Libel Info...

Hi everyone,

Here are the notes from today's lecture on libel. Again, remember Monday's speech (see earlier post) and that that story is due Tuesday at 7 p.m. emailed to me. I think I got it fixed so you can download this and other earlier notes... but let me know if you still have a problem.

T.R. Reid and Toyota Re-writes...

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, but I wanted to follow-up with today's assignments.

First, make sure you re-write your Toyota stories for class on Thursday. Make sure you include a paragraph or two explaining what was the weakest part of your story and what you fixed.

Remember your top stories are due this Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Lastly, on Thursday we will be discussing T.R. Reid's appearance on campus on Monday, March 1. He will be speaking at 7:30 p.m. at the University Theater. More information can be found at the J-school Web site and at NPR and PBS.

The T.R. Reid story will be due at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night -- roughly 24 hours after the speech.

Also, start working on ideas for your feature story. We are a week or so away from digging into that, but it is coming up soon and you should be generating a decent pitch in the coming couple of days.

See you Thursday.

Previews and Reviews

A reminder that your preview story for the fictitious press conference is due Wednesday at 4 p.m. MT.

Also, go ahead and list your stories of the week under here and Charlie and Suzie will report out on them first thing Thursday. They are also do at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Cheers,
Lee

Of School Buses and Deadlines

I wanted to update you all with the assignments and deadlines for this week.

First comes on Wednesday (I am getting the deadline right this week). By 4 p.m. you should submit your three stories -- international, national and local to this posting so Hosanna and Rachel can report on Thursday.

Your news story will be due at the beginning of class on Thursday. You can only use these facts for your story. Keep a careful eye on your lead and the structure of the piece.

Please email me a copy before class on Thursday and bring a printed copy as well. Stories should be about 400-500 words in length and have your name at the top.

See you Thursday.

Notes and such...

Missed my scintillating lecture? Just want to relive the good old days of a week ago?

The thing is, these notes are up on a Google Documents area. Apparently, you need some sort of Google account (like a Gmail account) to access them. If you sign up for that account, you should be able to get in.

If not, I will put them in my Professor Folder that you can access from the computers at school. There will be a folder in there call Jour270 and these files will be there.

Here are the notes (they are in PDFs) from the first couple weeks of class:

Story Structure (Feb. 9)

Feature Leads (Feb. 4)

Lead Structure (Feb. 2)

Cliche Leads (Feb. 4)

Letters From an Arsonist - Cover Story - Washington City Paper

Letters From an Arsonist - Cover Story - Washington City Paper

Here is the story we read in class.

Beef Bullion and News Gathering

Sorry for having class run a bit long today... guess I was having too much fun.

Anyway, your assignments are as follows:

1) Re-write the lead on your story from last Friday. Re-write only the lead. You can email it to me by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

2) News round-up, week two. Remember Michael and Allie are on news editor duty. Respond to this post by 4 p.m. on Thursday with your top local, national and international stories. Each story submission should have a link to the article and rewritten news lead about the story.

Your lead re-write will be combined with some in-class lead writing exercises for a final grade.

See you all on Thursday.