Assignment: Your own news stories. Due by midnight, Wednesday, December 19. Any not posted by midnight will receive 50 points only.
Per last Wednesday, your own personal news stories are due tomorrow by midnight. They should be posted to the blog!
(At the bottom of today's blog are a couple of samples)
At this point you should have any research completed, as well as interviewing a couple of people to quote them in your story.
LOOK OVER THE CHECK LIST BELOW
Check list:
Are the most important and recent facts first? (follows the inverted pyramid?)
Is the story accurate? Are the sources identified fully? (remember to use "said".
Are the paragraphs short?
Is the sentence structure varied in the story?
Is the story neat and double-spaced so that it is easy to read?
Does your story flow? Did you use the transition/ quote formula?
Did you use active voice?
Unbiased?
At least one attributed quote?
headline? (we'll review this on Monday)
by line? (that's your name)
correct punctuation / grammar?
headline and secondary headline?
headline and secondary headline?
Rubric for evaluating inverted pyramid
stories
stories
Ace reporter
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Good
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Fair
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Poor
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This story — so professional one would think it were cut from a professional news publication — convincingly demonstrates mastery of the inverted pyramid form by doing the following:
❍ with precision, arranges the key facts of the story from most important to least important
❍ relegates background information — information the writer could have known before the event — to a place below all new information
❍ is devoid of unattributed opinion
❍ artfully illustrates points with interesting, well-punctuated and well-attributed quotations; a transition is used to introduce each quotation.
❍ is a model of brevity, using few words to maximum effect.
❍ avoids passive voice except in the rare cases when it is merited
❍ shows few, if any, errors in the conventions of written English
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This solid inverted pyramid story, while not as impressive as that written by the Ace Reporter, consistently does most or all of the following:
❍ arranges the key facts of the story from most important to least important
❍ generally relegates background information — information the writer could have known before the event — to a place below all new information
❍ is devoid of unattributed opinion
❍ illustrates points with interesting, well-punctuated and well-attributed quotations; a transition is used to introduce each quotation
❍ is for the most part concise
❍ generally avoids passive voice except in the rare cases when it is merited
❍ shows few, if any, errors in the conventions of written English.
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This story suggests general awareness of the requirements for an inverted pyramid story, but does not suggest great prowess in meeting those requirements. This lead does much or all of the following:
❍ unconvincingly arranges the facts of the story from most important to least important
❍ in some cases, fails to keep background information in its place at the bottom of the story
❍ may include minor unattributed opinion
❍ sometimes illustrates points with quotations but may do so awkwardly and without adequate transitions or
❍ shows too little attention to the need for brevity
❍ may slip into passive voice
❍ shows some errors in the conventions of written English.
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These story doesn’t meaningfully address the assignment. This lead does much or all of the following:
❍ either does not have all the basic facts or shows clear errors in organizing them from most to least important
❍ fails to keep background information in its place at the bottom of the story
❍ is bereft of meaningful, supportive quotations; may fail to introduce quotations at all
❍ includes significant unattributed opinion
❍ noticeable over-use of the passive voice
❍ is wordy
❍ shows multiple errors in the conventions of written English.
(Note: The fact that a person is speaking to students is not in and of itself newsworthy; stories should focus on what a person says, not the fact that he/she has spoken.)
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New Zealand PM tells British backpacker's family: She should've been safe with us
British backpacker Grace Millane should have been safe on her trip to New Zealand, a place that prides itself on manaakitanga, the country's prime minister said
Jacinda Ardern invoked manaakitanga -- a word from the Maori, New Zealand's indigenous Polynesian people, meaning hospitality -- in delivering an apology to the 22-year-old's family. She was speaking during her weekly post-Cabinet news conference, Radio New Zealand reported.
"From the Kiwis I have spoken to, there is this overwhelming sense of shame that this has happened in our country, a place that prides itself on its hospitality, on its manaakitanga, especially to those who are visiting our shores," Ardern said.
"So on behalf of New Zealand, I want to apologize to Grace's family: Your daughter should have been safe here and she wasn't and I'm sorry for that."
A 26-year-old man accused of killing Millane made his first appearance in a New Zealand's Auckland District Court Monday, RNZ reported.
Millane was last seen at the Auckland city center December 1. A body believed to be that of the missing woman was found in a wooded area in the Waitakere Ranges, west of central Auckland, police said Sunday.
Police previously said that a man seen with her in Auckland the night she disappeared would be charged in her death.
Presiding Judge Evangelos Thomas denied the man's request to have his name suppressed, but his defense lawyer immediately appealed that decision, meaning he cannot be publicly identified for 20 days, RNZ reported.
The man -- who appeared in court wearing a blue jumpsuit -- was remanded to custody until he appears in court in January, the broadcaster reported. Thomas addressed Millane's family members at the court hearing, RNZ said.
"I don't know what we say to you at this time. Your grief must be desperate," it quoted him as saying. "All of us hope that justice for Grace is fair, swift and ultimately brings you some peace."
Detective Inspector Scott Beard said Sunday afternoon that the body found in the Waitakere Ranges was yet to be identified.
"The formal identification process will now take place. However, based on the evidence we have gathered over the past few days, we expect that this is Grace. Obviously this brings the search for Grace to an end," Beard said in a statement. "It is an unbearable time for the Millane family, and our hearts go out to them."
Beard issued an appeal for sightings of a 2016 red Toyota Corolla hatchback hired from a rental company.
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City: No New Year's Eve fireworks for 2018
by WHAM
The City of Rochester will not be lighting up the night on the last day of the year.
City officials confirmed Monday that fireworks will not be held on New Year's Eve in Rochester.
“This year the City decided to reinvest some of the New Year’s Eve fireworks funds for the ROC Holiday Village," City Communications Director James Smith said in an emailed statement. "The fireworks were not drawing large crowds. Taking place over four weekends, the City of Rochester ROC Holiday Village has brought thousands of people Downtown to experience the beauty of winter and the holiday season in Rochester. We look forward to seeing this event become a new holiday tradition for families to enjoy year after year
“We invite everyone to come to the annual New Year’s Eve family celebration at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center, which this year will run from 6 to 9 p.m.”
"We want people to be able to come into downtown Rochester and enjoy the festivities, but not just have it be on one day," Mayor Lovely Warren told 13WHAM. "We are continuing making sure, on New Year’s night, families get to come to the Convention Center and have a great time, but all throughout the month of December, in partnership with our Roc Holiday Village folks, we invested in that, and being able to have parents come out and children come out, enjoy the ice skating, enjoy spending time with Santa and doing crafts. We thought that was a better use of funding, since we noticed attendance (for the fireworks) had gone down significantly."
Mayor Warren says the annual Family Night Out event will still be held at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center on New Year's Eve.
"We just want people to enjoy all the winter life in downtown Rochester," she said.
Last year, the city hosted free ice skating at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park and a family-friendly party at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center.
