McDonald Obituary

McDonald, known as the man who arrested Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, is portrayed in this obituary as a historical figure. The writer makes no reference to his family, friends or other accomplishments other than his role in the Oswald arrest. The obituary is very impersonal and focuses on facts in history rather than the personal achievements of a man.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/28/obituaries/28mcdonald.html?oref=regi

The obituary I will write for class will describe the life of my grandfather Bruno Buechel.

Answers to Questions for Assigned Reading:
1. Upon recieving an assignment from an editor, a reporter's first stop should be the (library) morgue to research and look up background information on the subject of the story.

2. Potential prolbmes of using information from commercial databases include obeying copyright laws, the knowledge that information may be innacurate or have a slanted view point. Also, some articles found in a newspaper may be excluded from the database and human error is a factor as the stories are entered by hand into the database. Another concern is that some reporters may have very little knowledge of the subject.

Murder trial

This case is very interesting to me. A good boy gone bad. He shot and stabbed a man in 2003 and than bragged to his friends about committing murder and getting away with it. Today the trial starts to determine whether he was sane while the murder.

Teenager Sentenced for Computer Virus

I think this is a good law article. Nice and easy to read, but very informative.

Reporting: 327

Reporting: 327

I read an article in the New York times published online titled:
Police Charge 5 Linked to Slaying of Actress
The article is about five people who are being charged with the killing of a New York actress. The article is a well written crime article because it is very detailed and explains the scene of how the woman was killed,why the people are being charged with the crime, and explains who the accused are. It's a shorter article that is very to-the-point.

Telephone Service Finally Arrives For Mink, Louisana

These days we don't often think of a land line telephone as being a modern conveniance, but Mink, Louisana just finished installing it's brand new telephone system for their town. Three hundred miles of telephone cable had to be routed through the surrounding forests to reach the fifteen homes in this little hamlet; the cost of which is being passed on to the phone companies new customers. This article is light and suprising considering the topics that surround it today: "Missing Girl's Body Found In Stream", "Trooper Helicopter Crash Kills...".

Surf City USA

This news article uses a bit of humor to describe the on-going debate between citizens of two Californian cities for the right to advertise using the slogan "Surf City." The reporter has chosen a variety of quotes to round out the story and has presented this story in a witty yet informative manner.

World Leaders Welcome High Turnout in Iraq

This article has a strong impact because it could affect our foreign policy in the future. It involves France and Russia, two of the US's biggest critics of Iraq policy. Putin, it seems, has changed his whole opinion on elections in Iraq. It is also very timely.r

15-year-old poisons family.

I like news stories that are strange. This also happened in Wisconsin , which gives the story proximity. a

Here's how women can make more money

This article summarized how women only make 80 cents on the dollar to a man's average dollar. Author Warren Farrell states a few options that women can do to boost their income levels. This article's structure flows correctly in my eyes. It reads fairly easy.

Iraqi Elections

An important element to a news story is the timeliness of its information. Luckily, newspapers like the New York Times are alway current and timely with their information.

Assignment for Wednesday

Find an example of a well-written obit that was recently published in a national newspaper (e.g. New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Make a blog posting that includes a link to that article.

Write a BRIEF assessment/analysis. Be specific about what you like or dislike.

Give the name of the person you will be writing an obit for.

Answer the following questions based on the assigned reading:

What's the first thing a reporter should do after being assigned a story?

What are some of the potential problems of using information from news articles you find in commercial databases.

The qualities of a good news story

In my opinion, a good news story must be interesting and unique. It cannot happen everyday. Important news doesn't necessarily always come from our own backyards,however,events that take place on the opposite side of the earth should have an affect on people everywhere in order to be considered newsworthy. Good news stories must be accurate and present a clear picture for everyone.

Giambi article

I think it is reassuring to read an article that paints the portrait of a public figure as still being human. Too often celebrities of all types are turned into mythological figures, and condemned celebrities are the worst. The press hounds celebrities until it becomes too easy to dehumanize the perpetrator(s). Not that we need to sympathize, but they are human beings, just like us.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/sports/baseball/31giambi.html?oref=loginn

Michael Jackson trial begins

A key element of a news story is first what makes the story newsworthy or stands out. If the story headline or picture doesn't attract readers the article will go unnoticed. When searching for my newsworthy article I went to usatoday.com and the first thing that jumped out at me was the Michael Jackson trial begins today. The picture and the headline caught my eye and obviously his Jackson's reputation can go unnoticed in the media. It made a great article because it was celebrity news and caught my eye. They article had an effective lead that provided me with the wanting to keep reading, like "Jackson" and "child-molestation".

Welcome to Reporting

As described in the syllabus, this is where the class will publish its work.