Readings 5, Post #10

i finally made it! The big 1-0. Ok, on to the readings...

For this week I read Chapters 11 & 12 in the textbook, whoch dealt with news releases and speeches/news conferences/meetings respectively. Because i'm a journalist, a newsman, and a student, most of these topics aren't new to me, but the book did a good job of organizing them.


In chapter 11, news releases were broken up into the following categories: Announcements of personal matters, Information about a cause, and Information for someone's image. The chapter also explains the art of rewriting the releases, as extra information and AP style may be lacking from the original document. What is comes down to is that it is very important to be able to recognize what is news and what isnt, and be able to formulate a newsworthy story with whatever size of information is provided. Over at ICTV where I volunteer, most stories are about 30 seconds long, and I could have 1 sentence of information or even 1 page. No matter the scenerio, is it important for me to use my writing and research abilities to make the deadline and length requirements.

Chapter 12 was a bit more complex because it dealt with 3 different topics, but much of the processes were similar for all of them. The first step to any conference or meeting is to prepare, and finding out what will be discussed and who will be there is key. At the event, the reporter must have very good listening and note-taking skills. Descrptions, quotes, setting, and attitudes should all be noted by the reporter in an attempt to make the reader feel more involved in the story. Although different events have a few different protocols, it is always important no matter what to be prepared, be on time, and get as much of a complete, well-rounded story as possible. It's never bad to get too much info. Your editors/producers will cut stuff out anyway, so its not a big deal how much you get to start out with.