Deadline assignment

JOURN 33: March 25 Assignment/Answers


Today: In groups, to be assigned:

• Interview at least four people, total, IN PERSON Ask them if they are seniors. If so, ask them if they know what they are doing when they graduate. Develop a few follow-up questions and engage them in conversation for a few minutes, so you have a meaningful exchange.

• Write down exact quotes, but be prepared to paraphrase most of their responses and just pick the best one or two sentences to directly quote.

• Ask how to spell their names. (Double-check that you wrote it down correctly using UMass.edu Peoplefinder.) Ask them where they are from and what their majors are.

• Try to interview a diverse bunch of people – different majors, different hometowns, different nationalities, gender and race etc

• Ask if you can snap a photo. Use your people skills to encourage them to say yes.

• When the group re-convenes in the computer lab, talk about the responses everyone got. See if you can make some kind of assertion in your lead BASED ON YOUR REPORTING. That is, you will probably have some kind of guiding ideas about whether seniors are likely to know what they are going to do after they graduate, but DON’T write a lead based on speculation, and DON’T write a generic, non-reported lead like: As graduation approaches, college seniors face the daunting prospect of figuring out what to do with the rest of their lives. Instead, review all the responses you got and SYNTHESIZE some of the information. For instance, if you interview 10 people and 8 say they have a job, while 2 say they are going to decide what to do next and where to go the day after graduation, you could say something like: Some UMass seniors have already lined up jobs after graduation, which is a mere six weeks away, but a few are waiting until the day after the graduation festivities to decide their next move.

• After the lead, include a nutgraph saying about how many people were interviewed and characterize the range of their responses. In the body of the paper, mention each of the people you interviewed in a paragraph dedicated to him or her. Include photos and post on blog. Then, let’s submit one or more to the Collegian!

MIDTERM answers:

1) To get to the heart of the journalistic principles, mention some SPECIFICALLY: For example – to inform and to serve the public; to report ethically and thoroughly and to write with fairness, accuracy, clarity and precision, using vivid, CONCRETE and SPECIFIC language vs. empty, convoluted, abstract, generic, clichéd, euphemistic or hagiographic language.

2) To just say an event happened is a CLASSIC BAD LEAD. The first lead does this.

3) Always report on ACTIONS taken/what will serve the public -- in this case that Town Hall will be closed on Fridays.

4) A nutgraph is important because it offers the reader a roadmap to the rest of the story and clarifies for the reader WHY he/she is reading this story now. The nutgraph here begins “It is this kind of perception…”

5) SVO is Subject-Verb-Object and it is the recommended sentence structure because it plunges the reader into the action/is the most direct and readable.

6) EUPHEMISM is a word coined to deliberately obscure meaning, such as calling a missile a “peacekeeper.” The journalist’s goal is to EXPOSE attempts to distort meaning and to help educate the public.

7) HAGIOGRAPHY is the life of a saint – not a good model for a profile, which should bring the subject to full life, “warts” and all. Readers are wary of “puff pieces.”

8) Pets, friends, height and weight and excerpts from police reports are not included in a standard obituary.

9) Joseph Pulitzer explained that reporters have a mission to expose the truth and to hold the powerful accountable.

10) AP style points: Spell out numbers one-nine, in general. Do NOT capitalize job titles unless they come directly before the job holder’s name. Do NOT capitalize academic subjects.