Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) pauses momentarily during a town hall meeting in Reading, Pa. Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) have been campaigning in Pennsylvania as preparation for a presidential primary to be held on April 22, 2008. (Reuters photo by: Bradley Bower/April 20, 2008.)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Change we can believe in
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) pauses momentarily during a town hall meeting in Reading, Pa. Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) have been campaigning in Pennsylvania as preparation for a presidential primary to be held on April 22, 2008. (Reuters photo by: Bradley Bower/April 20, 2008.)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Journalistic Principles
When writing stories, journalists tend to want to inject their own ideas and opinions into the news reports. Objectivity requires that journalists don't do that. Journalists should stick to observable facts only.
Being thorough in your reporting is very important. Journalists need to take time to find the best sources, evidence, and so on for their report. It is their goal to make sure that the audience is given enough information so that they can make informed decisions.
No one wants to read a news report that is based on false facts, that's why it is important that journalist be accurate. They need to be sure to check every bit of information that they receive from interviews against original sources.
When reporting, it is also important to be fair. Journalists need to be sure that all bases are covered. Both sides of the story need to be incorporated.
Journalists need to be transparent when it comes to reporting. This means that they need to be open about what biases they bring to the job, how they get their information and how they make decisions on choosing and reporting stories.
Personally, I think that all of them are important in one way or another. They all should be incorporated into news stories. If I had to choose just one, I would choose objectivity. When I read a news story, I want to read facts. I don't want the reporter injecting their own opinions into it.
Being thorough in your reporting is very important. Journalists need to take time to find the best sources, evidence, and so on for their report. It is their goal to make sure that the audience is given enough information so that they can make informed decisions.
No one wants to read a news report that is based on false facts, that's why it is important that journalist be accurate. They need to be sure to check every bit of information that they receive from interviews against original sources.
When reporting, it is also important to be fair. Journalists need to be sure that all bases are covered. Both sides of the story need to be incorporated.
Journalists need to be transparent when it comes to reporting. This means that they need to be open about what biases they bring to the job, how they get their information and how they make decisions on choosing and reporting stories.
Personally, I think that all of them are important in one way or another. They all should be incorporated into news stories. If I had to choose just one, I would choose objectivity. When I read a news story, I want to read facts. I don't want the reporter injecting their own opinions into it.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Feature Story
Things are not going so well for me. I tried contacting the guy I talked to the other day to see if he could help me find some other people that I could interview, but I haven't gotten a response yet. One of the other programs I emailed responded by saying that they were too busy and that I should contact someone else in the program (which I did), but I haven't gotten a response from them either. I've been in panic mode all weekend because I don't know how I'm going to get this done if people won't respond to me. Just in case I do the NIH Loan Repayment Program, here is a rough draft of my feature lede:
Most college graduates worry about finding a job and a place to live. Paying off student loans shouldn't be one of those things.
With The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Loan Repayment Programs research scientists are able to further their career while paying off student loans. In exchange for a two to three commitment to their research career, NIH will repay up to $35,000 per year of their qualified education debt.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Obituary
I decided to cover the obituary story. For an obituary, some basic information that you would need is the name and age of the deceased, date and place of death, cause of death, accomplishments, and details about the funeral service. In order to find out about the cause of death, you might visit the hospital and speak with the doctor who pronounced him dead. You may also find out the date of his death. To obtain personal information about President Caret, you may want to talk to family members and friends. If they are willing, they might tell you the details about the funeral service. Some other information that you may want to obtain are education and survivors, meaning people that he is leaving behind like a wife and kids.
Some challenges that I might have to deal with involve talking to his family and friends. They may not want to talk because they were too grief-stricken or any other reasons. In order to get my story, I would need to find other means of getting the information. I could ask random people if they have heard of him and would they be willing to share information about him. Of course, I would have to check out what they are saying because it may or may not be true.
In addition to the story, the paper could publish an online obituary which features slide shows and recent news stories about him. They could also provide a link to his official website or have a timeline of his life. They could also show video of the deceased as words are being narrated about him.
Some challenges that I might have to deal with involve talking to his family and friends. They may not want to talk because they were too grief-stricken or any other reasons. In order to get my story, I would need to find other means of getting the information. I could ask random people if they have heard of him and would they be willing to share information about him. Of course, I would have to check out what they are saying because it may or may not be true.
In addition to the story, the paper could publish an online obituary which features slide shows and recent news stories about him. They could also provide a link to his official website or have a timeline of his life. They could also show video of the deceased as words are being narrated about him.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Loan Repayment Program
Due to unfortunate circumstances, I had to change the loan repayment program that I was doing. The student loan repayment program that I am doing now is the National Institutes of Health loan repayment program. Earlier, I spoke with Daniel Macias. He is the financial analyst. He was pretty helpful in providing me with information about the program. He also emailed me some information that may also help me with my story. While I was talking to Daniel, it seemed more like a conversation than an interview, which is good.
I asked him if there was any way that I could get in contact with students that have benefited from the program and he said that they were unable to give away that kind of information because of privacy reasons. This is a major setback seeing as how I have to interview some people for the story. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)