Prof. Speere’s Media Writing Blog

Your sixth blog post is about more leads. Everyone did a nice job on identifying bad leads for last week’s assignment. Now we need to see if we can improve on some of these leads. Your task this week is to find two more bad leads from college newspapers. Again, use the links to the college papers from the College Publisher site. But this time you not only need to identify the bad lead and why it is bad, you must rewrite it. Furthermore, I want you to rewrite it as an anecdotal or narrative lead, as if you were going to write the story in the “kabob” (or Wall Street Journal formula.) Go back and read the section on anecdotal and narrative leads on Page 44 of your textbook. Re-read Page 49 for info on the “kabob” structure. Also look at the story on Page 47. Notice how Version Two begins with a person as a focus of the story, even though the story is about an issue. This is what I want you to do for the two leads you are going to rewrite.

So you can’t just pick any story with a bad lead to do this blog. In order for you to successfully write the story using a person in an anecdotal/narrative lead, you need to a find a story with a bad lead that also happens to include a source that you can fashion a lead around.

After you’ve found a story that will work, include the bad lead and a link to the story. Tell me what is wrong with the lead. Then write your new lead AND the nut graf for the story. (See page 46 if you’ve forgotten what a nut graf is — and see how it is used in Version Two on Page 47.)

This blog is due Monday, April 21 at midnight.

Your blog assignment this week is to scour the web for examples of bad leads from college newspapers that fit the profiles of some the following examples. You can also look for leads that are similar to the ones presented in class on Tuesday. I want you to find at least five bad leads. Quote the lead in your blog, and provide the link to the original story. Label the bad lead style and explain why this is a weak attempt at lead writing. What suggestions would you make for improving the lead, and if you are feeling bold, attempt a rewrite.

Below are a few samples of leads provided by Tim Harrower guaranteed to make readers groan.

The dictionary lead: The dictionary defines “faculty” as the complete teaching staff of a school or any other educational institution. It’s also defined as a natural ability or power. If that’s the case, Dumbo University’s professors live up to both definitions for they have a natural ability to teach.

The “Speak, Rover” lead: Job-finding expert Jim Dandy spoke Tuesday to students. (It’s not important or newsworthy that he spoke. What he said is what’s newsworthy and important.)

The Mr. Obvious lead: Banned books will be read to celebrate Banned Books Week this week.

The Tease lead: It’s tangy. It’s ladled on salad. It’s popular among students. It’s Ranch dressing, and more of it is eaten by Dumbo University students than any other dressing.

The kickoff lead: Students kicked off their Relay for Life event Tuesday.

The “There, There” lead: There is (There was, There are, There will be) a concert tonight in the student center.

The calendar lead: It’s that time of year for finals, meaning students are stressed.

The “Many (Some) Students” lead: Many (Some) students say they’ve become sick after eating at the cafeteria.

To find college newspapers, I suggest you go to this link of newspapers affiliated with the College Publisher network.

This blog assignment is due by midnight Saturday, April 12.

What you learned so far?

This blog is easy. In at least 300 words, tell me what you have learned about writing for the media through the first half of the semester. And don’t just complain about how hard it is. Give me some specific examples of things that you have truly learned. Be honest with yourself.

This blog is due by midnight Monday, March 31.

Inverted Pyramid Stories and Summary Leads

This week’s blog assignment is to find and analyze three different summary leads from news stories published at any of the newspaper websites listed on the Media page of this blog. The stories need to be inverted pyramid stories, and the leads need to be the standard summary lead that we have discussed in class. Link to the story, and then explain how you are able to identify that this is an inverted pyramid story and summary lead. Discuss the structure of the lead, particularly why certain news elements are or are not used in the lead. Are names used in the lead? Why or why not? Is information attributed? Why or why not, and how is the source identified, if attribution is included? How are time and place incorporated into the lead? What news value(s) did the reporter choose to emphasize in the story? Why? Are there other things we discussed in the class or from the chapter that you see in the leads? Do you think you could write a better lead? If so, try it.

The purpose of this blog is to see if you can identify an inverted pyramid news story and a basic summary lead. You will not get full credit for this assignment if you choose stories that are not inverted pyramid, or if the leads are not summary leads.

Post your analysis and links to the leads on your blogs by midnight Saturday, Feb. 16.

The first assignment for students of this MC202 Writing for the Media class is to create their own blogs, which will focus on media writing analysis and other assignments as directed by the course professor.
Your first post to your blog should be a short essay, about five paragraphs in length, explaining why Prof. Speere and other mass media professors stress the importance of accuracy, spelling and word use in media writing and editing courses. Specifically, what is the value of giving a student a failing grade on an assignment for a including a factual error such as misspelling a person’s name or misstating a person’s title? What is the purpose of assigning a failing grade to a story that contains misuse of its/it’s, there/they’re/their, our/are, or your/you’re? Why are other spelling and word use errors penalized 10 points each? And what is the point of docking a story for using modifiers such as very, really or great?

Your deadline for this first blog post is Saturday, Feb. 2, at midnight.

This is the first blog post for Prof. Speere’s Writing for the Media blog, utilized by his Spring 2008 students for the Writing for the Media MC 202 class at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.