Month: October 2015

“Only by studying news and how news organizations handle news will you be successful in public relations or in offices of public information.” (132)

I really liked how this chapter immediately explains the use of journalism outside of just reporting breaking news or news one needs to go out and find. It sets up the many facets of the journalism world, including reporters being approached by a story and who exactly is doing the reporting. There is more than one, strict career path available.

 

“News releases are both a help and a hinderance.” (132)

After reading the chapter I felt this was important to include, because people will try to be as self-serving to the media as possible to get an image or cause out, but not always. It can be hard to tell the difference at times.

 

A GUIDE ON HOW TO SPOT………

Announcement Releases: up-coming events, PSAs, “appointments, promotions, new hires and retirements.” (133), employee good-will, free publicity

Cause-Promoting Releases: need funds/volunteers so try to get free media > save money for the cause at hand

Image-Building: politicians, free publicity as much as can, usually very self-serving, organizations and agencies, persuasion

 

Use ALL the information given! When a reporter recieves something, she shouldn’t just look at the release. Look at who sent it, when they sent it, and any other information. Understand, as much as possible, what grounds the release has to find its way to your hands.

 

“A release date is broken by all when it is broken by one.” (137)

This is talking about ‘leaks,’ because once something is out it’s out. Like a pre-mature, and usually very rood, scoop. Understandably news outlets will usually uphold release dates, but once something is out it’s out. What’s the point in holding back information that is already beginning to spread? Might as well try and tell people the most accurate information possible.

 

A GUIDE ON HOW TO RE-WRITE……

Announcements: to AP standards, question any specifics needed, additions reporting, drop self-serving quotes

Cause-Promoting Releases: get background, clarifying anything, get some human interest, be more critical instead of self-serving

Image-Builders: who will be served? drop useless quotes, get from direct source, find other independent sources, get essential point, GET LOCAL REACTIONS

Source: NR

In all honesty, I’ve been so tied up in my own work and study that I didn’t even know this happened. After a quick look-up I got a gist of the unfortunate events. I went down twitter to try and find the closest thing to live-tweeting I could to see when exactly the public realized this happened versus what the online news outlets say.

The facts are ten, and it’s unknown if all of them identified their religion as Christianity. On this article by Huffington Post I couldn’t find out what religion they were, but some twitter leads suggest Christians were targeted. I don’t know why they would mention religion and then not explain why.

The shooter was identified as a 20 year old student, nothing more. This is probably for the best, seeing as the state has yet to feel comfortable enough to release more information and, in this case, the journalist needs to respect that.

In the wee hours of the morning today CNN posted an update: ten dead, gunman down. Literally twenty minutes after midnight is astounding, and very prompt and useful if the information proves to be correct as the day continues and the story is developed.

This portfolio isn’t just for the benefit of the reader who wishes to see only the best of the best on this blog, or just a grade under an assignment–rather, this is a reflective learning experience in understanding things I’ve done in the past, and how I have improved or could improve. The first portfolio can be found here for comparison and more organized highlights from earlier in the year.

Depth – I think my being from Colorado while living in Pennsylvania gave me a leg up on this assignment, the layout readings. I come from such a different part of the country, so comparing my newspaper to New England’s was really easy to engage in. I was surprised at how similar the covers were on the day I compared. I actually have an interest in graphic design, so seeing the inner workings of how everything on a cover page works. I’ve only worked through a magazine-type cover in high school, so this type is really useful to add to my skill set.

Riskiness – Seeing as I don’t have a flow chart readily at my disposal, I tried using the ‘>’ symbol to get my point across in this media assignment. This was a clever juxtaposition I hope fits well with the theme, using a ‘bread crumb’ format. I wanted to incorporate what I learned in previous readings about digital media to talk about it further.

Intertextuality –  Learning about scooping may not have been a very in-depth analysis, but I did in fact use my own experiences that happen to be connected to this class. My Newseum trip ended up being more fruitful than anticipated, incorporating the first full-throttle breaking news paper run that is recognizable in what is seen today. They ran 7 issues the day Lincoln was shot, just as we would keep on publishing breaking news throughout the day. Honestly I’m having more fun doing these assignments than I previously thought I would, seeing as I wouldn’t even consider the DC trip otherwise.

Using Google as a tracker for the growth of the internet really solidified my point for this internet-journalism article.  I used a good time-marker of one of the most well-known and widely-used search engines to illustrate how the internet is still developing its exact style and is constantly changing, just like Google is.

Discussion – I honestly needed to learn about the inverted pyramid, as reflected here. I ended up commenting on other people’s things because of this, and read many other people’s blog entries to try my best to wrap my head around the concept. I needed a lot of help, I learned that from past articles, and still do in a sense. This blog entry really helped me understand the structure of journalism.

Timeliness – My summer discussion article was prompt, as was my live-tweeting I have on my twitter feed. That’s what really shows how dedicated I am to learning about journalism.

Coverage – I’ve never live-tweeted before. I can report literally on the spot, as it turns out. To be honest it’s kind of addicting, and I can understand why people do it. This assignment is where I first did so.

In general, I greatly improved upon everything in this news writing class, or at least I feel so.I have taken all my opportunities in this class to go on trips and use social media, so I am feeling well-versed. I know I have a long way to go, with better timeliness and taking more risks. The risks I want more of so I can learn from my mistakes–see what works, what doesn’t. This class is based on a learn-from-my-mistakes stand point, so I’m going to try to bring that into my blog work more as well. 

 

Source: Portfolio 2