COMM 209: In class Monday

Welcome back from spring break ... today we're going to write a story.

In class.

On deadline.

Here's how it'll work. I will deliver a few well chosen remarks on the aphorism by Ben Bagdikian, "Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach's St. Matthew Passion on a ukulele: The instrument is too crude for the work, for the audience and for the performer." And I'll play you some sound clips from YouTube. They're linked below, in the March 16 post headlined "First-rate newspapering on a ukulele?"

Then I'll open the floor to questions. It will be your job to get a three- or four-graf story out of it and write it up in the remainder of the class period. So listen up and take notes. Use a blind summary lede and follow the "quote-kabob" format we talked about in class when we were covering Chapter 3.

If you want, we can talk our way through the story first. You can pair up and follow these steps: (1) figure out your summary lede and dictate it to me while I type it into Microsoft Word and project it on the screen; (2) then select a good quote that goes with the summary lede, and dictate it to me; (3) decide what comes next, and find a quote to go with it; and (4) keep repeating step 3 until you run out of quotes. But if people aren't paying attention or if discussion lags I will assume you'd rather write the story. Understood?