Cigarettes in bad are bad

I promised a link to the Tennessee Williams poem, "Life Story" that reinforces the point we discussed on refining news ledes this morning.

Your rough draft

To all, this is an old post from a few years ago explaining what I mean by first draft. I think it should help you zero in on what I'm looking for next Thursday, Rob.

I promised a little more explanation on the drafting method we will use for your stories. We may at times use the phrase 'rough draft' interchangeably with first draft, but I don't what you to get the idea that the draft you turn in will be nothing more than a bunch of hastily assembled notes. The first draft of a basic news story from a professional journalist will really need only minor tweaking in the editing process before it is ready for publication.

None of you are professional journalists, yet. So I suspect your first drafts will require significant rewriting in the drafting process. Try not to get too discouraged when that first draft comes back covered in chicken scratches from your's truly. That's how I teach and you learn. Someday maybe some of you will be editors or journalism profs and you'll get to inflict the same torture on others. It's a circle of life kind of thing.

Back to what I'm expecting next Thursday. Your first draft should include all the components of the news story as I outlined earlier in the semester. Remember, they are:

Headline
Lede
Backup for lede (should contain lede quote)
Impact
Background
Elaboration
Ending

You should have your three sources. At least two quotes, preferably from different sources.

Even if you have all these things, I may ask you to revise, rewrite or even reinterview. That's the nature of this process, and that's the nature of being a cub reporter.

So the bad news is that I'm going to ask you to rework these stories multiple times. That can be a maddening process. But the good news is that with just five of you in the class we'll have plenty of time to make sure each of you gets it, that all of you can succeed in learning the basics of writing a news story.

Another advantage of the drafting method is there really isn't a final deadline for your stories (well, there is the end of the semester). You will be able to revise and rewrite until the story is ready to be graded. If that takes a week, great. If it takes until May to get it right, that's what we will do.

Oh yeah, I'm looking for stories 400 to 500 words in length. But that will vary depending on the story. Longer does not necessarily mean better.

More on the GOP primary

Here's a follow up to our current events quiz discussion Tuesday, this coming from the Daily Show .

I think its interesting that the DS picked up on Romney's use of "sport" rather than "sports." Extra credit for the first response that names the famous literary character who frequently uses that word and how that might further reinforce the narrative that Mitt's an elite, out-of-touch rich guy.

BTW, I think to a certain degree Romney is getting the same unfair treatment from the media that Al Gore did back in 2000. Since the media is made up of far too many vapid hot-wind blowers rather than thoughtful news gatherers and reports, it's easier for them to focus on style rather than substance. Like Gore, Romney can be an awkward public speaker. But what candidates have to say should be more important to news reporters than the affectations they display while saying it.

Just report the news, don't try to play kid psychologist.

P.S. — I tried to post this after class Tuesday, but the Daily Show web site was down.

Linsanity fallout

The hottest sports story of the last month has been the rise of Jeremy Lin, the Asian-American basketball player who has been on fire playing for the New York Knicks.

This headline cost an ESPN writer his job. We'll discuss in class Thursday.

Current events

Here's some help for the current events quiz. But you will need to pay attention to the news this weekend as two major news stories will break Saturday and Sunday. The quiz will be available Sunday night and all day Monday.

Read this.

And this.

And this.

See you Tuesday morning.

How to cover news events

Take a look at this link to a discussion by the Seattle Times about how the newspaper responded to a bnig news event last week: a major snowstorm.

For rugged Montanans such as ourselves a skiff of snow might not seem like a big deal. But this is Seattle, where it snows only occasionally and where, unlike the Flathead, few old beater pickups have snowplows bolted on. Municipalities don't have fleets of snowplows either. Place matters when it comes to news. Six inches in Kalispell is ho hum page 2 fodder. In Seattle its a sign the Apocalypse is upon us.

What I'd like you to think about is the seriousness of the Times coverage of a significant event that affected just about everyone in the newspaper's circulation area. Even though the newspaper did fun stuff such as posting reader's "pet in the snow" fotos, coverage reflected events with an appropriate level of seriousness. Contrast that to that inane "Wake up it's Ashley" bit from CNN John Stewart hilariously mocked.

There are times to play it straight and there are times to have fun. Learn to make the distinction between the two.

No need to post a response. We'll discuss more in class. Here are some fotos one of my old students from NAU took that appeared on Page 1 of the Times. Erika has been a photographer on staff for a few years now.

Your first assignment

Take a look at these:

It's hard to believe CNN was once considered a quality news channel

Alanis Morissette isn't the only one who doesn't get irony

Now, log in and post that your name so I know you're able to do so. We'll have assignments requiring posts in the future.