COMM 209: Basic Newswriting
Spring Semester – May 8, 2009
Final Exam
Question 1. Write a story (50 points). During our last class period at noon Friday, May 1, the university’s annual SpringFest will be held in Angela Hall. Your assignment: Write a color story about the event in modified inverted pyramid newspaper style. Length: at least 750 to 1,000 words. Quote at least three sources. Organize it with a narrative lede, a nut graf that sums up your overall impression of the event and pertinent detail including quotes and description in the body of the story.
Question 2A. Self-reflective essay (25 points). How has your perception of yourself as a writer changed as a result of what we have studied in COMM 209? What was your overall sense of your writing before you took the course? How has that changed as a result of your reading, class discussion and the stories you wrote? How much have you used what you learned in COMM 209 in your other writing? Consider it in the context of what you knew at the beginning of the semester and what you know now. In grading this essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course (which are listed in the syllabus); the detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the connections you make. Be specific.
Question 2B. News value (25 points). Attached to this exam is a story from Monday’s Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa. Evaluate it in terms of the elements of news value outlined by Tim Harrower in “Inside Reporting,” by Ken Blake of Middle Tennessee State University or any other standard reference. Be specific: How do specific elements of news value correspond to specific angles in the story?
The Quad-City Times, Davenport, Iowa.
[Link here to read the original story on the Quad-City Times' website.]
MAKING HISTORY IN IOWA
19 same-sex couples get marriage licenses in Scott County
Ed Tibbetts Posted: Monday, April 27, 2009 8:00 pm
History was made here Monday. It just looked rather ordinary.
By the end of the day, 19 same-sex couples got marriage licenses at the Scott County Recorder’s Office, the first day they could do so since the state Supreme Court overturned Iowa’s ban on gay marriage three weeks ago.
Yet, for all the uncertainty about what the day would bring, the fifth floor of the Scott County Admininstrative Center appeared as it usually does — except for the phalanx of reporters and photographers.
There weren’t the kind of wedding parties, complete with rice and champagne, that were seen in other states on the first day same-sex marriage licenses were handed out there.
There were no loud protests. No long lines out the door.
There were, simply, pairs of same-sex couples trickling into the building throughout the day. They made their application, then left with their licenses.
For Rich Hendricks, a 50-year-old pastor from Davenport, who got the first one, it was a moment of joy.
“It means equality,” he said.
The first couple to get a license together were Tearese Bomar, 22, and Shamera Page, 27, of Davenport. The two had hoped to get married Monday but had their waiver request denied by Scott County District Judge James Kelley.
Iowa law requires that a couple wait three days after getting a license to be married.
The pair’s application for a waiver did not offer the kind of “extraordinary circumstances” required, however, Scott County Recorder Rita Vargas said.
The two had simply said they waited for three years to get married and didn’t want to wait any longer, Vargas said.
The rejection didn’t bother Bomar. The two plan to be married later in the week.
“We waited three years,” she said. “We can wait three more days.”
The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriage makes Iowa only the third state to do so. It’s the first in the Midwest.
Critics of the decision tried in the closing days of the legislative session to get Gov. Chet Culver to issue an executive order stopping the decision from going into effect. Culver’s office said he didn’t have the power.
Also, opponents of gay marriage urged people to take petitions to county recorders asking them not to issue licenses. Vargas said she had received a half-dozen petitions by Monday with 97 signatures in all.
“I understand how they may feel, but I can’t pick and choose which laws I can ignore and which ones I can observe,” she said.
Other recorders in the Quad-City area also reported getting a small number of applications. Clinton County had two, and Cedar and Jackson counties each got one application from same-sex couples.
Representatives of One Iowa, the advocacy group, was on hand in the Quad-Cities, giving out bouquets to the couples.
The group had people at three dozen courthouses, according to a representative.
A woman who wasn’t affilliated with One Iowa also dropped off a bouquet, and two women briefly appeared in the administrative center’s parking lot selling T-shirts reading, “Iowa I do.”
There was little sign of protest at the building, although a sheriff’s deputy was posted on the fifth floor as a precaution.
There was little sign of protest at the building, although a sheriff’s deputy was posted on the fifth floor as a precaution.
The only demonstrator as of midday was a man who stationed himself at 4th and Gaines streets, holding a sign deploring homosexuality.
“Man can make all the laws they want and write all the licenses they want. But God’s law stands above man eternally. It always has. Every nation, society that’s decided sodomy is OK, fell shortly thereafter,” said Doug Mott, of Davenport.
Mott said the people who are opposed to the ruling but weren’t out protesting with him should be “ashamed” of themselves.
Some critics of the decision have said their resources are better spent seeking a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.
For the most part, the couples appearing in Scott County were Iowans. But two Rock Island men, Curtis Harris, 50, and Daren Adkisson, 39, got a license Monday, too.
Iowa does not have a residency requirement for a marriage license.
Iowa does not have a residency requirement for a marriage license.
Even though they won’t be recognized by their home state as married because Illinois doesn’t allow same-sex marriages, Harris said they will see themselves as married when they are joined next Sunday.
They said they hope other states do as Iowa has.
“We’re just like everybody else,” Adkisson said. “It’s just fair.”
While all the attention was paid to the same-sex couples getting licenses, there also were heterosexual couples seeking to marry Monday, too.
The first couple at the counter, in fact, were a man and woman seeking a license. There were nine such couples Monday.
There are several same-sex marriages planned for Sunday and Monday at Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad-Cities, including more than a dozen couples who are from the Minneapolis area.
The weddings will be historic, although not the first.
There was a short period in 2007, when a Polk County judge ruled against the state ban, prompting some couples to go to the state capital and get a license.
Only one couple, Sean and Tim McQuillan, were married before the judge stayed the decision. Sean McQuillan is a native of Bettendorf.
They said a few weeks ago, after the court’s decision, they are happy to be joined by others.
Posted in Government-and-politics, Iowa, Local on Monday, April 27, 2009 8:00 pm Updated: 10:23 am. Tags: Marriage License, Recorder's Office, Same-sex Marriage License, Iowa Supreme Court,
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