Writing with the inverted pyramid

Take a look at these examples of the pyramid. 

And is the exercise for today.

Here is a great example of taking an idea and creating a news story.
From the Phantom Professor:

So here’s your exercise in writing a simple inverted pyramid news story. Think of a fairy tale that you know well – Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast. In only 10 to 15 lines, rewrite the story, putting the most important facts first and working your way down to incidental details. If you look at news stories, you’ll see a lot of facts and figures at the top, along with a quote from some “official” providing the info on the scene.

You’re really spoofing the inverted pyramid with this task, but it does let you see how it’s done. When you have a good ’un, post it in “comments” here.

Here's mine. (I just saw "Wicked," so I have witches on the brain.)

Wicked Witch Melts
Kansas girl douses western tyrant, freeing Oz from terror
In the end, a bucket of water was all it took to destroy the Wicked Witch of the West. The much-feared sorceress melted shortly after midnight yesterday after being doused by Dorothy Gale, a 12-year-old Kansas farm girl who arrived in Oz under mysterious circumstances several weeks ago, according to officials in the Emerald City.

During the Wicked Witch of the West’s reign of terror, she enslaved hundreds of flying monkeys and is thought to have ordered the murders of scores of innocent Munchkins.

Eyewitnesses to her death said the witch’s last words were, “You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting.”

Reactions to her demise ranged from stunned silence by the Mean Apple Trees to jubilant cries of “Ding, dong, the witch is dead!” by the witch’s own security guards.

“It’s wonderful to be free of her evil spells at last,” said Myron, captain of the flying monkeys.

Gale, whose falling house killed the Wicked Witch of the East, spurring a wave of violent reprisals, is expected to return to Kansas. No charges will be filed, according to law enforcement officials.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz issued a statement expressing his relief that the witches’ brand of terrorism had come to an end. He then announced his retirement and asked for cooperation in the handover of power to Scarecrow.

Glinda the Good Witch of the North flew in by bubble to reassure residents that rumors of other wicked witches building an insurgency were unfounded.

Glinda joined the Mayor of Munchkin City, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man in leading a parade of little people down the yellow brick road to celebrate their freedom.

Emerald City business owners already are considering erecting a monument to Gale. Many Munchkins said they now consider her a hero—and her little dog, too.

The witch’s castle has been closed to the public temporarily.
--30--

The basics of journalism and starting the blog

You are required to have a minimum of seven blog post over the course of the semester. Posting should start this week and continue on an every other week basis.

Normally, you would post once or twice a week because you don't want your followers to get bored and disengage. You are working on more complex post that will work with other things you are writing in class.

If you choose to write more I'll cheer you on; but the point is that these posts will be of quality and be able to serve as examples of the kind of writing you are capable of producing.

Here are some great ways to think about your blog writing from ProBlogger.

Note the use of design and scannable writing.

Now here is an article on specifically how to think about posting step-by-step.  

I have a few particular requirements of my own:

• Each post should be around 250-350 words. 
• Contain three to five links
• Have at least two or more photos or graphics
• One or two embedded videos. 
• Solicit a call to action to get people to respond
• MOST IMPORTANTLY IT WILL FOLLOW THE TENETS OF JOURNALISM 

The basics of journalistic writing

1. Be accurate. The first tenet cited by professors was accuracy, or making sure the information in the story is correct. Accuracy is understood in broader terms as not only getting the facts right, but "providing the context in which those facts live," Banaszynski says. Kennedy says that context is important because it enables the reader to understand it and make reasonable judgments about it. Faculty members warn, however, that the push for speed and instantaneous communication might undermine accuracy. "Speed is the enemy of thoughtfulness," Kennedy says. "When a journalist is forced to simply repeat what he is hearing without being able to check the facts, then accuracy is often a victim of speed." Jennifer Reeves, a radio-television journalism associate professor, says the challenge is to be able to verify the information and still be ahead of social media. Accuracy is crucial as news gets reported faster. In this case, Kennedy says the guide for journalists is what communications theorist James Carey called the "full curriculum of journalism." This means that while journalists on the scene report what is happening, with the benefit of more time, they are able to check the facts and provide additional perspectives, he says. "Only when a reader has the access to this full curriculum of journalism can he think that he is getting the whole story," Kennedy says.
2. Avoid biases. A journalist should be focused on serving the public without underlying agendas that would spin the information a certain way, Banaszynski says. "It is getting information to people so that they can make a decision but not trying to push people to make a certain decision," she says. Kennedy says objectivity is both desirable and attainable in mainstream journalism. Standard daily newspapers, the 6 o'clock television news, NPR, the network news - these are outlets that have an obligation to tell a story that is factual, accurate and true, he says. Consequently, it should be clear to the audience when a reporter is advocating certain point of view and why. "For many people, the line gets blurred between objectivity and advocacy, and that leads to confusion and misunderstanding and diminishes journalists' credibility," Kennedy says. "The journalist cannot try to be both," he says. David Herzog, a member of the print and digital news faculty, says that although everyone comes to a story with a bias, it is important to be aware as a journalist of what the biases are. His advice is to approach every assignment with an open mind and creativity but remain skeptical.
3. Present multiple viewpoints or perspectives. One way to do avoid bias is to question and test every assumption by using as many sources as possible, Herzog says. "If you are talking to a lot of people and look at tons of documents, you are broadening your information, widening your horizons, which helps counter whatever biases you have," Herzog says. "The number of sources can run to hundreds, especially in investigative stories." Amanda Hinnant, assistant professor of magazine journalism, says it's important to provide a variety of perspectives. Vox magazine, for instance, requires reporters to use at least 3-to-4 sources for a primary story and 2-to-3 sources for a secondary story. Reporters should talk to many people about an issue because the reader doesn't have time to, Hinnant says. "I tell my students that the more people you talk to, the more value you are adding for the reader, and you will offer a better, well-rounded picture of reality," Hinnant says. "Going to a website and reporting from that is not adding value to our readers' lives. You need to do the legwork." Banaszynski says good reporters should evaluate the depth of their articles by asking: "Am I talking to the right people? The right mix of people? Enough people to get a full view of the situation?"
4. Pursue the truth. A good reporter makes an effort to report broadly and deeply to pursue "the best obtainable version of the truth," Kennedy says, quoting the Washington Post investigative reporter Carl Bernstein. While a journalist might not be able to get absolute truth, he or she should try to find as much information as possible. "In journalism, we don't have the luxury of time that a historian has and the power that a law enforcement officer has," Kennedy says. "Frequently, a journalist can only manage to get part of the truth with the capital T." He says that truth doesn't mean every side of an issue is represented by an equal number of quotes - not every issue has equivalent sides. Janet Saidi, assistant professor and news director at KBIA-FM, says she thinks there are issues journalists can take a stand on, naming human rights, justice and corruption among those.
5. Use factual data, yet develop people skills. Data-driven reporting is an important element of good reporting, says Herzog, who serves as an academic adviser to the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. There are programs to find information buried in the archives, government documents and data spreadsheets. This is how, in Herzog's words, "journalism brings to the table the ability to make sense of information overload and present that to people." Saidi also emphasizes the importance of data-gathering skills but says people skills are just as important for good reporting. "Ultimately, journalists do not need to know everything or present themselves as experts but need to know how to learn about certain issues from others," she says. "They need to be in a hyper-curious mode." Saidi advises to approach every issue like a learning exercise, because journalists are people who connect the audience with expertise and data.
   
6. Maintain community ties and "connect the dots." Reeves says the greatest stories come from talking to people in a line at a grocery store, at the gym, on a walk, or anywhere that makes a reporter get away from his or her computer. She says good reporting is something that is not gathered from press releases but is achieved by knowing what the community is concerned about. Thus, the challenge for a journalist is to go out and find people who are affected by an issue. Reeves also praises social networks as a reporting tool, since they provide the opportunity to engage in a conversation with readers, form communities of interest and distribute important information instantly. "It is fabulous," she says. "I always craved to have instant impact and instant communication with the consumer, and now we are fully a part of the community." Being connected to the community is an important quality, especially for local and regional media, Saidi says. Along with this, Saidi says reporting should be original and connect the dots for readers. It should help the audience to understand something it didn't understand about society. For instance, KBIA recently investigated where health researchers on the University of Missouri campus get their funds and how many of them are funded by pharmaceutical companies. The story is important for the community and aggregates knowledge about areas broadly reported about but not directly connected: healthcare, the pharmaceutical industry and research funding. "A lot of times, it is something that is in the news but not investigated," Saidi says, "something we were just wondering about and pointed at."
   
7. Be open and transparent. Transparency, or openness about how information was gathered for a story, is another frequently-named tenet of good reporting. Hinnant says transparency should be used to avoid confusing a reader. "In a story, we need to identify the way of communication," she says. "Otherwise, the reader assumes that we have talked to an interviewee in person, and we don't want to mislead the reader even in that small way," she says. Kennedy says transparency provides an opportunity for readers or watchers to be involved in journalists' decision-making processes. After all, news consumers can check the accuracy of reported information online, Kennedy says, which is a significant contribution to increasing transparency and good reporting practices. Herzog supports Kennedy's idea, saying journalism has become more visible and verifiable as the Web has become more crucial in delivering information. Every journalist is now viewed under a microscope and on an international level, he says.
8. Evoke emotion. A good story, whatever medium it is presented in, evokes emotion, faculty members say. Brian Kratzer, assistant professor of photojournalism, recalls an award-winningPictures of the Year photo essay titled "Tobacco Road." The photos followed the effects of tobacco, from the poor individuals who harvest it to the smoker's lung cancer. Kratzer was impressed by the storytelling and how the photos showed the different ways tobacco infiltrates society. "Whether it is one image or several images in a photo essay, it could bring light to so many wrongs that are in the world or so many little stories that are in a little community in just one shot," Kratzer says. "The opportunity for storytelling is massive." He remarks that evoking emotion is especially essential in photojournalism: Different people feel different emotions from the image, so everyone comes away with different messages after "reading" the picture. "Photographs allow us to experience joy and sadness that we would have never experienced with our 9-to-5 working hours," he says.
   
9. Think visually; have vision. Banaszynski says good reporting for print and digital platforms requires "visual reporting." A journalist has to be able to report visually and paint a picture with words, even if photos accompany the news. She emphasizes that, in print writing, quotations need to be better because the audience cannot hear the emotion in the voice. "An interviewer should be able to make a person say something that is richer and more precise than would necessarily be needed if audio was accompanying the story," she says. In photojournalism, Kratzer says, having a clear vision is a prerequisite to success. "Sometimes, we think the story should go this way, and then after spending time with the subject, the story takes the whole new direction," he says.
   
10. Integrate new developments and technology. Technological advances and the emergence of social media create new standards for what good reporting is, faculty members say. "Not only do we need to make a story now, we also need to be able to do everything that goes along with it - from taking pictures to distributing a story in social networks - even on the radio," Saidi says. Kennedy says that with the development of online media, the audience finds news wherever it is, which opens up a new dimension of reporting. Not only it should be accurate, complete, fair and balanced, but also it should also include the consumers in the news that interests them, he says. "From troubles in Iran and Syria to the recent Occupy Wall Street movement, we see that what people can do today they could never do very well before - communicate between themselves without relying on mainstream journalists and traditional media," Kennedy says. "Journalism today has truly become a dialogue and a conversation, and it is the conversation that adds to human knowledge."

Work this writing prompt and get this back to me by 1 p.m. today

Also send me the paragraph that you planned to use today and your analysis.

Assignment:
The following excerpt comes from Steve Blank’s Commencement Address at Philadelphia University, May 14, 2011. Mr. Blank is Silicon Valley Entrepreneur.

My first story is about finding your passion. My parents were immigrants. Neither of them had been to college—my mother graduated from high school but my father left school after the 7th grade. Still, like many immigrants, they dreamed that someday their children would go to college… Unfortunately that was their dream—but it wasn't mine.

I ended up at Michigan State because I got a scholarship. Once I got there, I was lost, unfocused and had no idea of who I was and why I was in school. I hated school. One day my girlfriend said, “You know some of us are working hard to stay here. But you don't seem to care. Why don't you find out what you really want to do?” That was the moment I realized I, not anyone else, was in charge of my life.

Your written response:
Create a multi-paragraph essay. Imagine that is will be included in the graduation issue of The Doah. Include examples from the news,history with only a passing reference to personal experience to explain each of your points. Be sure to use correct grammar, punctuation and style. It needs to be as long as it needs to be to make your point. Use the post Three Elements of Clear Writing to help you. It is one of the first posts in the blog.

Do you believe that each individual is in charge of his or her life as Blank describes? Or are there circumstances that make some less in charge than others? Explain your position and defend it with examples from history, current events, or your own life. 

Being creative and professional

A couple of things to start:
From this day forward I only reply to professional emails.
What does that mean?
First you need to understand . .. 

What is your audience’s relationship to you—for example, is the reader your teacher? Your boss? A friend? A stranger? How well do you know him/her? How would you talk to him/her in a social situation?

What do you want your audience to think or assume about you? What kind of impression do you want to make? 

With that said then make sure:

1. There is a specific subject line
2. There is a greeting to the person receiving the email
3. You get directly to the point. Use no exclamation points, emoticons or slang.
4. Use proper grammar, spelling and style. Email is not an exception, especially since it might be the first or only was someone gets an impression of you.
5 Use a closing.

For your closing, something brief but friendly, or perhaps just your name, will do for most correspondence:

Thank you,
Best wishes,
See you tomorrow,
Regards,

For a very formal message, such as a job application, use the kind of closing that you might see in a business letter:

Sincerely,
Respectfully yours,

E-mail from Student 1:

hey,


i need help on my paper can i come by your office tomorrow
thx

E-mail from Student 2:

           Hi Dr. Jones,

I am in your ENGL 101 class on Thursdays, and I have a question about the paper that is due next Tuesday. I’m not sure that I understand what is meant by the following sentence in the prompt:
“Write a 10 page paper arguing for or against requiring ENGL 101 for all SU freshmen and provide adequate support for your point of view.”
I am not sure what you would consider “adequate” support. Would using 3 sources be o.k.?
Can I come by your office tomorrow at 2:00 pm to talk to you about my question? Please let me know if that fits your schedule. If not, I could also come by on Friday after 1:00.
Thank you,
Tim Smith

How to work with media sources to help you become a better writer

1.     Figure out how to integrate your sources into your day.

a.     NPR

b.     BBC

c.      The Economist

d.     Twitter

2.     Create a way to track what you encounter (notebook, etc.)

a.     Note the show

b.     Note the topic

c.      Note the date

d.     Make a connection

3.     Make sure you share some of what you encounter with several people during your day (to get other’s perspective)

a.     DO NOT GIVE YOURSELF AWAY

4.     Spend 25 minutes with your thoughts and puke something out. It might become the basis for something useful: article idea, blog post, make it local, make it yours.

5.     The next day turn the page

Ways to listen to NPR

Reading online DOES NOT COUNT

Think of all of the things that listening does for you

1.     Improves you concentration

2.     Improves how you “hear” the words you write

3.     Provides more layering to the story

So to understand creativity you must encounter it everywhere.
For some inspiration:
Check out this website about creativity.
Watch these examples of good final projects from this class.

For Tuesday:

Find a paragraph or two of elegant writing. Something that impresses you when you read it.
1. It cannot be from something that you read in high school.
2. It does not have to be fiction.
3. You do have to explain why it is appealing.

• What does it inspire?
• What does it signify or represent? 
• What makes it special?

4. Dig deep. If you really find this paragraph appealing you should have a lot to say about it.
5. Be specific; it will make you better.

Here are some examples:

“He went out into the hallway. Behind him, like an eyelid shutting, the soft closing of the door winked out the light. He assayed the stairs, lapsing below him into darkness, and grasping one by one each slender upright to the banister, went down. David never found himself alone on these stairs, but he wished there were no carpet covering them. How could you hear the sound of your own feet in the dark if a carpet muffled every step you took? And if you couldn’t hear the sound of your own feet and couldn’t see anything either, how you be sure you were actually there and not dreaming?”

Check out this article by Michael Wilbon about Chuck Daly.

This site might help you, sports fans.

Have the paragraph and the critique printed out for Tuesday. Also, be prepared to talk about it.

If it were easy everyone would do it.

Three Elements of Clear Writing

Accuracy

Make sure everything is correct
Make sure you have included all relevant information
Have a weird attention to detail

Clarity

Place yourself in the position of the reader
Know the subject

            Keep it simple

                        Use clear language
                        Avoid complicated grammar and punctuation
                        Use adjective sparingly
                        Avoid jargon

            Be specific

                        Little facts and big facts matter

                        Use descriptive language (how large is a “large crowd”?)

                        Watch using “the”

                        Watch your time sequence (first, next, then, March 30, 2007 at 9 a.m.)

                        USE TRANSITIONS

                                    Help the reader move through your information               

Brevity

People will love you for being brief.

            Get to the point

                        Know what it is that you are trying to say

                        Ask yourself “who cares?”

           

            Watch for redundancy

                        Don’t use the same word over and over

                        meeting meeting meeting

                        It is a sign that you don’t care about the writing

            Cut out ALL unnecessary words

                        really, very, actually

Welcome to Media Writing

In this class we will write. We write all of the time. Work in media, PR, corporate communications, sales, advertising, corporate training YOU ARE REQUIRED TO WRITE. This class will help you get over any writing phobias and help you perfect your skill. However, this isn't a grammar class or English class; I assume you have a basic command of style, structure and flow. You are here to perfect those skills and become a better writer.

What are the traits of a good writer?

They read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read.

They are insatiably curious about the world.

They are knowledgeable about current events, architecture, literature, math, politics, geography, science, economics, sociology, history, the arts, pop culture, First Amendment law, sports — and on and on.

They are passionate about language and protective of it

 I do not exaggerate when I tell you this is the most important class you will take during college. Much of what you will do in other classes, and in your professional life, hinges on your ability to continuously master the concepts, skills and habits this class teaches. Make no mistake; the best-expressed ideas will always be successful.

Take these two introductory tests (1 and 2) to evaluate your writing acumen. (If you have to ask what acumen means get a dictionary and a thesaurus. There is no sin in not knowing a word the first time you might encounter it but there are not excuses not to know it hence.)

If after you take the test you receive anything lower than an 80% we should have a conversation. This is a writing major. Also, download the rubrics above. They will help you with understanding how the assignments are graded. Print out your score from test 2 so we can talk about it on the first day.