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2010, for any period where you will not be publishing an issue so you can include this information in your statement. For publications that print more frequently than weekly, a facsimile or something including the information on the 3526 must be published within the first 10 days of October. For weeklies, it must be published in an issue published in the month of October. For those published less frequently than weekly, it must be published in the first issue published after October 1. Clark’s Critique Continued from Page 14 “It was 1939, and oil was big in these here parts. “A man from Edmond decided to move his family to Seminole to try and claim his part of the black gold business.” Good verbs equal good leads: Helen Barrett in the Alva Review-Courier: “Two agenda items dealing with deannexation from City of Alva boundaries withered under the deafening silence of a lack of a second during the city council meeting Monday night.” HEAD’EM UP AWARDS: First place, Tulsa World on a Sara Plummer story about small school districts’ extracurricular activities: “Will the next tune be taps?” on a story about smaller school districts having a tough time keeping vocal and instrument music. Second place, tie, Guymon Daily Herald: “Mum’s the Word,” on a Katie Martire photo of a woman making mum corsages for homecoming, and Tecumseh’s Countywide and Sun, on a Wayne Trotter story about water rates going up: “Dig Deeper, Shawnee!” Third place, tie, North Central Reporter on county fair time: “Pickles, pie and a parade,” and UCO Vista on a story by Caleb McWilliams, headline by Laura Hoffert: “Edmond Urologist Aims for Congress”. Publish the form in its entirety in your newspaper and send a copy of the newspaper that it appears in to the post office for proof of publication. Write what page number the form appears on page one. It is requested that you send a copy of your statement of ownership to the Oklahoma Press Association and, if you’re a member of the National Newspaper Association, one to them as well. NOTE: OPA offers PS Form 3526 as a PDF document you can fill out. The form is available at www.okpress.com/postalform-3526. Now you can type in the information, print it out and send it the Post Office. FIVE-DAY DELIVERY? The question as to whether the post office will be going to five-day delivery this year is still “iffy,” but it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. Senator Susan Collins, a ranking mem- ber of the sub-committee that oversees USPS appropriations, still remains firm to continue six-day delivery. However, there is still the potential that any senator can make an amendment from the floor that would change this. OPA STAFF DIRECTORY ADMINISTRATION MARK THOMAS, Executive Vice President mthomas@okpress.com • (405) 499-0033 ROBERT WALLAR, Accounting Manager RATE INCREASE Though the CPI is expected to be negative, the USPS may be allowed to file for a rate increase due to special circumstances. Postmaster General Jack Potter is on record saying that a big increase would drive away mailers. This may mean that they will be looking at a small increase, from 3 to 4 percent, with standard mail shoppers being a little less and periodicals a little more. The USPS has until February 2010 before they have to file for any changes in rates. rwallar@okpress.com • (405) 499-0027 STEVE BARRYMORE, Chief Sales Officer sbarrymore@okpress.com • (405) 499-0034 SCOTT WILKERSON, Front Office/Building Mgr. swilkerson@okpress.com • (405) 499-0020 MEMBER SERVICES LISA POTTS, Member Services Director lpotts@okpress.com • (405) 499-0026 ADVERTISING SARAH BARROW, Ad Director sbarrow@okpress.com • (405) 499-0021 CINDY SHEA, Media Manager cshea@okpress.com • (405) 499-0023 Access denied to record containing birth date By MICHAEL MINNIS, OPA ATTORNEY The continuing conflict between privacy concerns and open government heated up this summer when a journalist was denied access to documents containing the birth date of a public employee. After a public employee was placed on administrative leave because of an investigation of certain allegations, a journalist asked the City of Oklahoma City for access to records containing the name and birth date of the public employee. The City denied access citing two statutory exceptions to the Open Records Act. The first exception is for “personal information within the driver records”. 51 O.S. § 24A.5(1)(c); § 24A.8(G)(c)(3). The second exception cited by the city applies where the release of the information would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Id. § 24A.7(A)(2). As Oklahoma State University Associate Professor Joey Senat has noted, the driver’s license exemption does not apply to records of a municipality. In explaining the second claimed exemption, the City contends that releasing the public employee’s birth date would lead to “identity theft” and thus such release would be an “unwarranted invasion” of privacy. Although identify theft may be a possible valid concern, the evidence supporting this conclusion as to a public employee has yet to be proffered. Personal identifying information such as a birth date is available from other public documents such as voter lists, i.e., the information is not “private.” Public access to this type of information is not for the purpose of publishing the birth date, but to differentiate the person under investigation from others with the same or similar names. The personal identifying information is necessary if the public wants to obtain additional information about their public employee. In the case of a public employee, the public need for accurate, complete information should prevail over the potential risk of identify theft. The courts undoubtedly will wrestle with this particular issue in the near future. The city reportedly is seeking an Attorney General’s opinion. 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