Obituary assignment

I read the obituary of Donald Chisholm. I thought this was a good example of the obituary it had many of the basic characteristics of an obituary; members of his family, who preceded him in death and information on funeral services. The article gave distinguishing characteristics about Donald; hobbies, where he worked, and accomplishments he made in his life. This allows the reader to see that his life affected others. It gave the reader a chance to look into his past.


The name of the person I am writing my obituary on for the first assignment is is Audrey Harmann.

Here are the answers to the two questions.

1) What's the first thing a reporter should do after being assigned a story?
The first thing a reporter should do if it's not latebreaking news is go to the morgue or to a newspapaer library. The morgue should be the absolute first stop for a reporter though. It is very helpful because it allows journalists to identify a person, so they are able to get interviews before an event.

2) What are the potential problems of using information from news articles you find on commercial databases.

There may be problems if journalists use excerpts from commerical databases. The first is Copyright laws should be followed, reporters should obtain permission before using much of an excerpt.
The second problem is that not all articles appear in commercial databases. They often disclude works from wire services, market reports, death notices and free lance writers.