Good parody of cliched, empty and abstract language and images intended to distort meaning and manipulate:

Feature assignment/Midterm quiz Spring 2014 answers

Journalism 300, Spring 2014 Feature assignment – Should be about a trend, group, phenomenon, event etc. First Draft due March 26, Final: April 7

·        1,000 words (include word count)  with photo(s).

·        Interview and quote a minimum of four (4) sources. You must include their complete names. Don’t quote people who won’t tell you their names.

·       Write your story with the idea of getting it published. Don’t include dated information. If you’re writing about an event that already happened make sure that the story is still relevant.

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Journalism 300 – Spring 2014 midterm answers

1)     B is a better quote because it includes specific information, details and an example of why Mary is an admirable person. A just has general, clichéd comments.

2)     A standard obituary should include: name, age, occupation and address of deceased; Date and place of death, Cause of death, Date of birth and birthplace; Survivors in the immediate family; Memberships, military service; Awards and achievements, funeral arrangements, Where to send donations in the deceased's honor.

3)     The reporter should always prepare as much as possible in order to understand an event, not waste a source’s time with questions the reporter can easily find the answers to ahead of time and to assure the source that the reporter is interested and professional.

4)     The lead is the most important sentence in the story and should get to the heart of the event. There is no need to cram in every who, what, when, where and what time detail.

5)     “Remarkable” is not a reporter’s word. It adds judgment and is “editorializing.”

6)     Words like progress, freedom, liberal and conservative are too abstract. They mean different things to different readers and could be considered biased or “loaded” with insinuations.

7)     A is not a good lead because it is way too gory. B is not good because it includes a cliché (beating a dead horse) and is a question.

8)     Calling an oil rig a an “oil farm” is an example of a euphemism and is designed to obscure meaning.

9)     Always use “said” vs. other words like “exclaimed,” “expounded,” “propounded” and other words like them.

10)  Direct quotations must always be the speaker’s exact words. Otherwise, a reporter could start saying whatever he or she wants and saying a source said it.

11)  On-the-record means you can quote a source saying something. Off-the-record means you cannot attribute this information to this source.

12)  Journalism IS the reporting of the visible and verifiable – not the speculative, hearsay, or unobserved.

13)  The reporter cannot report what a subject is thinking, unless the subject tells the reporter he or she is thinking this.

14)  Reporters use the word “disaster” when there have been many deaths, damage, destruction and displacement.

15)  A nutgraph lets the reader know what the story is about, why it is relevant, what its context is and it gives the reader a “roadmap” to the rest of the story.

16)  The nutgraph in the story begins, “Conversations with area law enforcement…” as this paragraph puts the story of a particular overdose victim into broader perspective and tells us why her story is relevant and what other points the story will cover.

17)  The meeting begins at 6 p.m. and should be over well before midnight.

18)  University of Massachusetts Police Chief John Horvath explained to neighbors that there aren’t enough police officers to stand around in neighborhoods on weekend nights to deter people from trampling on all the residents’ lawns.

19)  My birthday is in September, and my niece, who is from Waltham, Mass., turns 15 on Oct. 1.

20)  President Barack Obama said there was a 43 percent reduction in obesity in young children.