G) Localizing Your Lead.

Being an intern in one of the local newspaper you have been given an assignment to write only a lead for the story, correcting errors if necessary.

The state Department of Transportation today announced plans for next year. It will spend a total of $418 million to build new roads and to improve old ones. The amount represents a $14.5 million increase over last year’s total. The money comes from a state gasoline tax amounting to 4 cents per gallon sold. The department allocates the money on the basis of need, with the most congested and dangerous areas receiving the most help. Included in the allocations for next year are $17.8 million, allocated to widen from two to four lanes state highway 17-92, which runs through the southeastern part of your city for a distance of approximately three miles. Construction work on the highway project is expected to begin in four months and to be completed within one and one-half years.

Task 5: Writing City, State and National Leads

Your editor-in-chief has asked you to write a lead for any of these stories, choose the story you like and write a suitable lead. While writing, correct errors if necessary. Imagine that the first story (A) involves the event in the city; the second one (B) involves the event in the state; and the third story (C) involves the event in the nation. Take into consideration your audience. Think how you are going to represent the key discourse categories in the text of the story.

A) CITY BEAT

The restaurant is located at 480 Parkside Dr. and specializes in Chinese cuisine. It is owned by Fred Lee, who also does all the cooking. City health inspectors suspended its license late yesterday. They complained of poor food handling and storage. “The condition of the licensed premises was so serious that it was condemned as posing an immediate threat to public health,” the city’s emergency license suspension order states. Chester Garland, a city health inspector, said the city suspends licenses only when there are serious violations. “It has to be something that is a major problem,” Garland said. “We don't just do it on minor stuff.” Garland added that the restaurant has consistently failed to comply with city health codes. Violations cited yesterday by city inspectors include rodent and roach infestations. The inspectors found rodent droppings strewn about storage areas and on canned goods. Garlands report adds: “A mouse was seen running across the dining room. A live mouse was spotted in the pantry. Another mouse jumped on an inspector. Toxic materials were stored in food-preparation and dish-washing areas. Food was found improperly stored in a janitor’s closet as well as in uncovered containers and in locations less than 6 inches off the floor.”

B) State Beat

It was an interesting idea proposed today by a state senator from your city: Neil Iacobi. Today Iacobi made a proposal that would affect most newspapers in your state, or at least those that publish editorials. Iacobi said he is drafting legislation that would require newspapermen to sign the editorials they write so people know the writers identity. “It’s one of the most blatant attempts at press-bashing in recent memory,” responded Tony DiLorento, executive director of the State Press Association. Iacobi said he has already found 32 co-sponsors for his bill. Violations would be punishable as second-degree misdemeanors. “It doesn't say you can't write something-only that you have to sign what you write,” Iacobi said. “Editorialists should be accountable to their readers. They can attack you and tear you apart and do anything to you, and no one even knows who they are. That's not right or fair. Only cowards would do something like that.”

C) National Beat

The nations homebuilders are concerned about a problem that affects young adults – but also the entire nation (and its economy as well). The problem is affordable housing. At its annual convention, currently being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, the National Homebuilders Association revealed that a survey it commissioned shows a drop in homeownership rates over the last 10 years among young families – and a rapidly dwindling stock of low-cost rental housing. The associations’ members expect the problems to continue. The homeownership rate among families in the 25-to-34 age group has fallen to 45%, largely because they don't have the cash for a down payment or the income to qualify for a loan. At the same time, rents are at record high rates in much of the country, making it harder for young families to accumulate the money needed for a down payment. Wayne Doyle, the association’s President, offered no concrete solutions to the problem, which has sent the homebuilding industry into the doldrums, with fewer sales and higher unemployment rates. “Young families face a difficult situation,” Doyle concluded. “They must accumulate enough savings to make a down payment but they are finding it harder to obtain good jobs, and also find that more and more of their money is going for rent, so it’s harder to save anything for a house.” By comparison, the homeownership rate for 65-to-74 year olds is 78.2%.

6.3.2 Writing the Second Paragraph

The second paragraph in a news story is almost as important as the lead – and as difficult to write. Like the lead, the second paragraph should emphasize the news. In addition, the second paragraph should provide a smooth, logical transition from the lead to the lowing paragraphs.

While writing second paragraphs, some reporters fail to emphasize the news. Other reporters fail to provide smooth transitions. As a result, their stories may seem dull or disorganized. You are given some advice how to write second paragraphs.

Avoid Leapfrogging

Reporters often refer to an individual in their lead and begin their second paragraph with a name. However, many reporters fail to clearly link the two: to state that the individual referred to in their lead is the person named in their second paragraph, leaders are forced to guess, to make that assumption. They will usually – but not always – be right.

The problem is so common that it has been given a name: "leapfrogging." To avoid the problem, provide a one- or two-word transition from the lead to a name in the second paragraph:

1) LEAPFROGGING: A 55-year-old man wept Wednesday after a Circuit Court jury found him not guilty of burglary and sexual battery.

Gary Lee Phillips was arrested two months ago.

REVISED: A 55-year-old man wept Wednesday after a Circuit Court jury found him no guilty of burglary and sexual battery.

The defendant, Gary Lee Phillips, was arrested two months ago.

2) LEAPFROGGING: The Norfolk City Council has denied a former mayor's request for the annexation and re-zoning of 19 acres located along Highway 50.

E. E. "Sparky" Dawson threatened to sue the city.

REVISED: The Norfolk City Council has denied a former mayor's request for the annexation and re-zoning of 19 acres located along Highway 50.

The former mayor, E. E. "Sparky" Dawson, threatened to sue the city.

Continue With the News

After providing a smooth transition between the lead and second paragraph, con­tinue with the news: more information about the topic summarized in your lead. Mistakenly, some reporters shift to a different topic – a decision certain to confuse their readers:

(1) CORVALLIS, Ore. –The police spend more of their time responding to domestic squabbles than to any other type of call.

Merritt Tendall has been the police chief in Corvallis for 15 years. He has seen a lot wrecks and a lot of crimes, but says he never wanted any other job.

REVISED: CORVALLIS, Ore. – The police spend more of their time responding to domestic squabbles than to any other type of call.

“We hate those calls,” says Police Chief Merritt Tendall. “You never know what to expect. We settle most of the disputes in a few minutes. But people get angry and irrational, and some take their anger out on us. I've been the police chief here for 15 years, and it's my biggest problem.”

(2) “No nation depends more upon its news media, and no media have more influence,” Marty Cirocca said.

Cirocca added that this small group of people decides which stories millions of America will receive each day.

REVISED: “No nation depends more upon its news media, and no media have more influence,” Marty Cirocca said.

“Unfortunately,” Cirocca continued, “a small group of people, located primarily in New York, controls the most influential media, and that small group decides which stories millions of Americans receive each day”.

Before it was revised, the first story seemed to discuss two different topics. The lead summarizes a problem that confronts police officers everywhere: family disputes. The second paragraph shifts to the police chief: his career and goals. Until it was revised, the story's second paragraph failed to even mention the problem of family disputes. The second story seems disorganized because, originally, its second paragraph mentioned “small group of people” but failed to identify them or to link them to anything mentioned in the lead.

Names, Names − Dull, Dull

Other reporters place too much emphasis upon their sources' identity. As a result their second paragraphs fail to convey any information of interest to readers. The following examples have been revised to emphasize the news – what the sources said or saw – not who they are:

(1) A construction worker was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind toppled the frame for a new apartment building on Conway Road.

Julian Prevatte, a carpenter for John McCormack & Sons, was an eyewitness to the accident.

REVISED: A construction worker was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind toppled the frame for a new apartment building on Conway Road.

Julian Prevatte, a carpenter at the site, said he tried to warn the victim when the frame began to collapse, but the noise made by a saw drowned out his shouts.

(2) Three gunmen who took $4,200 from a Safeway Supermarket at 1010 S. Broadway Ave. Friday were captured in a nearby motel room 20 minutes later.

Kathy Laxalt, 21, of 1842 S. Gayle Road was one of two cashiers on duty when the men entered the store.

REVISED: Three gunmen who took $4,200 from a Safeway Supermarket at 1010 S. Broadway Ave. Friday were captured in a nearby motel room 20 minutes later.

Kathy Laxalt, a cashier at the supermarket, said the men stood near the entrance for five minutes before they came in, drew their pistols and forced an assistant manager to open the safe.

Background: Too Much Too Soon

Also avoid devoting your entire second paragraph to background information. That information is rarely interesting and rarely new. The second paragraphs in the following sentences are dull because they emphasize that type of old, routine or insignificant detail:

(1) A state law designed to help police officers find hit-and-run drivers went into effect at 12:01 a.m. today.

(2) The law was passed by the state Legislature during its last session and was signed by the governor.

(3) “Rape is the most difficult crime to solve because of the insensitive treatment given to victims,” District Attorney Russell Grant said during a seminar held last night at the YMCA.

(4) The seminar, the fourth presented in the county during the last year, was sponsored by the Rape Prevention Center, 1015 5th Ave., which offers counseling to rape victims and encour­ages them to prosecute their assailants.

The first example emphasizes the obvious: the fact that a state law was approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor. The story's second paragraph fails to convey any news: the latest developments. It might have reported what occurred after the law went into effect “at 12:01 a.m. today.”

The second example fails to emphasize the district attorney's comments about rape. Instead, its second paragraph presents background information about the sponsor's identity and goals. Yet the same background information might have been reported in stories about the group’s first, second and third seminars, held months earlier. Again, the background information should have been informed after an account of the news: a thorough summary of the district attorney's remarks.

Fortunately, the problem is easy to correct, as in this example:

Six hundred children in the state needed foster homes last month, but only 220 new homes were licensed to care for them.

Karen Hudgins of 2406 Eastbrook Road coordinates the program. She studied sociology in Tennessee and, after earning her master's degree there, moved here in 1984. She is married and has three children.

REVISED: Six hundred children in the state needed foster homes last month, but only 220 new homes were licensed to care for them.

Why? “With more women working, fewer are home and able to care for children, especially problem children,” an expert explained. “Also, it's a lot of work with no pay. The only reward is sharing a part of a child's life and knowing it's important – something that has to be done.”

Before it was revised, the second paragraph shifted from a topic in the news (the shortage of foster homes) to background information about the person who administers the program. Again, that information should be moved to a later paragraph, preferably the story’s final paragraph.

Improving Later Paragraphs

Each paragraph, regardless of its placement in a story, should present only one idea or unit of thought. When reporters shift to a new topic or a new phase of the same topic, they should start a new paragraph. Because the quotation in the following example introduces a new idea – a fact unrelated to the topic of American norms – it should be placed in a new paragraph. At the same time, the topic of American norms might be expanded to explain or illustrate it more clearly:

Living with his cousin has helped Faisal adjust to American norms. He added, “We often cook Middle Eastern dishes and invite our American friends over to our apartment.”

REVISED: Faisal said living with his cousin has helped him adjust to American norms. He explained: “Life is so much freer here than in the Middle East. My cousin explains your ways to me and shows me what to do.”

They often cook Middle Eastern dishes and invite American friends to their apartment.

Avoid generalities that have to be explained in a later paragraph. If you focus on a story's specific details, the generalities often become unnecessary. The following para­graphs illustrate that principle. Until they were revised, they emphasized general topics rather than any specific information that sources provided about those topics:

She described the life she observed in New Zealand.

REVISED: She said life in New Zealand is relaxed and carefree.

He also talked about the economic hardships faced by unwed mothers.

REVISED: He said 80 percent of unwed mothers under the age of 18 drop out of high school, and 84 percent become dependent on welfare.

Also avoid reporting details within each paragraph in chronological order, especially about reporting the overall story in chronological order. Instead, emphasize the news. Many paragraphs report that a topic was discussed, and then slowly proceed to the results. Consequently, the most important details are buried in the final line:

Next on its agenda, the City Council opened bids to determine who would receive a contract to construct the recreation center. The lowest bid was $1.5 million. The budget for the center was only $1,240,000. “It was very disappointing,” the mayor said. “Now we'll have to go back over the plans with our architects and eliminate some of the options to lower its cost. It'll delay construction six to nine months.”

REVISED: The construction of a recreation center will be delayed six to nine months because the bids were $260,000 more than budgeted for the work.

The city had allocated $1,240,000 for the work, but the lowest bid was $1.5 million. The mayor said that city officials will “have to go back over the plans with our architects and nominate some of the options to lower its cost.”

Shorten Your Sentences

Beginners use sentences that are too long and complicated. Yet the longer a sentence, the more difficult it is to understand. Moreover, when too many ideas are combined into a sentence, none receives the clarity and emphasis it deserves. As you read the following sentences, you are likely to stop and to start again. Why? All sentences contain more ideas than most readers can absorb at a glance. As you read each, count the number of ideas it contains:

Thirty-year-old Melvin Holder, an employee at the McDonald's at 3710 Lake Ave., was cleaning the closed restaurant at 2:40 a.m. when the two men, one wearing a ski mask, knocked on a locked door, pointed a revolver at him and demanded to be let in.

! WRITING ACTIVITIES 2

Task 6: Writing Second Paragraphs

(A) Critically evaluate the second paragraph in the following stories. Which of the second paragraphs are most successful in:

(1) providing a smooth transition from the lead;

(2) continuing to discuss the topic summarized in the lead;

(3) emphasizing the news: details that are new, important and interesting?

1. Jewel C. Harris, 42, of 2245 E. Broadway Ave. was arrested and charged with aggravated battery after her car struck a bicyclist, police say. Jerry R. Harris, 24, also of 2245 E. Broadway Ave., was transported to Memorial Hospital with cuts, bruises and a broken leg.

2. The School Board has expelled eight more students for using drugs, bringing the total this year to 81. Only one of the eight students appeared before the board last night to defend herself. She was accused of selling marijuana to a classmate.

3. A man claiming to have a bomb tried to rob the First Federal Savings and Loan Co. at 9:05 a.m. today. A man carrying a brown paper bag told a teller that it contained a bomb and that he would kill everyone in the bank unless she gave him $10,000.

4. A 22-year-old auto mechanic and his wife delivered their triplets at home Monday because there was not time to drive to a birthing clinic. Barbara and Paul Wyman of 2020 Lorry Lane delivered their triplets at 4:30 a.m. The babies and their mother are reported in excellent condition.

5. Complaining that college administrators are insensitive to their needs, 50 handicapped students, some in wheelchairs, picketed the Administration Building Friday. About 10 percent of the student population is handicapped, but there is no way of determining how many there really are. When the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed, the disclosure of information about handicapped students was prohibited. The law is intended to ensure that a handicapped student is not discriminated against and denied entrance into a college.

6. Peter Laguna, a 24-year-old Alabama man, went on trial Wednesday on charges of armed robbery. The first witness was Lynita Sharp, a clerk who was working at the convenience store when it was robbed on July 18.

7. The School Board voted Tuesday to construct an elementary school on Grant Avenue. Two years ago, the Meadow Woods Subdivision offered to give the board land for the school.

8. A 22-year-old man today pleaded innocent to violating his probation, arguing that his poor education made it impossible for him to understand the instructions given by his parole officer. The defendant, Henry Forlenza, told the judge that he dropped out of high school and never learned to read.

(B) Come back to Tasks 3-5, choose any story and on the basis of the given information write a lead and a secondary paragraph. While writing, keep in mind your target audience, time, space and if necessary, intertextuality.

So now you have acquired some knowledge about the genre of a news story; you have practiced in writing separate components of this article, and further you will try to develop the skills necessary for writing complete stories. But before doing this it is worthwhile paying attention to one more very important aspect in journalistic writing. It is finding information for your planned story.

As future journalists you know different ways of gathering some data, statistics, etc for an article. One of them, of course, is conducting interviews. Maybe you know that in the American and the British journalistic traditions an interview is not a newspaper genre but mainly the method of looking for information.

6.4 Interview

· How would you define the term “interview”?

· What types (classifications) of interview do you know?

· Have you ever conducted any interview? If yes, share your experience. Did you face any difficulties?

· If you could interview any person in the world, who would you choose? Why? What would you ask them?

· What makes a good interview from your point of view?

Interview is

− a formal consultation usually to evaluate qualifications (as of a prospective student or employee);

− a meeting at which information is obtained (as by a reporter, television commentator, or pollster) from a person;

− a report or reproduction of information so obtained.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interview

Interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview

6.4.1 Types of Journalistic Interviews

One of the most fundamental tasks a journalist engages in before writing a story is gathering information. A key part of that process involves calling, e-mailing or in-person interviewing of people who have knowledge about the subject of the story. There are different classifications of interviews. Further in the text you will read about 10 types of interviews journalists use more often. If you are interested in the examples (scripts) of these interviews you may find the whole texts of these interviews on the following site: www.kcnn.org/interviewing/chapter2.

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