Learning how to be a sports writer

Is news judgment something that can be taught? I've always wondered about that.

 

if someone wants to teach it, i don't know why not.

 

How do you teach news judgment? Especially since something that doesn't even make one paper can be another's lead story?

 

i guess i have to ask a question to answer a question: how do you teach anyone to drive a day's budget?

i think news value can be taught daily.

 

Perhaps. But IMO, there's an element of instinct to news judgement.

 

by all means, forever, i'm not trying to piss on your stance, but there's also an element of instinct to writing, but you still can help someone hone and polish those skills.

 

LOL. I should be banished to the agate pages after that one. What is it about message boards that make people not only lose civility, but also basic grammar skills?

Lord. God help me.

 

The thing to teach is the recognition and analysis of the value to be attached to something.

Like any talent, this ability is probably instinctive and intrinsic, at least to some extent. But it can also be taught, learned and sharpened, primarily by asking and provoking (and answering) questions. At its root, you teach people to think, to raise their awareness of and to assess ideas and stories, and thus, to determine the appropriate degrees of value to be attached, given a particular situation, or newspaper.

It's akin to the discovery of an ancient artifact. One person might just walk right by it, oblivious, because, to them, it just looks like a rock. Someone else with more knowledge, imagination, intelligence and thoughtfulness about such things, however, would be able to see the item for the treasure it is. Significance would be attached because that person could recognize the artifact in the first place, and then make an accurate assessment of it.