Chapter 11
This chapter covered News Releases. It starts by saying that they can be both good and bad for newspapers because they give information straight to reporters, but the information isn't always complete and accurate. No matter what though, news releases always have the capability to lead you toward a good story. It's what you do with the information presented to you that really matters.
There are three different types of news releases: announcements, information about a cause, and information that's used to make someone or something look better. Announcements and cause-promoting releases are pretty straightforward and not a lot of bad can come from them. The image-building releases though have a different motivation. They are used to primarily make a person or an organization have a better image. "They desire as much free publicity as they can get," says the text book.
It makes sense to rewrite a news release when given to you. It makes your job easier if you immediately change everything to AP style and it almost guarantees that you won't have the same exact story as another publication. As you rewrite them you must look for human interest to find why someone would want to read the story. And obviously you have to be very careful when rewriting the image-promoting releases. First, you have to almost decipher what the news is in the release and not just what the person wants you to write. Then you have to find where all the information comes from and need to be able to put it all into context.
Lastly, the section on how to actually write a news release, and not how to write from one, would be very helpful to someone looking into public relations. I like how they say to write in AP style so that reporters won't have to change it later after a whole section about how you will have to change everything in the news release to AP style.
Chapter 12
Chapter 12 was about speeches, news conferences, and meetings. The chapter begins with stating the importance of preparing before anything. It makes clear that you must make sure of the correct middle initial of a person's name or you can get basically screwed.
It also says that it is necessary to be a good note taker whether or not you use a recorder. It then goes into how to take notes...quite literally. For example, write clearly and use abbreviations. I feel like these are things you quickly learn on your own and don't need a book to spell it out for you.
It then goes into how to cover the audience and the participants of the event. In short, it says that it is not just important to get what the speaker says but the environment in which the event took place and how the audience reacts to everything that goes on.
Arrive early.
The rest of the chapter covers how to write about the event you attended. It uses good examples to capture the essence of writing about a specific type of event.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
McCain Would Prefer a Christian President
In an AP story published just 20 hours ago, it was released that Sen. John McCain would prefer our next president to be Christian. He backs up his statement by saying that our country was based on Christian principles and that he would like the next president to have "a solid grounding in [his] faith."
He then backs up himself up even more by saying, "I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values."
At first I was semi-bothered by his statement but then I thought about who he was interviewed by. The interview was conducted by Beliefnet, a Web site that covers religion and spirituality, so it kind of makes sense to me why he said this. He obviously felt comfortable in the interview to say what he wanted to say at first. He then covered himself it seems as the article shows.
He then backs up himself up even more by saying, "I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values."
At first I was semi-bothered by his statement but then I thought about who he was interviewed by. The interview was conducted by Beliefnet, a Web site that covers religion and spirituality, so it kind of makes sense to me why he said this. He obviously felt comfortable in the interview to say what he wanted to say at first. He then covered himself it seems as the article shows.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Choose or Lose
MTV's Choose or Lose Campaign is looking for journalists to cover the 2008 election. They are looking to get reporters from every state and Washington D.C. to be part of their team and get the youth perspective of the election.
They, like most news corporations, are looking for people with strong reporting and writing skills. "A distinctive voice and an authoritative point of view" is also key in what they are looking for.
Reporters for Choose or Lose will write their own pieces that will be published online and on mobile devices. Clearly, this is geared toward a younger audience.
The MTV website gives the following requirements for applicants:
They, like most news corporations, are looking for people with strong reporting and writing skills. "A distinctive voice and an authoritative point of view" is also key in what they are looking for.
Reporters for Choose or Lose will write their own pieces that will be published online and on mobile devices. Clearly, this is geared toward a younger audience.
The MTV website gives the following requirements for applicants:
- You must be at least 18 years old by December, 2007.
- You must reside in the state you are covering from January to November, 2008.
- You must have the time and ability to travel within your state and file at least one video, written or photographic story per week.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Obituaries
When I first read the title of this chapter I thought to myself, "Great, obituaries. Just the thing I need to depress me on a rainy Saturday." But as I read the first page I got really, really overly excited. Obituaries are basically a quick summation of one's life that are commonly breezed over by readers. I have often thought about what my own obituary would read and hoped that it would be interesting and proof that I lived a full life. At the end of the first page there's a quote that includes the phrase "glorified obituary" and it instantly made me ponder about what I would have to achieve in my lifetime to earn such an obituary. I then turned the page and remembered that this chapter was not about me.
The second page was just as exciting as the first. I never thought I could be so interested in obituaries. It turns out that 50% of readers read the obituaries, which I never knew. Considering this, it is amazing how many boring obituaries I have read in my life. It's not that the person's life seemed unbelievably dull, it's that the writing did not stand up to glorify the person's life. The thing is, after a person dies there is not always much left of them to carry on a legacy. I feel that a well-written obituary keeps that person around for a little longer in some way or another. If the reader didn't know them before they died, they do now. They can look into what this person achieved in their life and get to know what this person stood for. Yes, maybe it is a little late, but it's well worth it.
It somewhat depresses me that newspapers can't cover all the obituaries. I get it, it makes complete sense but I feel like everyone deserves to be written about. Maybe, someday, I will make a newspaper that is just obituaries. I don't know how many people will read it though, just weird people like me. It would not be a good business move...
The rest of the chapter is more like a general, formulaic textbook. It starts out with how to write a lead in an obituary and the various approaches one can take. The best leads are obviously the ones that include the interesting characteristics of the person's life and prove why they "deserve" to have their obituary published.
The example of the Michael Kelly's obituary with and without stories from his family and friends was helpful in this chapter. It'd be so easy to just write the obituary with the form from the mortuary but it would have no flavor, and would not live up to the person's life at all. "Good reporting produces stories of life," says the textbook.
Another point of interest I found in this chapter was the section on interviewing family and friends. At first I think I would be terrified to call any family members who just had a loved one pass away. But the more I get to thinking about it the more I realize that they probably want to talk about the good things the person did in his/her life. It's a time for them to praise their loved one and tell the reporter what they want the world to know about this person. I have to say that I would still be scared to make that initial call.
Overall, I was (surprisingly) very pleased with this chapter. I always thought that writing obituaries would be the shittiest job ever but through reading this chapter I have realized it would actually be something I could enjoy. I like writing about people, and I like writing nice things about people. I like "stalking" people and trying to find more and more about them. I am an avid people watcher and eavesdropper. I'm just really interested in people I guess. This could be good for me. The only thing that sucks is that all the people I would be writing about would be dead...
Oh, and also this chapter reminds me of one of my favorite movies My Girl. The dad (Dan Akroyd) writes obituaries and there's a scene where he talks about his choice of wording. He likes to use "in lieu of flowers" as opposed to "instead of flowers." That has hardly anything to do with this though.
The second page was just as exciting as the first. I never thought I could be so interested in obituaries. It turns out that 50% of readers read the obituaries, which I never knew. Considering this, it is amazing how many boring obituaries I have read in my life. It's not that the person's life seemed unbelievably dull, it's that the writing did not stand up to glorify the person's life. The thing is, after a person dies there is not always much left of them to carry on a legacy. I feel that a well-written obituary keeps that person around for a little longer in some way or another. If the reader didn't know them before they died, they do now. They can look into what this person achieved in their life and get to know what this person stood for. Yes, maybe it is a little late, but it's well worth it.
It somewhat depresses me that newspapers can't cover all the obituaries. I get it, it makes complete sense but I feel like everyone deserves to be written about. Maybe, someday, I will make a newspaper that is just obituaries. I don't know how many people will read it though, just weird people like me. It would not be a good business move...
The rest of the chapter is more like a general, formulaic textbook. It starts out with how to write a lead in an obituary and the various approaches one can take. The best leads are obviously the ones that include the interesting characteristics of the person's life and prove why they "deserve" to have their obituary published.
The example of the Michael Kelly's obituary with and without stories from his family and friends was helpful in this chapter. It'd be so easy to just write the obituary with the form from the mortuary but it would have no flavor, and would not live up to the person's life at all. "Good reporting produces stories of life," says the textbook.
Another point of interest I found in this chapter was the section on interviewing family and friends. At first I think I would be terrified to call any family members who just had a loved one pass away. But the more I get to thinking about it the more I realize that they probably want to talk about the good things the person did in his/her life. It's a time for them to praise their loved one and tell the reporter what they want the world to know about this person. I have to say that I would still be scared to make that initial call.
Overall, I was (surprisingly) very pleased with this chapter. I always thought that writing obituaries would be the shittiest job ever but through reading this chapter I have realized it would actually be something I could enjoy. I like writing about people, and I like writing nice things about people. I like "stalking" people and trying to find more and more about them. I am an avid people watcher and eavesdropper. I'm just really interested in people I guess. This could be good for me. The only thing that sucks is that all the people I would be writing about would be dead...
Oh, and also this chapter reminds me of one of my favorite movies My Girl. The dad (Dan Akroyd) writes obituaries and there's a scene where he talks about his choice of wording. He likes to use "in lieu of flowers" as opposed to "instead of flowers." That has hardly anything to do with this though.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Pimp My Election Bus
CNN is going to have a 45-foot Election Express bus for the 2008 elections. It sounds awesome.
The Washington Times describes it as a, “studio-meets-newsroom-meets-tour-bus.” This bus, filled with reporters, will be traveling all over the country to cover election stories along the campaign trail.
The bus is wired and wireless. David Bohrman, CNN's Washington bureau chief, believes that they could turn the bus into a studio in little time and that it’s as good as any of their other news bureaus.
Guesses of how much the bus costs are all over $1 million. The bus has portable plasma TV screens, black leather couches, and even a shower. Sweet!
The bus driver says he plans to cover over a million miles this election.
This bus sounds great. Road trip! I like buses and long drives. I wonder what albums they’ll be playing on the road…
From 9/16/07
The Washington Times describes it as a, “studio-meets-newsroom-meets-tour-bus.” This bus, filled with reporters, will be traveling all over the country to cover election stories along the campaign trail.
The bus is wired and wireless. David Bohrman, CNN's Washington bureau chief, believes that they could turn the bus into a studio in little time and that it’s as good as any of their other news bureaus.
Guesses of how much the bus costs are all over $1 million. The bus has portable plasma TV screens, black leather couches, and even a shower. Sweet!
The bus driver says he plans to cover over a million miles this election.
This bus sounds great. Road trip! I like buses and long drives. I wonder what albums they’ll be playing on the road…
From 9/16/07
Readings yaaaay
Poynter Online
The picture of the guy with a crow on his shoulder was misleading.
In David Poulson’s entry he writes about how Michigan State University's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism created the Michigan Echo. This digest contains one-sentence summaries of stories from Michigan daily newspapers that link to the full story. This digest was then published by feed and e-mail. Convenient!
Turns out all this convenience led to some serious drama concerning some land in Michigan. Many people had access to the stories from the Michigan Echo and could comment with their opinions. They could also post more sites and online petitions.
This is such a good example of interactive journalism. The community could get involved and not just be a passive audience, like many audiences are. They could say what they want and create debates, which is great for a community. All the journalist did was put the information out there and the public just did what they wanted.
Using a Timeline to Tell a Story
This blog entry was about how to incorporate interactive timelines into multimedia journalism. The timeline is a great way to display a number of events in a way that the reader can easily understand what’s going on. The way the timeline is set up seems really cool. It seems extremely informative to the reader and would be helpful in understand the story more. It would be a great idea for multimedia journalism to use timelines whenever possible.
Chapter 4
Quotes! This chapter focuses on the use of quotes in one’s story. It starts out by informing the reader to only use unique quotes and to not quote bits that weren’t said in an interesting way. By summarizing what someone said and not using direct quotes you are also saving words. We also learn that dialogue can be a wonderful addition to a story when used correctly. This is called “showing”, in contrast to “telling.” We then learn that if someone important says it, it may be quote worthy. And again we learn to be accurate.
Paraphrase! It condenses! And clarifies!
I really enjoyed the phrase “orphan quotes.” It reminds me of Annie. The sun will come out tomorrow… So, in summary, avoid partial quotes. They can be sketchyyy.
Correcting quotes…tricky tricky. People have all different opinions on this topic. The book says that most newspapers handle this issue on a case-by-case basis. That makes complete sense to me because correcting quotes could be great in one situation then horrible in the next, like some of the examples the book uses.
Oh man, vulgar words. What to do, what to do? This is another shaky area in journalism. The book does a wonderful job though in briefly explaining these types of problems and what to do. Again though, it has to be assessed on a case-to-case basis.
Don’t make up quotes. When you don’t know what to do, paraphrase.
Attributions! I liked the example in the opening paragraph about not attributing a 7-year-old who saw a gang shooting. Other than that, attribute away! Okay, not really. Don’t do that.
The attribution part of the chapter then goes into how to attribute, which we have learned in other courses. Oh, and you can’t “wink” a work by the way. I always thought you could… Huh.
Turns out not everyone wants to be attributed. Shocker. This creates some problems. When a reporter doesn’t attribute it lacks credibility, makes you wonder if the person is lying, and could lead to a breach-of-contract suit.
Chapter 4 ends with how to handle quotations from the Internet and other concerns. It brings up some juicy things like e-mail interviews and Jayson Blair.
From 9/16/07
The picture of the guy with a crow on his shoulder was misleading.
In David Poulson’s entry he writes about how Michigan State University's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism created the Michigan Echo. This digest contains one-sentence summaries of stories from Michigan daily newspapers that link to the full story. This digest was then published by feed and e-mail. Convenient!
Turns out all this convenience led to some serious drama concerning some land in Michigan. Many people had access to the stories from the Michigan Echo and could comment with their opinions. They could also post more sites and online petitions.
This is such a good example of interactive journalism. The community could get involved and not just be a passive audience, like many audiences are. They could say what they want and create debates, which is great for a community. All the journalist did was put the information out there and the public just did what they wanted.
Using a Timeline to Tell a Story
This blog entry was about how to incorporate interactive timelines into multimedia journalism. The timeline is a great way to display a number of events in a way that the reader can easily understand what’s going on. The way the timeline is set up seems really cool. It seems extremely informative to the reader and would be helpful in understand the story more. It would be a great idea for multimedia journalism to use timelines whenever possible.
Chapter 4
Quotes! This chapter focuses on the use of quotes in one’s story. It starts out by informing the reader to only use unique quotes and to not quote bits that weren’t said in an interesting way. By summarizing what someone said and not using direct quotes you are also saving words. We also learn that dialogue can be a wonderful addition to a story when used correctly. This is called “showing”, in contrast to “telling.” We then learn that if someone important says it, it may be quote worthy. And again we learn to be accurate.
Paraphrase! It condenses! And clarifies!
I really enjoyed the phrase “orphan quotes.” It reminds me of Annie. The sun will come out tomorrow… So, in summary, avoid partial quotes. They can be sketchyyy.
Correcting quotes…tricky tricky. People have all different opinions on this topic. The book says that most newspapers handle this issue on a case-by-case basis. That makes complete sense to me because correcting quotes could be great in one situation then horrible in the next, like some of the examples the book uses.
Oh man, vulgar words. What to do, what to do? This is another shaky area in journalism. The book does a wonderful job though in briefly explaining these types of problems and what to do. Again though, it has to be assessed on a case-to-case basis.
Don’t make up quotes. When you don’t know what to do, paraphrase.
Attributions! I liked the example in the opening paragraph about not attributing a 7-year-old who saw a gang shooting. Other than that, attribute away! Okay, not really. Don’t do that.
The attribution part of the chapter then goes into how to attribute, which we have learned in other courses. Oh, and you can’t “wink” a work by the way. I always thought you could… Huh.
Turns out not everyone wants to be attributed. Shocker. This creates some problems. When a reporter doesn’t attribute it lacks credibility, makes you wonder if the person is lying, and could lead to a breach-of-contract suit.
Chapter 4 ends with how to handle quotations from the Internet and other concerns. It brings up some juicy things like e-mail interviews and Jayson Blair.
From 9/16/07
Chapters 1, 2, and 3...and Britney? No? Not Britney? Okay.
Okay, I am seriously distracted by the B-Spears performance that occurred almost 2 and a half hours ago. She needs a hug, desperately.
To the reading!
Chapter 1: The Nature of the News
- We learn about relevance, usefulness, and interest again. What I found most important and memorable was that relevance+usefulness=interest. I think this is a great way for journalists to stay on track with what they are writing about. It'd be easy for someone to write about, say, Britney Spears' awkward and uncomfortable performance at the VMAs and justify it by saying it was interesting. But, where is the relevance and usefulness? Honestly, no where. There is no place in hard journalism for this bullshit. It belongs elsewhere.
- Now for my rebuttal of previous bullet point. I'm not going to hide it, I still love all the distraction and entertainment. Famous people will always intrigue me. I love writing about the ridiculousness of the entertainment business. I can't help what I love.
- I really liked that journalism was described as, "a culture's conversation with itself." I believe that to be so true. There is so much that goes into what everyone reads and sees on the news everyday. I wish I could explain this quote further but I am at a loss for words.
- One new thing I read about was civic journalists vs. traditional journalists. I am now picturing the two groups pulling a West Side Story fight with all the glorious snapping and high-legged walking. Back on track Lizzy... I found the debate to be very interesting and can't decide which side I am on. Jay Rosen does a great job of summing up what each side believes in.
- 78% of people surveyed believe that the news media are biased. Who are the other 22% of the people? I want to meet them and shove the news media in their face. They must live in a box.
- That is not saying that I believe all of the news media to be biased in any way, shape, or form. I do think that a great portion of it is biased. It's not so spectacular.
Chapter Dos: The Changing News Business
- Turns out, times change! Wait, am I the only one with a horse and buggy? What is this thing you call a cell phone?
- We learn, again, that the newspaper industry is shrinking. DUN DUN DUN. It's still making money but it seems rather screwed for the future.
- Advertising drives the media marketplace. No matter how many times I read about this stuff I still get disturbed.
- Charts! Lots and lots of charts! Flow charts! Pie charts! No box-and-whisker plots though, those are my favorite.
- I thoroughly enjoyed how the textbook uses the word maestro to describe the team leader. I would feel like an utter fool if I ever had to call the person leading the reporting team by that word. But...if I was the leader I would insist on being called maestro.
- I really liked how magazines were referred to as "print cousins" to newspapers. Is that the best they could come up with? Seriously, cousins??
- Really though, I enjoyed the section about magazines. I love magazine writing. I love the perfection that magazine articles have to live up to. There is no room for errors and little mistakes anywhere. Fact-checking is much more thorough and the beauty of writing is taken more into account.
- The broadcast news section was much like what was in the textbook for Intro.
- The online portion of the chapter said that most of online media serves to be "public bulletin boards." I found this to be a peculiar, but rather true description of what online news is.
Chapter Three: Interviewing
- Interviewing-having conversations with sources. Really? I had no idea.
- Much of this chapter we have learned in previous journalism courses, it's a good refresher though.
- You would have to be an idiot to not prepare before an interview. How would you expect to ask any questions if you didn't know anything beforehand? The truth is though that you need to do a lot lot lot of preparation. To be able to conduct a good interview you need to know practically everything about your subject.
- Hope that the person you are interviewing brings their dogs. Amazing icebreaker.
- As informative as this chapter is, I think the only way to learn how to interview is to go out and do one. J-Research really helped me in my interviewing skills.
66 pages of a textbook in one read isn't so wonderful.
And, my poor Britney. She is getting attacked in every article I'm reading.
From 9/9/07
Britney...I mean election??
Britney Spears is doing the opening act for the VMAs in 45 minutes. The red carpet right now is flooded with, "Do you think she'll make the comeback?" I wish I could find a way to relate this to the 2008 election.
Unfortunately, I cannot. Onward.
So I was on a search for something fun to write about and this is what I found. There is a contest going on to make a television ad for Mitt Romney through the program Jumpcut. The site informs us that anyone can make an ad in any way that want...as long as it supports the campaign.
The site provides audio clips, video, and photos to use in the ad, but encourages users to use other things as well. Users seem to be pretty into it but all I can think of is how bad I want to mess with this thing.
If I was to make an ad, this is how it would go:
I can't figure out if this contest is creative or not.
Ways in which it is creative: It's open to the general public (and by general public I mean people who can afford computers and internet access). People can really do whatever they want and be uber insane.
Ways in which it is not creative: Let's face it, Mitt Romney's marketing team must really suck. If the best they can come up with is make random people do their job there is a slight, slight problem.
The best part of this is that there is no prize! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A CONTEST WITHOUT PRIZES??
Okay, Britney in 4. I am so freaking excited. I love her. Britney Britney Britney. To tie together the VMAs to the election, Paris Hilton looks like Hillary Clinton with her new hair-do tonight.
From 9/9/07
Unfortunately, I cannot. Onward.
So I was on a search for something fun to write about and this is what I found. There is a contest going on to make a television ad for Mitt Romney through the program Jumpcut. The site informs us that anyone can make an ad in any way that want...as long as it supports the campaign.
The site provides audio clips, video, and photos to use in the ad, but encourages users to use other things as well. Users seem to be pretty into it but all I can think of is how bad I want to mess with this thing.
If I was to make an ad, this is how it would go:
- It would open with the song "Karma Chameleon" by the fabulous '80s band Culture Club.
- The first shot would be of a turquoise kitten holding a sign in its mouth reading, "Go Mitt."
- A video of a child chasing down an ice cream truck is then shown.
- "Mitt" is flashed across the screen 14 times, in varying shades of magenta.
- Fireworks, for about 4 seconds.
- It ends with a shot of an apple.
I can't figure out if this contest is creative or not.
Ways in which it is creative: It's open to the general public (and by general public I mean people who can afford computers and internet access). People can really do whatever they want and be uber insane.
Ways in which it is not creative: Let's face it, Mitt Romney's marketing team must really suck. If the best they can come up with is make random people do their job there is a slight, slight problem.
The best part of this is that there is no prize! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A CONTEST WITHOUT PRIZES??
Okay, Britney in 4. I am so freaking excited. I love her. Britney Britney Britney. To tie together the VMAs to the election, Paris Hilton looks like Hillary Clinton with her new hair-do tonight.
From 9/9/07
State of the News Media 2007
To begin with, I couldn't believe how much research went into building this year's State of the News Media. I was thoroughly impressed, and, honestly, extremely overwhelmed.
One thing I found particularly interesting in the State of the News Media 2007 was the portion on Digital Journalism. They made in-depth looks at numerous sites and tried to compare all the different aspects of the sites. They focused a lot on the look and layout of the sites, and not just the writing on them.
There was also a decent amount of focus on user participation. I find this aspect of this form of media great because it actually becomes hands-on, unlike other forms of media where the audience is just an observer at most times.
They were also interested in the multimedia the various sites used to portray what they found newsworthy. The multimedia these sites are able to use are key to what makes digital journalism unique and changing.
From 9/4/07
One thing I found particularly interesting in the State of the News Media 2007 was the portion on Digital Journalism. They made in-depth looks at numerous sites and tried to compare all the different aspects of the sites. They focused a lot on the look and layout of the sites, and not just the writing on them.
There was also a decent amount of focus on user participation. I find this aspect of this form of media great because it actually becomes hands-on, unlike other forms of media where the audience is just an observer at most times.
They were also interested in the multimedia the various sites used to portray what they found newsworthy. The multimedia these sites are able to use are key to what makes digital journalism unique and changing.
From 9/4/07
The 22 Washingtons
Senator Barack Obama seems to be rather obsessed with the fact that he doesn't have much experience in Washington. To prove this, he said "Washington" 22 times in his Labor Day speech in Manchester, NH. That's a whole lot o' Washingtons. He also mentioned in his speech the fact that he is indeed imperfect and that he is damn proud of being the "outsider".
I wonder if it will work. People often like the outsiders, especially if they consider themselves outsiders as well. People also like imperfections; it makes them feel like they aren't alone.
It could work. Way to pull the odd man out card Obama.
From 9/4/07
I wonder if it will work. People often like the outsiders, especially if they consider themselves outsiders as well. People also like imperfections; it makes them feel like they aren't alone.
It could work. Way to pull the odd man out card Obama.
From 9/4/07
First entry...kind of
So I somehow messed up my old blog and created a new one? Okay. Off to copying and pasting old posts woo!
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