Shahk Attak lead

The shark that allegedly killed two people was caught and killed by fishermen on July 3 according to Police Chief Martin Brody. Fishermen caught the shark one mile south of Amity Island.
     The fishermen will receive their $3,000 reward, as promised.
     Though Brody seemed relieved in his press release on July 4, he also said that Islanders should not be surprised to see shark spotter from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI, and numerous local and municipal county police agencies in the waters off the beaches.
     "They are simply a safety precaution that we hope will put our visitors at ease," Brody said.

More on the Shahk Attax

In a crowded courtroom, Amity Island officials and local towns people argued over recent events on the beaches, where a young woman and little boy were killed at separate times yesterday.
      Local authorities claim it could be due to a shark attack, and are thinking of ways to prevent further attacks.
     In the courtroom, Police Deputy Martin Brody calmly discussed ways to protect Amitians from the sharks. Shark spotters on the beaches, lifeguards--extra precautions everywhere.
     "Are you going to close the beaches?" one courtroom-goer asked. When the woman finished her question, the rest of the locals erupted in agreement, agitated.
     Silence ensued as Brody waited to drop the anchor.
     Brody finally answered. "Yes we are," he said.
     The locals erupted again, this time in rants. Single words from anyone were indistinguishable.
     Alone next to a chalk board, Ben Quint drew his fingernails down the surface of it. With the screech, he drew all eyes to himself and silence victored the room once again.
     "You all know what I do for a living," Quint began.
      Quint proposed that for $10,000, he would find the shark and kill it. By himself.
      No one argued against Quint, and officials said they would take his offer into consideration.
      There are no further updates at this time.

To outline? Ask questions.

So as I'm writing my article at 2:45 this morning because I procrastinated for a while, I would like to say that to organize my thoughts quickly and efficiently, I put into practice what I've already been taught.

I asked questions.

I'm working on a story for the Northern Pass Project. I still don't understand what hydro power is. I couldn't tell you a lot about the project. But I have to because I'm a reporter. So instead of my usual outline, I decided to listen to my teacher to format the story before I wrote it.

Here is my un-detailed outline, the one I started with:

1. What is it?
2. Why are people against it?
3. Why are people for it?
4. What do we have now? (In terms of power)
5. So do we need it?
6. How much will it cost?
7. The plan is rejected right now -- but only as it's proposed (both opposing sides agree).
8. End with a killer quote.

*This was my backbone outline. After this one, I number another column and put down names or ideas next to the numbers that correlate, just to get a better glue for all the information I've had floating around in my brain for 3 weeks.*

If you couldn't tell, I'm writing an issues story. These are important questions that I wanted to know as a reader. To outline, I became a reader again, not a reporter. And I have to say that even though I'm still awake writing this article, I feel fairly comfortable that the flow and direction of my article is logical and well-done.

Is it perfect? No way, Jose!

But it's a start. I feel more comfortable with that system than with some of my other ways of getting ready to write. And it kinda works out since it's basically a more in-depth look at the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY HOW questions, so I can't forget it!

Disclaimer: I did not start this article at 2:45 in the morning, don't worry! I started many an hour ago, but as I'm finishing up, I felt that a light-hearted blog post might be a refreshing break.

A Tolkien Ending

The end of News Writing I feels like one of Tolkien's famous endings. Each time you think it's gunna end, it doesn't. And when it finally does end, it doesn't seem like it's really over.

I know we haven't dawned the final day of News Writing I yet. One last 2 hour-sesh is over yonder. But even the end of News Writing I isn't the end. I think in a lot of ways, the class changed my entire second-semester experience. I see the world differently. I see people differently.

I can see that every single person has a story inside them. I can see that by asking the right questions, you can get a lot out of a person, too. And I can also see that people are just waiting to share their experiences because pretty much everyone thinks they have something valuable to contribute to the world. And I haven't been let down since.

So what do I mean by a Tolkien ending in News Writing?

Well, it's pretty simple. We're at the end of a class that's shaped my viewpoints and my experiences. But a lot of us will advance to the next news writing class. Some of us will take even more journalism classes. Some of us will sit around a staff meeting at TNH one day. No matter what, though, we can't think of newswriting the same anymore.

So even though it feels like an ending, the doors are just being opened. I wish the doors were opening to Rivendell, but I guess I'll settle for the real world.

Embarrassing Interview Moment

I had an interview with a Ph.D. this morning. His name is Tom Ballestero. He knows all sorts of things about fluid mechanics, water flow, storm water, etc. So in other words, he's smart. We scheduled a phone interview for sometime before 8 AM this morning.

I set my alarm for 7:15. I hit my alarm clock, zombied over to the bathroom, brushed my bed-head out of my face, and pretended I was happy about this interview.

By 7:30 (I don't know where the 15 minutes went, I really don't) I was downstairs in the main lounge of my building. Pajamas on, bed head fairly tamed. Morning breath. Mhmmmmm.

I was on the couch. I had my laptop pulled up, my voice recorder ready. Tom's number was dialing on the my cellphone, which was on speaker. Tears were welling up in my eyes with another yawn. I pretended I wasn't tired.

A nice, calm voice answered the phone. It was pleasant sounding. Rested. I was envious.

I couldn't remember if I should call him Tom, Dr. Ballestero, or Mr. Ballestero. Or even just sir, would have worked, I suppose. I rattled my brain for the best one. I couldn't find it.

Thus, in my morning-clumsy, I dawned stupidity.

"Hi, um, oh, I'm sorry. Is this Catie Hall?" I said.

My heart skipped. Did I really just...? I realized my mistake as soon as I said it. You know, I just want to make a good impression with these brilliant minds I have to talk to. And instead, I has the dumb.

He laughed heartily. "No, you're Catie Hall!"

Thank God the man has a sense of humor.

Struggles with deadlines and TNH

So I picked up a story yesterday that was due last night. Yes, I had less than 8 hours to collect information and interviews. I had a few hours to write down the important stuff. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

For the first time since beginning News Writing I, I really felt the pressure of deadlines. I mean, okay, I've struggled to finish before. But this was different. I had to treat this as if it was breaking news, which it wasn't.

(You can read my story here.)

I felt pretty good about my story last night. I figured I had done a pretty good job under all the time constraints and talking to band managers, researching online, outlining an article, interviewing a band member, emailing NV Concepts founder, and reading a press release, and emailing back and forth with the Whittemore Center.

And I guess the reason for this post is because editors + deadlines + stress + tiredness = not a great story no matter how great I think it might be. 

Scrolling through the online version of my article today, it didn't look the same as the one I typed up. The lead is different, some paragraphs are moved around, the ending quote is moved further up leaving a different one at the bottom. I liked some of the TNH editors'...edits. But there were some that I just didn't think were that appropriate.

Now mind you, I love the editors. I think they do a great job. I'm happy to have the feedback. But to submit one thing and see something very different the next day -- it's almost like a slap in the face.

I guess all I would appreciate is maybe an email saying, hey, good job, we know you were under time constraints. We changed a bit more than usual out of the best interest for the paper. That woulda worked for me.

There were some things I think the TNH editors did way better for that article than what I could have done. Obviously. And I didn't have time to edit that much. But I still think that some things weren't necessary changes, and some words that they changed were stylistic changes that matched their writing more than my own.

For example, someone changed my sentence from a press release. The statement said that DJ Kap Slap had close connections with Lexington, Mass. I didn't have time to research where he was from, so I kept that general idea and then quoted him underneath. TNH changed it to: He hails from Lexington, Mass. I wouldn't say that, nor do I know if that's true. 

Do I have a right to be mad at TNH? Of course not. They asked for a story, and I gave them one. But I do think a heads up that the article would look different the next day would be courteous.

Jaws 2

Alex Kintner, 10, died one hour ago while playing with friends in the water off Village Beach. Floating on a yellow raft in the ocean, he was killed during a vicious and unprovoked shark attack. 
   No other deaths occurred in that hour. 
   Around 2 P.M., the attack occurred while other children and adults were playing in the water as well. Kintner was the only one a raft. After the attack, beach-viewers stood up and started to point where Kintner's raft was. Children close to the floating blood in the water started to scream. 
   Police Deputy Jay Hendricks ran to the shoreline as parents and adults pulled children out of the water. While everyone stood ashore, Kintner's mother, Marion Kintner, called out for him. His yellow raft washed up with his blood. 
   According to witnesses and the chief of police, Kintner's damaged raft appeared to have a large bite taken out of it. It was no longer a floating device when it washed up on shore, but a ruined piece of flexible plastic. 
   Currently, Marion Kintner is being being treated for shock at Amity General Hospital, where she is in fair condition.
    Police Chief Martin Brody said in a press release that the two deaths this morning could be linked. 
    "We now believe that it may be possible that the Watson death could also maybe have possibly been linked to possible shark activities in the vicinity of Amity," Brody said. "That investigation is ongoing." 

Dundundun - Jaws.

Chrissie Watson, 17-year-old Amity Island native, was found mangled on South Beach after last seen alive the night before. An autopsy is underway, though police are unsure what caused Watson's death.
    Watson was last seen around 11 P.M. on Sunday, July 1 leaving a beach party on South Beach with Christopher P. Hoggenbottam III. Hoggenbottam is a former resident of the island and is a sophomore at Trinity College.
   "Police investigators also learned from witnesses that both teenagers had been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana during the evening," said Amity Police Chief Martin Brody in a press release.
    Hoggenbottam called police at 6 A.M. this morning to report that Watson went swimming at a remote section of South Beach near the South Beach Shoal bell buoy on Sunday night. Hoggenbottam did not see her again.
    Hoggenbottam did not say whether or not he joined Watson in the water.
   After Hoggenbottam's call, Police Deputy Jay Hendricks did a brief search and found Watson's body on the shore. Her body was severely mauled, but according to Brody, no one knows why.
    Watson's body was transported to the the coroner's office for autopsy. No charges have been filed in the case. Police continue their investigation.
    Despite not being sure of the cause of death, the press release does not rule out a possible shark attack.
    Watson was a member of the varsity swim team during her senior at Amity High School. She was also a lifeguard at the Amity Island YMCA pool in Oak Bluffs. Weather conditions for Sunday night were reported at 72 degrees F, and the seas were calm. According to the press release, winds were out of the south at about 3 knots.
   In the press release, Brody wanted to reassure residents that the waters are still safe for swimming.
   "Though a shark attack has not been completely ruled out, we want to assure all residents and visitors on our fine island that they are in no danger," Brody said. "Our lovely beaches will remain open for swimming pending the outcome of the investigation."

People Are Good

Internet research is great for background. But nothing takes the front seat like asking humans--in person--for help.

During the recent scavenger hunt that we did in News Writing, I was reminded that people like to help when they can. Even for a basic scavenger hunt for a journalism class -- no one asked why we were trying so hard, or why it mattered to us to get the answers.

People just helped. Because people are good and because they have answers.

Teammate Brittany Schaefer and I took on 3 questions. We asked our other group members to pick the other questions to work on. Brittany and I speed-walked throughout the questions. We guessed, we took chances. We had to solve riddles and ask our own questions to find the answers we were looking for.

The most useful thing I've learned in this class so far is that human help is unparalleled. We went to the T-Hall office and the receptionist gave us the number to the man in charge of the bell. I called him immediately, slightly nervous, had a mini-interview, and hung up.

He was kind, helpful, and resourceful. That segment of the hunt took less than 5 minutes. Looking for the wind tunnel, we asked a receptionist in the geology building to help us figure out the riddle. She and a colleague pointed us in the right direction. I also popped the Internet open on my smart phone.

For the last question, someone in the geology building also pointed us to the only climatologist on campus. I looked her up, found the building she was in, and Brittany and I walked over there. The receptionist there asked us if we were doing the scavenger hunt.

Because we went out and asked people for help and worked together, our group got all the answers and in good time. It was fun, exhilarating, and eye-opening to see how good people can be.

3 articles, 1 week

Hi.

I'm a little stressed out.

So I did a story on a three-legged dog on Monday. Then I picked up the crime story on Seth Mazzaglia's indictment due Thursday. Then, Adam posted to the TNH group on Facebook that he needed extra stories because TNH content was low this week. I remembered a story I never gave to TNH from the beginning of the semester because it wasn't that good.

So I handed that in several hours after I passed in my Seth Mazzaglia story.

Know what I've learned? That the only reason I could do that was 'cause it was supposed to happen like that. I didn't force my way into those stories. I did my dog story, the only planned one for the week. The rest fell into place, like it was meant to be. Divine intervention, I call it.

I picked one other story cause TNH was in need. The other one was just a random thing I re-edited and passed in months after I did the story.

So this week, I've had three stories in the TNH paper. The random gluten-free article that I passed in at 10 PM last night got re-tweeted by a gluten-free movement on Twitter that I didn't even know about. People loved hearing about my dog story. Someone favorited it on Twitter.

I definitely don't acclaim it to my writing skills. I know I could use a lot of work as a writer. For my crime story, I was miserable. I had no idea how to write that thing and make it sound, I dunno, not like a police report. I emailed it to the TNH editors and I apologized. "Sorry this story is a mess guys. I had no idea what else to do with it."

Corinne Holroyd said she really liked it, and that she only changed two minor things.

I just feel humbled by the experiences I've gotten to encounter through TNH and News writing I. Where else would I have the chance to step out of my comfort zone and talk to amazing strangers all the time? Why else would I have a phone number to the Strafford County Superior Court in my iPhone?

I am also wondering where all the time went. At the beginning of the semester, Sandy said I could be good at news writing. But my first stories, the ungraded ones, were pretty bad. The gluten-free article I told you about -- yeah, I reread that last night to pass in, and I cringed.

Then Justin Doubleday was telling me about the applications for TNH and how they were due March 31. Then he reminded me in an email to pass in my application. And all of a sudden, I'm a staff-writer with at least 5 articles that I've written that made it to the front page? Yeah right. Even with physical proof, it feels more like an out-of-body experience than something actually happening to me.

So because I'm Catholic, I attribute my success to God. And thus, I can say with confidence: Graces from God, hard work, and a desire to produce quality. That's what got me where I am, and I still have a long way to go.

Pre-Chris Outcalt

I think I came up with a pretty cool way of organizing information before taking Chris Outcalt's method of blocking.

1) To start, obviously look over all your notes. Write next to them what kind of category they fit in, such as: personality, disease, aftermath, etc. Highlight, scribble, and circle. Helps.

2) After you've done that, notice the kinds of categories you've got. Take out a blank piece of paper and list all the major themes you've gone through. Little details are okay, too. For my most recent story about a 3-legged dog, I put a bunch of random things under Themes: how he interacts with people, Demeritt mascot, disease limitations, owner, etc.

3) After you've got a list (it should be pretty long) and you've scribbled down notes and ideas and maybe quote ideas next to some of the themes, notice which themes seem most important. Which sections have the bulk of the information? -- That's where your story is.

4) Look through the theme list and pick out the most important information that the reader should really know. The rest is fluff.

5) When you've come up with that condensed list of what your story is about, then you're ready to block it and organize it, Chris-Outcalt style.

Maybe this will work, maybe it won't. I'm trying it for the first time right now; so far I really like it and it's giving me a very clear head about what I need to do and what I don't need at all. As you prolly know -- I'm a little wordy sometimes.

How to handle anonymity by the pros

I've had a story where someone didn't want to be quoted because they weren't sure if they had permission from their company to talk to me. They didn't know what to do. They were nervous and I ended up not using their information because I didn't know how to handle it.

I think I saw the perfect way to handle the anonymity.

On the breaking news MIT shooting, an FBI agent wanted to remain anonymous:
 “We are aware of the situation, we are being involved, and we are monitoring,” said an FBI representative who requested anonymity because of not being authorized to speak publicly. The FBI source said early Friday it is “too early to speculate” on a relation to the Marathon bombing.

I think that's a really professional way to handle it. Does it sound perfect to me? No, not really. I think it's slightly awkward. But that's a cool thing about news writing. It can be written weirdly and still be kickass. In fact, let it be a little weird, a little broken from the status quo once in a while. 

Makes life interesting right?

And on another note - all this Boston breaking news. 711 robbed next to MIT CAMPUS. MIT officer down. Marathon runners with scattered body parts. Blue flashing lights everywhere.

It's Pandemonium. 

I'm watching the news at 513 AM. I've got my twitter open. One suspect is dead. No one is releasing names. It doesn't feel safe in the world today, with tragedy so close to home. 

I was in Boston on Easter weekend. I walked up and down Boylston St. I walked over the Smoot bridge to MIT. I took pictures in front of MIT and even got to walk inside.

I had no idea that only weeks later, hell would explode onto the streets and disrupt daily life.  

Personal Crises In the Midst of Interview Mayhem

I've worked a couple of interesting jobs, right? I've been a waitress, a camera-woman, a sales associate, (most recently) a staff writer for TNH, and various other volunteery things.

If there's anything I've learned from these experiences, it's that keeping emotions in check is a pretty important aspect of a job. You know, people want professionalism. I do, too. It's a lot harder to do than I thought it would be.

My first job as waitress, I was recently hired when my grandfather died, my boyfriend and I were in the pre-break up stage, and my mother was going through radiation treatments for breast cancer. You could say I tried to hold back a few tears when I was waiting for the bartender to give me my order so I could serve my tables.

You could also say I've had a few nights of no-way-do-I-want-to-be-here-syndrome.

It's a little different as a journalist, I'm learning.

This morning I was dealing with a bit of a personal crisis. I didn't know about my health status. I had to set up a doctor's appointment -- with the idea in my head that I have a week's worth of interviews and research to do -- and not a lot to go on for those.

I was in one of those let's-just-panic-and-not-schedule-interview moods. It hasn't happened before. It was a little frightening. I mean, come on, of course I still did what I had to. I called people, I even walked around looking for sources.

For some reason, it's just different with interviews. In retail or as a waitress or my volunteer places, it's more structured. I know when the job starts and when it ends. Journalism doesn't really have either, does it? That's what makes it hard. And at other jobs, you can mope around with your friends and fake it for customers, but that one-on-one interview with no friends around...it's a different kind of challenge.

So I can go into panic mode if I really want to, but then I can't function. In journalism, I have to revolve my life around interviews. There is no start and end to the day, really. I've emailed people at 10 P.M. on a weekend and they've responded within the hour to set something up.

I guess this rant is simply to highlight that crises don't take a break just because I have tons of other stuff to do. And I'm okay, journalism is pretty sweet even when I'm not feelin' it, and the world keeps turnin'.  Learnin' new things everyday!

Escape of the Fluffy!

A rare Romanian Leopard was reported dangerous and missing from the Durham Zoo this morning when visitors arrived at 9:30.
      She's the only female of her kind in existence. And no one knows how she got out.
      Kitty Smith, the zoo's chief zoologist, said in a press conference that Fluffy is well-loved in the confines of the zoo, but is "extremely dangerous."
     "Fluffy is a wonderful, warm, gentle cat who has never hurt anyone," Smith said. "But if these cats are cornered -- or encountered on a dark night or in a dark alley - their defense is to kill, and to kill quickly."
    Gerry Durrell, zoo director, said his feeding team noticed Fluffy's absence immediately.
    "When we opened the zoo at 9:30 this morning and began feeding the animals, we immediatedly noticed Fluffy was missing," Durrell said. "Everything about her cage seemed normal."
    Durrell said Fluffy was last seen in her cage at 9 P.M. Sunday night when the zoo closed.
    James Petronkis had a different take on how the events unfolded. He said he was the first to notice Fluffy wasn't in her cage.
    "Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage," Petronkis said. "Then I knew something was wrong right away. Fluffy usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest."
    When Petronkis went to tell guards his observations, he said they ignored him. Half an hour later, Petronkis pulled a fire alarm to get their attention.
    "This time they checked the cage and all hell broke loose," Petronkis said. "Police cars came from every direction and within minutes they were roughly pushing visitors to the exists."
    The priceless animal could be wandering anywhere. Smith told reporters that Fluffy is a 10-year-old Romanian spotted leopard that has been at the zoo for five years. Fluffy weighs 146 pounds, can run 60 miles an hour, and has a carnivorous diet. She eats three chickens everyday.
    Smith teared up. She said the zoo misses Fluffy and they want her back.
    Though Fluffy's cage is alarmed, no alarm sounded during the night.
    Search efforts are now underway. After rushing to get visitors out of the zoo, zoo workers are searching the grounds for the black leopard with white spots. The immediacy is to find Fluffy before 2 P.M. -- before children get out of school.
   Police Chief William Blair outlined the search for Fluffy. If possible, he said, they would shoot Fluffy with a tranquilizer. If necessary, Fluffy will be shot to death.
    Blair said that if they do not find Fluffy during the day, it is going to be a very messy night.
    "These cats are nearly impossible to find in the dark - they can see everything, and we are blind," Blair said. "We have asked the New Hampshire State Police and the state Wildlife Department to help in the search. In addition, the National Guard will be supplying five helicopters with infrared sensors."
    Blair said that they are going to find the cat if it kills them.
   

Opinions?

I was reading the Opinion section of B-Globe the other day. Something about finances or military. Who-knows-what. The news can be such a blur.
   Well, I was reading the column on my iPhone. I am a new user of the iPhone.
   So I didn't really know how to tell which section I was in.

   And do I dare to say that I haven't ventured into the opinion section of newspapers before?

   Well, I'm an ignoramus when it comes to peoples' opinions, especially in the media. I immediately assume what they say to be true.

   But not so often anymore, as a journalist!
   Upon reading this article, I wondered where the author was getting some of his facts. I didn't understand. His statements were pretty bold, yet agreeable.

   When I logged onto my computer later to view it again, I noticed the Opinion heading. All of a sudden, the world made too much sense.

   And so I realized that I don't care for the Opinion section much. Maybe you're wondering why, since I've rambled thus far and you're still reading. So I guess I'll tell you.

  I don't like it because I don't want to believe what isn't factual. Isn't there enough loud opinion out in the world today? Bias leaks into every corner. It seeps into our media without us being aware. It's carbon monoxide for the intellect.

  And I believe it too quickly. Thank goodness for age--because without it, I would never have shed my childhood naivety.

  Either way, I did find two opinion articles I really enjoyed. Perhaps it's my own bias seeping into my blog. I like these people -- my TNH friends that I've written for several times this semester. Their writing is mesmerizing. I wish I had known them longer so I could have read more of their work!

   Justin Doubleday's farewell article. http://www.tnhonline.com/opinion/farewell-column-remembering-a-great-four-years-1.3026920#.UWuOmaUntUQ

  And Emily Hoyt's: http://www.tnhonline.com/opinion/farewell-column-welcoming-the-winds-of-change-1.3026912#.UWuOvaUntUQ

  I realize that as they are leaving and they are seniors and they have already played the news writing game and were editors, they have more free reign with their writing. Also, it's an opinion article. But dang, wouldn't it be cool if every news story was written like that?

"Don't Write that Down"

I was sitting in a meeting today. It was for the dining hall. Student senate members, regular students, and dining hall area managers sat around a catered lunch in the lamprey room.

   There was joking about bringing alcohol into the dining halls. 

    "That's what stillings does on Friday nights," one of the area managers laughed. 

    The room was full of people buzzing with laughter and light-hearted comments. The moment was perfect. I love those moments in a story when I can really capture my characters' personalities. 

   I love getting to know the people I'm around more-so than the issue/meeting/topic I have to write about. 

   So, I'm scribbling down these alcohol comments. I figure, in my story I'll write about how they were funny. The room was full of joking. I don't even know the name of the kid who started it all. 

   But as I'm writing, looking down, I hear, "Don't write that down."

  I look up and see the white-shirt-kid (and I've labeled him in my notes as such)--the one who started it all. He faces me. Compared to all the people in the room, his serious demeanor is out of place. 

   When a person tells me not to write something down, am I supposed to listen?

   

    Taken off guard, I scribbled out my notes that were incomplete anyway. My face burns a light red. I keep shifting my eyes. No one else noticed. So why did it happen? Why didn't he want me to talk about this? Is it because it seems unprofessional? 

    This is college. C'mon.

    

    I might not know the answer to this question yet, but I do have something that whitey doesn't know about. A fully recorded audio that I can revert back to until I dispose of it. 

   To expose or not to expose -- that is the question.

Common problem? Anybody else a little wordy?

Making the word count used to be hard. Ah, the good days. When I didn't get enough from my interviews and I didn't (apparently) understand the concept of researching, I had little problem making the word count that was set for me.
   600 words? Sure. Why not? I'll try it.
   800, okay. Not bad. I can probably do it. I'm a wordy person in general.
   You see some articles in the paper that are miles long, you know? And you just wonder, how the hell do they talk about stuff for that long?
   Well, I don't know, I guess I musta figured it out because here I am, writing another 1000+ word story for TNH.
 
    I know.

    Conciseness has never been my strong point. I listen to audio recordings of my interviews, and I wonder if I really say um that much. But clearly I do.
    So I try to be concise in my articles. Cool, I think I'm doing an okay job. Everything could use a little improvement, right?

    But the conciseness of the information still evades me like hand grasping at wind!

    There are so many questions I realized I need to know about journalism. So many. I want to know why we didn't go over more in class. I think the writing exercises help, I really do. But then you've got time going by and instead of learning how-to, I'm only learning to do. Just write.
   So here are some things I want to know. Mkay?

+ To what extent do I explain quotes? Do I always need to open and close them? How stupid do I assume my readers are?

+ When I've got a story that's well over 1000 words already, do I go back and throw in some detailed descriptions? Is it okay to say that Tim showed up to our most prestigious interview in sweatpants? Is it okay to talk about the gold cross that hangs around Chris White's neck when the story bears no relation to religion?

+ How can I tell what an issue story is? Around this riveting city, the issues aren't many, and when they do pop up, another writer is already writing it by the time I've thought of the idea.

Those are my questions. I want to get some straight answers so that next time I write, I can feel like I did it right.
 

5% Salary Giveback

What the news does always surprises me: it gives more than one side, it can be very fair, and it shows me things I sometimes ignore or wouldn't see otherwise.
    The Boston Globe is notorious for this.
    I can't believe that whenever I turn on the news or plug-in to an article, I hear about something I never would have dreamed of.
   I hear about sides to a story I couldn't have guessed on my own.

   For the past two years, I've thought a lot about University budget cuts and economic budget cuts within the nation. I kept wondering, why don't the leaders just cut some of their salary? They don't need all that. It could at least get us started.

   So what did B-Globe do?
   It put out this headline.

 

Obama will give back 5% of salary

   Yep. Thank you journalism! You constantly show me the different sides. I don't understand why people think journalism will fade out with the newspapers anymore. I used to be one of those skeptics. Will journalism meet its maker? 

  And the answer is no. Because there is just too much ignorance in the American people without a journalistic media to convey what's happening from the higher-ups and the lower-downs of whatever we are. 

   Again, thank you journalism. 

Hardcopies not outdated!

So the only time I find I'm any good at editing is when I print my stories, read them out loud, scribble over them in multi-colored ink, and then print them again to repeat.
    Justin Doubleday, the editor at TNH, printed my Randy Pierce story. I didn't remember most of the changes I made so I was reading through it and I thought, wow, he changed a lot.
   Going through and editing the story tonight so that I can pass it in tomorrow, I realized that Doubleday only changed a few small things!
   So what happened?
   Well, the night the article was due, I was definitely on a time crunch. I didn't have time to print it out and scribble all over it. I had to read it off the screen silently while my boyfriend read the printed copy. Time got shorter and shorter. My heartbeat was as loud as the second-hand on my watch.
   I finally made my changes online and submitted it with about 15 minutes left before my news writing conference.
   When I went back to the article, I didn't recognize the edits because I didn't print out the story. Ha.

   Life is comical.

Feeling the pressure

I have to confess: I'm starting to feel the pressure. This past week, I was working on two stories at once. And I could definitely tell the difference between the stories.
    As an ignoramus, I thought that I was supposed to love every article I wrote. Not the case. I love writing. I don't always love what I have to talk about.
    So I write well to write well. I write well to report the necessary information, and I write well (or try to) for a good grade in my class.
    That's what I did for my Marc Ellis paper--my first story this week. I wrote a news story, and I did my best to write it well, though I hated it in the end. I was majorly interested in the topic, but when it was done it was done and that was that.
    But I feel a different pressure now. Because I have TONS of information right here. I could right a book on this guy. And to be honest, I want to. But I'm limited to 1500 words or less.
   1500. 1-5-0-0.
   The weirdest part of this is the new kind of pressure I feel. Yes, I'm writing about news. Randy Pierce is in the news. But I want to write this well not for a grade and not to do his story justice (because every one else has already done that) but because he and his mission deserve my very best.

   The pressure's on because I know I can't deliver the way I want to. Because his message and his acceptance and his drive are so strong. How could I ever write a story that could truly let the public university know how amazing Randy Pierce is?

 

French connection

An assassin held up a gun. An officer remained steady and said, "You're not going to get away with this. Put the gun down."
    Earlier in the day, James "Popeye" Doyle was taking a solemn walk. His eyes were focused on the ground. He came upon a woman pushing around a baby carriage when there were about 5 gun shots fired his way.
   The woman fell down dead instantly.
   "Get out of here!" Doyle shouted to women who walked near the dead mother. The baby was shrieking in the carriage. The woman lay still. Doyle was on the ground, under cover by a tree.
   On a sunny day, an assassin fired two more shots from a roof top building nearby. Doyle ran alongside the building, trying to see the sniper. He entered the building and ascended to the top, where he found an abandoned weapon and 7 bullet shells.
    From a distance, Doyle could see a man running. Without hesitation, Doyle ran out of the building and chased down the assassin. However, when the two ran onto the train platform, Pierre Nicoli was able to board the train.
   Doyle could not.
   To get to the next stop before the assassin could escape, Doyle ran under the train overpass to use someone's car. One cream-colored car swerved out of the way when Doyle waved his arms above his head and stood in front of the car.
   He attempted another time. The next car, a brown, 1970s passenger car headed in the opposite direction of the train stopped for him.
   "I need your car," Doyle said. The man stepped out and asked when he would get it back. Doyle sped away with a U-turn, smoke furling out from under the tires.
   Doyle followed the train under the overpass for several miles. Doyle honked and slammed on his breaks multiple times. Despite his cautious efforts, he was side-swiped on the right side of his vehicle but a white car that was crossing an intersection.
  Doyle didn't stop.
  His eyes loomed out the windshield and watched the train. With his eyes distracted, a woman with a baby stroller walked in front of his speeding vehicle. She turned her head towards him. Eyes wide, she screamed.
   Tires screeched as Doyle served to avoid her.
     Meanwhile, Nicoli caught the eye of police officer Sonny Grosso. Nicoli moved from each train car until he reached that closest to the conductor. Witness Stephanie Lawrence gave fairly good accuracy in recounting the events on the train and said that Nicoli was banging loudly on the door.
   "At first I thought he was a friend of the conductors," Lawrence said. "But then he started banging loudly on the door. It was obvious he wasn't going to leave until he got in."
    Once the train passed its stop, Lawrence said she knew something was wrong. Train officials in black uniforms with small American flags sewed on walked towards the conductor's pit. Other passengers followed.
  "That's when I stood up," Lawrence said. "The assassin came out and that's when I saw a gun. He aimed it at the first officer but it was pointed towards all of us."
    Finally, Doyle arrived at where the train was supposed to stop next, so he sped up to beat it. He ran to the platform, but the train didn't stop.
   The assassin hijacked the train.
   Doyle got back into his car and followed the train.

Information Overload

Okay cool, so I'm getting good at interviewing and researching. I'm asking more questions, and I'm getting more information. There is a downside to all the information.
     It's information overload.
     So I have all these pages of notes, right? And they're really great. And then I go through, ready to write my article, and I'm all over the place. I write my article and it takes me hours to reorganize my thoughts.
   I don't know how the pros at The Boston Globe do it--how they present the information seamlessly. How they make the article interesting, informative, and casual when it needs to be.
   I find it very difficult to make sure I include only the important information that the reader needs to know. I find it hard to cut out the stuff that I think is interesting, let alone only include the necessary stuff.
   My most recent article is about Palestine and Israel. Marc Ellis came to do a speech on it and then take questions afterwards. I recorded the audio, did my own research, found out stuff about Ellis's background, got reactions from audience members, sent out several emails to leaders of the event and students who were part of it.
   And I'm supposed to only put down the stuff the reader needs to know? Hardest part of being a journalist at this moment.

Increasing Interviews

When I started writing for TNH, I knew enough to prepare questions ahead of time. Okay, great. I had a formulaic way of asking them. I took notes, paid attention to what they had to say, and got as much as I thought I needed.
     When I later went back to my notes to write the story, I found that I had ideas that couldn't be expressed because I didn't have the back up. My quotes were weak. I didn't know what to listen for i the interviews. My questions were basic and not challenging enough. I struggled to write because I struggled to ask.
   Now that I've written a few stories, I am getting the hang of it. Whereas my interviews lasted maybe 20 minutes before, I'm moving past an hour now. Some interviews will still hang short because the person really isn't motivated to talk about what I'm asking about. Or they're just concise.
   Either way, I'm listening now.
   I'm picking up on the better quotes and writing them down with fervor to keep up with the interviewee. I'm calling more people to get interviews so that if one bails, I have a backup. Of course I'm still frustrated with people when they don't show up. I've just learned to compensate better.
   As for my interviews, they're going better. I'm asking more improv questions and hearing the good quotes. My interactions with the interviewees are more casual, more fun. I find myself laughing a lot. And in my stories, my subjects are starting to pop. They're telling the story with their personalities and I'm just a narrator.

I Have a Dream

"I have a dream," said Martin Luther King Jr. earlier today on Washington. In front of the Lincoln Memorial, an impassioned King delivered a speech on equal rights to an interracial crowd that waited with an expectant silence.
   "I have a dream," King said. "That one day this nation will rise up, living out the true meaning of its creed. We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
   The crowd watched King with a revered silence. There were whoops and cheers closer to the podium as King delivered ideas and concepts on freedom for blacks previously foreign to this nation.
  The Civil Rights Movement has been an open-and-shut case since its start in 1955. Whites have given blacks small degrees of freedom. Today, there are segregated schools and public bathrooms. But blacks want more than an end to physical slavery. They want an end to racist differentiation.
  King spoke on a few major themes to emphasize the importance of freedom for all men. His biggest theme is change--now.
   "There's no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism," he said. There were cheers from the audience. "It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment."
   King was met with an interracial audience of whites and blacks alike. Upon moving to his podium, King was among the singing and hopeful crowd. King knew his speech would have a resonating ring within history.
  King used different techniques to speak to his audiences. He made sure to incorporate specific names of state within in the nation, like Colorado, California, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. He spoke, not about abstract concepts, but about physical realities represented in the disjointed nation.
   He made sure to mention the more racist states, like Alabama, as examples for the worse-off Negros in that part of the country. There was true pity and concern for his nation in every word he delivered in his 20 minute speech.
   King also referred to the changes made throughout U.S. history, and his sorrow for how little the nation has moved forward. He referenced Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
   "But 100 years later," King said, "the Negro still is not free."
    King also spoke with great admiration towards the U.S. Constitution, which speaks of unalienable rights between all men created equal. With a heavy sorrow, King noted that America neglected its brothers.
  "This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," King said of the Constitution. "Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
    King highlighted the injustices to blacks. He spoke of Mississippi men, negro children, and the injustice of growing up in a nation that sees people of color as inferior. As a black civil rights activist, King knows first-hand the injustices done to blacks.
   He wants a better life for his future brothers and sisters, white and black alike.
   King, unlike many the nation he refers to in his heated speech, gives the appearance that he understands how people are created equal.
   "Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children," King said, uniting the nation under God.
   As King spoke to his listeners, he became inflamed with a passion to change the course of history. When at first he appeared nervous and obligated to speak about the political upheaval and the injustice, by the end of the speech, he wore a new face. One of hope, one of true compassion for a nation he believed needed to change face.
   King made it a point to speak of effected generations. It's not just white and black adults that are affected by the injustice, but children, too. When King spoke of his own children's lives being affected, his voice grew softer. His eyes lifted.
  "I have a dream," King said. "That my four little children will one day live in a nation where they are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
   King wants freedom. Not just for himself, not just for people of color, but for the entire nation. He wants unison in a country that is divided amongst racial bias.
  He left the podium with a tall stature. His booming voice echoed through the microphone as he walked off the stage with the final hopeful cheer, "Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Saturday detentions meeting [practice]

Summary lead practice for an imaginary school board meeting in Portsmouth, N.H.:

     Blood was boiling during the Portsmouth School Board meeting Monday at 7:30 p.m. when someone introduced the idea of Saturday detentions.

Best anecdotal story EVAR!

This is a really cool anecdotal lead. Not only is it really serious, but it's gripping.

"The Foxborough woman could tell that her son had been using again. On that November day in 2011, he was hyper and overly affectionate. “Dear mother,” he called her.

She knew that he was at risk of an overdose. The weeks the 21-year-old had gone without heroin, as the family worked to get him into a treatment program, weakened his tolerance for the drug. When she awoke that night to screams, she was ready, as ready as she could be.

Her husband had checked on their son and found that he was not breathing. As he dragged the young man’s limp body from the bed to begin rescue breathing, their daughter dialed 911, and the mother sprayed a heroin antidote called naloxone into each nostril. Then the family waited, as precious moments passed, for a breath or a groan, a sign that the drug was working."

After the anecdotal lead, the article discusses the issue and the solutions that the medical community is finding. My favorite part about this article is that after the issue is explained and all the problems identified, the article goes back to the anecdotal story to finish it. 

"The Foxborough mother learned to use naloxone at her first Learn to Cope meeting in summer 2011, days after her son admitted to his parents that he was using heroin. She kept it close by, on top of her refrigerator, until the day they needed it.

When she first administered the drug, her son was not responding."

So cool! I've seen it done in essays and novels plenty of times, but I can't think of another time when a news article did it so successfully!

The story is by Chelsea Conaboy of The Boston Globe. I'm gunna be keeping an eye out for more of her stuff!

Here's the URL:  http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/03/02/nasal-spray-gives-families-power-reverse-overdose/gp9mARCC3jZ2NJ7u0aB99M/story.html?camp=newsletter

Sometimes I just dunno.

Recording devices. Yea or nay?
  The book tells us not to use them. Well, it tells us not to rely on them, at least. I have to admit, when I'm sitting there and I scramble to get all the words down, I am definitely thinking about a voice recorder.
   The textbook also refers to a few journalists who expressed their opinions about recorders. One guy said he started to depend on them too much when he first started out. Another guy mentioned that his voice recorder would always die at the most inconvenient moment.
    Another person said that voice recorders are fine if they're back up.
   Well, to be honest, I kinda like the last opinion. Fine, I'll scribble down notes in my notebook. My shorthand is awful (I don't even know where to begin with shorthand). My chicken scratch is even better!
   But to have a back up? Yeah, that sounds good to me.
   Recently, I did an interview with VOX at the same time as Brittany Schaefer. At the beginning, Brittany asked the girls if she could record the conversation. She took out her phone and we began the questioning.
   As I was putting the last touches on my article today, I realized I missed something: I forgot to put a name down next to a quote I used in my notes. Or I didn't realize who said it after I was done writing because they were all jumping around. Either way.
   A voice recorder looked real good to me at that moment.

Summary vs. Delayed Leads

I really thought I would like summary leads better. They're faster, to the point, and informative. But honestly, they're everywhere. They're starting to bore me. They don't pull me in. I am a fan of the novel, so that could be why.
     The Boston Globe is good at having a variety of writers. I read articles from there all the time with different styles of leads. To be truthful, the delayed leads get me. They wrap their tendrils around my neck and pull me under the water until I want to keep swimming under, or reading, and am genuinely interested in the story, even if it is about trains in Boston.
    Here's a summary lead that is good, informative, and tight.
    "Federal regulators approved a highly anticipated breast cancer drug Friday, two and a half years after they sparked patient protests by refusing to grant it a speedy review." (By Robert Weisman of TBG.)
    My mom has breast cancer. Cancer has coursed its way through my family members. Yet somehow, this article lead doesn't entrance me. I could pretty much care less. On the other hand:
   "When South Station opened in 1899, it had 28 tracks that sprawled from Atlantic Avenue to Fort Point Channel. Today, with only 13 tracks, trains idle outside the station while they wait for other trains to vacate berths, causing maddening delays." (Martine Powers, TBG.)
   I've ridden a train once. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to Boston. And honestly, is this article even that interesting? It's about an old train station, a hunk of change, and some upset people. But the delayed lead! It captivated me until I read the whole thing! Of course variety is good. I'm just in the mood for a little delay in the news room--a slower pace.

The pace makes the race with interviews

Finding interviews really isn't too bad. I've had a lot of luck with my main interviewee referring me to other people to talk to. The people are usually just as knowledgeable if not more so. So what's the problem? Well. Ahem. There's a few.
     Whether I think of an original story or get one from TNH, the deadline always comes faster than I would like. The issue I have is not with deadlines, it's with myself. I have to be more assertive when it comes to getting interviews. By the time I've finally gotten in touch with my main interviewee and they refer me to someone else, guess what? It's too late to contact them because: they're not in the office until Monday, they will refer me to someone else who might know more, and interviewees like to take their sweet time sometimes.
     While certain pieces aren't as time sensitive, others are. Further, some sources are original. For the next piece I will turn in, I need information from a nutritionist. I found one, but there's another one that knows more. She would've been more valuable to my piece. Alas, she will not be in the office until Monday, and I didn't know about her existence until Friday. Sigh.
     So the one-of-a-kind interviewees--I struggle with securing them, finding them, and incorporating them early enough.
    For instance, "FDA OK's breast cancer drug created in part by ImmunoGen" is an article today in The Boston Globe by Robert Weisman. The article is interviewee-sensitive because only certain people are going to have the information needed to do the interview. That's not to say no one else could, it just means that certain people will have more facts and will help the news aspect more. 
    In other words. I'm excited for that moment of growth when I can better manage my interviews and work my way around names better!

Larry Kessler's throne

Summary lead: The regions largest refuge for people with HIV and AIDS hired long-time HIV crusader, Larry Kessler, as their new executive director. With strong finances and clients, the refuge turned back to a hopeful horizon.

Different delayed lead: He walks with a cane. His body withers, his mind remains strong. Best of all, he came out of retirement to help sick people.
      Larry Kessler has a legacy in Boston. He's a crusader for HIV and AIDS, and advocated for them when no one else would. He founded the Aids Action Committee of Massachusetts.
      Now, he takes the throne as Executive Director at the region's largest refuge for people with HIV and AIDS in Boston's Living Center.

story from:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/02/18/boston-living-center-bounces-back-from-scandal-hires-long-time-aids-advocate-larry-kessler/0Hd92maGjYCjArPaiFgHCM/story.html

A tragic 10th anniversary

     Dim lighting, loud music, sex on the mind, and 30 seconds away from dying--all at once.
     It's the type of anniversary that can't be forgotten, no matter how badly the survivors wish they could. On Wednesday, victims of a nightclub fire will be reminded of their tragic stories: how they almost died and how they watched others perish before them in flames.
    "People that weren't here really don't understand why we can't let this stuff go," said Walter Castle Jr., 39. Though a survivor, Castle suffered third-degree burns in his lungs, throat and bronchial tubes.
    The fire took Castle's friends in 2003. 100 people died. Castle was in counseling until 2009. In 2010, he returned to counseling as the 10th anniversary propelled him into terrible nightmares.
    On Sunday, relatives and friends of victims suffered through the bitter cold to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Station nightclub fire in Warwick, R.I.
 

The poor birdy

A 31-year-old talking animal, known for his one-liners and grasp of over 100 English words, created a black hole between the worlds of fantasy and reality when he died last week of natural causes.
    And he was only a parrot.
    The world knew him from scientific journals and television shows alike. He appeared in news articles and worked with a comparative psychologist from Brandeis University and Harvard. Alex, the African gray parrot, established himself in the community as an entertainer as well as a science project--and people wanted to know if there could be others like him.
 

Anecdotes! I see one!

I have learned the hard way that I don't really understand anecdotes in news writing. Nor do I know how to formulate one, listen for one, or put one on paper.
    I'm lucky enough to be able to see one after reading the textbook. An anecdote, as relayed by the textbook, is a recounting of an entertaining or informative incident within a story.
   Well, reading The Boston Globe today, I think I found one.
    The story is about a woman--a woman who is the head of a commission for snow control in Boston. The beginning of the news article doesn't introduce it that way, though. It says:

  Joanne Massaro learned about working under fire a lifetime ago, toiling in the 1970s as a self-taught cook in a Washington restaurant run by Claude Bouchet, a French chef who served presidents and powerbrokers.

Yeah. That's pretty cool. I'm actually interested in this woman's life before I even know what the story is about! Yay for writing! And then, the anecdote moves towards a sadder ending:

Now Massaro faces an entirely differently kind of pressure cooker: The girl who grew up in Hyde Park and dreamed of being a chef is Boston’s commissioner of public works. For the past four winters Massaro has overseen snow removal, a key city service that has come under fire since a blizzard dumped more than 2 feet of snow and some side streets remained impassible for days.

And without knowing this woman, I empathize with her. It sounds like she went through a lot, struggled, maybe forfeited some dreams and to do what? Pick up snow around Boston? 
   Yup, anecdotes work.

Background

     In previous interviews, I didn't know what I was asking about. I asked rudimentary questions that were probably answered on Google.
    For the first interview I did for a news story, I interviewed a few people from the UNH survey center. I did a phone interview and two in-person interviews. Lined up in my notebook, I etched out questions. Each person I planned to interview had maybe 10 to 20 questions to answer (or not).
    More than half of them were aimed at what the survey center usually did for operations. I had some background information because my friend worked at the UNH survey center, but other than that, my knowledge was non-existent. The story worked because the news was how much the survey center had to poll around the Presidential Election. The comparisons worked. The knowledge was helpful.
    The last story I wrote had to do with gluten allergies. I interviewed restaurants in downtown Durham, N.H. I wanted to know about the gluten free movement and how much it was affecting restaurants. As a person with a gluten sensitivity, I realized I didn't know enough about it before I went. I asked a lot of basic questions that didn't help me write the news part of the story later. The background didn't help.
    The reason I bring all this up is because news writers always seem to be informed. In an article from The Boston Globe about Obama and congress by Jim Kuhnhenn:

This president, like recent ones before him, has gone to the public before in hopes of persuading lawmakers. It hasn’t always proved a winning tactic. President Clinton failed to use the public to win support for his health care overhaul. President George W. Bush was unable to make changes to Social Security in his second term.

     For my next story, I tried to be more informed and researched USPS online before trying to ask questions about them. Some of the questions I asked were still basic and I didn't end up using the answers, but in the end, I learned a lot and had more important material to work with. I guess being informed works for me.

Sensitivity and Opinion

Avoid bias. Avoid opinions. As a newswriter, journalists owe it to society to be truthful. Yet around campus and around the world, controversy brews and waits to be boiled over by angry civilians and politicians.
     So with sensitive topics, how does a writer keep their opinions out? How do they remain unbiased and only present the facts? And does rearranging the facts count as truth in a news story?
    Today, one of the headlines for The Boston Globe speaks about how Massachusetts deports more immigrants for civil violations than for serious ones:

Federal immigration officials are deporting more immigrants in Massachusetts for civil violations than for serious crimes under a fingerprint-sharing program that expanded from Boston to the rest of the state last year.

   The lead has no bias, though the writer must have had some sort of opinion on the issue! It doesn't show. The next paragraph strays from bias, too.

As of December, only 45.6 percent of the 768 immigrants deported through the Secure Communities program since 2008 had criminal records, far below the national average of 76 percent and lower than states such as Arizona, New York, and Texas.

    Reporter Maria Sacchetti did her research. And she presented it fairly, with numbers. The passage is almost without bias. The only part I question is far below the national average. Even so, I couldn't keep out all my bias as well as she does here. The issue is sensitive. Conservatives and liberals are in battle about who to send out and who to keep in. Obama, I've heard, wants to help immigrant children. Conservatives don't always agree. 
    The most important thing for me to work on as a writer right now is to keep out my opinions. Reading stronger examples helps. 

Done with Rehash

Our journalism textbook has a lot of good rules. A lot. One really sticks out to me (because I break it): don't rehash what the quote is saying.
    So often in high school and even in college, we're taught to explain a quote. I was taught to introduce a quote with a short sentence, insert the quote, and then explain what the quote says. Too often, I fall into a lazy pattern of rewording what the quote says while thinking it explains it to the reader. I forget that the reader may not have my pre-existing knowledge. While I constantly do it wrong, here's a passage from The Boston Globe that has it right:

       ...But because so much of the Earth is ocean, only about once a century does something comparable occur over an inhabited area.

“Objects falling over the oceans could be almost completely missed,” Timothy Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote in an e-mail. “Only the Air Force and Department of Defense have information on a lot of the airbursts that are unobserved from the ground.”
       The atmosphere largely protected the Earth this time, Binzel said, heating up the meteoroid and causing it to break apart....

      At the end of one paragraph, there is a line that could introduce a quote. Then, a quote is introduced from a valid source. After the quote, the beginning of the next paragraph does not sum up the quote or rehash it, like I would have done. It paraphrases another quote and moves on with the story. The quote itself explains what the reader needs to know. I've learned that I don't need to dumb down everything and be so redundant. 
     The benefit to not explaining each quote is that it saves space and time. It also keeps the writer from forming opinions about the quote. Readers triumph! Writers are saved! Bias is prevented! 

Car accident injures three in Belmont, MA

*newswriting exercise*

     Three females swerved off the road in a mustang on Mile Hill Road in Belmont, Massachusetts Sunday evening around 9 o’clock after their car hit an embankment, flipped onto its roof, and trapped passengers for 45 minutes.

     According to Lt. Judith Barkmus, Belmont Police Dept., the driver was 17-year-old Jamie Peterson. Peterson crawled out of the car by herself.  Rescuers took 45 minutes to free the two passengers from the crumpled car.

    The victims were taken to Memorial Hospital in Belmont.

One of the passengers was in stable condition. The other was airlifted to Mass. General Hospital in Boston. A Mass. General Hospital spokesperson would not identify the victim but claimed that there was a car-accident victim being treated for brain injuries from a Sunday evening incident.

    Josie M. Crandall saw the white mustang heading north on Mile Hill Road around 9 P.M. Crandall saw the accident from her home and phoned it into police. “I’ve never seen a car going so fast on this road. It’s a dirt road, and it’s really easy to lose control,” Crandall said.

Mile Hill Road does not have streetlights. On December 24, 2005, two local teenagers were killed at the same spot.

    Tom Carroll Jr., 17, was driving on Mile Hill Road the same time as the mustang. The first on the scene, he told police that his pick-up was behind the Mustang, and he saw it speed around a curve. When he next saw it, the mustang was on its roof.

     Carroll looked under the flipped car and told police he saw empty Budweiser cans on the ground. “I thought the worst. They were flying. It’s hard to see kids your age in something like this,” Carroll said. “You realize when you see it what could happen, especially on this road. That guy, the driver, was definitely drunk.”

Why things matter--reading through the textbook

     I've come across some important tidbits in the textbook readings that would never have occurred to me. I struggle with how to decipher which facts are significant to a story and which are not. The textbook had a simple solution to my problem: significant facts = facts with consequences. Furthermore, the book quoted a journalist who redirected my aim. The journalist said that we are not writing for our sources; we write for our readers and listeners. The difference entails how we portray the sources; if the sources are skewed one way or the other, we have to let our audiences know.
     The 5 W's is what really got me, though. It is a simple format for how to write and yet it is the most important information I can give as a journalist. The two to lead with are the who and/or the what. The what gives the news its substance. The who gives news its humanity and personality.
    Since I really struggle with leads, the chapter about them has been extremely helpful. One of the questions the book asked was what makes the best lead? And I never would have guessed the answer: emphasizing why things matter.

Finding Nemo in a Blizzard

Nemo created some problems for the local students of Durham, New Hampshire:

     "It was a bad weekend. I felt like death. I was wet all weekend from the snow. I wanted to go to Portsmouth to get new shoes because my shoes are falling apart. My friend crashed his car. I haven't heard from him, but I'm sure he's okay...I'll hear about it on Monday. I trudged through the worst part of the storm to Rite Aid to get medicine for my cold. On the way back, I walked by four biddies who were pushing each other in the snow. One of them said her butt was wet from the snow, and then said, 'We can all get naked in the laundry room!'" Chris Carroll said.
    "My weekend was great. I went home because my parents missed me. My dad, when he snow-blowed the driveway, blew it onto the dryer vent so we almost got carbon monoxide poisoning. And my dog couldn't go out to pee or poop--she was a bit of a diva this weekend," Amelia Dickinson said.
    "My weekend was okay. I stayed inside and watched movies all weekend, and my roommate left her phone at school when she went home so I had no idea if she was okay or not. My friend crashed when he was driving home. He survived, but he was in the ICU for 48 hours. I'm going to go see him on Wednesday," said Claire Cariello.
     

Adaptations

I knew that news writing would be hard. I understood that it was a different style of writing. I had no idea that it would take so much effort to switch from narrative style to inverted pyramid. I find it especially difficult to prioritize my writing so that the most important facts come first. The more I read news articles online, the more I recognize the proficient writers versus the non-. 

     Because I recognize that I need a lot of work, I think I see a remedy. First and foremost, I need to read more articles; skimming is my enemy. Next, as I have learned with essays, the best way (for me) to proofread is to print out the essay and formally go through it with a pen. For some reason, the tangibility helps. Likewise with articles, I think the only way for me to process my errors in the most efficient manner is to print them out, rip them apart with highlighters and pens, and then fix them on the computer. I've gotten stuck with good-writer syndrome; someone along the way told me I was good at writing. I accidentally took it as permission to not try as hard. Time to start over.