COMM 317: Due process and ... Britney Spears? Yep

Here's an ABC News sidebar, which is not something you strap onto a motorcycle but a story that runs off to the side of a news story and explores a related angle. (What do you call the main story? The mainbar. What else? Illiterate? Well, yes, maybe so. But logical? Well, yes.) It's about Britney Spears' mental health issues. And here's an overnight story from MTV updating it.

Britney Spears aside, it raises issues of due process. Which is what I want us to focus on.

Read the story, and blog on these questions. How does the issue of legal due process become involved with the Britney Spears saga? (Hint: You did notice a second "t" in "statute," didn't you?) How are her rights protected by a 5150? How are yours and mine -- or how would they be if we were in California? Are they the same rights? How well, judging by the evidence in the news reports, would you say her rights are being safeguarded?

COMM 317 is also an ethics class, and this story has some ethical angles, too. Go to the Society of Professional Journalists' website and check out the SPJ Code of Ethics, too. Read it or review it (it never hurts to go back over the canons of ethics, right? You may want to keep a copy in the bathroom next to the "AP Stylebook," in fact). Then blog some more:

How, specifically, are the SPJ canons observed in the two linked stories? By ABC? By MTV? Is Britney Spears getting the break she deserves by the code of ethics? Is she getting the same break you and I would if we needed 5150 protection? By all means consider your own ethical standards, too, but part of what I want you to do is to think specifically about the SJP Code, the law and due process.

Student blogs: COMM 317 and COMM 387

Çommunications 317 (meda law and ethics)
Lauren Burke http://laurenburke.blogspot.com/

Laikyn Cheffy http://lak22.blogspot.com/

Katie Davis http://katiedaviscom387.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Dixon http://jeremy-dixon.blogspot.com/

Whitney Drobnack http://whitterk5.blogspot.com/

Jeff Hall http://www.scijournalism.blogspot.com/

Alyssa Kauffman http://alyssa4387.blogspot.com/

Claire Keldermans http://clairekeldermansblog.blogspot.com/

Zach Kirchner http://com317law.blogspot.com/

Mitch Ladd http://thebestblognamesaretaken.blogspot.com/

Jocelyn McDonald http://jannmcdee.blogspot.com/

Megan Meeker http://meeker22.blogspot.com/

Gina Moscardelli http://ginaslitofjblog.blogspot.com/

Nikkie Prosperini http://nikkieuntitled.blogspot.com/

Marqueta Stewart http://queta-marqueta.blogspot.com/

Becky VanDyke http://journlit.blogspot.com/

Jill Watkins http://jillsblog-watkins25.blogspot.com/

Caleb Young http://calebyoungspring08.blogspot.com

Çommunications 317 (meda law and ethics)

COMM 317: In class today

Busy day, if we get to half of what I've got planned ...

If you don't have your own blog yet, it's time to start one. We'll take a couple of minutes at the beginning of the hour to do that. Blogger, the website that hosts my class blogs, is relentlessly, determinedly, aggressively user-friendly.

If you have another blog for another of my classes, feel free to use it. I want all of my 300-level masscomm students to have a blog for classwork.

If you don't, there's no better time to start one than now. We have several experienced bloggers in the class who can help you.

Next ... once you've got a blog, you want to post something to it. Right?

(Maybe "want" isn't the word we're looking for? How about "assigned to" or "ordered" or "commanded?" Better?)

Post your thoughts on this issue. Due process of law is one of the fundamental principles of the Anglo-American legal system. It goes back at least as far as Magna Carta in 1215, when King John of England pledged he would not imprison anybody "but [except] by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right." I just Googled ... uh, performed a Google search on ... keywords "due process of law" and got 1.09 million hits, beginning with Wikipedia (By the way, you can use Wikipedia in my classes. In fact I encourage it. Be careful, for all the reasons you've heard in your other classes. But be careful with any information you didn't get by personal obdservation.) Anyway, start today's exercise by doing your own search and reading up on due process.

Next, with that background in mind I want you to answer the following question(s) on your blog: Who was Walter Burgwyn Jones? What kind of a guy was he? What did he do for a living? What did he write? Who was T. Eric Embry? What did he do with something that Jones wrote? What did Jones do in response? Is that surprising? What does it tell you about the climate of public opinion in Alabama during the 1960s? What does it tell you about due process of law? Would King John of England have approved? Try to have some fun with this one. (Yeah. Right.) Post at least 500 to 750 words. Show me how you can write. Show me how you can think.

COMM 317: Facts, law ... and ethics

Here's a Christmas story that also illustrates how the facts and the law of a case can intersect in real life. For practice, read this story in the Los Angeles Times and be ready to answer:

• Which details in the story are statements of fact?
  
• Which details are interpretations of fact?
  
• Which details are statements of law?
  
• Which details are interpretations of law?
  

Some of them, since real life refuses to conform to the neat little categories beloved by journalism teachers, are both. The headline, for example, has elements of both.

Here's how I read it. The first part, "Santa in a G-string," is a statement of fact, right? But the second, "... gets a DUI," has elements of both. It's a fact that Santa -- actually one of Santa's little 280-pound helpers -- was charged with DUI. But the charge is based on an interpretation of a law passed by the California state legislature, which says you're presumed drunk if you blow more than 0.8 on a balloon test.

Now it's your turn. Go through the rest of the story. Which details are fact? Which are law? Why do you say that? Always when I give you exercises like this, I'm just as interested in your reasoning as I am in whether you get the "correct" answer. Post your answers as comments to this blogpost. I'll show you how if it's new to you. Or your classmates can show you how.

Now, here's a kicker.

One of last year's mass media law and ethics students, Jeremy Cook, pointed out the story has some real ethical angles, too. Does Santa's little helper here have a right to privacy? Was it violated by the story? Or do you waive your right to privacy when you show up wearing a G-string and a Santa hat on Christmas Eve in front of one of Hollywood's most heavily visited tourist spots?

One last question. What would Lord Coke, the 17th-century English judge who's quoted at the top of our syllabus, have said about this landmark court case?

COMM 317: It's party time! (legal parties, that is)

Good afternoon, hope you enjoyed your vacation! OK, now that's over with, let's get started --

Here, courtesy of the Arizona Attorney General's Office, is a story we're all familiar with, retold in legal language:

The party of the first part shall hereinafter be referred to as Jack, and the party of the second part shall hereinafter be referred to as Jill.

The parties ascended or caused to be ascended an elevation of undetermined height and degree of slope. Their purpose was to obtain, attain, procure, secure, or otherwise gain access to a receptacle suitable for the transport of a liquid consisting of hydrogen and oxygen.

The proportions of which shall not be greater than nor less than two parts of the first mentioned element and one of the latter. This composition shall hereinafter be called water. On the occasion stated above, it has been established beyond a reasonable doubt that Jack did plunge, tumble, topple, or otherwise was caused to lose his footing in such a manner as to thrust his body in the downward direction.

As a direct and proximate cause of these combined circumstances, Jack suffered fractures and contusions to his cranial region. Jill is said to have fallen after Jack. Whether after is used in the spacial or time passage sense has not been determined.

We're going to use it in class today to study how the parties to a lawsuit fight a case up to the Supreme Court (which is how it gets into the lawbooks). At the end of the hour, you'll know their names (as in plaintiff and defendant, not Jack and Jill). And you'll know what to look for in a legal brief, which is a kind of outline law students use to analyze cases.

But, first, we need to add a couple of things to the story of Jack and Jill. We need a defendant. Let's call him Mr. Hill. His first name? Bill. And we need another fact or two that Jack and Jill can allege when they file the lawsuit. (Whether the facts are true or not is another matter. That's for a jury to decide. But Jack and Jill need to allege Bill Hill did something wrong that caused Jack to fall and break his crown and Jill to come tumbling after.) Let's say Bill maintained the well, and he let big puddles remain at the top of the hill, which made it slippery and caused Jack to fall down. We need Bill Hill's name, because it goes on the case. And we need the stuff about the dangerous puddle, because it gives us a legal issue. To make their lawsuit stick, in other words, Jack and Jill need to prove negligence.

We'll talk about this in class. Here's a link to a handout on How to Brief a Case from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It'll all make more sense after we go through it.

One last thing, and it's legal trivia. When lawyers, and law students, take notes, they use the Greek letter Π (pi) to stand for the plaintiff and Δ (delta) to stand for the defendant. I'm not sure why. It's all Greek to me.

Extra credit! Extra credit! Extra credit! Can you help the Attorney General's Office for the state of Arizona edit its copy? To claim your extra credit points, post a comment to this message explaining how you knew what the mistake was and what you did to verify it.

Should every newspaper journalist journalism student start a blog?

Cross-posted to my mass communications student blogs. -- pe

Answer: Yes.

In fact, in Communications 387 it's required.

We'll take one of our first days of class getting you started.

In the meantime, here's something for you to read. If you have any thoughts of going into print journalism, you really ought to read it anyway. Or if you're thinking about a career in public relations. Or advertising.

Or anything else that involves the written word.

(What am I leaving out?)

Here's an article ... a blog post, really ... by Scott Karp, editor and publisher of a blog called PUBLISHING 2.0: The (r)Evolution of Media. Karp's headline: "Every Newspaper Journalist Should Start a Blog." Kind of answers the question, doesn't it? Here's Karp's take on why:

The news that the San Francisco Chronicle is laying of 25% of its newsroom should be a clarion call to journalists. While most newsrooms aren’t in near-term danger of suffering such extreme bloodletting, the Chronicle is still a canary in a coal mine.

So a blog gives you something to fall back on if you don't have a newspaper job, let along a newspaper blog. (Don't laugh. More and more newspaper writers also blogs. Their blogs, understandably, read like newspaper columns. But it's a start.) Here's Karp again: "Starting a blog means ... Creating a platform for journalism that isn’t dependent on a corporate entity’s financial fortunes."

The trick, as always with the Internet, is figuring out how to make a living at it.

Another warning. Posted by one of Karp's readers:

I would add the caveat that it’s important to inform the publications you are working for about this “personal” blog. Whether it’s fair or not, drawing the lines between the personal and professional is harder — and therefore more important — for journalists, especially if you blog on the same topic in both places.

Of course that's if you already have a newspaper job.

(Important tangent: If you work for a newspaper or most magazines, you do your writing on a "work for hire" basis. That means, to oversimplify it a little, the stuff you write belongs to your publisher. The words may be yours, but they're your poblisher's property: You have to have their permission to have it republished in another market. So you can't copy-and-paste your riveting city council story from The Daily Dribble to your blog without permission. In fact, you should seek permission for any kind of outside work. You don't want to blunder into a conflict of interest.)

In several of my classes, I'm requiring students to blog.

IN COMM 387 (literature and journalism), you'll actually create a blog and post to it. If you started a blog last semester for COMM 317 (advanced journalistic writing), you can continue the same blog. Please email me a link to your blog as soon as you set it up, and let me know your preferred email address if it's not the one you use to email the link. In the next few days, you will receive an email invitation to join this blog comm387spring08 as a co-author. Once I receive all your blog addresses, I will also post a class directory so you can read each other's professional writing for the Internet. For more thoughts on professional writing, read on ... even if you're not taking COMM 317 or 209 this semester.

IN COMM 317 (mass media law and ethics), you will create a blog a little later in the semester. I want all mass communications majors to try their hand at blogging professionally. (This is a little different than the social networking sites you're probably used to. Main difference: You'll be using the blog to develop portfolio pieces you can show prospective employers. They'll be looking at your other pages anyway, so you may as well give them something you want them to look at. Right?

IN COMM 209 (basic newswriting), I will post questions to The Mackerel Wrapper. You will answer them as comments to that post or message. In all of my journalism classes, you should regard yourselves as professional writers. When you post to the Internet, you are in fact publishing your writing. You can use the informality on on-line writing to help develop your own voice. I strongly encourage that. But since it's on line, anything you post for any of my assignments should be stuff you won't mind having future employers see. Believe me: They know how to use search engines, and they will be looking.

COMM 209: First story, back-to-school

Words printed in boldface and marked with an asterisk (or star) I will briefly define at the bottom of the blog post. You should learn them and be able to use them. They're standard buzzwords you'll hear -- or see -- around most newspapers.

Here's your first assignment: write a "back-to-school story" on the beginning of spring semester at Springfield College and Benedictine University. Interview at least three people and quote them in the story. Due at the beginning of class Monday, Jan. 28.

You'll do a better job with these stories if you model them after real-world professional writing. So here are some links. Most of the back-to-school stories on the Web at the moment are from South Africa, where it's late summer and school starts this week. But I did find a story about the first day of spring semester at Jamestown Community College in upstate New York. It's by Alexander Geroud, a reporter for the local Post-Courier newspaper. So we'll start by analyzing it.

Look at the *lede. First a paragraph or *graf that sums it up, lots of people coming back to school, and leads directly into a quote:

1/15/2008 - Jamestown Community College’s parking lots, bookstore, student union and classrooms were full of students Monday as the 2008 spring semester officially started.

‘‘Everything seemed to go smoothly today,’’ said Nelson Garifi, JCC executive director of marketing. ‘‘This is always a day of flux. ... There’s a lot of activity going on.’’

Kreig Elicker, JCC registrar, said the day was busy, but not as bad as the first day of the college’s fall semester when many new students are on campus.

‘‘Busy as usual,’’ Elicker said, when asked how the day had been so far. ‘‘We try and accommodate people. We’ve been pretty busy helping students with adjustments with their schedules.’’

See the pattern for the first four grafs? Summary statement, quote. Summary, quote. This story could have been polished a little, by the way. But don't worry about that. Just look at the way it's put together.

Let's move down in the story and look at another example. By the way, can you read through the lines and see how Geroud reported it? He talks to the officials (probably by phone, by the way, since most real-world reporting is done over the phone). Then he visits the bookstore. Let's follow him.

In the campus store, students searched for books for their upcoming classes. Other students stood in line to purchase textbooks and school supplies. Cindy Guiffreda, director of the campus store, said there were four registers open during the day, and employees were trying to move students through the checkout process as quickly as they could.

‘‘We’ve been very busy today. Usually we’re busy on the second day,’’ Ms. Guiffreda said.

While sitting with a group of friends in the student union, Ashley Adams, Scott Barton and Jaxi Tynan said they were enjoying the opportunity of being able to catch up with old friends and meet new people.

‘‘It feels good to be back with friends,’’ Barton said.

Besides sitting in on the wrong English class, Ms. Tynan, who was starting her first semester at JCC, said everyone on the campus was ready to offer her assistance with any problem.

‘‘It’s my first day,’’ she said. ‘‘Everyone here is really helpful. They’re really nice.’’

Why did she choose JCC?

‘‘My mom kicking me in the butt,’’ Ms. Tynan said. ‘‘Her telling me to get out of the house and do something.’’

See how it's put together. A paragraph of description seguing into transition as he introduces the bookstore manager, then a quote. Look at what comes next: Description, transition, quote. Notice how the transition identifies the person being quoted? See the pattern? Look at the rest of the story: Transition, quote, another transition, another quote.

Think of Mardi Gras beads on a really cheap necklace. Quotes are what give life and interest to a news story. They're like the beads, and they're strung together like beads on the necklace with one or two grafs of summary, description and/or transition in between.

Here's a link to another kind of back-to-school story by staff writer Hendrick Mphande in The Herald, an English-language paper in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He interviews local public figures on what their first day of school was like, but he puts the story together the same way. After a throw-away lede recalling "that traumatic first day of school," Mphande says: "Schools in coastal regions start tomorrow, and parents are bracing themselves for emotional scenes from little ones with tears running down their cheeks, protesting against being entrusted to strangers." And then he strings together quotes from his interviews. Lots of interviews, by the way. Shows initiative. I like that.

Let's look at a few grafs toward the middle of Mphande's story:

Cyclist Anriette Schoeman said she could not help feeling scared on the day her mother took her to a school in Burgersdorp.

“I guess I was overwhelmed by the thought that I was small and going into this big place, coupled with the fact that the teachers looked very strict.”

Schoeman said she quickly made friends with other girls as she had attended a nursery school.

“Parents taking children to school for the first time must assure them it is just the first step to greater things in life,” she said.

The thought of being away from his parents and being taught under a mango tree in Durban proved traumatic for Port Elizabeth businessman Boya Chetty, who just wanted to go home.

“It was such a horrible day for me. I just wanted to go home, but I did not know the way. I really did not enjoy my first day at school, and in those days we were not exposed to early education,” said Chetty.

I love the bit about the mango tree in Durban, a much larger city than Port Elizabeth, but I doubt mangoes are considered exotic there. Still, I like the way Mphande introduces his quotes. Here's another nice one:

Steve Newman, renowned South African guitarist, currently living in Uniondale in the Southern Cape, said: “I remember my first day of school. I was sitting next to a guy who was crying. He became my friend, then I left the school and hooked up with him later when we were about 12 and he started me off playing the guitar. His name was Raymond Yeo.

“My teacher was very nice. I kissed a girl sitting behind me and the other children told the teacher. Then she asked me to give her a kiss as well, so I did. I had to. I thought that was a very good way for her to handle it, rather than making me feel guilty or whatever.”

What's the key here? When you write your stories, use lots of quotes. The main point: News writing isn't just about putting words together. It's about reporting. Without the reporting, you can't do the writing. Never forget that.

Jargon
Lede. Pronounced like it's spelled. It leads the reader into a story. It can be the first graf (see below) in a hard news story, or it can be kind of a "hook" or attention-getter in the first two or three grafs. Newspapering old-timers spelled it that way because "lead" (pronounced like "ledd" or the gray metal) was the graphic designers' word for vertical space (created by using lead shims) in a newspaper story. It kept down confusion.

Graf. Short for paragraph. I don't know why. And I don't know why it's spelled "graf," either (unless it's so a graf isn't confused with a "graph" that gives a graphic representation or facts of figures). You'll hear both of these words used all the time.

Ursulines and formation of a journalist

An inspiring quote I found at JPROF.com, a Web site for journalism teachers and students maintained by journalism prof (hence the name) Jim Stovall of the University of Tennessee.

Stovall has a collection of quotes, and among them is this one from Madeline Blais, who won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing as a reporter for The Miami Herald. She now teaches journalism at UMass-Amherst. I had a momentary shock of recognition when I read:

At Ursuline Academy, Sister Immaculata, my geometry teacher, saw me as a hopeless idler. I can't blame her. I was a terrible math student. She was particularly dismayed to catch me reading a copy of Mary McCarthy's Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood, which I thought I had cleverly inserted inside my geometry text so I could tune into the escapades of all her evil relations while my teacher nattered on about how to measure angles. ... She leaned close, and put her head close to mine. Her lightweight rimless glasses slid down her nose. She smelled like talc and sanctity. She hissed: 'I hope you don't grow up to be like her, to be someone spiteful, someone who' -- dramatic pause -- 'likes to spill the beans.' Of course, when you get an order that explicit and that stifling at a formative age, it's only a matter of time before you decide to do just the opposite.

It wasn't our Ursuline Academy. Stovall is from western Massachusetts, and she wrote a well-regarded memoir about growing up Irish-Catholic there in the 1950s.