Gangrey.com is a blog dedicated to
writing. Good writing. Its mission? To help "bail water out of a
sinking ship" -- newspapers, that is. The blog specializes in narrative
journalism, featuring the best stories from newspapers around the
country. One after the other, they are a waterfall of inspiration.
The
blog doesn't just link to stories, however. Blog entries encourage
dialogue about the pieces. Comment threads debate stylistic choices,
wording and the like and are useful in learning to critically analyze
the writing process.
For example, one November entry, "'Burying' the Lede," linked to a
story
about a girl who suffocated after falling behind a bookshelf. The blog
entry pointed out that the story "delays its gruesome punchline till
the fourteenth paragraph." "The question before you today is whether
it should have given readers the gold up front, or whether its timing
was just right, or whether, as my colleague Michael Kruse has
suggested, the punchline came too soon." The ensuing discussion was a
fascinating case study in writing decision-making.
Gangrey was
created by Ben Montgomery, 28, a staff writer for the
St. Petersburg
(Fla.) Times. It is maintained with the help of several other young
journalists, also from the
Times, including Michael Kruse, 29, and Thomas Lake, 26.
The name, gangrey, is a play off of gangrene, Montgomery explained in an
interview with Poynter Online (scroll to the Nov. 21 entry). It refers to the infection of bad writing in newspapers today.
This
is a blog geared toward professionals, but high school journalists
might find it lifts the calibre of their work. Reading good
journalism is the first step to practicing good journalism. Gangrey is
the perfect place to start.
