Radio writing and Headlines for the week

Hi all,

So we are back on filing headlines, links and sidebar pitches for this week.

Make sure to get them in by the 5 p.m. on Thursday and we will go over them on Friday. Also for Friday review your notes from Monday and Wednesday and make sure you have read the chapters from the book.

Cheers,
Lee

For the Photo Peeps

Hi there,

So I saw this interesting story in the Post about how different images of the Japan disaster are affecting the media's coverage and people's reaction to the events. I thought it would be interesting to you all and to the photo-j folks in particular.

Post story

See you Friday and remember there is no news assignment/editor stuff this week. We will start it up again next week.

Cheers,
Lee

Audacity Intro

Hi folks,

For Wednesday, I want you to look over this how-to guide for Audacity. I will be going over the program in class, but this guide can help you get your heads around the basics. You can ignore the installation stuff and really just focus on the next steps.

See you then.

Belated News Post

Sorry for this being way late and, in particular, I apologize to this week's news editors... But I am going to cut and paste the headlines I received and the comments to the older post into this post to make your jobs a bit easier.

Carli:

NTERNATIONAL:

Zawiya succumbed to Libyan government

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/10/libya.civil.war/index.html?hpt=Sbin

NATIONAL:

Union bargaining rights stripped by Wis. bill

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41996994/ns/politics-more_politics/

LOCAL:

Arrests made to mega-load protestors 

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_7a3a6fa0-4ad7-11e0-ba39-001cc4c002e0.html

Sidebar:

This is really the obvious choice for the story but I would talk to the people who protested, especially the ones who were arrested. I mean they literally tried to stand in the way of mega-load trucks. Why's it so important to them and what the heck were they planning to do if know was going to force them out of the way?

Ashley

International- Qaddafi's Supporters Repossess Crucial Town in Libya

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html

National- Murderer of 5 year old To Be Prematurely Set Free Causes Outrage

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/us/10release.html?ref=us

Localization- Look into MT state laws on murder sentences being shortened due to work and good behavior. See if there has been a similar case in MT. If so, talk to the family of the victim and the family of the murderer if possible. Also talk to MT citizens and see how they feel about our MT laws on early release.

Local- Protestor arrested as big rigs plow through Missoula

Abby

Local: Supreme Court rules appeal for Missoula women fighting against hysterectomy.

 http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_fc792c26-47ae-11e0-9587-001cc4c03286.html.

National:

Controversial Congressional Panel set for hearings on American-Muslim radicalization.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/10/radicalization.hearings/index.html.

International: France becomes first country in EU to recognize Libya’s rebel leadership.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/world/europe/11france.html?ref=world.

I would do a local story on local montana politics and whether or not religious radicalization is an issue locally. I would interview professor Khia (Arabic and middle eastern studies) and ask what his viewpoint of local radicalization is.

Feature Stories and such...

So I want to outline what you will be doing for this feature assignment for class.

The Pitch: Due Tuesday by 5pm via email to me. It should be about two or three sentences long and should tell me what your story is, how you are planning on doing it and what makes it interesting. We will go over them during class on Wednesday.

The story: I am extending the dealing until Wednesday, March 16, 2011 in class. We will have a guest speaker -- the executive editor of The Washington Post -- on Friday, but I hope to get you a rough edit/series of suggestions for your rewrite.

Stories will be approximately 1,000 words, but no longer than 1,200. At least three interviews.

Audio excerpt: You will record at least one of your primary interviews for your story. The following Tuesday, March 22, you will turn in a 1- or 2-minute extended audio clip from your interview.

If you want to read the full story I started today in class, you can check it out here.

See you all Monday.

The Week that Is...

I know one of you has to head out of town right after class, so I wanted to let you post headlines for this week a little early. Feel free to post them in the comments to this rather lame note.

Cheers,

Lee

Event Coverage

Stories are due 24 hours after your event ends. They should include quotes from the speech and reaction from attendees. Focus on what the speech is about – is there news in there? Don’t do a book report about what they said, focus on the MOST important thing they said.

Conservation and Climate Change Lecture

Date:                         Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Time:                        7:00-8:00 p.m.

Location:            GBB 106

More info:            http://events.umt.edu/?&y=2011&m=03&d=01&eventdatetime_id=4717&

Who’s Covering:             Austin S. (but which one?)

                                    John S.

                                    Amanda B.

                                    Kyle S.

Navigating Real-life Ethical Dilemmas in Business

Date:                         Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Time:                         12:10 – 1:00 p.m.

Location:            GBB 108

More info:             http://www.umt.edu/ethics/

Who’s Covering:             Mike P.

                                    Michelle B.

                                    Alexa B.
                                    Ashley O.

Native American Speech: Lessons of Our Land

Date:                         Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Time:                         4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Location:            Payne Family Native American Center Room 105

More info:             http://events.umt.edu/?&y=2011&m=03&d=01&eventdatetime_id=4717&

Who’s Covering:             Amy S.

                                    Meghan N.

                                    Lilian L.

                                    Carli K.

                                    Abby R.

Interviews and Profiles

A few notes from this week...

First, here are the resources about interviewing, including the NPR story with the link to the full beaver interview if you want to hear how the drama ended:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/john_sawatsky_and_the_power_of_simple_questions.php

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5625218

http://poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=1190

Additionally, I mentioned you will be writing a profile/obit based on an interview conducted in class. I want you to base the kind of obit you write on The New York Times Portraits of Grief. I would recommend you read some of the featured ones on the main page so you get a feel for the kind of piece I am looking for.

Finally, be sure to submit your headlines by 5 p.m. Thursday in the comments area of this post.

See you Friday.

Interviewing and a Long Weekend

Hi all,

Good work these first four weeks. There have been a bunch of assignments and a fair amount of work, so enjoy Monday off... You've earned it.

For Wednesday check out this story from NPR about interview techniques and make sure you have the Interviewing, Quotations and Attribution sections of "Reporting Basics" chapter.

Story time in 270

Hi all,

Time again to get those headlines in for your top local, national and international stories of the week. You have been doing a good job these first two weeks, so keep it up.

Also make sure to get your localization or sidebar feature in as well.

See you Friday...

LaHood in the House

Hi all,

A couple of things about this week. First, I have uploaded PDF versions of the lectures I have given in this class up on the Blackboard site for 270. When you log into Blackboard, you should be able to access them now.

I am also copying and pasting the details for Wednesday's faux press conference below:

WHO:          Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

WHAT:        A visit to the University of Montana to speak with journalism students.

WHEN:       Wednesday, February 16 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:    Don Anderson Hall Room 306

WHY:         To make an announcement in response to the explosion in Allentown, Pa. and to take a few brief questions

Your first assignment:  Write a short preview story (200 words) about the visit. You will need to do research to provide some brief background information on Mr. LaHood and the explosion in Allentown – the who, what, when, where, why and how. (Due Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. MT emailed to me)

Your second assignment: On Wednesday, you will attend the news conference during class. Your second assignment is to write a 400- to 500-word news story about the event, with quotes. Your deadline for filing the story by e-mail is midnight on Wednesday.

This week's headlines

Hi all,

I am knee-deep in editing your bus stories, which we will be going over on Friday.

Also, be sure and submit your top stories of the week as well as a localization or sidebar pitch. Go ahead and do that on this post and remember to either sign in or submit it as "Anonymous."

Those headlines are due by 5:00 p.m. Thursday.

See you Friday.

Assignment for Wednesday

As I mentioned, you all have a story due Wednesday in class.

I will paste the details from today's handout in this post and then your story should be double-spaced, print out and between 300 and 350 words. Bring the completed paper to the beginning of class on Wednesday.

Basic story lab

JOUR 270

Write a news story based on the following. Assume that the story will run statewide in tomorrow’s newspapers.

The Montana Highway Patrol reported the following today:

• There was a school bus crash early today on U.S. Highway 91 near Judith Gap, Montana.
• The bus was heading to the State B and C wrestling tournament in Billings.
• The accident was discovered by a bus of Fairfield High School wrestlers, who were on their way to Billings for the tournament.
• Some parents of the wrestlers were following the bus and they arrived on the scene early, too.
• Fergus County Sheriff Tom Kilham was among the responders. He said the coaches did a pretty good job of keeping people calm. “The coaches had things pretty well in hand by the time we showed up.”
• Warmer conditions had covered the snow-packed roadway with a watery glaze.
• Uninjured wrestlers were taken by a bus from Lewistown to the wrestling tournament.
• Trooper Kelly Mantooth, the investigating officer for the Montana Highway Patrol, said four people were injured.
• The 49-passenger bus carried 16 people: a driver, two managers, three coaches and 10 high school wrestlers from Cascade and Simms high schools.
• Two of the injured were wrestlers, one of whom was flown by helicopter to a Great Falls hospital with a possible neck injury. He was later discharged. The other wrestler suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to a Lewistown Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
• The accident was attributed to slick roads and high winds. The driver lost control about nine miles south of Eddies Corner.
• The other two injured people were a coach who suffered a broken arm and an unidentified person who had a minor head injury. The coach was treated and released at Lewistown. The other person was treated and released at a hospital in Harlowton.
• The bus spun clockwise, slid off the road, went through a ditch and a fence, and then rolled onto its left side.

Keep in mind structure and write a strong lead.

Good luck.

This week's stories

This is our first week of news editing duty. You are the editor of a weekly newspaper serving Missoula. Your job is to pick out the top local, nation and international stories to feature in your paper. Be sure and write a headline and include a URL to the story.

Secondly, be sure to submit a sentence or two pitch for a sidebar or localized feature you would propose to do about one of these stories.

All of this is due by Thursday at 6:00 p.m. MT.

Michelle and Alan, you should meet before class on Friday to choose your best stories and pitches and be ready to discuss during the first 10 minutes of class on Friday.

Some reading for Wednesday

We are going to be discussing feature leads for Wednesday and so I wanted to give you a couple of long features to read. These are phenomenal stories and we will discuss what about their structure and writing makes them so great.

Letters from an Arsonist

Roger Ebert: The Essential Man

Equipment Checkout Rules and Hours

Third Floor Equipment Checkout Room Policies

Spring semester 2011

Revised Jan 23, 2011

·      All equipment except video equipment is on a two-day check out. Video gear is on a one-day checkout only. You cannot renew equipment.

·      All equipment checked out for the weekend must be returned Monday between10:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. This time is reserved for check in only. Noon-1 p.m. on Mondays is reserved for checking out gear.

·      Tuesday through Friday you may check out or return equipment between 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

·      No one can check out or return equipment for you.

·      Video equipment is only available to Native News, Online News, Multimedia, Freelance Photography and Graduate students.

·      J227 Camera kits are for J227 students only.

·      J227 and J270 classes have priority on all Olympus audio recorder kits. Online News and Community News Service may need to check out Marantz kits.

·      Students may check out the same piece of equipment for a maximum of two consecutive weekends. However, at the end of checkout hours (just before 2 p.m.) on Friday, they may check out a third time if the equipment is available.

·      Equipment is not available for Kaimin staff.

·      NO EXCEPTIONS: so don’t ask.

It is crucial that you plan ahead and reserve your equipment. Do not wait until the last minute. Failure to return equipment on time, or failure to pick up reserved gear, or failure to return every item you checkout on time will result in a strike.

You have the option to reserve equipment.

Procedure: You must reserve equipment in the checkout room by 1 p.m. Friday of the week before you need the equipment.

Holiday Checkout

Presidents’ Day: Check out Thursday or Friday and return Tuesday by noon.

Spring Break: Check out Thursday or Friday and return on Monday by noon.

News Editor Assignments

I wanted to reiterate the news editor assignment and send you the schedule for the coming semester.

Remember each Thursday by 6:00 p.m. You need to post your top local, national and international story in the comments area to a post I will put up there. Each story needs to be accompanied by a headline you write for your weekly newspaper from Missoula.

Additionally, you need to propose a sidebar or localization feature about one of your top stories. This is a hypothetical story you would look to do to go with your other stories. Don’t just make it up, but you can propose to look for a certain type of person without actually having to do all of the leg work.

First stories are due next Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. Each week the news editors need to discuss before class on Friday what the class proposed and what you would select as the best headlines and stories as well as the top sidebar feature.

SCHEDULE:
Week 1: Michelle and Alan
Week 2: Amy and Ashley
Week 3: John and Alexa
Week 4: Kendra and Kyle
Week 5: Michael and Mariah
Week 6: Brooks and Taylor
Week 7: Patrick and Alyssa
Week 8: Amanda and Austin
Week 9: Lilian and Carli
Week 10: Meghan and Abby

My first story is due when?@#!?

Funny you should ask... Your first story is due Wednesday, January 26, 2011 by 5:00 p.m.

Stories should be emailed to me at lee.banville @ umontana.edu by the deadline. They should be written in Microsoft Word or another compatible word processing program.

Stories should be true. You should have reported this piece and found at least two sources to talk to about your story. These two people CANNOT be your  friends.

The story cannot be an opinion piece about what you think about Inception or Wilco. It needs to be a factual, reported piece. (For example, don't report about Hillary Clinton adopting an adorable baby alien.)

The story cannot be about you -- unless you have adopted an adorable baby alien.

Length should be no more than 2 pages, double-spaced (about 500 words), but can be shorter.

The Paperwork Post

As we start our Journalism 270 adventures, I need to have you fill out a couple of paperwork things:

First, if this is your first class in Don Anderson Hall, we need to create your space on the journalism school servers. Once you set this up, your desktop will show up on any computer you log in to. That said, you should always save a second version of your work on a thumb drive or somewhere on the web. To get your account provisioned, click here.

The other thing we need to do is get you after-hours access to this building. The way to do that is to go here and fill out the form. In a few days you will be able to use your Griz Card to get into the front door of the building and will be provided a code to get into the computer labs so you can work whenever you like.

Finally, you can print things off at out printers, but to do so you need to purchase print credits. See Emily or Kathleen in DAH 201 to buy them. I think they are usually sold in $5 increments.

Spring 2011 Syllabus

Here is the rough outline of what we are going to tackle this semester. I want to clearly tell you this may change as the semester wears on, but here is what we plan on doing.

Spring 2011 Syllabus

You should assume any assignment listed on here is due at the time listed unless I specifically tell you it is not.