Welcome to fall Newswriting

Hello and welcome to our fall semester Newswriting class at the University of Akron. I am looking forward to meeting all of you on our first day of class.

Meanwhile, visit our course Springboard page to read and download the syllabus and get an idea of what we will be doing this semester. As the semester goes on, that is also where you can go to check your grades, take quizzes, and more.

If you have time now, check out a few of the links on this blog and some of the stories posted by Newswriting students from previous classes.

Dealing with PR practitioners

Professional communicators in the public relations and journalism fields need each other. Journalists rely on PR people for information, and PR people rely on journalists to get that information out to the public.

 

However, this symbiotic relationship works best if public relations practitioners provide information that is clear, concise, objective and accurate.

 

Below are a few links to media releases written by PR practitioners. Read them, then answer the following questions about each one.

1. What type of news release is it? (See pages 512-514 in your text.)

2. Does the lead focus on the who, what, when, where, why?

3. Does it include a short headline summarizing the release?

4. Is it clear and concise?

5. Is it newsworthy?

6. Is it objective?

7. Does it follow AP Style?

8. Is it written the way a reporter would write it?

 

Summerpac is back

Green car of the year announced

John McCain Stacks the Deck on Fox News Town Hall, Says Democratic National Committee

The Black Women’s Expo returns to Chicago

Writing follow-up stories

Day 1:

Get ideas for your day one story in this assignment by clicking on the links you will find at: Google News Stories

A bright that’s more common than we think — and other special stories

I thought I would try to find the bright mentioned in our text that features a funny and seemingly unique angle on an incident involving a rookie Akron police officer.

The officer left a handcuffed suspect in the back seat of his patrol car, and while he was busy, the suspect climbed into the front seat and drove away.

Unusual and funny, right? Well, not as unusual as we think.

I didn’t find the Akron story, but a quick Google news search unearthed many others along the same line.

You can see the list here. Or read the beginning of a bright on the same topic here.

Want to read an example of a roundup story? Here’s one from the UK’s Telegraph that is aptly named: April Fool’s Day story roundup.

Add any links to brights, roundups, follow-ups and sidebars that you found in the comments section below.

 

Ways to connect two topics in a meeting story lead

The Akron City School Board approved a budget granting raises ranging from 4.5 to 7 percent Wednesday, before deciding to continue using science books that discuss evolution, not creationism.

School board story examples

Before writing your school board story, read some examples from newspapers outside our area. Below are links to stories that should be helpful.

You can also read more about covering the education beat here.

And if the topic of our writing assignment  — teaching creationism in the public schools — interests you, read about the latest development, as reported in The New York Times: “Opponents of Evolution Are Adopting New Strategy.”

School Board Story Links:

• Parents protest Columbia plan
  a brief New York Times item on a 2006 NYC controversy
• Parents of the gifted resist a call to share a school building
  an in-depth New York Times story on this NYC controversy
• Board denies staff shuffle
  Michigan story that focuses on a controversy, but also covers minor items using bullet points
• Dexter school board adopts $35.8 million budget
  Ann Arbor News school budget story

Quiz yourself on writing speech stories

Answer the following questions covered in Chapter 13: Speeches and Meetings in our text. Each question is worth two points.

1. What basic facts should be emphasized in the speech or meeting advance story and why?
2. What should be emphasized in the lead for a follow story on a speech?
3. What is the best way to cover minor topics from a speech or meeting within the speech or meeting follow story?
4. In what style (inverted pyramid, hourglass, anecdotal/focus) should the speech follow story be written and why?
5. Name one function of a good transition in a speech follow story.

Choose quotations wisely and use them sparingly

If your sources for a news story use colorful, descriptive language to describe the scene or event you are covering, use their words to tell the story.

Choose the strongest statements from your sources, but use quotes sparingly. Don’t rely on direct quotes to tell your entire story.

Instead, use quotations to emphasize a point or change the pace of your story. Don’t use quotes to tell the story or state the facts.

For a checklist on using quotations and attribution in newswriting, see the checklist on page 250 in your text, Reporting for the Media.

Post your best lead here

In Newswriting class this week, we are writing hard-news leads. Post the best lead(s) you have written in the “Comments” section below.

You must enter your name (first name only) and e-mail address in order to post. Your e-mail address will not be visible to the blogosphere.

To get more tips on writing leads, click here.

News writing our way into summer

Yes, it’s summer vacation. But not for us.

Instead of rocking in a hammock somewhere, we will be learning the fine art of writing news stories from May 19 through June 21.

Welcome to the course blog for the Summer I session of University of Akron Newswriting.

Here’s what you can do on this Newswriting course blog:

• Use it to post your best news writing.
• Read what other students in the course are writing.
• Post a comment about anything you read.
• Browse the site for tips about writing hard news leads and organizing news stories.
• Stay up to date on today’s news by visiting news site links.
• Check out links to writing resources.