INQUIRY – Review a Newsletter
The CSG Newsletter is distributed by the Crocodile Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
The newsletter is distributed to CSG members, organisations and individual subscribers. The newsletter is published monthly and provides information on the conservation, status, news and current events concerning crocodilians, and the activities of the CSG.
What kind of stories are in the newsletter?
The CSG Newsletter is contains a broad range of stories, each with it’s own purpose and specific audience.
Editorial – The editorial contains general information on the workings and activities of the CSG including special interest information pertaining to members and upcoming events.
Minutes of CSG Steering Committee Meeting – full details of the meeting minutes are provided in long form for all members.
Regional Reports – are provided by the representative CSG groups across the world, the stories are informational for all members.
Science – Abstracts from numerous scientific publication on the special interest subject is provided for those interested in the latest research and findings. The publication is copied from a several scientific journals globally and provided as an abstract with references where further information can be sourced.
In summary the CSG newsletter provides a complete picture and summary of groups activities, and provides details of scientific and other special interest information and news relevant to the subject of Crocodiles.
How do these target the organisation’s audience?
The newsletter is segregated into areas of interest as outlined above. All previously published newsletters follow the same format, providing the regular reader with a framework to elicit the information or details wanted.
The CSG organisation differentiates it’s subscriber base as members, organisations, special interest groups and individuals.
If you were a science journalist, is there anything you may be interested in following up as a story, and why?
As a science journalist I would be interested in the Crocodile Symposium as part of the 8th World Congress of Herpetology (China, 15-21 August, 2016). The details of this symposium was outlined in the editorial section of the newsletter, as such
A Crocodile Symposium organized by Dr. Mark Merchant and Professor Wu Xiaobing will be held under the auspices of the 8th World Congress of Herpetology (Hangzhou, China, 15-21 August 2016). A number of CSG members are participating in the Congress. Some members of the CSG Future Leaders Working Group will also participate, and do a study tour of Chinese alligator habitats, raising facilities and relocation program prior to the Congress.
(CSG Newsletter Vol 35 no. 2 April 2016 page 4)
The story provides me with names of participants, place, dates and the subject to enabling me to determine it’s viability as a journalistic piece. The media writing formula of who, what, when, where, where and how has been implemented effectively.
What do you think is effective or otherwise about this newsletter?
The newsletter is not deigned attractively, however the content is detailed, specific and aimed directly at the requirements of the member of this special interest group. The following are positive attributes of this newsletter. The newsletter
- is issued regularly
- is available through the internet or in hard copy.
- is a serial publication for referencing
- meets the needs of the members with combination of news, scientific updates, topical issues and group activity and update.
- humanises the organisation with the inclusion of personal news concerning members and members families.
- provides information that is valuable to it’s members.
- provides information that is clear, considered and sharply focused.
TECHNICAL – Complete Quiz
This weeks quiz was on punctuation. I achieved 50% on the first attempt, bringing it home on the second attempt. I learned there have been a lot of changes to punctuation since I went to school many years ago.
This is some of what I learned from this quiz
- Full stops are no longer needed to mark abbreviations
- Apostrophes are less common to make plurals
- Full stops are not needed in headlines and captions.
Reflection
I learned that Newsletters are an effective communication tool for a member / subscriber base or public. The CSG – Crocodile Specialist Group newsletter was a good example, although it was not visually pleasing the content was meeting a specific need for a specific audience.
The exercise caused me to investigate the structure and design of the content, and whilst I initially thought there was to much information, it is now clear the volume of content is required and works because it is ordered assisting in navigation.
SEEKHANA 
Hey Clint,
Just noticed that you have used ‘to’ instead of ‘too’ in the last sentence of your reflection.
“.. I initially thought there was to much information…”
Hope that makes sense,
Ben
LikeLike
Hi Clint,
I’ll just point you at some minor errors in this post to save you searching for them.
In this sentence: “The story provides me with names of participants, place, dates and the subject to enabling me to determine it’s viability as a journalistic piece.” The word enabling should be just enable in this case.
In this sentence: “The exercise caused me to investigate the structure and design of the content, and whilst I initially thought there was to much information,” “to” should be “too”.
I also thought I noticed a word written twice in it somewhere but I lost it so maybe you’ve already fixed it.
Hoping to be helpful, and good luck with this term’s results,
Catherine.
LikeLike
Hi Clint
Welcome to week 9.
Well done on getting another blog up and ready for review – you’re weeks ahead of me.
Just some little grammatical errors to adjust before your final submission:
‘The story provides me with names of participants, place, dates and the subject to enabling me to determine it’s viability as a journalistic piece.’
Should be:
‘The story provides the names of participants, place, dates and the subject to enable me to determine its viability as a journalistic piece.’
Also this sentence is a little long and I feel that deigned should be designed:
‘The newsletter is not deigned attractively, however the content is detailed, specific and aimed directly at the requirements of the member of this special interest group.’
Perhaps:
‘The newsletter is attractive in its presentation of information. The content, however, is detailed, specific and aimed directly at the members of this special interest group.’
A suggestion with your list would be to change this:
‘The following are positive attributes of this newsletter. The newsletter’
To this:
‘The following are positive attributes of the CSG newsletter:’
And change the start of each point to ‘it is’ rather than just is.
Just one last suggestion (sorry… I am a bit nitpicky):
‘The exercise caused me to investigate the structure and design of the content, and whilst I initially thought there was to much information, it is now clear the volume of content is required and works because it is ordered assisting in navigation.’
Could be:
‘This exercise asked me to investigate the structure and design of the content in a newsletter. Whilst I initially thought there was too much information, it is now clear that the volume of content is required and works because it is ordered assisting in navigation.’
Apologies for the lengthy feedback. I do hope it helps.
Almost there!!
Jess
LikeLike
Hi Clint,
I feel as though you have produced a great review for this newsletter by providing evidence to back up your statements.
LikeLike