Week 3: Journalism 2001

1. Week 3: Journalism 2001 September 24, 2007

2. What’s wrong? • Phantom’s, not Phantoms • Catalog, not catolog • too high, not to high • All of the above!

3. Review of last week’s news • Let’s take a quiz!

4. Residents say lingering undercurrents of anger over the 1978 creation of the ____________ may be partially to blame for the charges against five adults and one juvenile for terrorizing campers and firing multiple weapons into the night sky and calm waters in August. • Voyageurs National Park • Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness • Grand Casino Mille Lacs

5. The strike by the University of Minnesota members of AFSCME ended last Friday, with employees returning to their jobs this week. • True • False

6. Larry Mackey, 62, survived five nights in the woods near Remer without food or water after falling 20 feet from his ____________. • house • bear-hunting stand • truck

7. Finnish paper giant Sorsa Enso Oyj announced Friday that it plans to sell its North American manufacturing operations, including its mill in ____________, for about $2.1 billion to an Ohio-based company. • Silver Bay • Duluth • Cloquet

8. UMD alumnus _____________ donated $10.7 million for the College of Science and Engineering, which will bear his name. • Ronald Weber • Joel Labovitz • James Swenson

9. After years of ups and downs, full-scale construction of the $235 million Mesabi Nugget Delaware LLC ______________ will begin this fall at the former LTV Steel Mining Co. site near Aurora and Hoyt Lakes. • coal plant • iron nugget plant • taconite plant

10. State officials selected Flatiron Construction Inc. and Manson Construction Co. last week as the joint winner of a lucrative contract to rebuild the ___________. • Metrodome • Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport • I-35W bridge

11. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. • True • False

12. The Green Bay Packers beat the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. • True • False

13. The UMD Bulldogs football team beat Central Washington on Saturday. • True • False

14. DNT Analysis • Excellent job! • You’re now reading the newspaper with a more critical eye • Better understanding of what goes into the newspaper; why editors make story selections • What surprised you while doing assignment?

15. Different editions of Star-Tribune • Early Sunday • State edition • Metro edition

16. Grammar exercise • Dr. Grammar tips: • http://www.drgrammar.org/

17. Review: Summary lead assignment • Overall great start! • Best to use one-sentence summary lead • Use dateline • Write in past tense, active voice • Watch state abbreviations: Fla FL FLA • Watch wordiness • has resulted in the man’s death • stunned a man to death • leads to the suspect being shot • M-26 Taser stun gun

18. Here’s the summary lead from the Associated Press: HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A man behaving strangely in front of a hotel died after police shot him with a stun gun, then wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him because he had not been subdued. Many of your leads are just as strong! A suspected drug user died Sunday after police officers shot him with a taser gun in front of a hotel for his strange behavior and eventually resisting arrest. A man who behaved strangely in front of a hotel Sunday and refused to cooperate with police died after an officer shot him in the chest with a stun gun.

19. A man died Sunday when officers tried to subdue him using a stun gun for acting strangely in front of a hotel. A man acting strangely in front of a hotel Sunday died after a police officer used a stun gun in an effort to subdue him. Brevity good, but can be misleading: Local police unintentionally killed a man outside a hotel on Sunday after shooting him with a stun gun. In an attempt to subdue a suspected drug offender, police opened fire with a 50,000 volt probe, accidentally killing the man. A man died Sunday in front a hotel after an officer fired a Taser stun gun at him because he was behaving strangely. Police shot and accidentally killed a disobedient man they believed was on drugs outside a hotel with a stun gun Sunday.

20. Review: Writing a summary lead • Usually a single sentence • No more than 35 words • Bottom line: • Use a single sentence of no more than 35 words to summarize an event

21. Use active voice! • Avoid “to be” • a man was killed…. • a man was shot by police…. • was behaving strangely

22. Check egradebook • Assignments listed at egradebook: • http://www.d.umn.edu/egradebook • If assignments missing that you turned in, let me know ASAP

23. Assignment due today • Summary lead exercises • Steps to help you: • Identify the five Ws and H • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • Why? • How? • Determine what’s the most important to include • Reminder: Summary lead contains no more than 35 words • Email assignment, written in Microsoft Word, saved as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file and sent as an attachment to lkragnes@d.umn.edu

24. In-class assignment for tonight To help you develop interviewing skills, during tonight’s class you will be interviewing Lucy Kragness. She will review her background, and you will ask her questions. • Assume story assignment for the Statesman • To prepare, review website, write out questions in advance. • http://www.d.umn.edu/~lkragnes • Start story in class, email final five paragraph story, written in Microsoft Word, saved as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file and sent as an attachment by Wednesday (September 26) to: lkragnes@d.umn.edu • Story will not be graded; all receive 5 points • Watch style errors!

25. Assignment for 10/1 • More summary lead exercises! • Steps to help you: • Identify the five W’s and H • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • Why? • How? • Determine which is the most important to include. • A summary lead should contain no more than 35 words. • One sentence strongest summary lead. • Email assignment, written in Microsoft Word, saved as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file and sent as an attachment to lkragnes@d.umn.edu

26. Story Pitches for Hard News 1 and 2 Assignments: Due 10/3 • Length of story pitches: no more than three paragraphs, about 200 words • Include the 5 Ws and H: what makes this story newsworthy • Deadlines for complete articles: • Hard News 1: October 15 • Hard News 2: October 26

27. Hard News 1:Where to find meetings • City of Duluth meetings: • http://www.ci.duluth.mn.us/city/meeting/index.htm • St. Louis County Board • Superior City Council • Duluth School Board • Other public meetings

28. Hard News 2:Mayoral coverage project • Work in groups of no more than three • Come up with own groups by next week • OR, would you like me to assign groups? • Let’s brainstorm ideas of places where people gather in the community • Senior Citizen Center

29. Story pitch for Sports Story Reporting Assignment: 10/3 • Length of story pitch: no more than three paragraphs, about 200 words • Include the 5 Ws and H: what makes this story newsworthy • Deadline for complete article:

31. Chapter 6: Developing a news story • Which stories are worth developing? • Major local news: Weather, fire, derailment, court trial • Other factors influencing coverage • Prejudices of reporters, editors • Size of market • Searching for a scoop • What the competition is doing • What other stories are developing

32. Phase 1: The story breaks • What, when, where, to whom • Mainbars • Reporting the breaking news • Sidebars • Extra stories that explain news, human interest • Examples of stories with followups • Beekeeper story

33. Phase 2: Second-day stories • Why, how • Any late-breaking developments • Clean-up, additional fatalities • Put story into perspective

34. Phase 3: Advancing the story • Color: Observation, narrative, anecdotes that provide a clear picture of a person or event • Background • Need to keep the news high in the story • New information

35. Phase 4: Follow-up developments • Reporters make routine checks • New developments • Release of a report • Air crash, investigations

36. Checklist for developing stories • Report latest news first • Put original breaking news high in follow-ups • Go to the scene; talk to as many people as possible • Always strive to put a face on the tragedy • Advance each follow-up; new developments • Look for new sources; consider all angles • Get color • Cooperate with other reporters

38. Chapter 7: Quotations, attributions • Why use quotes? • Bring a story to life • Generate emotion • Provide vivid description • Bring a dull story to life

39. Types of quotations • Complete direct quotations • “John Doe said that he did it,” she said. • Partial quotations • John Doe “said that he did it,” she said • Paraphrased quotations • John Doe said that he did it, she said.

40. Direct quotations • Exact quote: quotation marks around sentence • Most editors allow reporters to clean up grammar or to take out profanities • Make sure quotes are right! • Beware of leading questions; use paraphrase

41. Most important rule • Never make up quotations or paraphrases • Shattered Glass: Stephen Glass Story • CBS 60 Minutes story • Stephen Glass index

42. Why use direct quotes? • Specific, vivid statements • Descriptive statements • Inner feelings • Capture personality • Supplement statements of fact • Reduce attributions

43. Which one is right? • Text quotes AP Stylebook: • “Quotations normally should be corrected to avoid the errors in grammar and word usage that often occur unnoticed when someone is speaking but are embarrassing in print.” • 2006 AP Stylebook: • “Never alter quotations even to correct minor grammatical errors or word usage. Casual minor tongue slips may be removed by using ellipses but even that should be done with extreme caution. If there is a question about a quote, either don’t use it or ask the speaker to clarify.”

44. Partial Quotations • Using part of a direct quote, often for emphasis • Can be confusing • Be careful: Could draw attention to a point, jeopardizing objectivity • She told police it was an “accident” when she hit the tree.

45. Paraphrased quotations • Indirect quotes • Used when direct quote dull, uninformative • Must attribute paraphrases to news source • When in doubt, paraphrase

46. Pitfalls to avoid in quoting • Inaccuracies from source • Rambling on and on • Hard-to-understand quotations • Reconstructed quotations • Fragmentary quotations • Ungrammatical: If it doesn’t make sense, don’t use it • Use good taste • Watch out for offensive language • Be certain when using dialect: • North Country, Fargo

47. Use objective verbs of attribution • Straight news stories • Use neutral verbs: said, added • “Said” isn’t boring – readers expect it • No need to be creative • Avoid asserted, bellowed, contended, cried, declared, demanded, emphasized, harangued, hinted, maintained, opined, stammered, stated, stressed

48. Identification in attributions • Usually identify source by title, name • Follow guidelines in AP Stylebook • Title often used to streamline lead • Be cautious with “hearsay attribution” • Using a quote from a police report

49. Placement of attributions • Usually follows the quotation • Normally follows first sentence in multiple sentence quote • When sources change, new attribution needed • Use attribution once in a quotation • Use attribution between complete, partial quotes

50. Anonymous sources • On the record: Everything can be used • Off the record: Nothing can be used • On background: Material can be used, no attribution by name • On deep background: Can be used, with no attribution; can get confirmation • All the President’s Men: Woodward & Bernstein