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This piece is a good example of a news story done on a speech. Obviously, President Obama makes speeches that are something to be discussed and annotated upon by news writers. This specific story highlights the highlights of the speech given by Barack Obama (before he was elected President) and also gives a summary of where the speech was given, when and those specifications. The article also gives the transcript of his speech, but provides notes on important points and responses from the author or other esteemed individuals. This shows an example of how we can write articles about speeches.

Publication Name: Star Tribune

Date of Article: April 16, 2009

Headline: Would you, could you, keep bees?

URL: Greengirls: Would you, could you, keep bees?

This article describes one of the Greengirls’ success with having colonies of bees in her farm country home. However, she writes that now Minneapolis may pass a law stating it legal for Minneapolis residents to keep bees as well. This beat continues on with more articles from the Greengirls – three authors and locals who love to garden and do anything outside that would fall into that category. The articles in this beat range from when to plant certain vegetables, how to compost, etc. The reason why this could be a beat is because it is timely, they are consistant in their material and the information is specific.

Date: April 6, 2009

Title: The End of ‘Wife Wear’

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/fashion/07iht-ffirst.html?_r=1&ref=global

Criteria for beat reporting: This story focuses on something that I find very interesting – our country’s obsession with Mrs. Obama’s fashion choices. Although it may seem a bit out of the ordinary, I believe that this story could fit into a category of fashion writing that would be considered beat reporting. As the reader is able to understand, the writer has spent significant amount of time studying past First Ladies, Mrs. Obama’s fashion choices and possible reasons for this. The writer explores how Michelle Obama’s fashion is truly unique, her own and how that fits in with some of the mystery behind it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/middleeast/11israel.html?th&emc=th

national: Bailout Plan: $2.5 Trillion and a Strong U.S. Hand

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/economy/11bailout.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

national:Washington Hopes ‘Vulture’ Will Buy Bad Assets

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/economy/11react.html?th&emc=th

local: More charges against alleged U groper

http://www.startribune.com/local/39433342.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

local:Long sentence for man who answered Craigslist baby sitter ad, used child for porn

http://www.startribune.com/local/39426757.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

highlighted story:
The story that I chose this week to highlight after studying a bit more of news writing was the article in the Star Tribune: “More charges against alleged U groper.” I thought that this story did a good job of using the elements of the basic story – the headline, lead, backup information, nut graph, impact, attribution, background, elaboration and ending. After doing the NewsU Lesson on writing leads, I also was able to recognize the type of lead that the author, Rochelle Olson, used.
To start with, the headline grabbed my attention to read more – because of the proximity of this issue to a college young woman and the closeness of the U. Although BU is very different, I still was attracted to read the article because it is close to me and held my interest. The lead used a straight-forward lead: “A Minneapolis man accused of groping two University of Minnesota female students faces new charges today in seven other incidents, bringing to nine the total for which he has been charged.” It answered some of the important questions – who, what, when, where, why, and so what? The lead is followed by good information that identifies the man and other information about his previous crimes. A nut graph is provided for the main point, and the impact is shown by describing the stories in detail for readers. The attribution is given, as is the background – telling what has happened in the groper’s past. The elaboration is given by the two victims assurance that this man was the attacker. The ending seems to be intertwined with this elaboration – a succinct and simple way to end the story.
This story is also adding to my understanding of news. It makes sense that a hard-news story is released and that it is relevant. It fulfills the ideas of proximity and human interest to grab readers’ attention. Even though it is sad, it is important. I think it was a good example for me to work through and see how a news story is made and written.

-Katherine Beckwith

national: with victories, gay rights groups expand marriage push

national: outlook on economy is brightening, poll finds

local: catholic leaders seek to block release of priest list

local: mortgage program aims to help homebuyers in minneapolis

This week’s news report is very interesting to me. I am intrigued with some of the elements of the story entitled, “Iraq’s newly open gays face scorn and murder.” The news article clearly states that a new subculture is being formed and that this subculture is hated upon. It is interesting to me the language that this writer uses in his opening paragraph: “the response is swift and deadly.” The article highlights aspect of the Iraqi culture that may be new and interesting for readers outside of Iraq. It discusses some of gay men’s preferences, but also describes the way in which they are killed and the activites surrounding this. I believe that this becomes news for some obvious reasons – like human interest and something that is relatable to the US. With our recent changes with the GLBTQA community, this story directly correlates with a topic that is hot here, too. What I think is interesting is that the way we are dealing with this community is entirely different than the way Iraq is. However, in Iraq, homosexuality is against the law and when homosexuals are caught engaging in sexual intercourse, they can be arrested. I think that this is very interesting news in our current society to highlight the differences between Iraq and the US with regards to this policy.

national: living in motels, the hidden homeless

national: obama calls changes to the education system

local: bike-sharing comes to minneapolis

local: minneapolis holding off on plan to leave integration district

This week, I chose to focus on the national story regarding the homelessness in our nation. It was a classic representation, in my eyes, of a human interest story. The story was made up of a variety of small, short stories focusing on the new faces of the homeless in our nation: the middle-class, medium-income who’ve lost their jobs. What I thought was particularly interesting about this story is that it is addressing our country’s current economic problems, as well as addressing a hidden problem – most of these homeless who live in motels are not considered homeless by the government. They have a roof over their heads and they are making it – but the question is what is required for a “home” for people and what is the definition of “homelessness?” It will be interesting to see how the press continues to cover this type of news – and how long will it be news?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/world/asia/03shelter.html

national: quiet layoffs sting workers without notice

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/business/06layoffs.html?_r=1&hp

national:california court weighing gay marriage ban

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/index.html

local:high-speed train from chicago: next stop, minneapolis?

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/40824657.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU

local: burnsville takes an early stab at city cuts

http://www.startribune.com/40828457.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

What caught my attention this week in the news was a multimedia piece that worked together with an article. It was a slideshow of six photographs and a story/caption accompanies each photo. The photos are breathtaking; obviously, but what I thought was interesting was to take the interviewing methods we have learned about as a class and be applying them to these photos.

In the photos, you can almost see the story written on these faces. The story is about the Afghan Women Slowly Gaining Protection – they now have a select number of shelters that they can choose from to go to if they are experiencing violence. Many of the photos had quotes about what the actual women were saying – some were admitting to feeling like they couldn’t get out of their situation. Others, had the information that is basic – what happened, where, how old they are. But what isn’t basic about this BBI is that it is adding to the story’s human interest. One of the woman’s husband cut off her ear and nose while she was sleeping in the night because her husband had a disupte with her father. Her quote, “I have never known anything of happiness,” sticks with me more than any other thing I have seen in photojournalism. By combining interviewing skills and general interest from the readers, this photojournalism/article duo had my attention as an excellent example of what we are learning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/world/asia/27china.html?ref=world

national: Obama Plans Major Shifts in Spending

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/us/politics/27web-budget.html?_r=1&hp

national: Iraq Withdrawal Plan Gains G.O.P. Support

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/w27troopsweb.html?hp

local: St. Paul school board sighs as Carstarphen accepts Texas job

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/40345287.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

local: Ex-power broker Garcia facing meth charges

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/40357807.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Based on what we have learned in class so far with regards to journalistic styles and content, I think that the article regarding the relationship between China and the U.S. was very interesting. The use of an inverted pyramid is used by giving readers the ending of the story first and foremost. The choice of words and how the story is laid out is also very interesting and helpful as we are learning about the storytelling technique in Chapter 9. The article uses many lead quotes and also quite a bit of background information.

I think this constitutes as news because it is talking about a current event. I think it is also considered news because this is a story with a history – China and the U.S. have disagreed about the Human Right’s Policies of each other country many times. The fact that it happened again and in this context is important to read about. It is also important for readers to understand why this is different from the previous times and how this will affect our country in the future.

-Katherine Beckwith

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/world/africa/20briefs-TUTUURGESOBA_BRF.html?_r=1&ref=world

national:Newly Poor Swell Lines at Food Banks Nationwide

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/nyregion/20food.html?ref=us

national: Charities Now Seek Bankruptcy Protection

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/20bankrupt.html?ref=us

local: Ellison is moved by damage in Gaza

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/house/39851042.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU&elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU

local: ELCA leaves gay clergy decision to local churches

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/39854042.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

In the article regarding the U.S. Representative of Minnesota traveling to Gaza really intrigues me. First of all, the story seems to capture a lot of the elements we have been learning about in class as well as what we have been reading about in our textbooks. There are a lot of elements of this story that seem to be illustrated well, and to me, this is a good thing to know about. To start the story, the author uses a lead quote from the U.S. Representative regarding his feelings about Gaza and how much it has effected him. The story starts off with a bit of mystery and makes me want to continue reading. Another lead quote is used in the story closely following the lead and then we are provided with backup information. The author spirals his readers forward by informing us what the Representative is up to for the rest of the visit. Background information is also given in the article, as are Ellison’s thoughts on the issues at hand in Gaza.
I also found that a bit of “online” techniques were used in the respect that the web page ends with a bold sub-headline saying, “Kerry visits, too.” This shows me that the author was trying to entice his readers to go to the next page and finish the article, instead of stopping at the bottom. When we see the name “Kerry” we think of John Kerry, who is famous and well-known. These things are helpful with readers and sustaining them. The ending of the story is something that we also learned about in our texts. This ending was succinct and gave readers a bit more information about Ellison’s position.

-Katherine Beckwith