What's coming up

MARCH 9 Discuss potential Issue paper topics & interviews with 2-3 "experts." Review for MID-TERM QUIZ. If time, work on features and blogs 

REVIEW AP TIPS: Common capitalizations and non-capitalizations (job titles, academic subjects, seasons, official names of places etc.), numbers (in general numerals for 10 and above), dates (abbreviate months with long names when used with a specific day), time (1 a.m., 2:15 p.m., noon, midnight),  ages (use numerals, 5-year-old girl),  addresses (Main Street, 10 Main St.), titles (in quotation marks) ...Remember, periods and commas INSIDE quotation marks. 

*****SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS MARCH 14 and 16*****

MARCH 21 Midterm Part 1
MARCH 23 Midterm Part 2 Attend Mongabay panel, email me by the end of the night a lead and nutgraph

MARCH 28 TOPIC: Massachusetts Open Meeting Law FIRST DRAFT FEATURE DUE (1,000) words. Peer edit

Firm up issue story ideas. NEXT: Write issue pitch to present next class. Read and complete worksheets for Chap 20 on police, Chap 24 on Government and 25 on Reporters and the Law. Review Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.
MARCH 30 Issue pitch. Discuss chapters. WRITE: 500-word Issue PRE-First Draft to peer edit next class.



Excerpt from LA Times TV critic Robert Lloyd's review of ESPN's "June 17, 1994":

"I can't swear that this is what the director had in mind, but these are the sorts of things I thought about while watching his film and afterward: time — the blank future, the fatal moment, the irretrievable past. How life is made into ceremony, the public intersects with the private, and men turn into myths and back into men again, as Simpson's suicide ride becomes itself a kind of spectator sport, with fans and sensation-seekers lining the streets and freeway bridges, while Palmer's last round, though fraught with bad shots, becomes a loving communion of athlete and crowd.

"It is also, on an even more elemental level — as an object that itself physically exists in time — about shapes moving through space, about chaos and patterns, the random and the formal, seen up close and from high above: bodies on a basketball court, crowds on a golf-course, the unpredictable line of a quarterback cutting through his opposition, the stately procession of a white SUV leading a fleet of police cars down a Southern California freeway."

Links to Independent Media in a Time of War with Amy Goodman

This is a 2004 video, but the message is just as important today: the media has to remain independent and play a watchdog role with respect to the government. Instead of promoting powerful interests, reporters give voice to people whose stories provide perspective on the actions of those in power.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcVDGefrbJc

Our understanding of world events is limited by what we observe ourselves or what is reported in the media. But we have to be aware of media bias. Even two divisions of the same media outlet, CNN and CNN International, report the news differently.
Is it appropriate to show "tasteless" photos of casualties of war? "War is tasteless," Amy Goodman says. But instead of the human consequences of war, we see images of war as if were a video game.
Goodman talks about the concept of journalists "embedded" with military forces. Journalism has to stay independent of the government it reports on.

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NZpM7E4v6A

We have to remain skeptical of media that promotes the agenda of those in power without analysis. News organizations shouldn't mindlessly adopt and promote the Pentagon's euphemistic titles  like "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
The "daily drumbeat" of who gets covered on the front pages of the established media helps solidify power in the hands of the few.  Media should provide (truly) diverse perspectives.

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl5Y1j-9XxU.

"Reporters' role is to go where the silence is to bring us the voices of people who are at ground zero," Goodman says. Reporters have to tell the stories of people who are not in a position to tell their own.
But much of the media is controlled by large corporations in whose interests it is to squash dissent. The media has to remain independent.

Deadline Assignment 1 example

Summer Curtin

Moose Chaudhry

Ryan Coterie

Have We Fallen Out of Love with Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day may be known for candies, roses, and candlelit dinners spent with that special someone, but to a significant amount of UMass students, this past Tuesday was just another cold winter day filled with classes. 

It seems as though the feeling was more passive than passionate this year, especially to the students who spent the day single.

             “I don’t celebrate it because I don’t have anybody to love,” said Becca Demedeiros, a junior animal science major from Fairhaven, rather solemnly.

The general sentiment at UMass does not appear to be one of passion, but of apathy. While there were some who opted for a hopeful night out with friends, the vast majority instead went for the bare minimum, and either got small gifts if they were seeing someone, or simply did nothing at all. In the era of hook-ups and casual affairs, the love may be lost, and it seems as though UMass students have dumped Valentine’s Day.

Those who did not partake in the holiday opted for a far different kind of Valentine’s Day than expected. Some were surrounded by chocolates and flowers, while others, like S., opted for other special treats; the marijuana edibles she made with her friends.

S. spent the day with her closest friends getting high. She does not celebrate Valentine’s Day, and even considers herself to be “anti-Valentine.” 

“I won’t support a day for love when we should be celebrating love every single day, not just one day in February out of the entire year,” she said.

One of those friends getting high with her had a similar sentiment on the romantic holiday. “I spent the whole day high,” said M. M. considers herself “anti-Valentine “There’s just no point to be honest,” she said.

“I don’t see the point in spending a ton of money on commercial products and chocolates when we could be spending money on more important things to help society,” S said.

Other students see Valentine’s Day as a capitalist scheme as well.

The idea that big businesses and corporations flourish off the purchase of cards and flowers seems too shallow to some people, and often times is the source that turns them away from celebrating this day at all. 

Muntaha Elsir, who perhaps rather ironically was campaigning at a heart covered table, filled with free donuts, was blatant about her feelings toward the idea of Valentine’s Day. “I think it’s stupid. I don’t celebrate it because it is purely based off capitalism, not love,” she said.

Elsir (left) sits at a campaigning table in the Student Center

Valentine’s Day comes across as forced for some, and becomes a holiday where expectations are at an all time to high to spoil their significant other.

“In my past relationships it’s been kind of chill,” said Dianna Sorto, a UMass student. She also noted that she spent this past Tuesday in an exam. 

Sorto’s boyfriend, Anthony Tejada, a kinesiology major from Somerville sat across from her. “I just go along with it,” he said. “I just gave her some flowers and candy.” 

Tejada explains the passiveness of the Holiday. “I think it’s just expected that you have to get them a small gift. It is what it is,” Tejada said.

Donna Sorto (left) and Michael Tejada (right) sit for lunch at Blue Wall

As Valentine’s Day continues to be commercialized, many think the day has lost its luster. However, there are still those out there looking for a romantic rendezvous. Student Erica Luttazi, from Franklin, has not given up on the day just yet. 

“It is a bit overdone, but I still went out though.” Luttazi attended a Frat party on Feb. 14 Although this might not be the most ideal place to look for true romantic love, she still gave it the good old college try.

Deadline assignment 2

Deadline story ideas:

• What do students think about the guest policy that will be in place for Blarney Blowout? Is the policy effective? Can students think of a different approach?
• Are students looking forward to Blarney Blowout; do they plan to participate or do they think it's stupid or passé? What do you think the attraction of it is?
• Are you planning to go to the free concert? If it started later than 10 a.m. would you be more likely to go? If there were different acts would you be more likely to go even though it's at 10 a.m.?
• How do you like the unseasonably warm weather?
• Are you a big fan of the four seasons?

Deadline assignment

In your blog groups:

•  Interview at least two people EACH, IN PERSON Ask them an initial question on the topic to be determined. 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. Ask if you can take their photos and share them online.  Finished pieces must include photos with captions 

• 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, for instance, if you were doing a story about what seniors are going to do when graduate 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, for instance: 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.

What's coming up:

MARCH 2 In-class deadline assignment/(5 percent of total grade) Next: Read Chaps. 11 on layered reporting and 14 on sources. 

MARCH 7 TOPIC: “Layered” reporting FINAL DRAFT PROFILE DUE (1,000 words, INCLUDE WORD COUNT, 10 percent of total grade)Discuss Chapters 11 and 14. In-class work on BLOGS

MARCH 9 Discuss potential Issue paper topics & interviews with 2-3 "experts." Review for MID-TERM QUIZ. If time, work on features and blogs 

*****SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS MARCH 14 and 16*****

MARCH 21 Midterm Part 1
MARCH 23 Midterm Part 2 Attend Mongabay panel, email me by the end of the night a lead and nutgraph

MARCH 28 TOPIC: Massachusetts Open Meeting Law FIRST DRAFT FEATURE DUE (1,000) words. Peer edit

Firm up issue story ideas. NEXT: Write issue pitch to present next class. Read and complete worksheets for Chap 20 on police, Chap 24 on Government and 25 on Reporters and the Law. Review Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.
MARCH 30 Issue pitch. Discuss chapters. WRITE: 500-word Issue PRE-First Draft to peer edit next class.