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Where’s the story?

Where’s the story?. Jeanne Acton, ILPC Director. It’s that day again. That horrible day. Story assignment day.

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Where’s the story?

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  1. Where’s the story? Jeanne Acton, ILPC Director

  2. It’s that day again. That horrible day. Story assignment day. About once a month, newspaper students across the nation dive into this daunting task. Some skip class that day. Some act sick, put their head down on the desk and say they can’t participate. But most simply whine … “There’s nothing to write about in this school. Nothing ever happens.”

  3. I beg to differ. There is this huge world around you. Just open your eyes.

  4. Where do you look to find news? • Oddly enough, your local media • The national news • Your community • Web sites • Your hallways

  5. Let’s look at some national news and topics that can be localized.

  6. War in Iraq • Obesity in America (teen diabetes) • Crime rates • New statistics on teen smoking • New statistics on teen STDs • Any new statistics that have to do with teens • Teen pregnancy • Drop out rates

  7. Poverty, homelessness • Sex (not a how-to) • Drugs • Gay marriages • No Child Left Behind • Lagging economy/unemployment • Charter schools/school reforms • Gangs, violence

  8. Teens and HIV • Immigration laws/proposed bills • Reality TV craze - Am. Idol • Steroids • Myspace.com/blogging • Internet dating • Internet creeps • Cutting • Abuse

  9. Global warming • Local elections • Darfur • Steroids • Staph infections

  10. How do I know if it’s a good story idea for my school?

  11. Number 1 reason you know it’s a good story idea… • You found a local angle and have interesting people to interview (the key word here is ‘interesting’)

  12. A few other reasons you know it’s a good story idea… • The topic will appeal to your audience. • The story will be more than just statistics. • You haven’t told it before. • You’re not doing it just to shock people and cause controversy

  13. Teen smoking …Twenty two percent of teens said they were smokers in 2007, down from 36.4 percent in 2004 and 27.5 percent in 2000, the Center for Disease Control reported.

  14. Is this a good story or bad story? Could be either …

  15. It’s a good story if … • We can find an angle. If we have a story to tell. • For example, maybe we have a student at our school. Let’s call her Jessie. Jessie’s father is dying of lung cancer. He started smoking at age of the 13. He quit last month, but it’s too late. The doctors are giving him less than a month to live. Jessie, who has friends who smoke, has not picked up the habit and never intends to smoke. Ever.

  16. It’s a good story if … • We can tell the readers something they don’t already know. • For example, maybe several of our seniors volunteer at the Cancer Society and are going to sponsor a Smoke-Out for our school in a few months. Maybe we have a few teachers are going to give it a shot - quit smoking.

  17. It’s a bad story if … • We rely on statistics for our entire story • We don’t localize the story to our school, our community • We simply do an editorial on “why smoking is bad” • We don’t tell a real story. We just ask five people, “What do you think about smoking and smokers?”

  18. When localizing a story goes bad …

  19. I saw this one in 2009 … The largest local provider of free and low-cost counseling for families and children, Lifeworks is kicking off a $1.5 million public fund-raising campaign that will allow the nonprofit group to help more teens.

  20. Aaron Fain knows what it’s like to need help. At 17, his mother, a heavy drug user, disappeared with her latest boyfriend. That left Aaron broke and homeless, too old for foster care, too young to make it on his own. Lifeworks helped him get his life back together. “The helped me get food when I was hungry and gave me shelter when I needed a place to stay,” Fain said. “They really helped me through some tough times.” Lifeworks, the largest local provider of free and low-cost counseling for families and children, is kicking off a $1.5 million public fund-raising campaign that will allow the nonprofit group to help more teens.

  21. I saw very few of these … Science teacher Sandi Mink gives her home phone number to all of her students. She wants to be available to students as they work on her physics assignments at home. But don’t bother calling at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. That’s a sacred time for the Mink family. “That’s Jeff’s time,” she said. “Ever since he went to Iraq, my son Jeff calls home once a week at 8 p.m. on Thursdays.” “He’s called almost every week since he’s been gone,” she said.

  22. One Thursday in October, Jeff missed his weekly call. “I was sure he was dead,” Ms. Mink said. “I started crying and couldn’t stop. Finally at midnight, he called.” Jeff had been on a raid and couldn’t get away to make his weekly call. “Luckily, Jeff is a computer guy,” she said. “He works on the communications end of things and doesn’t see much action. But that night, he had to go on the raid to identify equipment.”

  23. Or how about this one? Deep in the underground of Seaweed High School, you can hear whispers of scandalous weekend plans. No, not your over-hyped double date — drugs! Even the most innocent student knows that drugs and alcohol are a problem at our school.

  24. Finding the local angle … It was the worst day of his life. Jeremy West had to explain to his 4-year-old sister that he was the one who stole her piggy bank. “I’ve done a lot that I am ashamed of, but that was the worst,” he said. “She had been saving for a pink huffy bike.” West took his sister’s $23 and bought crack cocaine. “When I told her, she just cried and said she wanted me to get better,” he said. And that is exactly what West is trying to do. West’s confession was part of his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. “I’ve been clean for six weeks now,” he said. “There is a long road ahead of me, but it’s a road worth walking.”

  25. When localizing a story goes bad …

  26. Here are the facts: • More than 5 million American experience eating disorders (Harvard Eating Disorders Center) • Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. (HEDC) • In the U.S. conservative estimates indicate that, after puberty, 5-10 million girls and women and one million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or borderline conditions. (National Eating Disorder Association) • Bulimia and anorexia affect 3-5 percent of middle and high school girls. (NEDA)

  27. Here is the story gone bad … According to the Harvard Eating Disorders Center more than 5 million Americans experience eating disorders Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, in the U.S. conservative estimates indicate that, after puberty, 5-10 million girls and women and one million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or borderline conditions. Bulimia and anorexia affect 3-5 percent of middle and high school girls, it reported.

  28. Here is the story gone bad (again)… According to the National Eating Disorder Association, 5-10 million girls and women and one million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or borderline conditions. “I have a friend who is real skinny,” junior Sally Clueless said. “I bet she has anorexia.” Teens with bulimia eat a lot and then vomit. “Yeah. I think puking after eating is really gross,” senior Lucy Littlebrain said. “Puking gives you really bad breath.”

  29. And it continues … But not everyone has an eating disorder. “I love to eat,” said junior Chuck Up. “When we go to Cici’s I eat like 20 slices of pizza. I’m getting hungry just talking about it.”

  30. So? What can we do to fix the story?

  31. Kimiko Soldati remembers exactly when her bulimia started. She was transferring from Colorado State to Indiana University, and one day she felt she had eaten too much. "The idea popped into my head that I could get rid of this," she says. And so she threw up. That set her on a desperate course. At one point, she says, she was "purging pretty much everything I ate. I was so obsessed about calories that I didn't want to chew gum because there are 5 calories in a stick."

  32. Here’s your assignment.

  33. Before the next story assignment day in your newspaper class… • Read the local paper • Listen to NPR’s “All Things Considered” • Watch 20 minutes of a national news broadcast • Watch 20 minutes of “The Daily Show” • Visit the internet • Buy yourself and your teacher a donut • AND …

  34. Produce 10 story ideas and come up with local angles for each. Then, eat your donut.

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