for 422 M/W students only...

if you have a laptop...and you use Skype...and you can bring your laptop to class tomorrow and next week, e-mail me. can be some EC in it for you.

for 421 students, rules for speech story!

Should be at least 4 in-person interviews and at least 3 of them quoted directly. You may do follow-up interviews on the phone or even over e-mail, but those should be made clear in the story and on the contact sheet.

Word count should be between 800-1,000 words.

All the normal rules on formatting, setting the scene, objectivity, no interviewing friends, etc. still apply.

Any questions, lemme know.

for 422 students, be prepared to discuss this next week

This is a link to the stories that helped the Wash Post win 6 Pulitzers in 2008. Make sure you read the two dated April 17 under the Va. Tech section that start "Pop, pop, pop" and "Students makes connections..." Pay attention to role of social media, etc. and be ready to talk about it along with your own examples.

Have a good weekend.

SPJ meeting rescheduled for next Tuesday

The OSU chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. in Journalism Building rm 375. Leonardo Carrizo is coming in to discuss multimedia journalism.

There will be FREE pizza, info about officer elections and scholarships. There is NO COST to you and you can get a scholarship.

If you are a journalism major, you should come. If you are interested in journalism as a career or hobby, you should come. If you just want free pizza, stay away. Just kidding, come anyway!

I hope to see many of you there.

Big-time journalist on campus next Thursday

For those who are interested, could be some EC in it for you. He is speaking next Thursday the 25th. Details can be found here.

Proof that story ideas can come from anywhere

This story from the NYT shows how great story ideas can come from anywhere. Could you do something similar by riding on public transportation offered by OSU or the city?

While you cannot use first or second-person writing in your final/feature stories, there are many great lessons that can be pulled from this story. Note the number of sources, depth of reporting, organization, choice of direct quotes, etc.

Change in office hours on Monday, 2-15.

Office hours will be 2-5 tomorrow (Feb. 15) instead of the normal 12-2.

SPJ meeting Tuesday...great group for journalism students

The OSU chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in Scott Lab E0125. Leonardo Carrizo is coming in to discuss multimedia journalism.

There will be FREE pizza, info about officer elections and scholarships. There is NO COST to you and you can get a scholarship.

If you are a journalism major, you should come. If you are interested in journalism as a career or hobby, you should come. If you just want free pizza, stay away. Just kidding, come anyway!

I hope to see many of you there.

Profile re-writes for 422 M/W class

If you would like to pick up your graded/edited profile re-write, I will have them done by tomorrow afternoon. Stop by office hours 2-5 p.m.

For my 422 students, another article for midterm prep

Be a very good idea to read this story before the midterm and keep it in mind as your blogs progress over the next month.

Laziness leads to plagiarism!!!

This is an example of why it is so dangerous to read the competition's stories before you do your own!

Cliche ledes....this could be on 421 and 422 midterms!

Definitely a good idea to read through this before the midterm and to avoid them in your stories for the rest of the quarter.

And here is another great site from the NY Times about how writing can be improved through simplification, tightening, etc. Thanks to Kristen for passing it along.

For 422 students, a note on blogs and broadcasts!

If you have not already, please link your blog to this one by becoming a "follower." Many of you have done this already. That way, we all have access to the others' blogs in one central location. Also, you all should have a comment from me on your first blog assignment from class about LiveNation and Danny Caterinicchia. If you do not have a comment from me, send me an e-mail and let me know.

As for the 2-minute broadcasts due Monday and Tuesday: Remember to follow directions on the types of stories you must include, finish with the editorial, attempt to transition between stories, practice reading it aloud as much as you can, and of course.....HAVE FUN and KEEP IT SIMPLE!

See you in class.

For 422 students, notes on profiles and event stories!

On profiles, if your first version did not include a detailed, physical description of the main subject, make sure your re-write does!

On event stories, you will need at least 4 named sources in story that are from in-person interviews. At least 3 must be quoted directly. Try for attendees, organizers...and of course, the main speaker(s).

But you no longer have to ask for everyone's ages. You still must include at least 3 unique identifiers for every person in your stories.

Don't like Blogger? Try Wordpress.

Here is another blog I just created. As it notes, I don't care if you use this site, Wordpress or another one, but it should be free, safe and easy to use.

Links to stories discussed in 422 this week

Here is the one that proves there is almost always a new way to tell a story, even one that has been covered by everyone for weeks. Some new angle or someone else to talk to who everyone else may have missed.

And here is the one by my former colleague. The payoff on "formulas" is there, but I would argue it is too low in story based on the heds. Still, the news judgment is sound and a simple tease at the top would have alleviated the problem...or so I think.

Basic Broadcast Writing Rules

These are very basic rules for broadcast-style writing. As you'll see, many of them have been adopted when different people and groups write for the Web, blog, etc.

1. Use active, strong verbs and the present tense is OK if it flows properly in context.

2. Attribution comes first. Joe Doe says..... In print style, we usually put attribution at the end: Blah, blah, blah, said Joe Doe.

3. Phonetic spellings of complex names/words. My last name might look like this on a broadcast sheet: Kat-er-in-eek-ee-uh

4. Short, simple sentences. Even more important in broadcast because someone is reading these words/sentences aloud on camera, into a mic, etc.

5. Rarely use direct quotes. If you must, keep them short, even 2-3 words instead of a complete sentence.