Featured news

What makes a good feature?

Unlike hard news, features are more ‘stories’ than ‘reports.’ A feature story must captivate the reader’s interest while also maintaining some sort of news ‘value. A feature story can concern something serious (life or Death Row) or something more lighthearted (a music festival). Regardless of the subject matter, a feature story should strike a balance between information and entertainment. To accomplish this, a feature will often need a personable element, something that will convince readers of the story’s importance. A feature story on, say, stomach cancer might include data on how many people are affected by the disease, and who it affects most commonly—women, men, etc etc. This type of data can help to capture and hold people’s attention (i.e. it entertains) while still managing to communicate information—two elements essential to a good feature.

Lede-ing somewhere

It can be hard to write a good lede. For the past two minutes I’ve tried to think of a good one for this blog post alone. Part of the difficulty involved in writing a lede comes from the fact that the definition of ‘good’ depends on what type of article you’re writing. A hard news story requires a lede that gives away the most important information right away. For example, a hard news lede might read something like this: “Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s attacks used fighter jets, special forces and regular army troops in an escalation that brought Libya closer to civil war.” It gives the Who/What/Where/When/Why. A more creative lede would suit novelty, culture or lighter news: “Fame kills. Or at the very least, it would appear, it destroys your health, your love life, your family and your sanity.” Ledes pull the reader into the story. A decent lede communicates the point of the story. A better lead pulls the reader into the story.

Ledes taken from NYT.

Feature has to be interesting!

What makes a good feature?

A good feature appeals to its audience. A good feature can be geared towards its targeted gender, age, and type of person or it can be a feature that is interesting to a wide group of people like in a newspaper. For example of a highly targeted feature: 17 magazine would appeal to girls between the ages of 16-25 and has mostly stories about stars. Regardless of the media, the viewers have to care about the feature so that it is interesting and they want to read it, watch it, or listen to it.

A good feature includes an expert on the topic, and a profile on that person. For example a feature on Verizon having the iphone 4 would have an expert on phones and phone service, someone who works in the business, not from Verizon. A good feature also includes someone who is directly involved in the story, so for the example, an expert who works at Verizon. Another thing that makes a feature good is an opinion from the average person like you or me.

Importance of a Strong Lede

The lede, perhaps displayed in this sentence, emphasizes the main points of a story in an attempt to draw the reader's attention. To do so, most writers address the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of the event they are covering.

While the importance of the lede may not be fathomed by the everyday reader, every author knows how vital it is to get the reader, as redundant as this may sound, to keep reading.

In television, an attention grabbing lead is of the utmost importance because on often occasions, part of the story may be cut due to time constraints. Keeping that in mind, many stories feature the most important facts and statements at the beginning of the story. With newspapers, the writer has a little more wiggle room to decide how to format the article. Likewise, radio personnel can be even more creative with how they portray stories, as they are attempting to address the audio aspect of the audience.

Lede me to a Good Story

What makes a good lede?

First off, let’s establish what the lede is. The lede is the beginning of a story that is being reported. It includes the five W’s and sometimes the how. It needs to be interesting, intriguing, and informative. A good lede must answer the who, the what, the where, the when, the why, and sometimes the how.

Ledes are crucial to a good article, whichever type of medium it is for. If it is for television, and is to be read, the lede needs to be short and to the point. If it is for print, then the lede needs to be informative, and only include the most important facts of the story. The lede should not be as long as a paragraph, but not as short as a few words. Typically, it would be between 25 and 30 words, so a few sentences should do it for the length of it. I think that good ledes are the ones that come out and say what is wrong right away in a story about a fire. A good lede is an opening that talks about Deron Williams getting traded to the Nets, and then includes the other players involved after because he is the most notable player in the deal.

In conclusion, a good lede is anything that will answer everything you want to know in the first few sentences.

The Importance of the Lede

The lede is the most important part of a story. It is the very first few lines of a piece and often times should contain all the information needed to attract the reader. A well-written lede should contain the answers to the When, Where, Who, What, How and Why of the story.

Because the lede is so short, it should give easy and direct facts about the story and keep the reader on his or her toes. It should strike as captivating for all ages to read. If you’re covering a softer type of story, your lede can be less direct and factual and a bit more creative. It can have quotes of the person in question or witnesses. It can allow lighter writing about the feelings of the people concerned or something of the sort.

A good lede leads to a good story

What makes a good lede?

A good lede must include who, what, where, when, why, and sometimes how. A good lede has to also follow the type of media you are writing for. Such as for radio you may want to have a hook to get listeners interested so that they stay tuned for the whole story. Television would have a lede similar to newspaper, simply giving the facts first, hard news. Both television and newspapers can end up being cut off due to lack of space so it is important that all of the most important information be first.

A good lede must make the reader, viewer, or listeners interested and want to see or hear more. A successful story not only has the audience listening, reading, or watching the whole story but also remembering the story and talking about it with friends or family. A good lede should lead to a good story.

Creating your Lede

A good lede is what makes a reader want to read the story. The lede is supposed to grab the readers attention right in the beginning. Generally, the first paragraph of your story should begin with the central idea or information that your story is trying to convey. This will help set the audience up with an expectation of what information will follow. Do not overwhelm your audience with to many facts. Give them the enough so they have an understanding of the story that is going to unfold. If they understand what the story is going to be about they can really grab the juicy, interesting parts of the story.

What makes a good lede?

A lede is generally the first paragraph or first several paragraphs of a newspaper story, it comes before the transition to the nut paragraph, the nut paragraph, foreshadowing, the “so what”, and the “to be sure”. A good lede should contain as much information about the story as possible in the shortest amount of space. The most important and crucial elements of the story that the lede should contain is the “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, “where?”, “why?”, and “how?” of the story. In a hard news piece, especially, the lede should be concise and too the point, making sure to cover the main and most important elements of the piece. Generally, The lede should be around 25 to 30 words and preferably one sentence long. A good lede should contain familiar words, it should be specific, and it should effectively replace generalities with concrete details of the story. Theoretically, a lede should be written in such a way that a reader could read just the lede of the story and be able to gather the main idea and gist of the article, they can then read on the rest of the story to get all the specific details. A lede is a good way to summarize the entire story in the shortest and most effective way possible.

What do numbers matter in writing stories?

Numbers have a significant role in journalism, allowing for more effective writing in most cases. When it comes to making comparisons in costs of schooling or taxes; an article must incorporate figures to better get the point across the variance between numbers whether miniscule or not. When the public views numbers in an article they are more inclined to understand and take notice to the scientific and mathematical view on the topic. We all know that journalists and writers alike have deadlines and a length restrictions pertaining to their writing. The use of numbers can helpful in this area for a number of reasons. Depending on what the numbers is being used in reference to, they can either be written numerically or in the form of characters. It’s not often considered, but once thought viewed, numbers do in fact have a significant role in writing stories.

What makes a good profile?

A good profile should create the best portrayal of the person being interviewed. The journalist should remain objective when composing the feature and make sure to stay true to who the person is and how they present themselves. A well-written profile should be written to the point and not dragged on just to allow length. People go into a profile, reading to grasp a better handle on which the person is being talked about. Trying to get to know a celebrity or figurehead on a personal level is what readers look for in a profile article. This is how the public can connect to someone which an abundance of fame and start perceiving them as any other human being.

What makes a good profile?

A good profile should represent the person being presented in the best way possible without the journalist presenting a bias or opinion on their character. It should include not only accurate and informative facts, but facts the person both approves of and encourages to be written in the piece. The piece should be not only concise and to the point, but is also an informative soft news piece, written for the purpose of representing the person as accurately as possible. What’s important about a profile, is people look to reading them to learn about what a person is like, such as a celebrity, outside of the spotlight, which makes profiles the perfect way to represent the person as a real human instead of as a societal figure.

Why do numbers matter in writing stories?

In writing stories, there are a lot of reasons why numbers matter. Numbers represent facts. When gathering information to write a news story, numbers can represent vital information crucial to the accuracy of the story. If a journalist gets certain numbers wrong in their stories, they risk publishing an inaccurate report. Numbers also represent length. In journalism, writers are often limited to a certain number of words or characters for the sake of time and/or space in whichever medium the story is being reported. If journalists don’t follow these strict guidelines and don’t keep their stories accurate, they can potentially risk losing their jobs.

Why do numbers matter in writing stories?

What journalists and reporters do is essentially write stories, articles, blogs and so on. In order to write, one must of course use letters and words. Often neglected, the use of numbers in journalism and reporting is significant and very effective. Numbers and statistics are often times more easily accepted by the public as accurate information because they entail that a scientific or mathematical research has led to their outcome. Numbers are also useful because they can effectively express what one would say in sentences in a couple of characters. They are usually seen as “proof” or “evidence” behind the story.

What makes a good profile?

A good profile should portray the person it features. It is usually concise and to the point. What a profile does essentially is inform the reader about a personality. It should contain all aspects of the person it is describing. A good profile will not have a judgmental view nor will it show the person in a favorable or negative light. The author should remain neutral and present nothing but the facts. At the same time, the author should also keep in mind that his writing has to be light and entertaining because he or she is aiming for readers that are not looking for hard news but rather a light and enjoyable read.

Numero Uno

Are numbers important in journalism?

The answer is si, numbers are importante to journalism. But enough Spanish, this blog is in English. Of course numbers are crucial to journalism because it gives certain significance to the story.

Numbers are great in journalism, whether you are watching it on television on a Red Sox game showing a graphic of David Ortiz’ statistics for the year which includes a .238 batting average, 25 home runs and 94 runs batted in, or its just on the radio, the numbers don’t lie. They make it more interesting to watch and monitor that game to see if Joe Shmo can get a hat trick, also known as 3 goals in a game.

The numbers add flavor to the overall viewing, listening, and reading of news. When you open your Sunday paper, or read it online, you see something about a former state senator going to jail for insurance fraud. You want to know how much he stole, the answer: around $1 million, and you want to know how long he will be in jail, the answer: 27 months. Both of those answers included a number because it gave how much he stole, and how long he will be behind bars, and people want to know that.

Frankly, it is easy to say that numbers are essential to journalism. So, I will say just that. They are, and I love it.

Who's this guy?

What makes a good profile?

Profiles are great because they really capture who a person is. It allows the reader to get past what the media and tabloids are saying about that person and really get to have a chance to see the day in the life of that person. I love profiles because it humanizes those featured, most of whom are famous.

I love reading the hooks to start the story because it gives you a chance to see the writer’s style of writing and then what to expect with that style for the rest of the story.

The body of the profile will always include some sort of extravagant story and I just look forward to hearing about it.

Profiles are a useful source of news because it gives readers a chance to read about something other than nightly events or issues, but just a normal day in the life of a person, and lets the readers in on some things they may have in common with these prominent people.

Numbers=More Informative Letters

When you look at a single letter, not much can be figured out other than what letter it is.  It is when we put these letters together that they begin to take meaning.  Letters become words and words become sentences.  But what about numbers?  Are they really relevant in the journalism world?  At first glance you might not think they are, but they truly can make the difference in a story.  Things like age, location, money values and a variety of other things can be told through numbers.  A number in a story can be the difference between someone stealing a lot of money or 1 million dollars.  It could also be the difference between a small child and a 7-year-old child.  When you examine any good news story you can see that numbers truly matter.

How Revealing

What is the essence of a good profile?  Is it compiling as much information about you as possible in order to educate others about yourself?  Or should you take a more conservative route and simply put the minimal amount of information in order to put people into asking you more?  In my opinion the best profiles are short, sweet and to the point.  They offer the basic amount of information in order to educate readers, but don’t offer so much information that your profile becomes, in essence, a billboard.  If the proper amount of information is shown, you will not only pull readers into your profile and become interested in you, but get them to ask for more from you and give the readers the feeling that you aren’t simply throwing your life on the internet. 

What makes a good profile?

There are many aspects of a profile that can make it a good one. A good hook is key, along with legitimate sources and an interesting story. Your profile shouldn't be about someone that is just the average person. They should be someone that the public knows and sees as interesting. It should be a story about the person or anything interesting that the public would like to know. If you can grab the attention of the reader they you have successfully written a good profile. Make sure that your profile is geared toward your target audience. Really try to grab the readers attention.

Numb3rs are 4 writers 2

Why do numbers matter in writing stories?

While journalism is an art of the written word, numbers are essential to good reporting. Numbers are able to rely objective information such as body counts or product sales in a way that words cannot. A business columnist would not write, “Apple Computers made a lot of money last quarter.” The statement sounds exceedingly stupid, and this is because it doesn’t give any concrete information. Reporters must understand numbers so that their stories will be as accurate as possible. This is not to say that reporters must be mathematicians—not at all. Writers must understand numbers simply because numbers rely the most unbiased information available.

Profiles: Show and Tell, without the Tell

What makes a good profile?

A good profile, at its core, shows the person it features. A good profile does not tell. A good profile is not intrusive—to reader or subject. A good profile does not analyze or argue. A good profile presents the reader a subject unadorned, without airs. A good profile is very difficult to write as the writer must be totally removed from the subject (unless writing a more personalized narrative). A good profile relies on writing scenes and connecting those scenes to more concrete information. A good profile is like a documentary: it shows, makes no comment, and allows us to see into a world we would not normally not see. To accomplish this, the writer’s ego must be displaced from the article—commentary, analysis, assumptions, and arguments are all dross to a profile. The profile must allow its subject to stand on his or her own terms.

Blog Titles Sum Up Your Idea

Please keep your blogs to 200 words.

Blogs should be concise and expressly outline your central idea or thesis.

Use new paragraphs to make it easier to read.

A blog title should be a clear hint or suggestion as to what you will write, not just the question you were asked to answer.

Comments are welcomed.

Why do numbers matter in writing stories?

Numbers matter in writing stories because accuracy is always important. No one wants to read a newspaper where the numbers are not correct, even if they are off by a little bit, people will still want to read another paper. Another reason numbers matter in writing stories is because the number of words, matter. In any type of media there is a limited amount of words you can say or write. Most times the editor or organizer will give you a certain amount of words you have to stay under. If you do not follow this, your boss will be annoyed, and your story will get cut off anyway. You must include the most important information at the top, and then keep the rest of the story to what is strictly relevant because the end may be cut off.

What makes a good profile?

I think a good profile starts out with a good hook, and then continues with background information, followed by an interesting story. A good profile has to be about someone who is interesting to the public. They must either have some very interesting quality, story, or be a public figure. The person most importantly must have a good story to tell. A good profile can show the person as a hero, or someone the reader feels bad for, or it could even be someone the reader hates. The reader just needs to be interested in the person and the story they are telling. A profile should have good quotes that are accurate and help the story, not take away from it.

Why are journalists tempted to plagiarize and make up stories?

Plagiarism and lies are, very often, feel like an easy fix for a story that’s boring, for a journalist who doesn’t know very much about the subject in which he/she is writing, a journalist who doesn’t have enough information about the subject to write a complete story, etc. With the resources we have today it’s so easy, and tempting, to Google your subject, and copy and paste what other sources have to say. Many feel it will surely make their job easier to steal someone’s work rather than taking the time to do it themselves. With so much information out there, journalists feel its something easy enough to get away with, hence why they do it so often.

Many journalists, as well, work under very tight, pressing deadlines. With such a stressful job, many most likely often feel compelled to plagiarize and stretch the truth in a story they didn’t have the time to fully research to avoid confrontation from their boss, or worse, losing their job.

In the long run, though, plagiarism and lying will not only cost any journalist their job if caught, but in the professional field, plagiarism and false facts are punishable by law. Any journalist who plagiarizes will most likely be caught and could potentially get himself or herself into a lot of trouble. So honestly, is it really worth it?

Why do journalists plagiarize and make up stories?

Plagiarism is an easy fix for any human being; procrastination, lack of research, there are many elements that can support someones decison to copy someone elses work. Journalists are bumbarded with deadlines and sometimes there schedules become so unruly and hectic that the temptation to copy someone elses work becomes over-powering. The act is done most of the time, knowing that it's wrong and an evident crime. People tend to overlook the reprecussions of the crime while in the last deciding moments of whether or not to plagiarize. When someone elses work is copied, it's not only disrespectful to them, but when the public finds out that you as a journalize haven't been honest through your words it becomes detrimental to ones career. The consequences can range from losing an audience or readers, to ruining your reputation, or even getting fired from your job.
Making up stories can come into play a lot as a journalist, trying to feed the public a compelling story is something most seek to acheive and can find to be a difficult task. When pressured to make a story interesting to the public eye and with a deadline in the back of a journalists mind, sometimes their creative thoughts of what they imagine the story could be may seem tempting enough to use rather than the not-so-interesting truth.

Why do journalists plagiarize and make up stories?

Plagiarism is an easy escape to completing an assignment. We’ve all seen it, witnessed how easy it is to do it, and heard of people being caught for the crime. Journalists have to do so much research and interviews that the time put into an article takes a lot out of them. Plagiarizing someone’s work would be an easy way out and would give the writer credibility if the actual author’s work is well written. I remember when the Boston Herald ran a story by writer Ron Borges that turned out to be plagiarized, which led to his firing and every time I see him on television for a sports show I think of the crime and how I don’t want to become that person to do that to make a deadline. Another thing journalists do is make up stories. Websites such as TMZ and magazines like the National Enquirer and People make up stories to fuel their readers to keep interest. If you make up a story it is a better alternative rather than not make a deadline at all then. It also is, I feel this way at least, better than copying someone’s work because it least you put in the effort to make up this story on your own. Plagiarism and making up stories are both bad crimes to commit in journalism, but plagiarism is a far worse crime because I could never live with copying someone’s entire work and say it was mine and be able to sleep that night.

My Favorite Blog

I believe that the best blog is journalism.org. As somebody who is relatively new to the world of news, the information I found on the site is very helpful. Its analysis of the news is interesting and displays what the media is paying attention to, over both long and short periods of time. I also value it as a good resource for information about journalism itself. The site contains good advice for journalism students, as well as pages detailing the important points of journalistic integrity On top of this, the blog is well laid out and easy to navigate, making it easy to use.

Why are journalists so tempted to plagiarize and make up stories?

Plagiarism is seen amongst many individuals ranging from students, inventors, and even journalists. Why, though? From age five and through adulthood, we are constantly told not to and reprimanded for plagiarizing, so why do people continue to do it?

Well for starters, it makes doing the actual work a lot easier. If you can just copy and paste or take someone else's idea you can save heaps of time. This is the same for journalists. Journalists are constantly writing about new stories and new leads. From the beginning of work until the end, they write draft after draft. With that in mind, many people take other ideas and copy others' work for personal benefit.

Moreover, many journalists have made up sources or stories so that they have the most interesting version of said story. The credibility of a story shoots up if there are quotes/comments from outside individuals of higher authority. Therefore, many people make up quotes to add into their stories to provide more intrigue and credibility.

Although it is immoral to do so, plagiarizing has become extremely significant in today's news industry, as well as in education, and will continue to do so as long as competition and laziness are still involved.

Favorite Blog

I have been reading Bill Simmons' articles nonstop since I arrived at school due to a sports obsessed roommate. That being said, when faced with the question of what my favorite blog is, I can easily respond with Simmons' blog or webpage found on espn.com.

With sports journalism as a dream job for my future, I have found myself reading more on sports than ever before in my life. "Sports Guy's World," Simmons' page, has posts on up-to-date sporting events such as the upcoming NBA All-Star game as well as the Superbowl that provide a recap and opinion to what we the readers have seen or can expect. The main reason, however, is the humor and satirical elements that are found in many of Simmons' posts. After taking a satire class my senior year in high school, I discovered how a small joke or reference every now and again can really keep the reader interested in the piece and willing to read more.

Likewise, it is easy to tell that Simmons' knows what he is talking about. Some of the statistics and references that he throws in are undoubtably intriguing as well as original. He has been featured many times on SportsCenter on ESPN as well as PTI on ESPN, both highly respected television programs.

In the end, perhaps it isn't the blog that I like as much as it is the journalist. It is easy to tell when as journalist knows what they are talking about versus when they are told to write on a story completely knew to him/her. Blogs are a great way to get one's opinions and ideas out there, but when those ideas are coming from a non credible source, they are likely to receive few hits and affect a large sum of people.

Why are Journalists tempted to plagiarize or make up stories?

Journalists would be tempted to plagiarize for the same reason anyone else would. Because it is an easier way to get something done. Since journalists write all day everyday as their job’s most important requirement, they are more exposed to plagiarism than a regular working man or woman. They are tempted to plagiarize for several different reasons. Firstly, they could be under pressure and need some information from another source about a story they have to submit shortly. Then, sometimes, they can just be feeling like they can’t write or don’t want to write so they wrongly ‘borrow’ someone else’s words.

Journalists are also often tempted to make up stories. They do so because they want to be the authors of the latest ‘hot topic’. They want people to be talking about their story even if the content is false and fictive. This is precisely why we have to be careful as readers and filter well the data that we find, most often on the Internet, because it might not be accurate.

Why are journalists tempted to plagiarize and make up stories?

Journalists like everyone else are driven by fame and fortune. If a journalist plagiarizes or makes up a good story and gets away with it they will get both. They will get paid more; they will be publicly recognized and praised by peers. Pay is a huge part of the reason why anyone does anything; you have to make money to get what you want. Also often times a journalist has a good story idea but does not have the facts or sources to back it up, so they just make them up. This is convenient for them because they can still do the story and receive the credit, without doing the work to find the sources. Fortunately the media is a very hard system to plagiarize in. Not only does the journalist's company usually check facts, but competing companies do as well. They want that newspaper, television channel, or radio station to look bad so that theirs looks better and ends up with more viewers and more money. Also civilians will check facts typically out of interest to do with that particular story. This all together is a good thing because we as civilians obviously want the news we are reading to be credible and reliable.

Why are journalists tempted to plagiarize and make up stories?

Everyone lies, everyone cheats, and everyone steals—or at least takes. People who don’t engage in these sorts of behaviours are generally regarded as ‘good people’ because of the difficulty involved in avoiding them. But what happens in a business built on objectivity, honesty, and fairness? Journalism is the trade of information, and it is keen on keeping its information accurate and original. Yet journalists are still tempted to plagiarize, sensationalize, scandalize. Why?

One reason is the ease. Just as stealing something is a lot easier than buying it, plagiarized information strips an assignment of all the work involved. But just as buying an object with hard-earned money might imbue said purchase with a special value, writing ones own copy is the commendable route—even if the copy itself isn’t so good. For reporters who hate writing, stealing copy is a pain-free way to get the story done. It is also a surefire method to loose credibility and probably one’s career.

As for making up stories, reporters and writers know that sensationalism sells. There’s no greater sensationalism than the one the mind supplies. Crafting a fantasy is enticing for all the glamour breaking a story entails. Everyone would love to be Woodward and Bernstein, letting loose the yolk of tremendous news. Ethically, however, fabricating stories is a mightily disingenuous practice—and it robs writing of the adrenaline involved in breaking real news. Made-up stories revolve around grabbing attention: for the writer, for the news outlet, for the subjects involved.

Why would a journalist plagiarize or make stories up?

Everybody like a great story and the news is one of the great places to get a story.  People love the news because it is not only informative, but a great story telling method of real stories.  Many people like these real stories because they are easier to relate to and they like that they actually happened.  So why would a journalist want to either plagiarize or make up these stories?  Plagiarism is one of the easiest ways to take one of these real and informative stories and convey it through yourself, without actually having to do proper research or to take the time to write about it.  Making up a story is along the same ideas.  Instead of taking the time to properly research and gather information on a story, some journalists feel as though it would be easier to just take the basic information of a story and then make up the rest.  Although this seems like a great time saving idea, it’s a horribly bad idea.  Inaccuracies in the story and general story telling not only can make your company look bad, but can make you as a journalist look bad as well.  Both of these bad techniques should be avoided if you want to strive to be the best journalist you can be. 

Favorite Blog

My favorite blog that I found looking online was http://thedubstepblog.com. For the past year or so I have been very involved in music production. The particular type of music I gear myself at is Dubstep. It is a genre of music involving roughly 140 beats per minute, drops, synthesizers, and heavy bass. This particular blog site is for people who are also in music production. The blog allows users to upload their own personal songs, sound bites, and samples. With the help of this website I have gotten countless ideas from other DJ's. The most impressive thing about this blog is the professional DJ's who blog. These people are experts at what they do and they give insight about the professional music industry. The blog is a great tool for me to use. I have learned so much in the past 5 months since I have started following the blog.

Favorite Blog

The blog I found most interesting was called TV anchor’s Facebook page adds 35,000 fans in single day. I found it intriguing because it portrays the current reality we are living in. Social networking is a revolutionary innovation that has enable millions of people across the world to communicate and to connect with one another. This blog explains how in a single day, a Facebook page attracted 35,000 people. Facebook is the world’s biggest and fastest social network.
The Facebook page is dedicated to a local TV anchor in Seattle who posted that she had a brain tumor. People’s support as she said, was ‘overwhelming’. Within 2 days only, her page had up to 42,000 fans. People around the globe can just click on a few links and find sites and pages that they support or that they disagree with. From there, they can comment on issues, start debates, movements ect. Political and social matters are also subject to social networking evaluations. Thus, people can have an opinion and a say even if they aren’t a journalist or if they’re not someone in power. Social networking connects people globally and allows them to come together for a common goal or purpose.

My Favorite Blog

My favorite journalism blog that I have discovered is http://moorparkmedia.blogspot.com/.  I read through a couple of their stories and they had a nice writing style.  I also thought it was a good idea to include pictures and videos for posts to show people other media of delivery.  I also found it intriguing that this is a blog put on by students, much like our own.  With blog posts dating back to 2007, it also shows that this site has some longevity to it, giving it a sense of credibility, allowing me to trust it more.  But one of the things that caught my eye on this blog that differed from other blogs is the fact that they have a bunch of tabs on the side that can be used to help journalists.  Links that help people with spelling, grammar and editing all show to be great helps and give me the urge to come to this blog when writing a story.  They also have links to other new related sites, such as the New York Times website and the Wall Street Journal.  I was happy to know that not only their perspective on news was being covered, but they showed links to a variety of other sites.  All-in-all this blog was great, giving a mix of news and links, to not only ensure that its viewers would be able to see the news, but also be able to write their own news stories. 

My Favorite Blog

After exploring through a variety of different blogs, there were a few that caught my eye but not too many that captivated me; making me want to continue reading until I ran across http://azurecow.wordpress.com/. This is a blog written by an Irish Journalism Major, the blog itself is called 'and ever onward to prudery', the unique designing of the blog itself is what immediately pulled me in. The graphics and photographs chosen to outline and give further meaning to the blog posts seem to be the perfect choices, simple yet complex, holding a story of their own. Reading each blog, there seems to be a trend of a story intertwined with a more political stance; after continued reading you are able to find hints of social issues scattered throughout the piece. Aside from the typical opinionated writing we often find in blogs, this particular site posts music, unique music that is different from the mainstream commercialized songs we hear on the radio nowadays. I must also mention that this blog interests me because it's based off the ideas of someone in Ireland, the blog focus' on Irish social issues and music; something that we don't often see. I myself enjoy learning about other cultures, and this blog is one way that I can touch upon the happenings of a different country; reading from the point of view of an opinionated nineteen year old student like myself. Overall, this blog is worthy of being bookmarked on my safari window; it's a breath of fresh air.

My favorite blog.

My favorite blog is the lostremote. I found the information most interesting. I really liked the first blog, TV anchor’s Facebook page adds 35,000 fans in single day, it caught my attention because I, like most teens, have a facebook. I also really like that people asked questions and they were answered because I found myself wondering the same questions. The next blog was about hulu, another site that I often use to watch movies and my favorite television shows. The next blog is about the Daily Show, which is a show that I watch. After this there are various blogs also about the Daily. I definitely think this blog drew my interest because of its topic and then held me in because there was good blogging. I also enjoy the pictures next to the people that post the blogs it makes me feel like I know them better and for some reason makes their opinion more real to me. Also the picture really helps me understand the blog better in some cases. For example the first blog is a women fighting a tumor, her picture helps me understand the blog better.

My favorite blog

My favorite blog is the Online Journalism Lab http://onlinejlab.wordpress.com/ because it talks about the presence of online journalism. I am interested in a future of broadcast journalism, but the presence of the web is always important to focus on and I obtained a lot of information when I visited this site. It gave me a chance to look into another aspect of media. Also, the blog talks about how other universities are using online journalism to move forward with their students and staff, Whitworth University being one of these institutions. I particularly enjoy reading about other school’s thoughts on online media because it gives a sense of national interest to how we can obtain our information these days while focusing on the media online and the importance of the Internet. This site gives its viewers examples to how you can grade someone’s Twitter tweets, making a YouTube account, and even stressing how important it is to have a Facebook account in this age. The most fascinating thing that I found on the blog was one of its articles, the same that stressed having a Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook account. It was saying “Google is introducing a feature that allows you to create a profile to show up in searches for your name”. This was just one of the many useful things I found in the blog, and for this, I decided it was my favorite.

My Favorite Blog...

I think the best blog is Photojournalism From A Student’s Eye: http://www.danielsato.com/blog/page/2/. For someone, like me, who’s interested in photojournalism, this blog is a really good resource. It includes not only pictures and videos, but also helpful tutorials and stories of the blogger's experiences in his photojournalism career. The blog is both descriptive and well laid out, but also extremely helpful and strongly written. The author has links to his projects, his résumé, his photos, and his contact information included, so that if an employer is interested in his work and wants to contact him, they can do so easily and efficiently, which I think is an extremely good idea for a photojournalist who is still and student and looking for work. The author also includes links to his tutorials, new media sites he likes, and other photo blogs, all things I feel are good resources for people who share an interest with the author and his material. The author’s content is both versatile and interesting, touching upon many aspects of photojournalism, journalism, and even graphic design. I feel this blog is the best blog because it contains what I believe to be most crucial and necessary elements that make up any strong blog website.

What do journalist do?

Journalists do a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. Journalists typically research stories first, they cannot begin to write until they research. Research may include a variety of things, interviews, traveling to report, asking questions, and finding as much information as they possibly can. Journalists write news stories, or scripts for television and radio, this script or story then has to be approved by the editor. Before it is approved by the editor the journalist must edit the story, they must take all of the information they found and decide what is most important, what must be included, and what can be left behind. They must check facts, to make sure everything is accurate. There have been many cases where facts were not checked and credibility is lost. They must make sure they worded things the way they like the best and make sure the story is the best it can be before the editor receives it. Another thing journalists may to is take photographs to go along with and strengthen their story, sometimes there are specific people assigned to take photos, but not always. Another thing a journalist may have to do in a small company is lay out pages.

What is news? What is Media?

News as we spoke about in class deals with relevance, usefulness, interest, impact, conflict, novelty, prominence, and timeliness. Relevance deals with how relevant a topic is to the audience, a topic that is relevant effects the audience. Usefulness is how useful the topic is to the audience, it should be helpful to their daily life. The piece has to be interesting to the audience, otherwise they will not read it. Stories often have impact, even if the issue does not directly effect it's audience it should in some way. Such as in Egypt, the protests will affect our gas prices. Novelty is a story that is interesting but does not particularly have relevance, people often enjoy these types of stories. Prominence deals with someone famous, which is why the public wants to know what’s happening with them. Finally timeliness is simply meaning that the story is happening now and is important now rather than last week.

Media is what form these news stories appear in. There are different types of media; radio, television, print, and online. These different types of media all include the news factors I previously spoke about, however, they present them differently. For example print uses a lead that is hard, it gets in all of the most important facts within the first sentence (who, what, where, when, why, and sometimes how). In contrast, on the radio they may start out with a line to get you hooked and then proceed with the facts.