August 5, 2020 Iowa Newspaper Association Volume 37 Issue 30 www.INAnews.com What helped Ed Yong write CALENDAR of EVENTS the sentence of the year? WEBINARS Make that the semicolon! It’s a maligned mark in the journalism world but Speaking Geek: Reporting Trends it enabled the Atlantic reporter to build a breathtaking 212-word sentence. Thursday, August 13 ROY PETER CLARK, POYNTER attention: Best Practices for Public Notice No one should be shocked that a liar who has made Friday, August 14 urely the most maligned mark of almost 20,000 false or misleading claims during his punctuation among journalists is the presidency would lie about whether the U.S. had MEETINGS semicolon. They fear it, avoid it, doubt the pandemic under control; that a racist who gave birth to birtherism would do little to stop a virus INA, INF & INA Services Stheir ability to use it correctly. It seems Board Meeting that was disproportionately killing Black people; Thursday, October 22 stodgy, archaic and academic, traits they are that a xenophobe who presided over the creation determined to avoid. Instead they use the dash of new immigrant-detention centers would order — promiscuously. meatpacking plants with a substantial But the semicolon has its fans. I am immigrant workforce to remain open; that one of them. I devote a chapter to it in my a cruel man devoid of empathy would fail book “The Glamour of Grammar,” where I to calm fearful citizens; that a narcissist offer the metaphor of the “swinging gate”: who cannot stand to be upstaged would “That’s how I see the semicolon in my own refuse to tap the deep well of experts at his writing, as a gate that stands between two disposal; that a scion of nepotism would thoughts, a barrier that forces separation but hand control of a shadow coronavirus task invites you to pass through to the other side.” force to his unqualified son-in-law; that an (I thought a chapter on the semicolon armchair polymath would claim to have a was ambitious until I ran into Cecelia ‘natural ability’ at medicine and display it Watson’s book “Semicolon: The Past, by wondering out loud about the curative Present, and Future of a Misunderstood potential of injecting disinfectant; that Mark.”) an egotist incapable of admitting failure To appreciate the semicolon, we need would try to distract from his greatest one by to see it in action. This morning my Poynter blaming China, defunding the WHO, and colleague Tom Jones called attention to the promoting miracle drugs; or that a president work of one journalist covering the story of who has been shielded by his party from any shred the coronavirus who has “stood out above all.” of accountability would say, when asked about the He writes: “The Atlantic’s Ed Yong has been a rock star lack of testing, “I don’t take any responsibility at all.” — an absolute must-read throughout this pandemic. Jones describes this as a paragraph, which it is; And his latest story for The Atlantic is nothing short but, more remarkable, it’s a sentence, a single sentence of elite. His richly-reported analysis — “How the of 212 words. No journalism text I know of will Pandemic Defeated America” — elicits every negative recommend such a length. But Yong makes it work emotion, from sadness to frustration to helplessness with a little help from his language friends. They are: to outright seeing-red anger.” placement of subject and verb; the word “that” used Jones highlights one paragraph for our close SEMICOLON - cont. on page 2 The Iowa Newspaper Association’s mission is to advocate the continued importance of thriving newspaper enterprises in Iowa dedicated to the First Amendment and to provide guidance to members and direction to the association’s two related boards. SEMICOLON - cont. from page 1 as a conjunction; and, of course, the semicolon. Not just one semicolon, CONTACT US mind you, but eight. In one sentence. I have written a book titled “How to Write Short,” but in another book, “Writing Tools,” I offer appreciation for the well-organized long sentence. One of the secrets to crafting such a sentence is to make sure that the subject and verb of the main clause come early. If meaning is created Phone 515-244-2145 in the first few words, the writer is free to stretch out with examples. Yong Website www.INAnews.com sets the stage with five one-syllable words: “No one should be shocked …” What follows is one of most useful and under-appreciated words in the INA/CNA/INF STAFF English language: “that.” That word appears nine times in the sentence. It DEPARTMENT MANAGERS begins the litany of subordinate clauses. It marks the drumbeat of parallel Executive Director constructions. And because it is just “that,” it is hardly visible at all. Susan Patterson Plank Because you can barely see it, “that” lacks the power to hold the big ext. 125 [email protected] pieces together. A cathedral sentence such as this one requires the equivalent Sales and Marketing Director of flying buttresses to support its weight. The framework that separates the Samantha Fett parts, but also holds them together, is created by our modest friend the ext. 140 [email protected] semicolon. Communications Director If Yong has written the sentence of the year, and I believe he has, he Cicely Gordon can thank the semicolon; we all can. ext. 133 [email protected] Roy Peter Clark teaches writing at Poynter. He can be reached via email at Media Director [email protected] or on Twitter at @RoyPeterClark. Autumn Phillips ext. 136 [email protected] Visit https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/what-helped-ed-yong- write-the-sentence-of-the-year/ to read this article online. Program Director Jana Shepherd ext. 159 [email protected] Technology & Digital Development Manager Susan James Reminder to all newspapers: If you change the number of days ext. 129 [email protected] per week that you print please let the INA know by notifying [email protected]. BOARD PRESIDENTS Please keep in mind that the Iowa Code section 618.3 provides for very Iowa Newspaper Association specific guidelines for the definition of a newspaper for the purpose of Karen Spurgeon, Bloomfield Democrat public notifications. The first of which is that a newspaper of general 641-664-2334 [email protected] circulation must have published at least once a week for at least 50 weeks per year within the area. The code does not address how many INA Services Company pages the newspaper must be. It does provide that at least 25% of the Becky Maxwell, Albia-Monroe County News 641-932-7121 newspaper’s total column space in more than one half of its issues [email protected] during any 12-month period should be news versus advertising. Iowa Newspaper Foundation Mark Spensley, Monticello Express 319-465-3555 [email protected] As a reminder, if you have agreed to upload your print U.S. MAIL editions to the NewzGroup site, you should be doing Iowa Newspaper Association so regularly upon publication of each edition you print. 319 East 5th St. Uploading your newspaper allows CNA to secure tearsheets Des Moines, IA 50309 more quickly and, in turn, pay you faster for advertising that runs in your newspaper. In addition, if you are uploading to INA LEGAL HOTLINE NewzGroup, you only need to mail CNA two copies of each 515-283-3100 (paid service) newspaper you publish, allowing you to save on postage. If you’re interested in getting more information on uploading your paper to NewzGroup, please contact Susan James at [email protected]. 2 | IOWA NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION BULLETIN FREE MEMBER EXCHANGE t HELP WANTED Moines, Iowa. GENERAL ASSIGNMENT INTERN. 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