Obits: Just A Few Things

Let's remember this lesson from the first few days of class: journalists do not use euphemisms -- words or terms used in place of more direct terms or words -- instead, we use direct language.

In the case of this assignment, that means we don't say someone passed away,which is a euphemism for dying. So we simply say they died.

Plus, we should have capitalized the names of the medals he earned: the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Why? Because those are the specific names of specific medals. And we capitalize specific names. Which is why a certain person is Terrence Austin and not terrence austin, and why a certain type of car is a Ford Mustang and not a ford mustang.

Also, one last AP style check: when we have multiple people with the same last name in a story, then we throw out the usual AP Style rule where in first identification we use first and last names, and from then on just the last name.

Instead, in these instances we use the first and last names throughout, for every person who shares the same last name. Including the deceased, in this case.

Now, you don't need to start using the full name after the first reference until you actually hit a second Austin in your story. But once you do, its firsts and lasts the rest of the way.

Also, you would know you should capitalize Marines if you looked in your AP Style Book under the heading of, Marines.

Finally, I wish I could say we had a fatal-free assignment, but we did not. In one case, in a quote we misspelled him" as "hi." Any inaccuracy in a quote is a fatal, and since the misspelling of "him" created a correctly-spelled but unintended "hi," this fatal wouldn't have been caught by spell check.

Similarly, in a second case inside of a quote we misspelled "caused" as "cause." Again, any change of a direct quote is simply not acceptable, no matter how small or seemingly innocuous.

If it's inside of quotation marks, then it's exactly what they said, and how they said it. No leeway, and no exceptions, and no close-enoughs. 

MM #1: In General ...

Good job by most folks on this first round of multimedia work! If you do not receive a grade email for me this week, you can assume you received 4.0s on each segment, each of which counts as a practice story grade on this assignment (but will weigh much more on future assignments).

Vid #1: Your Work!

And off we go!

Ali

The edits between items in Ali's vids are a little too abrupt, but that's not an uncommon problem in a first video.

Colin

The subjects were a bit distant. Don't be afraid to bring the camera up to them.

Dan

Good mix of B-roll, and nice job in jumping from one interview to another quickly, so it feels more like a conversation where people jump in and out, instead of having one person drone on, then the next.

Darien

The camera angles could be better-executed, but you have the concepts right.

Mandi

B-roll needn't be video; you can also use still images, like you do here.

Thrishanna

Be sure to get good, clear audio!

Charlene


Again, audio! Plus, it may have been helpful to have some narration as sort of a lede over the opening B-roll, just so we don't have a long period of no sound, and so the viewer knows what you'[re getting at. Just like a written story, we don't want a viewer to have to wait and guess what a vid is about; they should know right away.

Tyler

Don't be afraid to use B-roll in the middle of an interview segment, and not just as transitional B-roll between different interview segments.

Kaylonni


I know you're working with basic equipment, so I'm not very concerned with video quality. But in terms of concept, we could have used some B-roll to break up single interview segments while the subject keeps talking, just to break up that tedious shot of someone droning on.

Karilynn

Nice structure and good sound, but two things: first, this is a general news story for a general audience, so avoid the direct and opinionated statement at the end (though I appreciate the sentiment). Second, there was a fatal in the spelling of Yuehan Liu's first name. Let's be sure that we're following the EXACT same fact-checking standards as we have in print. The medium is different, but why we do it and the standards we're trying to execute are not.

Ariel

Just like in print stories we need attribution, we also do in video. Who are the interview subjects? Why are they talking about this subject? We could really use some attributing captions here.

Thomas

Audio, right? And B-roll? Captions?

Yuehan

Nice audio! Nice use of still pictures as B-roll!

Vid #1: If You Need Some B-roll ...

Then we've got that B-roll!

Blogs/Tweets #1: Your Work!

Let's take a look:

Ali: CATA bus preview and recap and tweets #200CATAbusprobz

With Ali's tweets, we'd preper to have more shared observations and fewer opinions and feelings. Treat it like a news item; it's about what you see, not what you think.

Tyler: video game football preview and review and tweets #JRN200NCAA13

Karilynn: procrastination preview and review and tweets #hwisnotfunJRN200

Again, I would have preferred you wrote/tweeted about something you were observing, rather than something you were doing.

Colin: basketball tourney preview and recap and tweets  #BIG200

Good tweet stream here.

Dan: basketball tourney preview and recap and tweets #jrnisfun

Very good use of varied hyperlinks offering background info and visuals. I know it's social media, but still watch your spelling. It's "wrap" and not "rap" if you're talking about wrapping things up.

Whitney: frozen yogurt trip preview and recap and tweets #JRN200FROYO

Darien: basketball game preview and recap and tweets #clevelandsreckoning

Nice use of hyperlinks, but what about variety beyond biographies? Like, game highlights? We went waaay beyond 12 tweets here but that's good! Twelve was the assignment minimum; use as many tweets as you need to tell the story. And I enjoyed your friends' tweets, too.

Mandi: weather preview and recap and tweets #msuweather

The recap essentially repeated the preview; our best option was to use the last paragraph of the recap as the starting point for a new post, maybe looking forward to what the weather will be in the near future.

Anne: basketball tournament preview and recap:

Preview

Today March Madness will kick off with the pairing of number three seed Michigan State University and number 14 seed Valparaiso. 

The game taking place at the Palace of Auburn Hills, will tip-off at 12:15 pm.

MSU is the favorite with players such as Adrian Payne, Derrick Nix, and Keith Appling to carry the team to a believed easy victory.

MSU a three seed for the tournament is a believed possible contender for the championship, something that multiple sports professionals have said.

Valparaiso will do everything in their power to keep their presence in the tournament and possibly create a large upset.  

Review

Michigan State University defeated Valparaiso 65-54 today in Detroit.

After a slow first few minutes, MSU's superior three point shooting and defense pulled off a win in their first round of March Madness against Valparaiso.

Michigan states Derrick Nix picked up his fourth double double this season, leading the team with 23 points and his career high of 15 rebounds. 

Valparaiso just didn't seem to catch a break throughout the game, with many calls not going their way, and shots just not seeming to fall.

As the game seemed to be coming to a close Valparaiso's Ben Boggs finished with a slam-dunk as the final shot of the game. 

...  and tweets #msuvalparaiso

Thrishanna: St. Paddy's Day preview and recap and tweets #JRN200bdubs

Charlene: TV show preview and recap and tweets #teentvatthebest

Nice preview and recap, but we're missing hyperlinks.

Tyler: TV show preview and recap and tweets #JRN200HIMYM

Don't forget a lede tweet, so people know right away what the tweet stream is going to be about

Kaylonni: dinner preview and recap and tweets #MSUquesadillas

Jack:  basketball tournament preview and recap and tweets #msuvalpjrn200

Thomas: beer rhetoric meeting preview and recap and tweets #jrn200lt

Nice use of a Twit pic to illustrate the twitter stream

Yuehan: making cupcakes preview and recap and tweets #cupcakes

The hashtag is too generic here. See what happens when you click on it?

Tweets #1: How To Tweet Non-Breaking News

Tweeting a breaking news story is easy, as you've learned. Just type what you see, as you see it. But how do you tweet something that isn't breaking? Like a trend story, or something about a topic without a specific time peg or an actual event associated with it?

Actually, that's easy, too!

That was a situation a student in one of my past JRN 200 classes faced. She was doing a story about a rash of concussions among student-athletes. And here's her tweet stream, which I reversed so that you see her first tweet first and her last tweet last; the opposite of how it would appear on Twitter. Here we go:

#concussedathletes Over 300,000 sports related concussions occur each year, according to the Brain Trauma Research Center.

#concussedathletes The NCAA, the nation's largest college athletic association, has no guidelines for treating athletes with head injuries.

#concussedathletes The Big Ten is trying to implement its own regulations to deal with concussed athletes.

#concussedathletes Michigan State University is not pushing for the Big Ten to have the regulations.

#concussedathletes MSU soccer goalkeeper Liz Watza has had five concussions and said "The NCAA should create guidelines."

#concussedathletes Sports Specialist Dr. Homer Linard said the main concern with letting injured athletes back in the game is brain injury.

#concussedathletes Suffering a second concussion shortly after the first one can be deadly, according to the Brain Trauma Research Center.

#concussedathletes Incoming freshmen athletes at MSU are given a specific concussion test, called ImPACT. impacttest.com

#concussedathletes Athletic Clinical Coordinator Brian Bratta said "ImPACT assesses memory, cognitive ability and function of the brain."

#concussedathletes Once a concussion occurs at MSU, the athlete takes ImPACT again to gauge the severity of the injury.

#concussedathletes Despite new technology, the biggest indicator is the presence of symptoms, said Bratta. http://tinyurl.com/6cq9dx

#concussedathletes When a head injury occurs, MSU athletes are immediately given SCAT, the Standardized Concussion Assessment Test.

#concussedathletes SCAT is a checklist of common symptoms and tests balance, said MSU Certified Athletic Trainer Yume Nakamura.

Now, please notice a few things. Look at the first four tweets. Each could be a lede, right? For many of you, in writing a story -- especially trend stories -- you may find that you have more than one good lede option, but you can only choose one lede. But in tweeting the news, each lede option can become its own tweet.

Second, the tweeter took telling quotes and made each a tweet, like that of the player giving her opinion on the subject. Just like a quote in a story, it's not YOUR opinion; it's what somebody who is a subject of your story thinks.

Third, interesting facts are offered as tweets, like those on what the effects of a concussion can be.

Fourth, a mini-series of tweets are used to explain a nuance of the story, like the half-dozen tweets that in total detail how MSU deals with concussed athletes.

Fifth, hyperlinks are offered via tweet. Notice the tweet that uses a bit.ly link. Bit.ly is a URL shortener that will take a long URL and convert it into a shorter one that better fits on a character-restricted service like Twitter.

Let's take a look at what bit.ly can do for you, via this link.

MM #2: What You Need To Do

For your second multimedia assignment, we will use all the mediums we used in the first assignment, but instead of having sorta irrelevant topics, you will take all of or an aspect of one of your first two out-of-class stories, and do a video/online preview/online recap/tweet stream for it.

That would include:

... a 1-2 minute video, uploaded to YouTube, with B-roll and at least two source interviews on-tape;

... a 100-200-word preview, posted to blogger.com, taking a look at the issue going into your reporting, with at least two relevant working hyperlinks embedded in the text;

... a 100-200-word recap, posted to blogger.com, taking a look at what you discovered about the issue/how it ended, with at least two relevant working hyperlinks embedded in the text;

... and a tweet stream on Twitter with at least 12 tweets on the subject, with a unifying unique hash tag applied.

For this exercise, you may reinterview sources from your previous stories or interview new sources. You may also use what you gathered and your notes from your original stories in putting together your new media news products.

Also, when I say you can do the entire comprehensive story or just a facet of it, this is what I mean: let's say you did a story on the pros and cons of living off-campus vs. on-campus. The video and tweet stream may just look at one aspect, such as student opinions on the issue. The preview online story might look at the experiences of on-campus residents; with the recap looking at off-campus viewpoints. None of the mediums necessarily have to look at the issue as broadly as you did in a traditional text story (though you may do so if you so choose).

Your deadline for this will be 9 a.m. Monday, via email to omars@msu.edu. Please put ALL your links to your work into a single email, with the subject line of MM2. 

JRN 200: Extra Credit ...

. . . because it never hurts to get extra credit:

FOR GETTING AN OUT-OF-CLASS STORY PUBLISHED, if you email me a link proving that you've been published, then per the syllabus your final class grade will go up by 0.15 points for every published story. That means if you get all three published, your 3.5 final grade would turn into a 4.0.

The benefit to you is two-fold: first, you get a better grade. Duh. Second -- and probably more important to your long-term prospects -- you start building a portfolio. This is very much a field of demonstrated ability; that is, an employer doesn't want to see that you're capable of doing something; they want to see that you've already done it. Like, write a real story and get it published.

Plus, then you get to add to your resume a line that you worked as a free-lance contributor to whatever publication in the fall of 2013. Even if you get just one story published, that is an accurate line in your resume.

Again, for me to count your extra credit, you need to submit to me a published copy of your work and/or email me a Web link to your work, along with an email request to have it applied to extra credit.

FOR DOING A FOURTH OUT-OF-CLASS STORY, for your final grade the three out-of-class stories that go into that grade will be the three (of four) with the highest grades. So if you did four out-of-class stories and one included a fatal, you are making that fatal go bye-bye.

Plus, in the event you are on the borderline of receiving a higher grade, I will take into account whether you applied extra effort, including whether you did a fourth out-of-class story. 

FOR DOING AN OUT-OF-CLASS MINI-STORY -- which can be between 300 and 500 words, with a minimum of two human sources, in which you can cover ANY sort of event (subject to my approval) like a student group meeting or a speaker on-campus -- I will replace your two lowest practice story grades with 4.0s.

FOR GETTING THE MINI-STORY PUBLISHED, I will replace two more lowest-scoring practice stories with 4.0s.

I will also consider other extra-credit projects on a case-by-case basis. Please see me during my office hours to work out other extra-credit assignments.

THE COMMON DENOMINATOR IN ALL EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENTS is that you are demonstrating to me that you can now correctly apply skills learned in this class that at one time you did not apply as well; that you went above and beyond what we are learning in this class to further educate yourself in journalism; and/or you are demonstrating ability learned on your own prior to this class but applicable here. You can expect any ad hoc extra credit beyond the assignments listed here to include at least one of those components.

I don't care if you messed up earlier; show me you can get it right now and I'm happy to replace earlier grades with something more accurately reflecting where you are at NOW.

I just want to be clear on this one point regarding extra credit: extra credit will be applied to replace the grades of assignments you have actually done, including fact-fataled assignments.

Extra credit will NOT be applied to assignments that you did not turn in, or in which you had a time fatal.

So if you were thinking of skipping an assignment or two toward the end of the semester by pre-emptively turning in some extra credit, that plan won't work.

Stats: A Good Example

A good lede, good nut graf, good attribution, good sequence of supporting info; just good.

Today, more than 76 percent of children from ages 3 to 17 have access to a computer, according to the Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in October.

            This is a dramatic change from when personal computer usage first began in households in 1984. Then, only 8.2 percent of households reported that they owned a household computer, according to the census bureau.

            Household Internet usage has remained a little below that of household computer usage, according to the census bureau.

            In 1984, Internet usage was non-existent, according to the census bureau.

            In 1997, when more than 36 percent of households owned computers, 18 percent of those were accessing the Internet, according to the census bureau.

            Today, when nearly 62 percents of households own computers, nearly 55 percent of them are able to access the Internet, according to the census bureau.

            Where households did not own a computer, only two percent of them reported that they accessed the Internet outside of the home, according to the census bureau.

            Over 45 percent of households still do not access the Internet, including some that own household computers, according to the census bureau.

            Of these households, 22 percent found the cost of Internet prohibitive, while 41 percent were not interested in accessing the Internet at all, according to the census bureau.

Stats: A Good Alternate Lede

I've been very focused on you all doing basic journalism: a to-the-point lede, a strong nut graf, frequent attribution, and so forth.

But the goal isn't to write basic stories with basic ledes; it's to use the qualities of structure, simple and direct language, attribution and such to then reinstall creativity to our writing, so that we have something that is both fun to read AND fun to write; something that is engaging in style yet solid in journalistic principles.

I think this story -- and its alternate lede -- does a good job of marrying fundamentals and a fun-to-read style. Note how it's not creativity for creativity's sake; it's an artistic style entirely rooted in the facts you're trying to emphasize:  

It’s the device that changed the lives of many people.

It has become the go-to for information regarding the news, weather, research, latest celebrity gossip and much, much more.

What is it?

It’s the computer.

There has been a dramatic growth of computer ownership and Internet use in American households from the early 1980s until now, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducted the survey as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS) on household computer ownership and Internet use by Americans.

The CPS is a large nationally representative survey of approximately 50,000 households conducted each month by the U.S. Census Bureau; this particular survey was conducted in October, said the survey.

The survey shows that since the early 1980s when computers first entered households, the number of households owning a computer has increased from 8.2 percent to 61.8 percent of 113.1 million American households.

According to the survey, of the 61.8 percent of households with computers, 54.7 percent access the Internet from home.

“Today, more than 76 percent of children ages 3 to 17 have access to a computer, as do 57 percent of all adults ages 18+,” said the survey.

Although computers and the Internet are becoming popular in the majority of American households, they aren’t for everyone.

According to the survey, of the 45.3 percent of households that don’t access the Internet but have computers, have a variety of reasons given for not connecting to the Internet.

A few main reasons given were having computers that are inadequate to access the Internet, people who felt they don’t need the Internet or weren’t interested in it, and the cost of the Internet was too high, said the survey.

The survey also said that many people don’t access the Internet because of a lack of time, lack of skill, language barriers, privacy and security concerns, and concerns about children accessing questionable material on the Internet.

Stats: Watch Your Math

Be careful with numbers. Make sure you say what you mean, and you mean what you say, and that you understand what you say.

For example, let's look at this passage:

The U.S. Census Bureau ... (found) 61.8 percent have computers, an increase of almost 54 percent since 1984.

This is a fatal.

How is that? you may say. It went from 8.2 percent in 1984 to 61.8 percent now. The difference is 53.6 percent!

That's because the difference in percentage points is 53.6 percent. But the difference in percentage growth is actually 653.6 percent!

Here's what I mean:

In 1984, 8.2 percent of 100 percent households had computers. If 100 percent is 113.1 million households, that means 8.2 percent is around 9.2 million households.

Today, 61.8 percent of that 113.1 million households have computers. 61.8 percent of 113.1 million is around 69.9 million.

So the percentage increase isn't 8.2 to 53.6; it's roughly 9.2 million to somewhere around 69.9 million. And that's an increase of over 650 percent. If the 9.2 million only went up just over 53 percent, we'd be talking about a total of around 14 million or so.

What I think you meant to say was that the percentage of households with computers has risen 53.67 percentage points. Which it did. But that's not what you said.

If you're not sure, check with your sources to make sure your math is correct and in proper context.

Nw, I understand math is hard. That's why many of us went into writing; to get away from math, right?

Still, we have to know how to accurately calculate percentage change, and these day it's never been easier with the Internet. Just do a Google search for "percentage change calculator" and you'll find dozens. That's how I did my math.

By the way, this isn't an isolated mistake. In my class last fall someone made the exact same mistake as you did here.

So don't fret. Do work on remembering the lesson, and not repeating the mistake.

Stats: Flip That Lede!

Some of you had good ledes that would have been great ledes if you flipped the lede; that is, switch positioning of attribution and substance to highlight the latter.

Here's one lede that could have used a flip:

According to the Current Population Survey conducted each month by the United States Census Bureau, Internet use among households is common in over half of all American homes.

Nice lede, but see how it starts with the attribution before getting to the gist of the story? You can reverse that order like this ...

Internet use among households is common in over half of all American homes, according to the Current Population Survey conducted each month by the United States Census Bureau.

... and you emphasize what is being said over who is saying it. Please note in this case I did not change, add or eliminate any word you used in your lede.

I simply flipped the order.

Stats: A Lot Of Youze Guys ...

... were thrown off by the press release starting so heavily with background about the survey before moving on to what the survey found.

That led many of you to offer generic background on the survey -- it's been conducted since 1942, it polls 50,000 households, ect. -- ahead of what the survey found regarding Internet use -- most households now use computers, and the number has drastically grown over the past few decades.

And it led some of you to lede with the fact a survey was taken, rather than what the survey discovered!

All because something is first in a press release -- or a city council meeting, or a football game -- doesn't mean it's worth prominent mention or a lede. Your lede is based on the Peanut Barrel values we've discussed all semester (and in that case, it's not, Hey! A survey was taken! right?) and where you rank information is based on most relevant to least relevant, and not necesarily the order in which things were presented.

Don't fall for the sequence trap. Rank information on value to the reader and support for your story's central premise.

Stats: Writing With (AP) Style

Is it internet with a little i, or Internet with a capital I?

It's Internet, with a capital I.

Some of you may have missed that because the listing in AP Style for Internet doesn't say in the text to capitalize it. But in the heading and throughout the definition Internet is indeed capitalized.

The headings for each listing is more than a heading; it also shows the form in which the term is supposed to be used. Things that are lower-cased like international date line are listed as such, in lower case. Things that are usually capitalized are also listed as such, like Internet.

Also, one of the oldest AP Style rules we have around here is that you spell out percent instead of using the percent symbol. No excuse for not knowing that by now. Yet, some of you are still repeating that mistake.

Plus, remember that in first references you should use a full title in caps, like the U.S. Census Bureau. But subsequent references should use the generic title in lower-case, like the census bureau.

Let's get these loose ends tied up, okay?

Lawsuit: A Fatals Recap

In one of the lawsuit stories, we said the case was taking place in East Lansing court. In fact, it was taking place in Ingham County court.

In another lawsuit story, we spelled the last name of the attorney alternately as Piloto (correctly) and Poloto (incorrectly).

In a third lawsuit story, we said the high school's president was being sued. In fact, it was the high school's principal.

In a fourth lawsuit story, we said the suit asked for $500,00. We were missing a zero; the actual amount was $500,000.

The only lesson comes in the form of a reminder: we need to double-check EVERY name and EVERY title and EVERY figure and EVERY fact after we finish writing, to ensure what we wrote is actually correct.

Lawsuit: Legal B.S.

Did you need to say the Dowdells demand a jury trial of all issues triable as of a right by jury?

What the hell does that mean, anyway?

It just means they are asking for a jury trial. So it would have been enough to say the Dowdells demanded a jury trial.

Likewise, did you need to say the lawsuit targeted both the defendants jointly and severally, for the compensatory damages in the amount of $500,000?

No. More legal B.S. You could just say the lawsuit targeted the defendants for $500,000.

Now, I didn't knock your grade for your inability to navigate legal mumbo-jumbo, unless it changed the meaning of things. This is the sort of stuff you'll get the hang of when you actually start covering court cases.

Still, if you're not sure of the meaning of what you're writing, you should ask a source for a layman's translation.

Lawsuit: Allegedly

Like we've discussed before, in a lawsuit anyone can allege anything. So it's extra-important to note things are alleged.

The district didn't fail to adequately educate James Dowdell. They allegedly failed to adequately educate Dowdell. We won't know whether that's true or not until the trial takes place and evidence is presented.

Lawsuit: Plurals vs. Possessives

When you are talking about the Dowdells as a family unit, it's plural, as in Dowdells; e.g., the Dowdells demand a jury trial.

When you are talking about a single Dowdell in the possessive form, then it's Dowdell's; e.g., Dowdell's IQ score was 94.

When you are talking about a group of Dowdells in the possessive, then it's Dowdells'; e.g., the Dowdells' lawsuit.

Losta problems with apostrophes and s's in this one.

Rescue: Take Time To Check Facts

We need to make sure that we're taking time BEFORE we start writing to make sure we understand all the facts correctly.

In one case, we wrote that the boy died when a pond collapsed. In fact, it was a tunnel in a hill near a pond that collapsed. That misinterpretation of facts is a fatal.

We also need to make sure that we're taking time AFTER we finish writing to make sure all the facts are correct as given.

In the same story, we named the city East Lansing and East Lasing, the latter with the "n" missing. One had to be wrong, as a city can't have two different names.

Also, in another well-written story, we wrote that the child who died was 6 years old. In fact, he was 11.

Please, let's make sure we're spending as much time studying the material BEFORE we start writing and reviewing our facts for accuracy AFTER we finish writing, as we are actually writing.

I've said it a bunch of times before, but I need to say it again: journalism isn't about writing; it's about getting it right. 

Rescue: Who, What, WHEN, Where, Why

Quite a few of us never said what time the collapse took place. Even more of us never said when the boy was pulled out of the tunnel, and at what time the boy died.

Time often matters as one of the five W's. But in this case, it's especially important to the telling of the story.

Time tells you how difficult it would have been for the boy to be okay after being buried for so long. Time tells you how difficult it was to dig out the boy, in that it took so long.

In this case, specific times are important bits of data that help show teh reader what happened, and not just leave them being told by you.

You say it was a difficult rescue. The times help readers see that.

In every story you write, try to determine which data sets help explain the story and show readers what they need to see in terms of evidence supporting your overall angle.