{"id":10444,"date":"2013-10-08T09:36:49","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T22:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=10444"},"modified":"2019-04-14T00:01:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T14:01:48","slug":"accuracy-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/accuracy-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Accuracy rules!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NoAccuracy is a key component of every single aspect of your life as a citizen journalist.<\/p>\n

It is the foundation stone of your work – and your reputation.<\/p>\n

It is relevant to the presentation of your stories and<\/em> their content and<\/em> your relationships (to readers, interviewees and professional contacts).<\/p>\n

Spelling and grammar<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no room for lazy or inaccurate spelling and grammar on No Fibs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If you’re not great at spelling and grammar – that’s okay, we’re here to help – our contributors’ guide contains a detailed style guide showing how to include relevant information, particularly on politics.<\/p>\n

However we do require you to be willing to pay attention to those red and green lines that appear on your computer screen. They are telling you something – even though they’re not always right and they can easily miss glaring errors.<\/p>\n

No Fibs<\/em> works with Australian spelling.<\/p>\n

Check check check – and if you’re not sure, Google. There is an answer to everything grammar and spelling at your fingertips.<\/p>\n

Names – people<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s amazing how many ways there are to spell the name ‘John’.<\/p>\n

Never ever ever make assumptions about how people spell their names.<\/p>\n

Ask.<\/p>\n

Because if you can’t spell their name correctly, have no doubt they (and their friends\/colleagues) will question the accuracy of everything else you write.<\/p>\n

Here’s an easy technique for asking an obvious question: right at the start of your interview, say your interviewee’s name out loud – spell it out as you write it down.<\/p>\n

“That’s John – J-O-H-N? J-O-N? Smith – S-M-I-T-H?”<\/p>\n

They will immediately spell out their name for you.<\/p>\n

Names – things<\/strong><\/p>\n

In any news story, if you are reporting the name of an organisation or event or report or anything at all that has a name – you must write the name in full and get it right.<\/p>\n

In the case of long names for organisations or reports, people rarely say them correctly.<\/p>\n

Gonski is a case in point. We know ‘Gonski’ is a comprehensive report into education in Australia.<\/p>\n

What we may not know is that it is actually the ‘Review of Funding for Schooling’.<\/p>\n

The correct way to report something like this on No Fibs<\/em> would be: ‘…. the Review of Funding for Schooling, known as ‘the Gonski Report’, …..’ And thereafter you may refer to the report as ‘the Gonski Report’.<\/p>\n

In the CSG campaign, for example, there are a range of stakeholder organisations, all of whom will have short or colloquial versions of their names.<\/p>\n

When you first reference them in your story, use their full\/official name – after that you may shorten it.<\/p>\n

Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check check check every single fact or claim you or anyone you interview makes in your story.<\/p>\n

All facts or opinions must be attributed to someone or something.<\/p>\n

All facts or opinions must be expressed with respect – even if the person you are interviewing is angry.<\/p>\n

It’s okay to be angry – it’s not okay to abuse others.<\/p>\n

Is it true? Is it fair?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Accuracy is a key component of every single aspect of your life as a citizen journalist. It is the foundation stone of your work – and your reputation. It is relevant to the presentation of your stories and their content and your relationships (to readers, interviewees and professional contacts). Spelling and grammar There is no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":10306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,585,1441,1440],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/NO-FIBS-CITIZEN-JOURNALISM-CSG.png?fit=300%2C319&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-2Is","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}