COMM 337: Assignment for your 1,000 word analysis on a public affairs reporting piece

One of the four 1,000-word analyses assigned in the COMM 337 syllabus (scroll down to section VI ("Course Requirements"), Section C ("Written Assignments") is a public affairs reporting piece. And there's a really good piece in The New York Times on the mortgage foreclosure case that started the current home mortgage embargo. It's by David Streitfeld, and it's headlined "From a Maine House, a National Foreclosure Freeze."

Please read it, and post your analysis to your blog next week. As you read it, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who did Streitfeld talk to in order to get the story? What details by direct observation did he get on the scene? (b) What details did he get by reading? How many written sources - e.g. court files, books and/or magazines, websites, etc. - did he consult? How long would you guess it took him to get all these details in the story? Was it worth his time? What do the details add to the story?
  
• What did he do to get both sides of the story? Was he successful? Are you satisfied with his explanation why he wasn't? [Oops, I just gave it away!] Does the story seem objective to you?

As you read the story, also be thinking about Donald Murry's "little green book that won't go away" and be sure to discuss these points in your analysis of Streitfeld's story:

• What does Murray mean by "craft?" What do you mean by it? How does "craft" differ from "art?"
  
• What the @#$%!& does that have to do with writing? What does it have to do with reporting?
  
• What is the relationship between the craft of reporting and of writing? To Murray? To you?

Post your analysis to the blog, and email me at peterellertsen-at[spelled out this way here to discourage spammers]-yahoo.com when you do.