Looks like the White House communications staff missed the copy editing phase today when they posted this photo and caption on Facebook (click on photo to see a larger image):
Not only do the caption and photo not match, but catch the nasty typo:
Photo of the Day: President Barack Obama helps sell out "Ohio" with the Weithman family, Rachel, 9, Josh, 11, and mom Rhonda, in their home in Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 18, 2010.
Here's a great post from Ragan.com on the misuse – with tips on the correct use – of quotation marks.
This form of punctuation is sometimes misunderstood and often overused. Here’s what you should know.
Do you find yourself using air quotes? Be honest. How about in your writing? Are your sentences peppered with single or double quotation marks? Are you sure you’re using them correctly?
Quotation mark abuse is so rampant, it begat a popular website, The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, documenting their often confusing, but always funny, misuses.
Read the post for tips on how you should use quotation marks, but PLEASE take a few minutes to visit The "Blog of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Seriously good stuff!
An interesting post about an interesting panel on an interesting trend: hyperlocal news.
Take a read (and/or a listen) when you have a few minutes.
From The Flack blog:
A panel of five senior news executives and one influential industry reporter share a useful and eye-opening overview of this trend that's sweeping both established media companies and small start-ups. The panelists included:
- Jim Schachter, editor, Digital Initiatives, The New York Times/NYTimes.com
- Brian Farnham, editor-in-chief, AOL Patch
- Meredith McGinn, director of news and content, NBC Local Media New York
- Susan Sullivan, vice president, news, NBC Local Media New York
- Jake Dobkin, publisher/co-founder, Gothamist
- Steve Safran, editor, Lost Remote
Unless our clients insist, you'll never see a press release from Tricom that begins:
"A new report is being released on Tuesday by xxxx Think Tank..."
or
"The xxx Organization announced today that xxx news item xxx..."
After many years of working with reporters, we know how many press releases and media advisories they see in one day. The chances of them reading beyond the first sentence drop significantly when the lead doesn't actually LEAD with the news or interesting information.
We always encourage our clients to start with the news. If you are releasing a report, why should a reporter care? What is the interesting finding? Once we get to that tidbit of news, that becomes the lead of the press release. You can get to who is releasing the information, where and when AFTER you've gotten a reporter interested.
These days, a reporter's time is more valuable than ever. Don't waste the few seconds you'll get to grab their attention.
Spend a few minutes browsing releases on PR Newswire. If you were a reporter, which ones would interest you? And which would go in the trash?
Side note: Want to read up on "lead" vs. "lede"? Here's Safire from 1990 on the topic.