Lansing Star Soundslides
http://www.edbond.com/conte_publish_to_web/
Chilifest Soundslides
http://www.edbond.com/evie_publish_to_web/
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Basic photography/videography
Use a tripod when practical.
Get a variety of angles.
Compose the shot. Get the subject in the frame. Try to use the rule of thirds when practical.
Count to 10 to make sure shots are long enough.
Find ways to connect shots.
Monitor the audio, listen with ear buds/phones when you can.
One concept: Zoom with your feet, rather than the zoom on the camera. (But not always practical.
Pan the camera to stay with the action.
Zoom to get emotion.
Zoom and pan to connect, to reveal or surprise.
Zooming out pushes the viewers away.
Zooming in pulls viewers in.
Panning
Pan right for comfort; Pan left for attention.
Get a variety of angles.
Compose the shot. Get the subject in the frame. Try to use the rule of thirds when practical.
Count to 10 to make sure shots are long enough.
Find ways to connect shots.
Monitor the audio, listen with ear buds/phones when you can.
One concept: Zoom with your feet, rather than the zoom on the camera. (But not always practical.
Pan the camera to stay with the action.
Zoom to get emotion.
Zoom and pan to connect, to reveal or surprise.
Zooming out pushes the viewers away.
Zooming in pulls viewers in.
Panning
Pan right for comfort; Pan left for attention.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Suspect dead after confrontation with police in Ithaca
http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story/Fatal-Shooting-In-Ithaca/4GeGIRN3kkGNaWxm7MC_Gw.cspx
Suspect dead after confrontation with police in Ithaca
Posted using ShareThis
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/100223035/Shots+fired++police+on+scene+at+Pete+s
Personnel from several area law enforcement agencies were at what appears to be a crime scene at Pete’s Grocery and Deli and Wine and Liquor at 805 W. Buffalo St., Ithaca on Tuesday evening.
Officers came to the scene at about 5 p.m. apparently responding to a report of shots fired. Two Bangs Ambulance vehicles subsequently left the scene in the direction of Cayuga Medical Center. Officers taped off the scene extensively and appeared to be questioning people inside the store.
One of the objects of the officers’ investigation was a green passenger van on the grass near the store with its doors open. The van appeared to have been driven up onto the grass, with tracks on the grass leading from the pavement.
Agencies on the scene included the Ithaca Police Department, New York State Police, State Parks Police and the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office. The Ithaca Police Department SWAT van was on the scene, its lights illuminating the area. State police investigators joined Ithaca Police Chief Ed Vallely and deputy chiefs John Barber and Pete Tyler at the scene.
A total of 10 police vehicles were at the scene this evening. Some were parked along West Buffalo Street; others had blocked traffic on Taughannock Avenue.
It appeared that some customers were inside Pete’s and some were being escorted from the store by police officers.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/100223035/1126/Shooting+victim+dies+following+confrontation+with+police+in+Ithaca
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/2230378/1001/news/Man-killed-by-police-after-West-End-chase
http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Suspect-dead-after-confrontation-with-police-in/Q34jwO9RD0O7FK5sj7L5lg.cspx
Suspect dead after confrontation with police in Ithaca
Posted using ShareThis
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/100223035/Shots+fired++police+on+scene+at+Pete+s
Personnel from several area law enforcement agencies were at what appears to be a crime scene at Pete’s Grocery and Deli and Wine and Liquor at 805 W. Buffalo St., Ithaca on Tuesday evening.
Officers came to the scene at about 5 p.m. apparently responding to a report of shots fired. Two Bangs Ambulance vehicles subsequently left the scene in the direction of Cayuga Medical Center. Officers taped off the scene extensively and appeared to be questioning people inside the store.
One of the objects of the officers’ investigation was a green passenger van on the grass near the store with its doors open. The van appeared to have been driven up onto the grass, with tracks on the grass leading from the pavement.
Agencies on the scene included the Ithaca Police Department, New York State Police, State Parks Police and the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office. The Ithaca Police Department SWAT van was on the scene, its lights illuminating the area. State police investigators joined Ithaca Police Chief Ed Vallely and deputy chiefs John Barber and Pete Tyler at the scene.
A total of 10 police vehicles were at the scene this evening. Some were parked along West Buffalo Street; others had blocked traffic on Taughannock Avenue.
It appeared that some customers were inside Pete’s and some were being escorted from the store by police officers.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/100223035/1126/Shooting+victim+dies+following+confrontation+with+police+in+Ithaca
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/2230378/1001/news/Man-killed-by-police-after-West-End-chase
http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Suspect-dead-after-confrontation-with-police-in/Q34jwO9RD0O7FK5sj7L5lg.cspx
Notes on broadcast writing
Writing for broadcast must be more conversational. It is written to be read aloud.
Tell the news through people:
Find a problem, find a person dealing with the problem and tell us how he or she is doing.
Immediacy
Use the present tense as much as possible.
Use simple, short sentences, written with transitive verbs. Transitive verbs do thing to things.
Avoid contracting ‘not’ use: not guilty. But don’t use: isn’t guilty.
Avoid slang and incorrect grammar. Avoid vulgar and off-color expressions. (Remember your audience.)
Listeners are often given just the bare facts.
Don’t look for synonyms. Don’t be afraid to repeat words.
Repeat proper nouns rather than use pronouns.
Avoid using dependent clauses. Use independent clauses.
Keep the subject close to the verb.
Don’t barrage the listener with a series of numbers.
Answer questions, but don’t ask them.
Words and pictures should be complimentary, never interfering with each other.
At the beginning of the scene or when a scene changes, you must tell the viewer where you are or what is happening.
Titles should precede names to better prepare the listener to hear the name.
Know how to pronounce words and proper names.
Lima, Newark,
Campbell
Rarely use direct quotations and quotation marks.
Use: he put it this way or in his words.
Tell the news through people:
Find a problem, find a person dealing with the problem and tell us how he or she is doing.
Immediacy
Use the present tense as much as possible.
Use simple, short sentences, written with transitive verbs. Transitive verbs do thing to things.
Avoid contracting ‘not’ use: not guilty. But don’t use: isn’t guilty.
Avoid slang and incorrect grammar. Avoid vulgar and off-color expressions. (Remember your audience.)
Listeners are often given just the bare facts.
Don’t look for synonyms. Don’t be afraid to repeat words.
Repeat proper nouns rather than use pronouns.
Avoid using dependent clauses. Use independent clauses.
Keep the subject close to the verb.
Don’t barrage the listener with a series of numbers.
Answer questions, but don’t ask them.
Words and pictures should be complimentary, never interfering with each other.
At the beginning of the scene or when a scene changes, you must tell the viewer where you are or what is happening.
Titles should precede names to better prepare the listener to hear the name.
Know how to pronounce words and proper names.
Lima, Newark,
Campbell
Rarely use direct quotations and quotation marks.
Use: he put it this way or in his words.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Final Cut Express for $134
This is the best deal I've seen out there. I saw a $90 deal, but that was just for an updater. You may be able to beat this deal:
http://www.cosmogadget.com/pd-apple-final-cut-express-4-retail-box-pn.cfm
http://www.cosmogadget.com/pd-apple-final-cut-express-4-retail-box-pn.cfm
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Whose flag is this?
My curiosity was sparked by the Special Interest Flag that was flying on Monday. Who can tell me what this flag represents?
Monday, February 15, 2010
Business story resources
Here are some business story resources that I would explore in putting together a business story on the Ithaca area:
Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce
http://www.tompkinschamber.org/
New York State Department of Labor
http://www.labor.state.ny.us/
The Index of Economic Activity in Tompkins County
http://www.ithaca.edu/economics/tcdex.htm
Tompkins County Area Development
http://www.tcad.org/
Tompkins Workforce New York
http://www.tompkinsworkforceny.org/
http://www.daycarecouncil.org/
Tompkins County Workers Center
http://www.tclivingwage.org/
Cornell Cooperative Extension
http://www.ccetompkins.org/localfood/index.htm
Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce
http://www.tompkinschamber.org/
New York State Department of Labor
http://www.labor.state.ny.us/
The Index of Economic Activity in Tompkins County
http://www.ithaca.edu/economics/tcdex.htm
Tompkins County Area Development
http://www.tcad.org/
Tompkins Workforce New York
http://www.tompkinsworkforceny.org/
http://www.daycarecouncil.org/
Tompkins County Workers Center
http://www.tclivingwage.org/
Cornell Cooperative Extension
http://www.ccetompkins.org/localfood/index.htm
Business/government stories
For the business/government stories, the skedlines are due on Wednesday, Feb. 17. The stories and videos are due Feb. 24. Each student will post a story of about 750 words and a 1-2 minute video for your group's online blog. You will coordinate with your fellow teammates on how these stories will be covered by you are graded individually as to how well you pull off this assignment.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Scavenger hunt
Some of you may be searching for ideas to blog about. So, I'm offering a scavenger hunt to help spark your curiosity about the news and issues in Ithaca. Try to do at least one of each of these for a blog posting this semester.
ATTEND an Ithaca City Council meeting, school board meeting, county government meeting or Town of Ithaca meeting. Write a short blog about an item on the agenda that interested you. Discuss the issues and the outcome. You may do a variety of these throughout the semester. You might get the first ideas for your final project here.
VISIT a store or shopping center you have not visited before.
RIDE the TCAT or a taxi cab or some other form of conveyance. Here's a tip that may turn out helpful later on -- if you are trying to find out about a city quickly, ride in a taxi. A good conversation with a knowledgeable taxi driver can fill you in on most of the big issues and news stories of a city.
GO TO a landmark or tourist attraction. Be open about learning about the history or a fact you didn't know about.
NOTICE historical plaques and signs. Ask yourself what effect this little piece of history may have on the city we have today.
STRIKE UP a conversation with a stranger. Find out about what they are concerned about with Ithaca. You don't have to identify yourself as a student or as a journalist (unless what they tell you could be a news story.) But I would recommend you do this in a public place. Be wary of anyone who may take advantage of you. Listen to your instincts about whether someone is leading you to danger. However, be curious about the other person as you learn about this city.
PAY ATTENTION when someone tries to sell you something or does sell you something. Ask yourself how did they make the approach and get you to be interested in what they had to offer. Think about their body language, their choice of words, their mannerisms. What turned you off or made you interested? This may help you when you have to approach strangers to get comments on stories.
FIND a new way to get to a familiar place. Don't be afraid to get a little lost. Notice the new landmarks, the businesses, ask yourself what purpose they serve, what possible news stories may be inside.
WALK when your destination is close enough. Pay attention to buildings and landmarks you may have passed too quickly because you were in a car or a bus. Think about possible news stories.
SIT IN on a court action in either Ithaca City Court or Tompkins County Superior Court. Notice not only the action going on in front of the judge, but also the drama stories of human nature that may be happening around you.
ASK the Ithaca City Police a question about a recent crime, accident or arrest. See how much information you can get.
ATTEND an Ithaca City Council meeting, school board meeting, county government meeting or Town of Ithaca meeting. Write a short blog about an item on the agenda that interested you. Discuss the issues and the outcome. You may do a variety of these throughout the semester. You might get the first ideas for your final project here.
VISIT a store or shopping center you have not visited before.
RIDE the TCAT or a taxi cab or some other form of conveyance. Here's a tip that may turn out helpful later on -- if you are trying to find out about a city quickly, ride in a taxi. A good conversation with a knowledgeable taxi driver can fill you in on most of the big issues and news stories of a city.
GO TO a landmark or tourist attraction. Be open about learning about the history or a fact you didn't know about.
NOTICE historical plaques and signs. Ask yourself what effect this little piece of history may have on the city we have today.
STRIKE UP a conversation with a stranger. Find out about what they are concerned about with Ithaca. You don't have to identify yourself as a student or as a journalist (unless what they tell you could be a news story.) But I would recommend you do this in a public place. Be wary of anyone who may take advantage of you. Listen to your instincts about whether someone is leading you to danger. However, be curious about the other person as you learn about this city.
PAY ATTENTION when someone tries to sell you something or does sell you something. Ask yourself how did they make the approach and get you to be interested in what they had to offer. Think about their body language, their choice of words, their mannerisms. What turned you off or made you interested? This may help you when you have to approach strangers to get comments on stories.
FIND a new way to get to a familiar place. Don't be afraid to get a little lost. Notice the new landmarks, the businesses, ask yourself what purpose they serve, what possible news stories may be inside.
WALK when your destination is close enough. Pay attention to buildings and landmarks you may have passed too quickly because you were in a car or a bus. Think about possible news stories.
SIT IN on a court action in either Ithaca City Court or Tompkins County Superior Court. Notice not only the action going on in front of the judge, but also the drama stories of human nature that may be happening around you.
ASK the Ithaca City Police a question about a recent crime, accident or arrest. See how much information you can get.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Lines from the observation exercise
Here's some of my favorite lines from observation exercises:
"A bus takes a break, releases a sigh; a small cloud floats up and evaporates into the sky."
-- Evie Santiago
"Echos of 'SAKE SAKE BOOM!' make the room rattle with teetering shots falling through glass and plunking in beer. Drink!
--- Carolyn Cutrone
This was a good line from Carolyn. Here's a little suggestion on how to do it faster with more punch:
"Echos of 'SAKE SAKE BOOM!' rattle the room with teetering shots falling through glass and plunking in beer. Drink!"
" A deep-bellied giggle escaped his mouth as the napkin tickled his tiny, flushed cheeks, packed with food."
-- Amanda Riggio, writing about a toddler eating lunch with his mom.
First came blue. Then pink. Then green. Each colored object about the size of a kidney bean rushed into the little boy’s clear plastic bag.
-- Becca Burns
A sales associate breezes past the old woman, arms loaded with multi-colored clothing.
Sam Schles
The girl linked her arms around her mother’s neck like a necklace and pressed her nose into her mother’s cheek, planting three staccato kisses.
Gabriella Waldvogel.
Misplaced shopping carts lie scattered across the concrete plain.
-- Peter Blanchard
The Nissan Altima woman’s hands tightened around her keys and purse.
Erica Conte.
One man sits in a green chair and sings in a calm voice and talks aloud to himself.
Jessica Dillon.
The woman nearly springs out of her chair as her lips curl in on one another.
Kellan Davidson
Twisted sticks and large rocks poke through the surface, slicing up the river’s water.
Breanne Durning.
His fresh tracks in the snow lead her to him. Hand back in hand, she joins in his gaze out to where deep blue has disappeared around the high, black boundaries. The silence speaks to them and they step over the edge.
Andrew Buraczenski
As the chef’s knife commandingly flails in her direction, she turns and glides back to her burrow, moving like a snail across a sidewalk, savoring the human interaction.
Natalie King.
A big hand grabbed the bills, and the register made a whooshing sound as the cash drawer flew open.
Laura Murray.
The ambidextrous adolescent hurriedly scoops orders of noodles and egg rolls into Styrofoam to-go boxes, and sticks a toothpick in another piece of pork.
Norah Sweeney.
The ice machine clunks and rattles as one woman waits for her cup to fill and converses to the women at the table across the room.
Jackie Wild
Sunbeams cut through the side windows and forced customers at side tables to furrow their brows and scoot their seats, constantly readjusting to relieve the irritation.
Abby Paulson
In all six courts slim athletes sprint with legs the width of tree trunks, reach with gangly arms and flick their wrists as if they were made of elastic in order to get their opponent to chase the ball into a narrow corner.
Kevin McCall
With one hand holding a drink and the other flailing in the air along with the beat of the music, she pops and swivels her hips in perfect sync with the rhythm, seemingly more hypnotized than those watching her captivating gyrations.
Bryant Kuehner
The residue doesn’t stop overzealous partygoers from turning down the lights, turning up the music and climbing onto the tabletops.
Rachel Stokes
REMINDER: This is an observation exercise. You are only to write about what you SEE, hear, smell, ect. Only write about what can be known through the senses. Don't guess about motivations or what people are thinking. Don't get into people's heads. Don't write about what you think or what you guess is happening. Use active verbs to describe the scene, engage the senses and allow the reader to experience the scene as directly as possible. Do not use the verb to be. Do not write in the passive voice. SHOW, DON'T TELL!
Here are the original notes for the observation exercise.
Please include the word "observation" in your blog headline so that I'll know that is what it is intended for. Anyone who has posted their exercise already may edit their work to meet the requirements so long as it happens before class time on Feb. 17.
"A bus takes a break, releases a sigh; a small cloud floats up and evaporates into the sky."
-- Evie Santiago
"Echos of 'SAKE SAKE BOOM!' make the room rattle with teetering shots falling through glass and plunking in beer. Drink!
--- Carolyn Cutrone
This was a good line from Carolyn. Here's a little suggestion on how to do it faster with more punch:
"Echos of 'SAKE SAKE BOOM!' rattle the room with teetering shots falling through glass and plunking in beer. Drink!"
" A deep-bellied giggle escaped his mouth as the napkin tickled his tiny, flushed cheeks, packed with food."
-- Amanda Riggio, writing about a toddler eating lunch with his mom.
First came blue. Then pink. Then green. Each colored object about the size of a kidney bean rushed into the little boy’s clear plastic bag.
-- Becca Burns
A sales associate breezes past the old woman, arms loaded with multi-colored clothing.
Sam Schles
The girl linked her arms around her mother’s neck like a necklace and pressed her nose into her mother’s cheek, planting three staccato kisses.
Gabriella Waldvogel.
Misplaced shopping carts lie scattered across the concrete plain.
-- Peter Blanchard
The Nissan Altima woman’s hands tightened around her keys and purse.
Erica Conte.
One man sits in a green chair and sings in a calm voice and talks aloud to himself.
Jessica Dillon.
The woman nearly springs out of her chair as her lips curl in on one another.
Kellan Davidson
Twisted sticks and large rocks poke through the surface, slicing up the river’s water.
Breanne Durning.
His fresh tracks in the snow lead her to him. Hand back in hand, she joins in his gaze out to where deep blue has disappeared around the high, black boundaries. The silence speaks to them and they step over the edge.
Andrew Buraczenski
As the chef’s knife commandingly flails in her direction, she turns and glides back to her burrow, moving like a snail across a sidewalk, savoring the human interaction.
Natalie King.
A big hand grabbed the bills, and the register made a whooshing sound as the cash drawer flew open.
Laura Murray.
The ambidextrous adolescent hurriedly scoops orders of noodles and egg rolls into Styrofoam to-go boxes, and sticks a toothpick in another piece of pork.
Norah Sweeney.
The ice machine clunks and rattles as one woman waits for her cup to fill and converses to the women at the table across the room.
Jackie Wild
Sunbeams cut through the side windows and forced customers at side tables to furrow their brows and scoot their seats, constantly readjusting to relieve the irritation.
Abby Paulson
In all six courts slim athletes sprint with legs the width of tree trunks, reach with gangly arms and flick their wrists as if they were made of elastic in order to get their opponent to chase the ball into a narrow corner.
Kevin McCall
With one hand holding a drink and the other flailing in the air along with the beat of the music, she pops and swivels her hips in perfect sync with the rhythm, seemingly more hypnotized than those watching her captivating gyrations.
Bryant Kuehner
The residue doesn’t stop overzealous partygoers from turning down the lights, turning up the music and climbing onto the tabletops.
Rachel Stokes
REMINDER: This is an observation exercise. You are only to write about what you SEE, hear, smell, ect. Only write about what can be known through the senses. Don't guess about motivations or what people are thinking. Don't get into people's heads. Don't write about what you think or what you guess is happening. Use active verbs to describe the scene, engage the senses and allow the reader to experience the scene as directly as possible. Do not use the verb to be. Do not write in the passive voice. SHOW, DON'T TELL!
Here are the original notes for the observation exercise.
Please include the word "observation" in your blog headline so that I'll know that is what it is intended for. Anyone who has posted their exercise already may edit their work to meet the requirements so long as it happens before class time on Feb. 17.
A romantic science story
Check out this piece from National Public Radio. It shows how science does not have to be stodgy.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123534818
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123534818
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Some notes on the Tryout Assignment
Here's some advice that should be helpful for many in the class.
All in all, your writing becomes much better if you can actually see what you are writing about. If writing about a building or a construction project or whatnot, go down to the site and use your observational skills to describe what is going on. Make the writing active and immediate.
Get the good stuff, the good quotes, anecdotes and facts high in the story. Give examples and specifics. Avoid vague concepts. Avoid using "seems." It tells me you are guessing, that you aren't sure. Don't guess and don't leave unanswered questions. Also, don't advocate for a cause. At least don't do it in a news story or as a professional journalist.
Said is the best, most functional way to give attribution. Not explained, stated, asserted, feels, claims, commented, asserts, worries. I know as writers we strive to vary our language so that we do not bore our readers with repetition. However, in the attempt to vary said, we run into more problems than it is worth. Variations on said bring in connotations that often are not fair.
By straining to find variations to said, we are distracting the reader from the rest of the piece. It takes energy away from that part of your writing that the reader should be paying attention to. The word said just does the job in a straightforward way. It is like the white noise coming from a useful piece of equipment. It does not draw attention to itself but it gets its job done. When you notice that noise, and it becomes distracting, the equipment is breaking down.
Stay consistent with your tenses. Switching between says and said means you are switching between present and past tense. If you are writing in the past tense, use said throughout. If you are writing in present tense, use says throughout. Yes, it is OK to write in present tense in a news story. Sometimes the story calls for that. But don't switch tenses.
Believes and feels are particularly troubling kinds of attribution. They imply that somehow you really know what someone believes, and I maintain that is often impossible for a journalist to know.
Think about it this way. What if I told you, "You are the best student I have ever had."
I said it. But maybe I said it to every student I met that day. Maybe, for some reason, I told you that but didn't believe it.
What's the truth? The truth is that I said it.
"You are the best student I have ever had," Ed Bond said.
The point is that you should be skeptical. People tell reporters things for all sorts of reasons, mostly because they want to portray a point of view in the public. But their public stance may be very different from their private beliefs. An elected official may offer full support to an administrator one day, swear they will always be in their job, but then the next day fire that person. Who knows what they really believe?
ONE EXCEPTION: I did come across one example where believes worked: A group of scientists who believed that a treatment was effective against a disease. I was OK with it because it was not about a private belief, but a publicly shared belief. There is a difference.
I think often students use words as titles that should not be. For example: Parent Joe Smith.
Think about it? Who talks like that? How about: Joe Smith, a dad who lives in Ithaca.
Also remember that jobs are not always titles. So, don't use: Teaching Assistant David Brady. Instead: David Brady, who has been a teaching assistant for seven years, ...
It makes the writing more conversational. Also, if you are using a title before a name, it should not be longer than three or four words. If a title is longer than that, put it after the name and lowercase it.
One last style point: There is no italicizing in AP Style or newswriting. Check the entry for composition titles.
All in all, your writing becomes much better if you can actually see what you are writing about. If writing about a building or a construction project or whatnot, go down to the site and use your observational skills to describe what is going on. Make the writing active and immediate.
Get the good stuff, the good quotes, anecdotes and facts high in the story. Give examples and specifics. Avoid vague concepts. Avoid using "seems." It tells me you are guessing, that you aren't sure. Don't guess and don't leave unanswered questions. Also, don't advocate for a cause. At least don't do it in a news story or as a professional journalist.
Said is the best, most functional way to give attribution. Not explained, stated, asserted, feels, claims, commented, asserts, worries. I know as writers we strive to vary our language so that we do not bore our readers with repetition. However, in the attempt to vary said, we run into more problems than it is worth. Variations on said bring in connotations that often are not fair.
By straining to find variations to said, we are distracting the reader from the rest of the piece. It takes energy away from that part of your writing that the reader should be paying attention to. The word said just does the job in a straightforward way. It is like the white noise coming from a useful piece of equipment. It does not draw attention to itself but it gets its job done. When you notice that noise, and it becomes distracting, the equipment is breaking down.
Stay consistent with your tenses. Switching between says and said means you are switching between present and past tense. If you are writing in the past tense, use said throughout. If you are writing in present tense, use says throughout. Yes, it is OK to write in present tense in a news story. Sometimes the story calls for that. But don't switch tenses.
Believes and feels are particularly troubling kinds of attribution. They imply that somehow you really know what someone believes, and I maintain that is often impossible for a journalist to know.
Think about it this way. What if I told you, "You are the best student I have ever had."
I said it. But maybe I said it to every student I met that day. Maybe, for some reason, I told you that but didn't believe it.
What's the truth? The truth is that I said it.
"You are the best student I have ever had," Ed Bond said.
The point is that you should be skeptical. People tell reporters things for all sorts of reasons, mostly because they want to portray a point of view in the public. But their public stance may be very different from their private beliefs. An elected official may offer full support to an administrator one day, swear they will always be in their job, but then the next day fire that person. Who knows what they really believe?
ONE EXCEPTION: I did come across one example where believes worked: A group of scientists who believed that a treatment was effective against a disease. I was OK with it because it was not about a private belief, but a publicly shared belief. There is a difference.
I think often students use words as titles that should not be. For example: Parent Joe Smith.
Think about it? Who talks like that? How about: Joe Smith, a dad who lives in Ithaca.
Also remember that jobs are not always titles. So, don't use: Teaching Assistant David Brady. Instead: David Brady, who has been a teaching assistant for seven years, ...
It makes the writing more conversational. Also, if you are using a title before a name, it should not be longer than three or four words. If a title is longer than that, put it after the name and lowercase it.
One last style point: There is no italicizing in AP Style or newswriting. Check the entry for composition titles.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Scholarship
I am an Ithaca alumni and just wanted to send this info over.
Thanks,
Eric Staub
Rubenstein Communications, Inc.
1345 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10105
(212) 843. 9279
Hi everyone,
We’re representing the Eric Breindel Journalism Awards. The winner of the undergraduate award wins a $10,000 cash prize and gets a paid internship at the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, or the New York Post. The submission form is attached and the release is below.
Thank you,
Olivia
Welcome back to campus! As the spring semester starts, we’d like to remind you that applications are still being accepted for the Eric Breindel Collegiate Journalism Award. The winner of this one-of-a-kind award receives a cash prize of $10,000 and gets to choose between a paid internship at The Wall Street Journal, Fox News Channel, or The New York Post. The winner can also receive free housing in New York City for the duration of their internship. The award is open to undergraduate students in all class years.
We are pleased to announce that the Eric Breindel Award is now on Facebook. Log on to become a fan and learn more about the award.
SUBMISSIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR A ONE-OF-A-KIND $10,000 UNDERGRADUATE JOURNALISM AWARD AND PAID INTERNSHIP
***
THE WINNER CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN AN INTERNSHIP AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE NEW YORK POST OR FOX NEWS CHANNEL AND RECEIVE HOUSING ASSISTANCE IN NYC
The Eric Breindel Memorial Foundation is pleased to announce that applications for the “2010 Eric Breindel Collegiate Journalism Award,” the nationwide undergraduate competition whose winning prize is unmatched by any institution in the country, are now being accepted.
The winner will secure the following awards:
- A cash prize of $10,000
- A paid internship of his or her choice at Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal or the New York Post
- Residential housing in New York City, if necessary.
The Eric Breindel Memorial Foundation will present the award to the undergraduate columnist, editorialist or reporter whose work best reflects the spirit of the writings by Eric Breindel: Love of country and its democratic institutions as well as the act of bearing witness to the evils of totalitarianism.
The award, created in memory of the New York Post editor and columnist, includes opinion journalism, news coverage and online articles. It is open to undergraduate writers and reporters of all political convictions and backgrounds and submissions may include college newspapers, magazines or periodicals, as well as online articles published on accredited college institution web sites. The award recognizes the editorial pursuit of freedom and American ideals.
In the past the award has been presented by Rupert Murdoch, Chairman & CEO, News Corporation and Roger Ailes, Chairman of Fox News Channel and Fox Television Stations.
The winner two years ago John Wilson, chose an internship at the New York Post and was subsequently hired as the Associate Editorial Page Editor. The first winner, Matt Mireles, attended Columbia University in New York and chose an internship at Fox News Channel. He is currently involved in creating technology for the new era in communications.
Those who wish to be considered should submit no more than two editorials, columns or news stories, per person, written in the 2009-2010 academic year. Articles specifically produced for and published by an established newspaper or magazine web site will be accepted as well as internet exclusive material. All rules governing submissions appear on the attached page. A confidential panel of judges appointed by the Foundation will judge the entries. The winner will be announced in June 2010.
ABOUT ERIC BREINDEL
In 1977, Eric Breindel graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was editorial chairman of the Harvard Crimson and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After receiving his A.B. from Harvard, Eric studied politics at the London School of Economics. He went to Harvard Law School where he received his J.D. in 1982.
Eric Breindel became the Editorial Page Editor of the New York Post in 1986. Breindel was appointed Senior Vice President of News Corporation in 1997. His nationally syndicated column appeared weekly in the New York Post and he was the moderator of a weekly national public affairs television program, Fox News Watch, on the Fox News Channel. A book of his columns, titled A Passion for Truth: The Selected Writings of Eric Breindel, was published in 1998.
The Eric Breindel Memorial Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt entity based in New York City.
FOR AN APPLICATION OR QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT GERMAINE FEBLES AT (212) 843-8031 OR GFEBLES@RUBENSTEIN.COM OR VISIT WWW.ERICBREINDEL.ORG
Monday, February 8, 2010
Story structure
For Wednesday, check out this piece from the New York Times, posted by Abby Paulson: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/asia/24trap.html?hp
Also, from the Los Angeles Times, please read this piece for next week, and think about how this piece and the NY Times piece was structured. Also, what kinds of reporting skills are at work in both stories?
The City's Eight Road Warriors
Never Bring Them Back Alive;
By: JOHN M. GLIONNA
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Robert Hadnot considered the dead dog's body, examined its thousand-yard stare and the teeth clenched in an eternal snarl.
"Looks like another homicide," he said.
With a sigh, Hadnot jumped from his truck and pointed to the telltale tire tracks spun into the dusty shoulder of the Pacoima side street. He gazed down at the hefty mixed-breed still wearing its tags and kicked the dust: "Sorry big man, but somebody done you wrong."
Hadnot is a talkative man with a cow-catcher goatee, a former forest service firefighter who now spends his days driving the streets of the industrial east San Fernando Valley in search of things that make most motorists wince and turn away.
He looks for road kills. He inspects them, pokes at them, sometimes talks to them. And then, one by one, without fanfare, he carries them away.
At 35, Hadnot is one of the city's eight dead animal collectors, weighted with the thankless job of annually removing tens of thousands of bloodied animal remains from city streets. Last year, he and co-collector Curtis Fontenot disposed of 8,100 carcasses from the East Valley alone.
That averages two dozen bodies a day each, not counting their twice-daily visits to local animal shelters. It's a cold cargo of dogs, cats, possums, deer, coyotes, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, monkeys, snakes, pigs, skunks. Even a gorilla.
Seven of 10 are domestic pets, luckless animals who made one last ill-timed move onto some Tarmac thoroughfare. All are trucked to a rendering plant in the bowels of Los Angeles where they are boiled into ingredients for things like fertilizer and soap.
Hadnot knows his job commands little respect from the general public--unless, of course, it's their pet he's carting away.
"This job is not important to people," he said, "so I make it important to myself."
He sees himself as a canine coroner of sorts, an expert investigator who questions the deaths no one else cares about. He talks in cop jargon, refers to the animal corpses as his cases. He responds to calls about anxious pets who have accidentally hanged themselves with their own leashes, who have been mysteriously shot or beaten with 2-by-4s, animals dumped at lonely locations in plastic garbage bags.
Talking to himself, he says things like: "This doesn't look right."
And then there are the road kills--not DOA (dead on arrival) but DOR (dead on road).
Each morning, he arrives at his sanitation department garage in Sunland and consults the daily dead animal report, which on a recent day listed some one dozen victims, including a lamb, a goat, three dogs and a question mark--an animal John Doe.
Two hours and a dozen stops later, his emerald green city truck begins to reek of death. Hadnot sniffs the air: "This is nothing. Wait until August."
Veteran road kill collectors trade war stories about the smell that lingers in the brain, settles rudely onto the tongue, making some trainees quit after only one day.
"If you could turn that stink into perfume, it would sell for $500 a ounce, it's that potent," said supervisor and former dead animal collector C. W. Perkins.
Motorists run red lights when they get a whiff of the collector trucks. Steely-eyed motorcycle cops back off, return their ticket books to their pockets. Said Perkins: "A pile of 2-day-old dead animals and a skunk carcass will drive even the flies away."
At first, Perkins says, the job made him unable to eat ketchup or any red food. Finally, it turned him into a vegetarian. "I picked up so many road stiffs that looked like hamburger meat, that when I went to the meat counter and looked at the real thing, I said to myself, 'Uh-uh. Never
again.' "
Veterans tell of the collector who removed so many dead animals that he had nightmares about being chased by dogs. "Every morning," Perkins said, "he woke up tired."
Others have encountered panicked possums who aren't quite dead, venomous snakes with one last bite in them, cats sacrificed in ritual killings. Then there was the dead 400-pound pig stuck in the mud and the gorilla killed by a fall in its cage.
Worse, perhaps, are the distraught pet owners. Like the woman who cried so violently, her angered husband finally said: "You won't even cry that hard at my funeral!"
One weeping pet owner asked Perkins what would happen to her dog's body. He gave no answer. "I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was going to take her dog to the rendering plant where they would grind it up, that she would probably be washing her face with her dog one day."
Time was, Vietnam veteran Fontenot could not comprehend the agony suffered by grown men and women over some dead pet. But five years on the job have taught him compassion.
"Now I find myself praying for these animals and their owners," he said. "And when I pick up an animal, I always make a point to say 'I'm sorry about your pet.' "
*
For his part, Hadnot shakes his head at unleashed pets allowed to run the streets. Passing some smiley-faced dog running free, he mutters sadly to himself, "I'll be back for you later."
But the worst part of his job are the visits to the animal shelter, where he sometimes imagines that the ghosts of dead animals are waiting for him along with the bodies.
On one recent visit, he tossed 40 carcasses from a holding cooler into his truck, including the bodies of kittens he cradled in the palm of his hand.
In one nearby cage sat a large dog ready to be put down. "He's a biter, so nobody wants him," the attendant said, adding, "Kind of like putting your grandmother to sleep because she yells at you. That's the mentality."
Hadnot shakes his head, looks at the dog: "Yeah, I know. It's tough, big man."
Also, from the Los Angeles Times, please read this piece for next week, and think about how this piece and the NY Times piece was structured. Also, what kinds of reporting skills are at work in both stories?
The City's Eight Road Warriors
Never Bring Them Back Alive;
By: JOHN M. GLIONNA
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Robert Hadnot considered the dead dog's body, examined its thousand-yard stare and the teeth clenched in an eternal snarl.
"Looks like another homicide," he said.
With a sigh, Hadnot jumped from his truck and pointed to the telltale tire tracks spun into the dusty shoulder of the Pacoima side street. He gazed down at the hefty mixed-breed still wearing its tags and kicked the dust: "Sorry big man, but somebody done you wrong."
Hadnot is a talkative man with a cow-catcher goatee, a former forest service firefighter who now spends his days driving the streets of the industrial east San Fernando Valley in search of things that make most motorists wince and turn away.
He looks for road kills. He inspects them, pokes at them, sometimes talks to them. And then, one by one, without fanfare, he carries them away.
At 35, Hadnot is one of the city's eight dead animal collectors, weighted with the thankless job of annually removing tens of thousands of bloodied animal remains from city streets. Last year, he and co-collector Curtis Fontenot disposed of 8,100 carcasses from the East Valley alone.
That averages two dozen bodies a day each, not counting their twice-daily visits to local animal shelters. It's a cold cargo of dogs, cats, possums, deer, coyotes, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, monkeys, snakes, pigs, skunks. Even a gorilla.
Seven of 10 are domestic pets, luckless animals who made one last ill-timed move onto some Tarmac thoroughfare. All are trucked to a rendering plant in the bowels of Los Angeles where they are boiled into ingredients for things like fertilizer and soap.
Hadnot knows his job commands little respect from the general public--unless, of course, it's their pet he's carting away.
"This job is not important to people," he said, "so I make it important to myself."
He sees himself as a canine coroner of sorts, an expert investigator who questions the deaths no one else cares about. He talks in cop jargon, refers to the animal corpses as his cases. He responds to calls about anxious pets who have accidentally hanged themselves with their own leashes, who have been mysteriously shot or beaten with 2-by-4s, animals dumped at lonely locations in plastic garbage bags.
Talking to himself, he says things like: "This doesn't look right."
And then there are the road kills--not DOA (dead on arrival) but DOR (dead on road).
Each morning, he arrives at his sanitation department garage in Sunland and consults the daily dead animal report, which on a recent day listed some one dozen victims, including a lamb, a goat, three dogs and a question mark--an animal John Doe.
Two hours and a dozen stops later, his emerald green city truck begins to reek of death. Hadnot sniffs the air: "This is nothing. Wait until August."
Veteran road kill collectors trade war stories about the smell that lingers in the brain, settles rudely onto the tongue, making some trainees quit after only one day.
"If you could turn that stink into perfume, it would sell for $500 a ounce, it's that potent," said supervisor and former dead animal collector C. W. Perkins.
Motorists run red lights when they get a whiff of the collector trucks. Steely-eyed motorcycle cops back off, return their ticket books to their pockets. Said Perkins: "A pile of 2-day-old dead animals and a skunk carcass will drive even the flies away."
At first, Perkins says, the job made him unable to eat ketchup or any red food. Finally, it turned him into a vegetarian. "I picked up so many road stiffs that looked like hamburger meat, that when I went to the meat counter and looked at the real thing, I said to myself, 'Uh-uh. Never
again.' "
Veterans tell of the collector who removed so many dead animals that he had nightmares about being chased by dogs. "Every morning," Perkins said, "he woke up tired."
Others have encountered panicked possums who aren't quite dead, venomous snakes with one last bite in them, cats sacrificed in ritual killings. Then there was the dead 400-pound pig stuck in the mud and the gorilla killed by a fall in its cage.
Worse, perhaps, are the distraught pet owners. Like the woman who cried so violently, her angered husband finally said: "You won't even cry that hard at my funeral!"
One weeping pet owner asked Perkins what would happen to her dog's body. He gave no answer. "I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was going to take her dog to the rendering plant where they would grind it up, that she would probably be washing her face with her dog one day."
Time was, Vietnam veteran Fontenot could not comprehend the agony suffered by grown men and women over some dead pet. But five years on the job have taught him compassion.
"Now I find myself praying for these animals and their owners," he said. "And when I pick up an animal, I always make a point to say 'I'm sorry about your pet.' "
*
For his part, Hadnot shakes his head at unleashed pets allowed to run the streets. Passing some smiley-faced dog running free, he mutters sadly to himself, "I'll be back for you later."
But the worst part of his job are the visits to the animal shelter, where he sometimes imagines that the ghosts of dead animals are waiting for him along with the bodies.
On one recent visit, he tossed 40 carcasses from a holding cooler into his truck, including the bodies of kittens he cradled in the palm of his hand.
In one nearby cage sat a large dog ready to be put down. "He's a biter, so nobody wants him," the attendant said, adding, "Kind of like putting your grandmother to sleep because she yells at you. That's the mentality."
Hadnot shakes his head, looks at the dog: "Yeah, I know. It's tough, big man."
My hours this week
For this week, to review the Tryout Assignment, please stop by to visit me in my office.
I will be in the office:
From 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday.
9 a.m. to 9:40 Wednesday; 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday (and after 3:40 p.m. Wednesday if requested)
From 9 a.m. to 1:30 on Thursday.
From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, and after 12:40 if requested.
If none of these times works for you, please e-mail me at ebond@ithaca.edu.
You need to see me to get a grade on this assignment.
I will be in the office:
From 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday.
9 a.m. to 9:40 Wednesday; 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday (and after 3:40 p.m. Wednesday if requested)
From 9 a.m. to 1:30 on Thursday.
From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, and after 12:40 if requested.
If none of these times works for you, please e-mail me at ebond@ithaca.edu.
You need to see me to get a grade on this assignment.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Reminders
Observation exercise should be done by Feb. 17.
Continue to review and study AP Style rules on abbreviations, capitalization and numbers.
Teams need to created their team blog and then send me the links and the names of the team members.
Maintain your personal blogs on a weekly basis.
Review and discuss Beat Notes and Future Files and how they help reporters.
Continue to review and study AP Style rules on abbreviations, capitalization and numbers.
Teams need to created their team blog and then send me the links and the names of the team members.
Maintain your personal blogs on a weekly basis.
Review and discuss Beat Notes and Future Files and how they help reporters.
Amended line-up for semester projects
Feb. 24: Business or government packages due. AP Style test.
March 24. Sports or entertainment news packages due.
April 7: Fire/rescue or police or courts assignment due.
April 21: Medical/science/environment/technology assignment due.
March 24. Sports or entertainment news packages due.
April 7: Fire/rescue or police or courts assignment due.
April 21: Medical/science/environment/technology assignment due.
Message from Jeff Cohen
Please remind your classes and students that environmental journalist Sandra Steingraber – author of Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment – will lecture this Tuesday, 7:30pm in Park Aud. She’ll speak on “The Importance of Journalism and Independent Media in an Age of Ecological Crisis.”
Sandra is a cancer survivor. She has a powerful personal story and insights about journalism. A documentary film based on “Living Downstream” will be released this spring. The Sierra Club called her “the new Rachel Carson.” More info about Sandra: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/409/the_good_earth
Sandra is a cancer survivor. She has a powerful personal story and insights about journalism. A documentary film based on “Living Downstream” will be released this spring. The Sierra Club called her “the new Rachel Carson.” More info about Sandra: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/409/the_good_earth
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Anecdotal lede
Here’s an example by Edward Wong of The New York Times' Beijing bureau:
BEIJING — The first sign of trouble was powder in the baby’s urine. Then there was blood. By the time the parents took their son to the hospital, he had no urine at all.
Kidney stones were the problem, doctors told the parents. The baby died on May 1 in the hospital, just two weeks after the first symptoms appeared. His name was Yi Kaixuan. He was 6 months old.
The parents filed a lawsuit on Monday in the arid northwest province of Gansu, where the family lives, asking for compensation from Sanlu Group, the maker of the powdered baby formula that Kaixuan had been drinking. It seemed like a clear-cut liability case; since last month, Sanlu has been at the center of China’s biggest contaminated food crisis in years. But as in two other courts dealing with related lawsuits, judges have so far declined to hear the case.
This was republished here: http://journalism.about.com/od/writing/a/featureledes.htm
A blog on great newspaper ledes:
http://greatledes.blogspot.com/
BEIJING — The first sign of trouble was powder in the baby’s urine. Then there was blood. By the time the parents took their son to the hospital, he had no urine at all.
Kidney stones were the problem, doctors told the parents. The baby died on May 1 in the hospital, just two weeks after the first symptoms appeared. His name was Yi Kaixuan. He was 6 months old.
The parents filed a lawsuit on Monday in the arid northwest province of Gansu, where the family lives, asking for compensation from Sanlu Group, the maker of the powdered baby formula that Kaixuan had been drinking. It seemed like a clear-cut liability case; since last month, Sanlu has been at the center of China’s biggest contaminated food crisis in years. But as in two other courts dealing with related lawsuits, judges have so far declined to hear the case.
This was republished here: http://journalism.about.com/od/writing/a/featureledes.htm
A blog on great newspaper ledes:
http://greatledes.blogspot.com/
Writing tips
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=9641
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=13061
There are lots of good writing tips in these links. Some of my favorites:
1) Read your work out loud.
2) Highlight periods to spot the pattern of short and long sentences. When you have longer sentences, you are more likely to get into grammatical problems. Simplify as needed.
3) Turn negatives into positives when possible and appropriate. It means avoid writing about what is not there or didn't happen, but instead write about what did happen and was there.
4) Show, don't tell ... always.
5) Don't trust adjectives.
6) Consider point of view. Do you take the point of view of the government body or that of the public?
7) Tell the story in one word. Keep that focus in mind as you write.
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=13061
There are lots of good writing tips in these links. Some of my favorites:
1) Read your work out loud.
2) Highlight periods to spot the pattern of short and long sentences. When you have longer sentences, you are more likely to get into grammatical problems. Simplify as needed.
3) Turn negatives into positives when possible and appropriate. It means avoid writing about what is not there or didn't happen, but instead write about what did happen and was there.
4) Show, don't tell ... always.
5) Don't trust adjectives.
6) Consider point of view. Do you take the point of view of the government body or that of the public?
7) Tell the story in one word. Keep that focus in mind as you write.
Note to self
We need to understand how to use links in our blogs and online stories. Also, we need to use tags, categories and properly written headlines to draw readers to our work.
Layers of reporting – source originated reporting
Second-level reporting – spontaneous events/ reportorial enterprise
In-depth reporting/investigative – interpretive and explanation.
Layers of reporting – source originated reporting
Second-level reporting – spontaneous events/ reportorial enterprise
In-depth reporting/investigative – interpretive and explanation.
Story structure
Check out this piece from the New York Times, posted by Abby Paulson:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/asia/24trap.html?hp
Also, from the Los Angeles Times, please read this piece for next week, and think about how this piece and the NY Times piece was structured. Also, what kinds of reporting skills are at work in both stories?
The City's Eight Road Warriors
Never Bring Them Back Alive;
By: JOHN M. GLIONNA
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Robert Hadnot considered the dead dog's body, examined its thousand-yard stare and the teeth clenched in an eternal snarl.
"Looks like another homicide," he said.
With a sigh, Hadnot jumped from his truck and pointed to the telltale tire tracks spun into the dusty shoulder of the Pacoima side street. He gazed down at the hefty mixed-breed still wearing its tags and kicked the dust: "Sorry big man, but somebody done you wrong."
Hadnot is a talkative man with a cow-catcher goatee, a former forest service firefighter who now spends his days driving the streets of the industrial east San Fernando Valley in search of things that make most motorists wince and turn away.
He looks for road kills. He inspects them, pokes at them, sometimes talks to them. And then, one by one, without fanfare, he carries them away.
At 35, Hadnot is one of the city's eight dead animal collectors, weighted with the thankless job of annually removing tens of thousands of bloodied animal remains from city streets. Last year, he and co-collector Curtis Fontenot disposed of 8,100 carcasses from the East Valley alone.
That averages two dozen bodies a day each, not counting their twice-daily visits to local animal shelters. It's a cold cargo of dogs, cats, possums, deer, coyotes, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, monkeys, snakes, pigs, skunks. Even a gorilla.
Seven of 10 are domestic pets, luckless animals who made one last ill-timed move onto some Tarmac thoroughfare. All are trucked to a rendering plant in the bowels of Los Angeles where they are boiled into ingredients for things like fertilizer and soap.
Hadnot knows his job commands little respect from the general public--unless, of course, it's their pet he's carting away.
"This job is not important to people," he said, "so I make it important to myself."
He sees himself as a canine coroner of sorts, an expert investigator who questions the deaths no one else cares about. He talks in cop jargon, refers to the animal corpses as his cases. He responds to calls about anxious pets who have accidentally hanged themselves with their own leashes, who have been mysteriously shot or beaten with 2-by-4s, animals dumped at lonely locations in plastic garbage bags.
Talking to himself, he says things like: "This doesn't look right."
And then there are the road kills--not DOA (dead on arrival) but DOR (dead on road).
Each morning, he arrives at his sanitation department garage in Sunland and consults the daily dead animal report, which on a recent day listed some one dozen victims, including a lamb, a goat, three dogs and a question mark--an animal John Doe.
Two hours and a dozen stops later, his emerald green city truck begins to reek of death. Hadnot sniffs the air: "This is nothing. Wait until August."
Veteran road kill collectors trade war stories about the smell that lingers in the brain, settles rudely onto the tongue, making some trainees quit after only one day.
"If you could turn that stink into perfume, it would sell for $500 a ounce, it's that potent," said supervisor and former dead animal collector C. W. Perkins.
Motorists run red lights when they get a whiff of the collector trucks. Steely-eyed motorcycle cops back off, return their ticket books to their pockets. Said Perkins: "A pile of 2-day-old dead animals and a skunk carcass will drive even the flies away."
At first, Perkins says, the job made him unable to eat ketchup or any red food. Finally, it turned him into a vegetarian. "I picked up so many road stiffs that looked like hamburger meat, that when I went to the meat counter and looked at the real thing, I said to myself, 'Uh-uh. Never
again.' "
Veterans tell of the collector who removed so many dead animals that he had nightmares about being chased by dogs. "Every morning," Perkins said, "he woke up tired."
Others have encountered panicked possums who aren't quite dead, venomous snakes with one last bite in them, cats sacrificed in ritual killings. Then there was the dead 400-pound pig stuck in the mud and the gorilla killed by a fall in its cage.
Worse, perhaps, are the distraught pet owners. Like the woman who cried so violently, her angered husband finally said: "You won't even cry that hard at my funeral!"
One weeping pet owner asked Perkins what would happen to her dog's body. He gave no answer. "I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was going to take her dog to the rendering plant where they would grind it up, that she would probably be washing her face with her dog one day."
Time was, Vietnam veteran Fontenot could not comprehend the agony suffered by grown men and women over some dead pet. But five years on the job have taught him compassion.
"Now I find myself praying for these animals and their owners," he said. "And when I pick up an animal, I always make a point to say 'I'm sorry about your pet.' "
*
For his part, Hadnot shakes his head at unleashed pets allowed to run the streets. Passing some smiley-faced dog running free, he mutters sadly to himself, "I'll be back for you later."
But the worst part of his job are the visits to the animal shelter, where he sometimes imagines that the ghosts of dead animals are waiting for him along with the bodies.
On one recent visit, he tossed 40 carcasses from a holding cooler into his truck, including the bodies of kittens he cradled in the palm of his hand.
In one nearby cage sat a large dog ready to be put down. "He's a biter, so nobody wants him," the attendant said, adding, "Kind of like putting your grandmother to sleep because she yells at you. That's the mentality."
Hadnot shakes his head, looks at the dog: "Yeah, I know. It's tough, big man."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/asia/24trap.html?hp
Also, from the Los Angeles Times, please read this piece for next week, and think about how this piece and the NY Times piece was structured. Also, what kinds of reporting skills are at work in both stories?
The City's Eight Road Warriors
Never Bring Them Back Alive;
By: JOHN M. GLIONNA
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Robert Hadnot considered the dead dog's body, examined its thousand-yard stare and the teeth clenched in an eternal snarl.
"Looks like another homicide," he said.
With a sigh, Hadnot jumped from his truck and pointed to the telltale tire tracks spun into the dusty shoulder of the Pacoima side street. He gazed down at the hefty mixed-breed still wearing its tags and kicked the dust: "Sorry big man, but somebody done you wrong."
Hadnot is a talkative man with a cow-catcher goatee, a former forest service firefighter who now spends his days driving the streets of the industrial east San Fernando Valley in search of things that make most motorists wince and turn away.
He looks for road kills. He inspects them, pokes at them, sometimes talks to them. And then, one by one, without fanfare, he carries them away.
At 35, Hadnot is one of the city's eight dead animal collectors, weighted with the thankless job of annually removing tens of thousands of bloodied animal remains from city streets. Last year, he and co-collector Curtis Fontenot disposed of 8,100 carcasses from the East Valley alone.
That averages two dozen bodies a day each, not counting their twice-daily visits to local animal shelters. It's a cold cargo of dogs, cats, possums, deer, coyotes, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, monkeys, snakes, pigs, skunks. Even a gorilla.
Seven of 10 are domestic pets, luckless animals who made one last ill-timed move onto some Tarmac thoroughfare. All are trucked to a rendering plant in the bowels of Los Angeles where they are boiled into ingredients for things like fertilizer and soap.
Hadnot knows his job commands little respect from the general public--unless, of course, it's their pet he's carting away.
"This job is not important to people," he said, "so I make it important to myself."
He sees himself as a canine coroner of sorts, an expert investigator who questions the deaths no one else cares about. He talks in cop jargon, refers to the animal corpses as his cases. He responds to calls about anxious pets who have accidentally hanged themselves with their own leashes, who have been mysteriously shot or beaten with 2-by-4s, animals dumped at lonely locations in plastic garbage bags.
Talking to himself, he says things like: "This doesn't look right."
And then there are the road kills--not DOA (dead on arrival) but DOR (dead on road).
Each morning, he arrives at his sanitation department garage in Sunland and consults the daily dead animal report, which on a recent day listed some one dozen victims, including a lamb, a goat, three dogs and a question mark--an animal John Doe.
Two hours and a dozen stops later, his emerald green city truck begins to reek of death. Hadnot sniffs the air: "This is nothing. Wait until August."
Veteran road kill collectors trade war stories about the smell that lingers in the brain, settles rudely onto the tongue, making some trainees quit after only one day.
"If you could turn that stink into perfume, it would sell for $500 a ounce, it's that potent," said supervisor and former dead animal collector C. W. Perkins.
Motorists run red lights when they get a whiff of the collector trucks. Steely-eyed motorcycle cops back off, return their ticket books to their pockets. Said Perkins: "A pile of 2-day-old dead animals and a skunk carcass will drive even the flies away."
At first, Perkins says, the job made him unable to eat ketchup or any red food. Finally, it turned him into a vegetarian. "I picked up so many road stiffs that looked like hamburger meat, that when I went to the meat counter and looked at the real thing, I said to myself, 'Uh-uh. Never
again.' "
Veterans tell of the collector who removed so many dead animals that he had nightmares about being chased by dogs. "Every morning," Perkins said, "he woke up tired."
Others have encountered panicked possums who aren't quite dead, venomous snakes with one last bite in them, cats sacrificed in ritual killings. Then there was the dead 400-pound pig stuck in the mud and the gorilla killed by a fall in its cage.
Worse, perhaps, are the distraught pet owners. Like the woman who cried so violently, her angered husband finally said: "You won't even cry that hard at my funeral!"
One weeping pet owner asked Perkins what would happen to her dog's body. He gave no answer. "I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was going to take her dog to the rendering plant where they would grind it up, that she would probably be washing her face with her dog one day."
Time was, Vietnam veteran Fontenot could not comprehend the agony suffered by grown men and women over some dead pet. But five years on the job have taught him compassion.
"Now I find myself praying for these animals and their owners," he said. "And when I pick up an animal, I always make a point to say 'I'm sorry about your pet.' "
*
For his part, Hadnot shakes his head at unleashed pets allowed to run the streets. Passing some smiley-faced dog running free, he mutters sadly to himself, "I'll be back for you later."
But the worst part of his job are the visits to the animal shelter, where he sometimes imagines that the ghosts of dead animals are waiting for him along with the bodies.
On one recent visit, he tossed 40 carcasses from a holding cooler into his truck, including the bodies of kittens he cradled in the palm of his hand.
In one nearby cage sat a large dog ready to be put down. "He's a biter, so nobody wants him," the attendant said, adding, "Kind of like putting your grandmother to sleep because she yells at you. That's the mentality."
Hadnot shakes his head, looks at the dog: "Yeah, I know. It's tough, big man."
AP Style Test
For the AP Style test, I would recommend you make use of my links from the News Editing class on using abbreviations, capitalization and numerals.
You should become familiar with the entries on abbreviations, capitalization and numerals in the Stylebook, but you should also read these related entries: courtesy titles, legislative titles, religious titles, company names, academic degrees, months, addresses, state names, academic departments, brand names, composition titles, fractions, decimal units, ages, congressional districts, dates, decades, dimensions, mile, millions, billions, monetary units, percent, speeds, temperatures, times, weights and years.
For more help, go to http://www.newsroom101.com/
You should become familiar with the entries on abbreviations, capitalization and numerals in the Stylebook, but you should also read these related entries: courtesy titles, legislative titles, religious titles, company names, academic degrees, months, addresses, state names, academic departments, brand names, composition titles, fractions, decimal units, ages, congressional districts, dates, decades, dimensions, mile, millions, billions, monetary units, percent, speeds, temperatures, times, weights and years.
For more help, go to http://www.newsroom101.com/
Links to technology
Adobe Photoshop -- http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/
Soundslides -- http://soundslides.com/
Garage Band -- http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
iTunes -- http://www.itunesitunes.com/
Flickr -- http://www.flickr.com/
Dipity -- http://www.dipity.com/
DeviantArt -- http://www.deviantart.com/
Fotki -- http://www.fotki.com/us/en/
Zooomr -- http://www.zooomr.com/
Vuvox -- http://www.vuvox.com/
Apture -- http://www.apture.com/
Soundslides -- http://soundslides.com/
Garage Band -- http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
iTunes -- http://www.itunesitunes.com/
Flickr -- http://www.flickr.com/
Dipity -- http://www.dipity.com/
DeviantArt -- http://www.deviantart.com/
Fotki -- http://www.fotki.com/us/en/
Zooomr -- http://www.zooomr.com/
Vuvox -- http://www.vuvox.com/
Apture -- http://www.apture.com/
Monday, February 1, 2010
Observation exercise for your blog
It’s simple, really.
Pick a spot, any spot out there in the city of Ithaca. It can be indoors or outdoors.
The point is to be there and observe.
You are to write about 300 words. But you must follow these rules:
1) Do not include yourself in what you write. Write in the third person, meaning you should not use “I” or “me” or “we” or “you” or “us” ect. You are to write about what you observe. Do not become a participant in what you are writing about.
2) Use ACTIVE verbs. Avoid any variation of the verb “to be” (is, are, were). Write in the ACTIVE voice. Avoid passive constructions like: “They are playing.” Instead write, “They play.”
So, you may be in a park, and suddenly you smell pine. You write in your notes, “I smelled pine.”
That violates rule one, and is not as active as it could be.
Better to write: “The smell of pine wafted over the park.”
Be specific, look for details which can convey the scene clearly to the reader. Show, Don’t tell.
Rather than, “They obviously were happy.” Try, “They jumped up and down and cheered.”
See? Be specific. Use active verbs. Let the reader SEE what you are observing.
You can use direct quotes. When people talk, it is the best way to let the reader experience what is being said, the emotion, the nuances of the language.
Instead of simply writing, “He looked worried.” Describe his furrowed brow, his shaking head, the nervous twitch in his eye. Let the reader see it. Show don’t tell.
This may count as your weekly blog posting, but it must be posted by Feb. 17. Please include the word "observation" in the headline for this blog.
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