In class today
A standard speech story on what I said in class today …
• w/ a lede, a nut graf and at least two direct quotes
• use the “quote kebab” structure.
• Make your writing commercial!
Length: Try for 10 column inches, can be less if it covers the speech in less.
For Monday: Write a 10- to 15-inch feature story on a subject of your choice. Re-read Ch. 6 in Tim Harrower’s “Inside Reporting” before you do, and be ready to write in class how you followed his advice. Specifically. How did the theory in the textbook work out when you did it in practice?
A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.
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About Me
- Pete
- Springfield (Ill.), United States
- I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.
10 comments:
How did the theory in the textbook work out when you did it in practice? - I wrote a news feature about how school is coming to an end for most college students around the world. I talked about different degrees available, and what options there is for students. On page 116 in my book, I liked how he used these four steps: Syntax and Phrasing, Voice and Tense, Detail and Description, and Other Dramatic Techniques. I can admit I didn't read the whole chapter, but I did read certain parts of it that stuck out to me. Write tightly, vary your sentence structure, match your treatment to your topic, don't overdo it, avoid first-person stories, stay objective, either learn shorthand or use a tape recorder, find your choice, and read were also some other things I looked into while writing my news feature. That advice was on page 117 in my book. By reading this whole chapter, you can't go wrong when writing your news feature because it's filled with all kinds of facts and advice n how to write them.
Honestly when I was writing the story I didn't pay much attention to what the book said. I just tried to write the story based on what I took down for notes and went from there. I tried to arrange the story in a "quote-kebab" format with what I thought was most important at the beginning.
i didnt pay much attention to the book when i was writing this story. i used what doc said in class and ran with it. i knew what we needed to have so i didnt pay much attention to the text . i tried to use the inch columns and the quote kebob structure.
I think the book should teach people more on live reporting. When you are on your own, you have to go with the flow. Writing a review is easy compared to being in a news conference. The book should teach people how to take more effective notes once you are out in the real world.
I was doing the assignment for the sleepy weasel and didnt write the story friday, but I have to say I usually just put the stories in the format we talk about in here with nutgraphs and quotoe kebaubs and turn in the stories.
Chapter 6 makes valid points about what to focus on in your writing, how to structure the story and how to make the story compelling to your readers. To me, I feel the most important aspect of news writing is entertaining your audience because they are essentially the ones that matter. The book helped me put more structure and thought in to the story and offered tips such as; checking to see whether or not a story has been done because if it has, theres no point in wasting time when you could be focusing on something else. The book also talks about doing research on the subject matter of the story, and planning your angle accordingly.
I think that the book is boring. When I wrote my paper I didn't really pay attention to the material that was in it. I just wrote a story based off of interviews that I did. I tried to put it in a quote kebab format, but I'm not sure if I succeded or not.
For stories like the one we wrote in class last week, i think its important to not get caught up on the details that arent necessarily important to the story that you showed up to get. Also, when interviewing someone its important to try and get useful quotes to use quote kebaubs in your written story. I'd say a good a writer needs to go to a press conference, knowing what information they need to take down so that their story is accurate and readable to readers
When writing my story I looked to the top right corner of page 117 in my book. It says to write tightly, so I kept it short but simple. The page also said don't overdo it, so I didn't try and use fancy words. Once again just kept it simple. I didn't exactly keep it objective. I didn't use the first person aspect but my first person experience of the CAAP testing.
I tried to use the gray sample story structure on page 120 when writing my story. I tried to make sure my voice and tense and details were all hand in hand, and that my story was beyond being "just newsworthy".
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