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Extra! Extra! Getting into the Newspaper Business (writing news articles) The news is now and those who write it know the stories first. Getting into the newspaper business can be difficult because of the competitive nature of the news. The successful reporter needs to be organized, efficient and able to work under extreme pressure. The flip side is that a newspaper writer is almost always a celebrity. If he or she works for a large newspaper, his name may be known all over the country. If he only works for a small town paper, that town will recognize his name. Writing news articles involves ups and downs, so read on to learn more about it. Newspaper Overview A newspaper office is an interesting place to be. Bright and early at eight o’clock in the morning, the office is quiet and dark. As the rest of the world is counting down the minutes to quitting time, the reporters’ desks start to fill up with hurried typing and flipping through notes. Well after dark, the last stories get wrapped up and put to bed. They may have been changed a couple of time as new developments occurred. Some stories written will make it to the front page. Some stories though will get significantly cut or cut from the paper all together. Writing news articles may be very rewarding, but it also requires a different kind of lifestyle than most careers. Becoming a Reporter If you are interested in writing news articles, you may also be interested in learning a little bit more about what is involved in becoming a reporter. Writing is a very important piece of being a successful reporter. Writing news articles involves close attention to journalistic style. Most full time reporters have journalism degrees. Those that don’t have learned to imitate the style with precision. A good journalist must learn the art of interviewing a subject. Freelancing If the full time reporting job is not for you, look into writing news articles on a freelance basis. It will help if you develop a relationship with the editor of the newspaper you intend to write for. Since so many people want to see their names in print, it can be hard to break into the freelance newspaper business. Writing news articles on a freelance basis requires a good eye for newsworthy topics as well as a thorough and fair representation of the facts. Freelancing takes practice. Don’t be discouraged if the editor doesn’t like your work initially. If you keep trying, you’re bound to stumble onto something great. Once you are in and an editor likes you, you’ll be able to work more freely. What’s News? Before you are ready for writing news articles, you should be ready to judge for yourself what news is and what it is not. Regular reporters are assigned stories to write, so they rarely have to come up with topics on their own. Freelancers write their stories and then try to sell them. The first rule about deciding what is news is that if someone asks you to write about it, it’s not news. You should have to dig up the good stories. If you need inspiration, just start talking to people. Get to know a few of the prominent people in your community. Build relationships and keep asking questions. The stories will come out eventually. You can also take a tour of your community with your eyes wide open. Look for anything suspicious, dangerous or exceedingly beautiful. Take your camera wherever you go just in case you happen to be an eyewitness to something newsworthy. Writing news articles can be done as a career or as a freelance pursuit. Whichever you choose, you’re sure to lead a life with some adventure. The news is always happening and it’s always something new.

Find Free Stuff Online by Visiting the FreeStuffOnline Website Whatever it is somebody is searching for, he might be able to find it on the FreeStuffOnline website. The FreeStuffOnline website is a page that offers links to other pages that have products that are free off charge available to anybody. Pages like this one collect links and web addresses that offer free products and then publish it as a great resource to the broader public. The links offered by FreeStuffOnline leads to a variety of different topics and offers and there might be just what someone one is looking for. The web page offers categories such as educational freebies, which includes Study notes, Encyclopedias, books and more. Family freebies have categories for babies, children and parents. For the computer world there are free products such as free antivirus software, freeware programs, games and graphics, shareware, music and screensavers. For the cell phone fanatic, there are links to free cell phone ring tones and short message programs. A seasonal freebie category holds anything that relates to the major holidays in the United States, such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter and more. The category “internet” offers links to free web hosting pages, e-mail providers and much more. The way such pages work is by the various masters that take care of adding and removing links. As a matter of fact, anyone can add freebie links to the page. This is one of their most important tools to keep such a freebie page working. Anyone who finds a good freebie that is not a fraudulent page should go to the FreeStuffOnline web page and add the link. Other people will benefit from the link just as much as the person that added it. To keep such sites possible the effort of anyone that is looking for freebies is necessary. There are many organizations out there that specialize in providing help for the ones that do not have a wealthy family to pay for all of it. Organizations that specialize in literature offer PDF files of books of world famous authors such as Shakespeare, books that anybody should have the chance to read. Other pages specialize in children’s songs. Downloadable MP3s, legal downloads of these songs are available to make music an integral part of young children’s lives. Even for the new craze of sharing pictures, files and other important date there are links that guide the user to pages that will offer such services for free. Sharing pictures with loved ones should be easy and free and available to anybody. Whether it is the grandparent that lives hundred of miles away or a father that serves in the army, these pages offer the opportunity to anyone to share important data such as pictures over the distance. Using an online file sharing web page also has the advantage of speed over regular mail. Until the pictures are sent to their destination by mail, it can take days, but on the Internet the process takes a few seconds and the person at the other PC can see the data almost instantly. When these files are shared there is always the possibility to have the pictures printed at one of the photo stores and the person will still be able to hold printed pictures in their hands. One other important fact to know about these free online pages like FreeStuffOnline is that whenever you come onto a link that is not working, let them know, only by people telling the web master that the link is not working it can be removed. Helping to maintain the page by alarming for broken links can reduce the frustration to other that was trying to check out the link.

Editing for the Next Generation: The MySpace Form (myspace editing) The goal of a good editor is to make any piece of text appropriate for its audience and form. Books must fit into the expectations of a publishing company in order to fit the expectations of those who buy the books. Magazine articles must fit the style of the magazine including its goals and also its audience’s expectations. Content is certainly important, but voice and specific word choice are also big components of catering to an audience. A scientific magazine should not sound like the latest gossip. Likewise, a glamour magazine should be far from stiff and boring. When it comes to internet editing, even more elements are added to the typical editing criteria. Consider for a moment the different aspects of editing for the MySpace pages. Individual Pages An individual is not required to edit their pages. MySpace editing does often involve self-editing however. A page owner is writing about themselves, introducing themselves to many other people. No doubt that page owner wants to send the right message. Self-definition is very important in order to effectively communicate your intentions with others. That is where MySpace editing comes in. Here again, word choice is very important. Careful use of adjectives and other descriptive words can paint a picture for other visitors to the site. Using generic terms like ‘thing’ and ‘a lot’ will leave a person sounding boring and bland. In addition to self-representation, individual pages really should be edited for appropriate citations. That may sound tedious and so like ninth grade English class, but it is important. Quoting authors and lyricists on your page is an effective way to express your own feelings, but if the words are not your own, you cannot claim them. Plagiarism is wrong. In addition to the ethical issues, you should give credit to the people you quote for other reasons as well. Visitors to your page may really appreciate the words and lyrics that you quote. If you give credit to their author, other people can find more similar words to enjoy. Corporate Pages MySpace editing is useful for individuals, but it also opens up job opportunities. Because of the popularity of MySpace pages, advertisers have naturally started enjoying the benefits of the high traffic. The problem is that many advertisers may not be familiar with the format of MySpace nor the appropriate language to use to reach the audience that is surfing there. A qualified user can use their expertise to help corporations effectively use the pages in order to best reach the audience. A member of that audience can edit for the presentation of content so that it will be the most effective at getting the readers’ attention. If you are one of these qualified users, MySpace editing could lead you to a successful career in all kinds of editing. Use your own page as a resume. If you aren’t interested in the career, you could just have some fun making the most of someone’s use of the pages. You will no doubt be well rewarded for your efforts. MySpace editing can take more than one form. The important thing to remember is that no matter what the format is for writing, correctness is important. Especially when your words are representing you, you will want to be clear and correct in your writing. Giving credit to those people you quote is the correct thing to do ethically, but it is also respectful. Finally, editing for companies without the proper know-how when it comes to internet advertising could be quite profitable. You’ll be more likely to get the job if your own page is effectively and correctly put together.