Link to Bob Herbert column

Here's some infor about Bob Herbert, and a link (below) to one of his column's, "The Great Shame," which focuses on the continuing problem of sexual assault against women in the US military.

Bob Herbert joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed columnist in 1993. His twice a week column comments on politics, urban affairs and social trends.

Prior to joining The Times, Mr. Herbert was a national correspondent for NBC from 1991 to 1993, reporting regularly on "The Today Show" and "NBC Nightly News." He had worked as a reporter and editor at The Daily News from 1976 until 1985, when he became a columnist and member of its editorial board.

Click to read his March 21 column, "The Great Shame." Notice how Herbert writes in first person, but sparingly uses "I" in this column. Also, see how he makes use of quotes and facts to back up his assertions about sexual assault in the military.

Links to columns, editorials

This week I'll post links to good examples of columns and editorials for you to read. Remember to pay attention to the leads, as well as the structure of these pieces. Also, pay attention to what is fact, and what is opinion, and especially how facts are used to strengthen and support the opinions.

First, a column by Leonard Pitts that appeared in the Sunday (March 21) St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Pitts, a nationally-syndicated columnist with the Miami Herald, warns of the damage to society if newspapers disappear. Click on the headline below to read Pitts' column:

"Without a local paper, the next Blagojevich gets away with it"

Story of the Day

Editor's Note: This is the story Danielle Deeke turned in for Writing Assignment #2. Her story on the Campus Activities Board meeting has a good lead, and good use of quotes and attribution.

by Danielle Deeke

Southern Illinois University’s Campus Activities Board is looking for a fresh new group of students to take over the committee starting fall semester of 2009. The board met Thursday, Feb. 19 to discuss actions to take in order to get the word out to the students.

“It’s been really difficult this year,” said Veronica Steele, entertainment chair of CAB. “Since there are open positions (in CAB) some people have had to do double the work by taking on two jobs instead of just their own.” Since the majority of the members are seniors this year, it is vital to find interested students, and inform them to turn in CAB applications by Feb. 25, 2009.

The 45 minute long meeting consisted of an overview of the qualifications needed in order to join CAB. “Undergraduate students only have to be full time students and keep a 2.5 grade point average,” said Brittany Tounsel, president of CAB. “And graduate students must earn a 3.0 grade point average.”

CAB contains six executive board positions, and ten programming committee positions. And the group is hoping to fill all openings for the upcoming fall semester. “We have CAB at the university to provide programs for students to help them get involved with campus life,” Tounsel said. “We have cultural programs like Black Heritage month, and recreational events like Springfest and Family Weekend. It’s our job to plan the events and make it all work.”

CAB offers many advantages to its members. “So many of the positions apply to people’s majors,” Steele said. “I am in mass communications, and being in CAB lets me practice a lot of advertising skills and plan entertainment events.” CAB is also a way to meet new people and have fun. Members go to all the university’s events for free, and can meet entertainers and work with different kinds of people. “Being on CAB puts you in a leadership position, and it looks really good on resumes,” said Jamie Wuestenfeld, special events chair. “Plus you get a lot of free stuff and it’s a lot of fun.”

The roughly twenty members looked enthused to help find replacements for CAB positions, and gladly came up with ideas to motivate students to be a part of the board and apply for spots. Activity Fairs have been held to raise awareness of the upcoming application deadline, and there are numerous flyers and signs throughout campus and Morris University Center explaining the crisis of needing new members. There are brochures in the Morris University Center further explaining what CAB is, and what the members of the group are required to do throughout the semester.

“I probably put in at the most five hours a week doing advertising and planning events, and there is a weekly meeting every Thursday that lasts about an hour,” Steele said. “We talk about upcoming events and ways to advertise to the students. It’s definitely worth joining.” Applications can be found online at www.siue.edu/CAB, or students can contact them at CAB@siue.edu for more information.

Wingerter profile of Jimmy Kennedy

Editor's note: This is the profile piece Justin Wingerter wrote for his blog. I cleaned up a couple of AP Style messes, but other than that, it's the way he wrote it for the assignment. Notice that he uses present tense ("says" instead of  "said"). That is okay for a feature story like this, but for most newspaper stories, "said" is preferred. And in this piece, like many others posted for this assignment, Wingerter would have been better off to use noun then verb when attributing quotes: "Kennedy says" instead of "says Kennedy." We'll talk about this in class today. Your grades for this assignment are posted on Blackboard.

====================================

by Justin Wingerter

For young Jimmy Kennedy, it has always been about sports. Growing up in Millstadt, and later Columbia, Ill., meant going to Cardinals games and playing high school baseball.

Now 20, Kennedy has foregone his big league dreams in exchange for an education at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where he majors in mass communications. Still recounting his memories as a strong-armed shortstop for the local high school, including the horror of cracking his ribs during an acrobatic play in short left, Kennedy now watches from the stands at Busch Stadium. When it isn't baseball, it's hockey as he roots for the St. Louis Blues, even proudly proclaiming he "watches them religiously on the internet."

Attendance certainly isn't a problem for this proud devotee of St. Louis sports. "I went to over 30 Cardinals games and close to 20 Blues games," says Kennedy. Ultimately though it is neither baseball or hockey that garners the most interest in this young man but rather a different sort of sport: golf.

"I played golf all through high school and won the conference golf tournament as an individual," he boasts. Multifaceted as both a fan and athlete, Jimmy Kennedy continues to dazzle both on and off the field.

Turn in separate page listing your sources

To clarify, when you turn in your writing assignments this semester (including the event preview due tomorrow), you will turn in the actual story, which should be two pages double-spaced, and also a third page that lists your human sources (the people you interviewed) along with contact info for each. I periodically contact your sources to make sure they are real people.

Story possibility

As promised, I will let you know of any notices I receive about speeches or important meetings on campus that you may want to consider covering for one of your story assignments. An Iranian speaker will be on campus tomorrow. Details below from Lucien Stone:


Please join us for the sixth event of “Cosmopolitan Iran: A Speaker and Film
Series” on Thursday, February 5, 2009. Prof. Hamid Dabashi will give a
presentation entitled, "The World Is My Home: On the Poetics of
Cosmopolitanism."

Currently Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and
Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. He is the author of
eighteen books on a wide array of topics including Islamic philosophy and
theology, Iranian cinema, post-colonialism, and philosophy of art. Most
recently he has published: Post-Orientalism: Knowledge and Power in a Time of
Terror (Transaction Publishers, 2008); Islamic Liberation Theology: Resisting
the Empire (Routledge, 2008); Iran, A People Interrupted (New Press, 2007);
Makhmalbaf at Large: The Making of a Rebel Filmmaker (I.B. Tauris, 2007); and
Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema (Mage Publishers, 2007).

His lecture will begin at 5:00 PM in the Oak/Redbud Room (MUC).

This event is free and open to the public. Please announce to your classes and
encourage students to attend.

For more information about this speaker and the rest of the program for
the “Cosmopolitan Iran” series, please visit our website:

http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/philosophy/cosmopolitan_iran.shtml

Please take this opportunity to become more educated about Iran. Lovejoy
Library currently has a selection of materials about Iranian culture on
reserve, including books, films and music CDs. Also, the University Bookstore
is carrying many of the published works of our guest speakers, as well as other
selected materials about Iranian culture, which will be sold at several of our
speaking engagements and at the University Bookstore throughout the academic
year.

This series has been made possible through generous contributions made by
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Excellence in Undergraduate
Education (EUE) program, the Department of Philosophy, and Student Housing.

Thank you,
Lucian

--
Lucian Stone
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Campus Box 1433
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, IL 62026-1433
618.650.2246
lustone@siue.edu

Deadline approaches for posting story ideas

So far, only a few of you have posted your story ideas for the first major writing assignment (the event preview). Make sure you post your idea, along with who you plan to interview, and why your story matters, by midnight Super Bowl Sunday! That's this Sunday night, February 1st. I'll respond on your blog with my suggestions or comments about your idea.

Remember, failure to post your idea by the deadline will automatically lower your grade on the actual assignment. If you are having technical problems with your blog, let me know. Thanks.

MC 202 Story of the Day

Here's Danielle Deeke's in-class writing assignment from Monday. It was one of the better stories posted this week. Like many of you, Danielle got the lead right--student falls down trash chute. And like many of you, she had some AP style errors. We'll talk about how to use the AP Stylebook next Monday. Here's Danielle's story:

An 18-year-old freshman student was reported injured after falling anywhere from two to ten stories down a trash chute of a Southern Illinois University Edwardsville dormitory. The student, Thomas Schwanke, was found early this morning, before 8:00 a.m., on the basement floor. However, police believe Schwanke fell around 2:00 a.m.

Witnesses say Shwanke had been drinking prior to the fall. Mary Rouse, Dean of Students at the university, said the incident again raises concern about alcohol abuse on campus.

Schwanke is being treated at Anderson Hospital in Maryville where hospital officials declined to discuss his condition, or the extent of his injuries.

Snow buries campus, cancels MC 202 Wednesday

Photo/Tom Atwood (click image to enlarge)

Since there is no class today due to weather, we will combine the assigned readings for today and Monday. For Monday (Feb 2), carefully read Basics of AP Style (Chapter 3, pp 54-55) and Newswriting Tips (Chapter 3, pp 58-59). Look through your AP Stylebook. We will talk in class about how to use it, and you will have your first AP Style quiz in class on Monday.

Also, you must post a story idea for the event preview assignment by midnight Sunday. Failure to do this will lower your grade on the assignment itself.

Trafficking in Reality: Exploitation, Consent, and the Camera's Gaze

Introduction from "Trafficking in Reality"
Produced by Tom Atwood
© 2008 Tom Atwood
All Rights Reserved

This is one of the opening segements from a documentary I produced and am distributing now for use in media, ethics and journalism classes. Thought you might like to see it. Other segments are streamed on YouTube and on the documentary's website: traffickinginreality.com

After Splash, Nerves, Heroics and Comedy

If you want to read a recent example of excellent newswriting, take a look at this story of the Hudson River plane crash in last week's New York Times...

By MICHAEL WILSON and RUSS BUETTNER
Some passengers screamed, others tucked their heads between their knees, and several prayed over and over, “Lord, forgive me for my sins.” But a man named Josh who was sitting in the exit row did exactly what everyone is supposed to but few ever do: He pulled out the safety card and read the instructions on how to open the exit door... (link to complete article)

Story Assignment #1

Your assignment is to find an upcoming event, either on campus or in the local community, and write a preview of this event. The event could be a meeting, a speech, a major sporting event, etc. The story is due on Monday, February 9 at 3:30 p.m. sharp. Some general guidelines:

Sources – the story must be based on interviews with a minimum number of three human sources. Stories should reflect the sense that any issue has many sides; journalists do this by including sources whose positions, background, knowledge and interests indicate they will offer a variety of points of view, or competing interests. Public documents and reports may also be used as sources where appropriate, but these will not count against the “three-source minimum.” (Your parents, relatives, friends and classmates are NOT acceptable sources.)

Format – Story should be double-spaced with one-inch side margins and 12 pt type. (400-600 words, about 2 pages total). Stories should be printed on one side of the page. Each story should have a separate sheet of paper listing the name, telephone number, and email address for each person interviewed or quoted. These sources may be contacted at random. You may not quote another newspaper or newsmagazine or other media source. The use of non-existent sources or plagiarism will result in an automatic F for the assignment, and most likely, in the class.

Story Topic – You are responsible for coming up with a story idea or topic. For upcoming events, check the SIUE Weekly Calendar of Events, the Alestle, and local newspapers. Keep the elements of news in mind as you select your story. If you are not sure if your story topic is a good one, contact me by phone or email, or in class, and run it by me. Remember, the better your story idea, the better your story will be, and the easier it will be to write.

Lead, Accuracy, Content, Structure, Grammar & Style – these are the elements that will determine your grade. Major factual errors will result in an automatic loss of 5 points. Grammar, style, and punctuation errors will also cost you points.

Again, the key to this assignment, in my opinion, is coming up with the best story idea that you can. A good, interesting story is easier to put together than a dull, boring one. Find an upcoming event that people are interested in. Call or email me if you are not sure if your story idea will work. (692-1464 • tom@tomatwood.net)

MC 202 Launches News Blog

by Tom Atwood
MC 202 News

This is the first post. Stay tuned