Sports Copy Editor - The State

(Outing alert: spaceman is one of Gladys Knight's Pips)

The State was always a well-planned paper. Plenty of newshole and, from what I can tell, some pretty solid writers. My only criticism was first references to the University of South Carolina. I could have sworn I saw too many stories start with USC as a first reference.

But that's picking nits. I never thought Columbia was all that incredible, but it's obviously not hayseed. And some of the Steve Spurrier quotes are priceless.

 

All the folks in Columbia and surrounding areas associate USC with the East Coast school. "University of South Carolina" reads like a speed bump.

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070615/SPORTS0102/70615006/1026/SPORTS

 

I understand that, Leo. But I think using USC as a first reference is lazy, even if people know they're not talking about Southern California.

I used to work at a South Carolina paper with a USC beat writer who is a South Carolina native. And he used South Carolina as a first reference before switching to USC or Gamecocks.

 

Sam, I think you're a little off here. ... If we're talking about readability, why would any SC paper, if they so chose, be harming the reader by referencing South Carolina as USC on first reference, and using University of Southern California on first reference for the "real" USC?

Perhaps Myrtle Beach would be the exception, with the amount of transplants. ... But I don't see the issue here.

I'd compare it to the Toledo paper referencing Toledo as UT on first reference. ... Who are Toledoans (the ones who can read, anyway) going to mistake that for, Texas? Tennessee?

Sorry about the threadjack. ...

 

Joel, it's not harming anyone. That's not the label under which I'm carrying the issue. It's lazy writing and lazy editing. Does it hurt to make proper first reference to a school? Just first reference ... for those who may read it on the Web, for those who don't live in the area but wanted to pick up the paper from a nearby stand or hotel lobby for a day or two?

For those papers around the Pasadena/Los Angeles area, using Southern California as a first reference wouldn't hurt anyone, neither local nor otherwise.

Carry on ... no threadjack intended. If this is the worst thing that can be said about a gig, it should be pretty good.

 

I don't think we ought to edit for the out-of-towners. And I say that having worked in several cities high on the tourist list.

The editing guru Kenn Finkel says don't assume the readers know:

1. Everything

2. Nothing

Now you can argue about that all week, true. I think if someone can't figure out that USC in a South Carolina paper doesn't mean University of Southern California, they probably wouldn't be reading a newspaper in the first place.

 

I'm with Sam on this. At my old paper, we didn't do "UK" on first reference, even though there's only ONE UK as far as anyone there could ever care. At my paper now, we don't use initials on first reference for the in-state schools, not even the one less than three blocks from the office.

 

Are the Los Angeles papers and everyone else being lazy when they write UCLA instead of the University of California, Los Angeles?
I don't think so. It just seems to me that local papers should use local vernacular.
Back to the job, I think the State would be a great paper to work at. They also post sports fronts, here's Sunday's, http://www.thestateonline.com/news/fronts/c1.pdf, woo-hoo pro rassling as the centerpiece.
And actully pretty good feature

 

I'm also not a big fan of the first-reference "USC," but I also don't see The State do it very often.
Not sure why another paper doing it turned into a discussion on this post.

 

Great point.

And speaking on behalf of at least one SoCal paper ... we don't ever let the words "University of Southern California" appear in our paper. It's absolutely pointless. To us, to our readers, to anyone in this area.

I don't see why The State should be any different with their coverage area. If USC is understood commonly, then by all means use it.

 

Apologies for furthering the thread jack, but it was a relevant example.

 

As someone who works in SC (not Southern California) I'm used to seeing USC in all of the state's sports sections from Greenville to Columbia to Myrtle Beach. Now if I'm writing a news story about a USC football player who strangled his girlfriend I would be required to write that a University of South Carolina wide receiver etc. ... but that shows the difference between news and sports styles.