Today's
word on
journalism
Monday, August 23, 2004
"Some newspapers really want you to read
them. There is a corkboard hanging over the urinals
in the Marriott lobby men's room, and front pages
of the four sections of USA Today are
pinned to the cork. Being able to read USA
Today while peeing is the ultimate marriage
of form and function."
--Harry
Shearer, comedian,
1996
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| Opinion
: : Our View |
From the desk of media
guru Ted Pease
TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM
was born in 1996 as a means of persuading my students
at USU to check their email regularly for class assignments.
The WORD is a daily squib about journalism, language and
writing, free expression and constitutional liberties.
The, um, email "service" grew from a few dozen
university student-victims in 1996 to about 1,600 volunteer
subscribers today.
While some of the WORD's current victims are still my
current and former students, most are grown-up volunteers
who should know better: businesspeople, writers and journalists
from Tokyo to Bangor, Maine; PR executives; lawmakers;
NPR anchors; book authors; poets, boatbuilders, wordsmiths
and my mom.
The WORD appears on email weekdays during the academic
year, but is carted off for unvoluntary commitment at
the St. Mumbles Home for the Unremittingly Verbose during
the summer. And, as you can see, the WORD also appears
year-round on The Hard News Cafe, the award-winning student
news website at Utah State University. A book is in the
works -- and has been for eight years, so don't hold your
breath.
If you would like to join the growing numbers of eager
but misguided WORD subscribers (it's free!), simply email
tpease@cc.usu.edu and ask to subscribe. Or if you know
someone who you think would like to be afflicted, send
that email address and watch the fun begin!
WORD in the news:
Magazine
touts USU journalism professor's 'Words of Wisdom'
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