OBITUARY ASSIGNMENT

I read an obituary for Valeria A. Klaus, 98, of Clintonville. I think the writer did a good job in covering the basic information that is normally found in an obituary. The story stated when and where she died but failed to mention the cause of death. Our textbook states that most newspapers require that the obituary include the cause of death, so this may have been an oversight. The obit also stated her age, birthday, relatives as well as where and when the mass and burial would be held. I think that this obituary further in explaining what kind of person Klaus was and the life she led. The writer mentioned where she had gone to school and what she had studied. Also, it talked about her marriage and husband. Finally, the obituary touched on Klaus' beliefs and hobbies. Overall, I think this is a good obituary. There are too many now that give the readers just the hard facts and fail to paint a picture of the person. At least this obituary had some things to say about her other than just the usual facts.


I am going to be doing my mom, Debbie Sobczak, for the obituary assignment.

Textbook Questions:
1.) The first thing a reporter should do when assigned a story is to check the newspaper library, or the morgue, unless it is a breaking news event that has time restrictions.

2.) Although commercial databases is a valuable asset to reporters, it is not without limitations. First, a reporter must be sure to obey the copyright laws. They cannot take too much information without obtaining permission. Another problem is that not all articles that appear in a newspaper can be found in a database. Certain articles are excluded.