Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Audio Story
My audio story features two college students who were faced with different obstacles when trying to find a summer job; all the obstacles resulted directly from the recession. If you are a college student, there is a great chance that you can relate to one of the guests in my story. The first guest was TJ Kyber, he wanted to move to the beach for the summer and find a part time job somewhere in Ocean City. Kyber made a deal with his parents- he had to find a job in two weeks otherwise he had to move back home. Listen to the audio story to find out what happened. My second guest is James Reuther, he was faced with an unexcpected opponent when job hunting, one agin listen to find out.
Illegal Bees Live High in NYC: Audio Story Example
This National Geographic segment talks about the recent legalization of honey bee keeping in New York City. This short segment reflects some great examples on the video story discussion we had in my MCOM 258 class. As we discussed in class, the scenes were short to keep the audience focused on the video, for long scenes become boring and dull. The scenes were also parallel to what the speaker was saying, and they went in a timely fashion. In my opinion, the editing in this video was great, and reflected specific examples from on class discussion.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Beat Blog- Post 1
I have begun my research by interviewing Jimmy Reuther, a long time friend of mine who has returned home from college for the summer and is currently on the prowl for a summer job. Jimmy goes to Virginia Tech and has planned on finding a job in our hometown of Olney, but his job hunt is not going according to plan due to the current economy.
I sat down with Jimmy and asked him a few basic questions about his current job hunt. Through my research I have found that his failure to find a job was not due to any malfunctions in his applications, nor is it due to a criminal background, rather it was strictly due to the fact that no companies are hiring at the current moment. Jimmy said that he literally has been walking from store to store applying for a job. "I have applied at every store in Olney, everything ranging from Shoppers Food Warehouse to Pet Value," Jimmy said.
To continue my research I plan on going to the career center at Towson University so that I can get information from people who are experts in the field of job hunting. I will also interview a few college students who have steady jobs on hold for them when they return home from college. This will give me information from all ends of the spectrum.
I sat down with Jimmy and asked him a few basic questions about his current job hunt. Through my research I have found that his failure to find a job was not due to any malfunctions in his applications, nor is it due to a criminal background, rather it was strictly due to the fact that no companies are hiring at the current moment. Jimmy said that he literally has been walking from store to store applying for a job. "I have applied at every store in Olney, everything ranging from Shoppers Food Warehouse to Pet Value," Jimmy said.
To continue my research I plan on going to the career center at Towson University so that I can get information from people who are experts in the field of job hunting. I will also interview a few college students who have steady jobs on hold for them when they return home from college. This will give me information from all ends of the spectrum.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Feature Story Ideas
As of right now I am planning on using the Trend Story Formula for my Feature Story. I have a friend named Jimmy who goes to school at Virginia Tech, he has returned back home for the summer and is having the hardest time finding a summer job. He literally has been going to every store in my our hometown applying for a job; everything ranging from restaurants to pet stores. He has not heard back from any of the places that he applied to, and it's not for any malfunctions on his applications, rather it's strictly due to the current economy. I plan to interview him on his struggle to find a job, and incorporate that with the trend of many college students who are trying to find jobs.
The Wall Street Journal Formula
A House Like A Pocketknife
This article, titled "A House Like A Pocketknife", is about Edgar Lyall and Liz Wise who renovated their Los Angles house into a futuristic, yet vintage style house. This article represents the Wall Street Journal Formula first and foremost by its anecdotal lead. The article starts off by introducing Lyall and Liz, then it progresses into the "meat" of the story. In the fourth paragraph is where the nut graph is found, this is the spot that bridges the story together. The audience is presented with the reason for the remodeling and why it was important. The nutgraph in this case explains that the couple wanted to renovate their house, they had certain standards but had to work around strict perameters.
As the story progresses it using quotes and detail to back up the nut graph. For instance paragraph 6 says, "In 2007, banks were only too eager to grant large loans for expansive remodeling. Mr. Lyall and Ms. Wise could have doubled their square footage with a second story, but they resolved to do the absolute minimum: a 675-square-foot addition."
Finally the end of the article comes back to the beginning by reinforcing the ideal premise of the story. Furthermore explaining how the couple renovated their house to meet their standards, but packed it all into a strict perameter; just like a pocketknife.
This article, titled "A House Like A Pocketknife", is about Edgar Lyall and Liz Wise who renovated their Los Angles house into a futuristic, yet vintage style house. This article represents the Wall Street Journal Formula first and foremost by its anecdotal lead. The article starts off by introducing Lyall and Liz, then it progresses into the "meat" of the story. In the fourth paragraph is where the nut graph is found, this is the spot that bridges the story together. The audience is presented with the reason for the remodeling and why it was important. The nutgraph in this case explains that the couple wanted to renovate their house, they had certain standards but had to work around strict perameters.
As the story progresses it using quotes and detail to back up the nut graph. For instance paragraph 6 says, "In 2007, banks were only too eager to grant large loans for expansive remodeling. Mr. Lyall and Ms. Wise could have doubled their square footage with a second story, but they resolved to do the absolute minimum: a 675-square-foot addition."
Finally the end of the article comes back to the beginning by reinforcing the ideal premise of the story. Furthermore explaining how the couple renovated their house to meet their standards, but packed it all into a strict perameter; just like a pocketknife.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Feature Leads vs. Summary Leads
Feature leads are often found in short feature stories and they do not try to cram in the "who", "what", "where", "when", "why", and "how". These leads focus on providing a quick preview of what's to come in the story, the writer tempts the readers to wade into their stories to find out more. Feature leads add description, they try to set the story for the reader. Rather than packing in as much information as possible, feature leads want to entice the reader to find out more by reading deeper into the story.
On the other hand, summary leads relay on information cramming, for they want to pack as much content so the reader is aware of how the story will progress. As opposed to feature leads, summary leads focus on the "who", "what", "where", "when", "why", and "how". This type of lead focuses around the inverted pyramid style which would mean that the most important information was found at the beginning of the story and the importance of the information would decrease as the story progressed.
Feature lead 1) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/31genb.html?_r=1&ref=fashion
Feature lead 2)http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/making-vacation-last-for-months/?ref=travel
On the other hand, summary leads relay on information cramming, for they want to pack as much content so the reader is aware of how the story will progress. As opposed to feature leads, summary leads focus on the "who", "what", "where", "when", "why", and "how". This type of lead focuses around the inverted pyramid style which would mean that the most important information was found at the beginning of the story and the importance of the information would decrease as the story progressed.
Feature lead 1) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/31genb.html?_r=1&ref=fashion
Feature lead 2)http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/making-vacation-last-for-months/?ref=travel
My Beat
For my beat I plan to research if college students are struggling to find college jobs due to the current economic downfall. I work in the service industry and many of the servers that went off to college were not offered back their job when they returned home for the summer, this is what sprung my interest.
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