"Storytime Spooktacular": Multimedia Story #1

For my multimedia assignment, I am going to cover the story time "Spooktacular" at Barnes and Noble in Towson. This event is for toddlers and young children to listen to Halloween stories and get some pre trick-or-treating treats before they go out to trick-or-treat or just instead of going out at all if they are too young. It starts at 6:30pm and is expected to last for about a half an hour. I plan to definitely use the story time reader as a source and in additional talk to the event organizers, parents and maybe children (if they're old enough), and possibly employees at Barnes and Noble. Some of the potential questions I may ask are (to parents) why did you decide to come out tonight? Do you feel it was worth it/did your child enjoy it? Did it help to put you in the Halloween spirit/mood? Was it better than going to trick-or-treat? (to the reader/organizer) What made you decide to have a night time Halloween special story time? Do you feel it was a success? Are you going to make this an annual tradition? . Covering this event, unlike the last event/story we did, there must be a picture. So, some of the picture possibilities I'm thinking about are a group shot during the readings, individual children listening, children doing Halloween activities and maybe kids and their parents listening together.

Baltimore hopefully about to expereince the single largest homocide decrease since 1970

Since police in Baltimore City have increased their presence around some of worst areas, the homicide rate has declined. So far this year, there have been 172 homicides as compared to last year's number of 238, which is a 28 percent drop. With only three months left in this year, if the city can hold steady on homicide rates they will experience the single largest drop, both as a percentage and as a raw number, of any year since 1970.

Although police say there are many possible explanations for the decrease, they believe it's due to the city's new take on notoriously dangerous areas, mainly the Eastern and Western districts. As Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale puts it, "History repeats itself...It's a basic principle: cops at the right areas, at the right times. ... They're out there to do one thing: get bad guys with guns."

Two other influential police tactics as noted in the Baltimore sun are the "geography factor" and getting the guns". Homicides have dropped the fastest in the two worst areas of the city, the Eastern and Western districts. Violent crimes, homicides and shootings all occur within the same geographic areas so officers now go into those areas prepared, with a list of "residents who have been convicted of violent crimes and are out on probation, residents who have been charged with violent crimes but found not guilty, as well as residents who have been homicide suspects but were never charged."

Hopefully with much needed changes to the police force by both Mayor Sheila Dixon and Police Commissioner Bealefeld, Baltimore can end the year a bit safer. The key seems to be teamwork. Now that officers have gotten together and mixed and matched units based on need, they clearly can respond faster and combine resources to prevent violent crime. If Baltimore can reach this milestone, who knows whats on track for 2009. All I can say is keep up the good work Baltimore!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-city-pg,0,1451400.photogallery

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.ci.homicide14oct14,0,465971.story

Inverted Pyramid: What it looks in the news

Usually when writing stories, the writers build suspense then get to the main point, like a traditional pyramid. However, in newspapers covering hard news, it's important to get straight to the point then add in descriptive details later so readers can get the most out of the each story. This kind of writing style is called the inverted pyramid, where the most important information goes first, then details and end with the remaining facts.

One good example of this is a story in the New York Times called "For Stocks, Worst Single Day Drop in Two Decades". The summary lead of this story gets right to the point: "But by the time that bell sounded again on the New York Stock Exchange, six and a half frantic hours later, $1.2 trillion had vanished from the United States stock market.". The reader gets the most important information first about the story, then can read to to learn more such as, this is biggest decline since World War 2 and how the decline effected other nations. The story concludes with about the Dow losing another 200 points and then an announcement Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30markets.html?ref=todayspaper

Covering my first story!

The event I plan to cover for my first story is "2008 Elections: What Your vote means", a lecture given by Dr. Toni Marzotto, which discusses why it's important to vote, the current election and what people should think about when they vote. The event will held on September 27, 2008 in the Towson Library. The information that's available in advance is that Dr. Marzotto is a political science professor at Towson University, its sponsored by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and this lecture is free to the public. In the press release via th Daily Digest for September 22, 2008, I was able to find what will discussed (as stated above). My main sources will be Dr. Marzotto and college students in attendence at the lecture. I plan to ask what are the most important issues one should consider when voting in this November's election, why is really that important that everyone 18 and over votes, is there a common theme that people think about when they vote and how do you (Dr. Marzotto) feel about both candidates in this election?. The additional details I plan to look for are any outlandish or unexpected qoutes from the speaker, interesting questions from the audience, as well as, the demographics of the audience.
http://www.towson.edu/applications/dailydigest/databases/news/20080911_033810PM_roconnel_91.asp

Twiitter Headlines!

Recently in class, we learned about the 1-2-3 filing technique, where first it's a simple 50 character headline, second, follow up with 130 character summery then tell the story in a 500 word report. However, not all stories require step three, like our twitter assignment we did in class Wednesday. Now let's take a look at three students headlines! First, we'll discuss student Leah Martin's. Her headlines followed the rules in terms of character length, however, I though she could have worded some of her 130 character headlines so that they are a little more to the point. Next, let's examine Carrie Wood's headlines. She did a very good job and was able to not only answer the 5W's and H but was able to be creative about it. For example, in the article regarding Towson's hiring freeze, she said, "Hiring in University of Maryland system frozen solid". Not only does that inform the audience but it draws them in. Finally, look at Steven's twitter headlines. He did a good job as well, using active voice and in addition, he made sure that his 130 character follow up added on to his simple headline and gave a little more information.
http://twitter.com/thecarrie

Finding a story: Press Release vs. Orginal Reporting

Today, The Baltimore Sun did a story announcing Raven's quarterback Troy Smith is now healthy enough to begin working with the team again, "Smith healthly enough to work out". August 22, Smith developed "severe tonsillitis" and later lost 20lbs. after struggling with a blood clot in his neck which led to a lung infection. Although it is unclear when he will be cleared to play, yesterday Smith began "light conditioning work". I believe this story was generated by a press release, meaning a PR practitioner brought a topic(in this case Troy Smith returning to practice) to journalist and the journalist follows up on the story. One reason I believe this is because not only does the story announce Troy's return, but the reporter provides background information on Smith's previous season, saying he completed 53% of his passes for 370 yards and two touchdowns. Also, the story gives the readers more information about Smith's condition, what hospital he was at and who the Raven's plan to use as quarterback until Troy Smith recovers.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-tsmith-pg,0,1523594.photogallery (picture link)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-sp.ravens16sep16002017,0,1119985.story

On the other hand, reporters also use original reporting, using their own devices to find a story. Take for example, this story in The New York Times, "For Stadium Seating, City Officials demand luxe". This story uncovers how New York officials are demanding luxury suites at both the Met and Yankees stadium and in addition are able to buy 145 tickets to every Mets home game and 180 tickets to every Yankees home game before they go on sale to the public. Clearly this reporter searched out his sources such as, Mr. Pinksy, who is the president of the Economic Development Corporation and Mr. Doctoroff, who works for the Bloomberg LP., and who recently demanded a suite . Also, due to the investigative and slanderous nature of this story, one can tell it was not something a PR agent would want leaked out to the news.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/nyregion/16stadium.html?ref=todayspaper

Short Reports and Summary Ledes!

Many times in the news due to the time, space and the lack information, reporters use a single sentence (sometimes followed by one or two more) as the entire story. This is known as a short report. The New York Times, for example, has "North Korean Leader had surgery after stroke, South Koreans say" as one of many short reports, also known as a bulletin. There's is a sense of urgency, "North Korean Leader had surgery after stroke", but no additional information is given except for heresy that South Korean have reported it.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html
Summary Ledes, similar to short reports, are the opening of a news story and quickly summarize the story. However, unlike short reports, a summary lead has a time element and is in the past tense. Take a look at this one in The Baltimore Sun: "Law enforcement officials today arrested nine people after 18 federal raids that netted heroin, automatic weapons and bags of cash. It was the second major takedown in two days. On Wednesday, officers raided a West Baltimore home and seized seven kilos of heroin, $200,000 in cash and automatic weapons.". It has a time element, "today"(September 11, 2008) and is written in the past tense as you can see by "arrested", "raided", "seized", etc.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/