Journalism
Watchdogs

Pick Your Pups. Paste Your Text. Call in the JOUR 'DOGS

Ernie is the boss dog and wants to make sure everyone knows by his appearance. Ernie is a huge great dane, with pointy ears, and he's wearing a leather helmet of sorts with goggles over his eyes, making for an intimidating impression. He is wearing a snappy orange suit, with a copper tie, bulging around the chest because of his muscly frame. He is facing the camera and shown only from the shoulders up. He has two minion-like guards behind him, who only are visible as copper helmets with goggle eyes. In the background, there is a circular door, like a vault door, in light blue.

"Boss 'Dog" Ernie, Consigliere

Practicing journalism nowadays can be ruff. So journalists need to be tougher and ruffer than whatever obstacle stands in their way. I'm Ernie, the "Boss 'Dog" Consigliere at Journalism Watchdogs. I serve as your liaison to our 'Dog pack, and I am here to help. My job is to ensure that no story leaves this 'yard without my 'Dogs giving a pitbull-like effort to improve it. As journalists, you pick important topics for community discussions and deliver impactful stories about those topics. That's what you do. But in-between, when you need to develop your ideas and want some immediate help, just bring us 'Dogs your best draft (at least 250 words; the longer the better), and we will chew it over with you. That's what we do. Each of our pack's members has a specialty. They are like highly personalized writing coaches, who have been deeply trained in their subject matter (by an award-winning professional Journalist/Journalism Professor). This URL is my direct line. You can call on us any time, 24-7-365. Throw us a bone, and find out what we can do.

  • Step 1: Determine what kind of feedback you want on your draft, and then CHOOSE one or more of the 'Dogs and their specialties by selecting an image or checkbox.
  • Step 2: Copy and PASTE your draft story into the text box by the "CALL IN THE JOUR 'DOGS!" button. The more complete the draft, the richer the feedback you will receive.
  • Step 3: Press the "CALL IN THE JOUR 'DOGS!" button.
  • Step 4: Read the feedback, and use it to make better Journalism. Repeat as often as necessary.

Select the Specific Watchdog(s) You Want to Help You:

The Hawaiian language, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, is the indigenous language of Hawaiʻi. Poni will help to make sure that any words that appear from the Hawaiian language in your texts have the appropriate diacritical marks by teaching you about the language and the markings.
You have a story draft. Upton has questions. With an insatiable appetite for knowledge, this 'Dog wants to dig deeply into your story to find the holes that make him happiest. He also wants to help you fill them. So then, he can dig some more.
McLuhan knows what it takes to catch an ear or an eyeball, with his recommendations for journalistic podcasts, videos, photography, charts, etc. Every story starts as an idea. Every idea can be expressed in any medium. The medium, McLuhan argues, makes the message.
Ed wants to understand who's talking about the topic. He is well-connected with the people in the know, and he mostly is concerned with the quality of a story's sources. He especially appreciates the triangulation of independent authoritative sources.
Wolfe stands out from the pack due to his deep reporting efforts and stylistic writing, pepping up any piece of narrative with zippy verbs and an active voice but also through the recognition of a storyʻs characters, settings, dialogue, and descriptive passages.
Charlotte loves to visit the "morgue." In newspaper jargon, that is the library-like room where all of the publication's past issues are kept as well as those of competitors. Before she starts writing about any topic, Charlotte makes sure to check "the clips" to find out what other people have written about this topic. She can help you to do that, too.
This journalist is good at math, really good at math. She wants to help all number-challenged journalists to make sure that whatever stat or other quantified piece of data being circulated by their sources stands up to external scrutiny. In other words, no more free passes on 1 + 1 = 3.
Thomas wants his journalism to make sense ... scientifically. So he carefully reads the data, the findings and the interpretations to ensure it is all accurate. Specifically, he wants validated scientific facts, logical consistency and verified units or measurements.
Joan is the kind of 'Dog who reads between the lines. She enjoys thinking about story topics and the words used to write about those topics. But she really gets her thrills thinking about subtexts and compositional structure. Her secret ingredient: Post-writing outlines.
Chester is a different 'Dog than the rest. He has a Public Relations perspective on the journalistic publishing process and thinks about how sources can best speak the language of a journalist through information prioritization. To use his talents effectively, paste a draft press release into the text box and call this 'Dog into action.