Your assignment for Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7....

OK, as we have been discussing in class, on Tuesday, Nov. 7, you will do another "live" reporting assignment, talking to people after they have voted that day.

You do not have to come to class that morning, so that you can go straight out to a polling place and do your interviews. However, I will be in the classroom if you feel like you need to come in and talk over the assignment further. Or you can call me from the field on my cell phone, (949) 378-3898, which hopefully will have reception in the classroom.

Now, for the details of the assignment, step-by-simple-step:

1) You need to chose your location for voting. Go to either the Los Angeles or Orange County sites we used in class today and use them to find a pollin place near you. I would strongly suggest that you identify a second, nearby site, too, in case your first choice lacks enough voters for you to get enough good interviews. As discussed in class, you may want to pick a location near CSULB so that your odds of finding chatting students, staff and faculty are increased.

2) That accomplished, you need to select a theme for your story so that you can prepare your background material and a strong line of questioning for the assignment. DO NOT try to wing it on election day -- you will not be successful.

3) Your theme or topic can be broad. An example of that kind of topic if you were J-school students, say, in Iraq, might be like this: Asking voters what direction the country will be headed after it's determined whether the Shias, Shiites or Kurds win power in parliament. You would need to know the background of this broad line of questioning -- if the Shias win, what likely will happen, if the Kurds, etc. You will find this background here in California by reading background articles in the databases. And it will be extremely helpful to you at this point in the campaign, if you simply read every election story in the paper every day. As members of the election blog, of course, are doing as we speak.

4) Your theme can be narrow. Again, back in Iraq, you might choose to focus on a single ballot measure, Proposition 007, which says you can shoot anyone who seems kinda jumpy. You would need to know the background on Proposition 007 -- who supports it, who opposes it, its possible impacts on people if it passes or if it fails, etc. Again, this information, as always, is at your fingertips, in the databases, the newspapers and voter information online via the state or county voting offices.

5) Now it is Tuesday, Election Day, and you are at your polling place. Pick a spot on the sidewalk or parking lot, not too close or far from the entrance to the polling place. And wait for people to come out after voting. Use all the skills we have practiced in the interviewing exercises the past few classes -- be polite, friendly, confident, poised, etc. Introduce yourself and explain what you are doing. Start your interview and try to build rapport with the person. Take lots of notes, get lots of quotes. Don't forget the basics: name, age, city, political party, phone numbers or e-mail addresses.

6) If you get shot down, don't sweat it, just wait for the next person. BE PERSISTENT! Talk to at least five people -- but make sure that they are five worthwhile people, not people who blew you off after a yes/no answer -- not that any of you will be asking yes/no questions, though, right?

7) After you feel you have enough info, you can leave the polling place. Or go to another one if you feel this one did not provide enough material. When are finally done with interviewing, as soon as possible, preferrably immediately after you are done, send me a short e-mail with the names of your three best sources and their one best quote. You don't need to dump your entire notebook into the e-mail, just give me a little taste of what you got while it's fresh.

8) Then, as your homework for Thursday, write a story based on your interviews. Be sure to organize it on the particular theme you selected (see above), and use all the proper style and grammar we use. Write a nice, clear lede and use your good quotes while paraphrasing the boring ones. This should be a minimum of one-and-a-half pages double spaced.

9) If you have any questions or confusions about this assignment, DO NOT HESITATE OR WAIT until Tuesday rolls around. E-mail me or call me on the cell phone listed above. Or on Friday and Monday, at my direct work line, 714-796-7787. I am happy to talk you through this so that you have a good time with it and succeed!

10) There is no tenth step, but it seemed a shame to stop at No. 9. Have a great weekend, and do great work!

PL

Our guest on Thursday....

Here's the deal: On Thursday, Nov. 2, we will have a guest in class, my pal and co-worker Katherine Nguyen.

Her intentionally vague bio includes these facts: She's in her mid-20s, went to Cal State Fullerton and has worked at the Register since she got out of college -- actually even before.

She's covered everything from murders to models, dating to dogs, but mostly she does fashion and trends.

Your assignment, as discussed in class Tuesday, is as follows:

1) Database her byline and familiarize yourself with her recent stories. Or dig deeper and pick a few that catch your fancy. Proquest works best for the Orange County Register, and you all remember, of course, that it's listed under "Newspapers" in the library, right? Right?

2) Think about the stories and think about the vague bio I provided above, and then make yourself a list of questions you want to ask her after she talks for a bit in class. You can go for personal stuff (her age, where she grew up, etc.), practical stuff (how'd she get into the business and work her way up to her current job), or professional stuff (questions about stories she's reported and written about).

3) Finally, your homework on this assignment over the weekend is to write a story about her, based on what you learned in class and complemented by what you learned by reading background stories.

4) This is the "real" finally: please remember that your semester grade includes a sizeable amount of points based on your participation in class. For this assignment, I'd like to see/hear everyone ask at least one question during the Q-and-A session that will follow her opening chat - I'll be keeping a list, so speak up!

The Interview: background and questions

As we discussed in class today, an interview requires you to think of questions and then more questions and then more.

Here's brief recap of what you need to remember:
-- Don't ask questions that might get a yes/no answer ("Did your cat survive? isn't as good as "What happened after you took your cat to the vet?")
-- Don't stop after the first general answer to your question. Ask a follow-up question. ("Why'd you rear-end the guy? I was changing CDs.") Press for specific details ("What CD? Britney Spears.")
-- As for questions that will elicit thoughtful responses, or the subject's feelings or emotions or beliefs, etc. ("How did you grandmother feel about being separated from her parents in a strange, new country?")

And while we didn't cover this too much in class today, another very important part of the formal interview is preparation. Before you interview anyone on almost any topic, it's good to do your homework. Make sure you know the topic as well as you can, so you can keep the interview going as long as possible.

So here's your homework for Thursday:

1) Pick one of these three topics. I've chosen them because they're "talkers" -- things in the current news that everyone has heard about and is talking about.
-- The controversy over North Korea's claim to have conducted a nuclear test.
-- The scandal around U.S. Rep. Mark Foley and how it may or may not affect the November congressional elections.
-- The question of whether or not U.S. citizens feel more or less safe today than they did at 9/11.

2) Once you've picked your topic, research it in the library databases (Nexis, Proquest, Factiva). Make sure that you really know what has happened recently on these topics and you also know what kinds of opinions people (real folks, politicians, pundits, etc.) have on your topic.

3)Then, using the research you've done, imagine that I'm your editor, and I've assigned you a story on what people around our town are saying or thinking or feeling about your chosen topic. Come up with a list of at least six questions that you think might be good starting points for an interview with an Average Joe or Jane.

4) Bring your questions and background research to class with you on Thursday so we can discuss it all.

Kill 'em off, and then write it up!

It's an old newspaper cliche: the new kids have to write the obituaries.

And while that's not exactly true, there's good value in the art of the obit: you're basically writing a profile, and the lessons learned in doing that will stand you well in any kind of writing you do.

For this homework assignment, the main goal is to keep practicing good backgrounding skills, using Lexis and/or Proquest through the CSULB library.

Here's what to do:

1) Go the Los Angeles Times obituary page and read a few random obituaries to get a sense of the style they use.

1a) Or, amuse yourself and/or learn from an obit I wrote recently. Here's the web version which was done quickly to get online. And here's the longer version, that ran in the paper the next day.

Basically, in the lead you want to say that So-And-So, who was famouse/noteworthy for this-and-that, has died. And in a separate short sentence, how old he or she was. Or, as you'll notice in my second version, you can make it a little more feature-y at the top, and get the death/age into the third graf or so.

2) Then pick someone from the list below, complete with fake death and location, and research their background on Nexis or Factiva.

3) Then put it all together in an obit of at least six paragraphs -- the lead and five or more grafs of background/profile material.

Remember to read some obits on that Web page to get the style down, and also that even though I've given you some absurd ways to die you have to write this as straight news.

Your Candidates for Death include:

-- 50 Cent; fell over board while bass fishing on Lake Okeechobee and drowned.

-- Woody Allen; hit on the head by a gargoyle that fell off his Manhattan apartment building.

-- Long Beach Grand Prix winner Paul Tracy; crashed during practice laps after water balloon hits his windshield.

-- Paris Hilton; took overdose of pills at her home in Beverly Hills after another scandalous sex tape appeared online and nobody noticed.

-- Keith Richards; natural causes, in his sleep at his country house in England.

-- Nick Nolte; car crash on Malibu Canyon Road.

-- David Hasselhoff; heart attack while sunbathing on vacation in Cannes, France.

-- Roger Clemens; side effects from steroids, while watching the playoffs.

-- Tommy Hilfiger; complications during face lift surgery in Beverly Hills.

Any questions, call or e-mail me, and have fun!

The UnReal World: Using Arrest Reports and Background Clips

In March 2005, Johanna Botta, a member of the cast on the Real World: Austin, was arrested. The arrest report and some information that can be found at www.thesmokinggun.com.

Your assignment is to read the arrest report at Thesmokinggun.com and then use Nexis and/or ProQuest to find other examples of Real World cast members being arrested for fighting, drinking and other annoying things they may have done. You may also use sites such as The Smoking Gun to find other original arrest reports and quote those documents directly.

Please don't use Google or general Web sites for this -- we've covered those pretty thoroughly over the last week and the point of the exercise is to polish our skills at using "real" clips -- articles archived in Nexis, Factiva and ProQuest -- and "real" documents -- like the arrest reports presented on TSG.

Once you've found at least three other examples of Real World people getting busted -- there are more than that, but get at least three! -- write a story of at least five paragraphs that includes the arrest of Botta as well as background on other contestants on the show getting popped for their bad behavior.
Use proper attribution (for the arrest details and the background. And list your sources for the background at the bottom of the story.

One final note: Write the story as if it is the day after Johanna got arrested and ignore any Real World arrests that have happened since then (though I'll give you a couple of bonus points for finding any and listing them at the bottom of the story -- and I know there's at least one!)

Assignment is due at start of class on Thursday, Sept. 28*

Have fun!

*(Note: Anyone providing proof of arrest and night spent in jail before then will be granted automatic extension until Tuesday, Oct. 3.)

More AP Style Tips

Michael S. Sweeney -- that's his smug mug at the left -- is the guy to blame for the first 30 questions on your AP Style test. He's got a bit of a thing for AP Style, and his tip sheet highlights some of the most common style issues you'll encounter.

You can find it on his website at Utah State University. It's worth checking out, especially in that he focuses on some of the most common style issues you'll face.

Who the F. is Sherwood Rowland -- More on Internet research

You need to answer eight questions. Please type them -- or cut and paste them -- into an e-mail that you'll send me.

The point of this exercise is to continue sharpening your skills at reporting using online resources. Please use resources such as Switchboard.com, Zabasearch.com, Google.com, Local.live.com. You may also want to look at Dogpile.com which has separate buttons for Images, Audio and Video (though Google offers a lot of that, too)

We're pretending that this assignment is taking place on Oct. 13, 1995. You need to quickly research a man named F. Sherwood Rowland in order to write a profile on him. (Note: this exercise is primarily about researching and reporting him, not writing, though I may have you write a lede and a few grafs, TBA.)

Start with a basic search, and as you get your first few clues (his profession, location, etc.) narrow in on the specifics of the questions.

Here's one question to help you get past the first question: you need to find his first name -- the F. -- online.

Here are the questions:

1) What is F. Sherwood Rowland's home address?

2) Using any of the above websites, locate a map of his neighborhood. Copy and past the URL of the map into your e-mail answer sheet.

3) What can you tell about Rowland by examining the map of his neighborhood?

4) Find Rowland's office address and phone number at UC Irvine.

5) Find his date of birth.

6) Using any of the above websites, plot a map trip from the Orange County Register to Rowland's house, so you can travel there for your interview. The Register is located at 625 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. Copy the URL of the map and place in your e-mail answer sheet.

7) Locate at least two photos of Rowland. Copy and past the photos into your e-mail answer sheet.

8) Locate audio and video clips of Rowland. Copy and paste the URLs into your e-mail answer sheet.

Have fun!

PL

How Credible Is That Web Site Anyway?

As we talked about with Wikipedia, there's a whole lot of information on the Internet, which as journalists we like. The more information the better, right?

The trick is making sure that we sift through all those Web sites and make sure we're only using credible sources of information.

Here's a short check list of questions to ask yourself as you train your critical minds:

Authority:
Think about who or what runs the Web site. Is it a corporation? A non-profit group? An individual? A government agency? The answer will help you decide how much or whether to trust what's there.
Is it clear who wrote the information? Some anonymous writing on the Web has less credibility than a bylined or signed article.
Are there names and phone numbers for contacts at the Web site? A lot of times you get your first information from the site, but do your real reporting in conversation.

Accuracy :
Are sources for the information on the Web site identified? If the author of the site simply states everything as fact, but doesn't say where those facts came from, it's a little less solid.
Is the information on the site free of grammatical, spelling and other errors? A sloppy site suggests less credibility.

Objectivity:
Is there a point-of-view to the Web site -- political, religious, corporate, etc. If the music site says this is the best band of the year -- and it's a site run by the record label -- well, you tell me. If it says the XXX political party is corrupt and it's run by the YYY political party, same thing. It's the old saying: Consider the source....

Currency:
Is the material fresh or dated? Look for dates to check when the information was posted. If it's more than a year or so old, it's probably not been updated much, and thus has less value to you. Look for something that's more current.

Those are just a few questions to keep in mind as you're trolling the Web. Remember: one of the key things you will learn as a journalist is to have a healthy skepticism about the information provided you. Don't just take things at face value. And in the case of the Internet, don't just accept information from a Web site because it looks like it might fit your needs. Check it out thoroughly.

Homework: Blog backgrounder

Pending any last-minute changes, our four blog topics will be: 1) Iraq and the Middle East; 2) The federal and California elections; 3) Religious Conflicts in Society; and 4)Homeland Security and Civil Rights.

My hope is that those four topics are big enough to provide you with a lot of stories to read, analyze and blog about, AND a lot of ideas to "localize" for your final story projects.

Your homework (Assignment No. 2 on the syllabus) is to research the background on your blog topic and write about two pages -- double spaced! -- on the subject.

Write it as you would a news story:

-- Summarize the big picture in the lede, and then expand on that in the grafs that follow.
-- Attribute what you find and report: "Iraq blah blah," President George W. Bush said in the Los Angeles Times. Or, "Congressional elections la di da," reported the Washington Post.
-- Use Nexis-Lexis or Pro-Quest through the CSULB library for articles. Use major metropolitan newspapers for the most part -- you will find more original reporting and stories that are deeper in content. Avoid unbylined Associated Press (AP) stories -- in many cases, they're just shorter rewrites of what the big papers have done.
-- You can also use the Web sites of the bigger newspapers (Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.)though they are harder to use for older articles -- that's where the databases are invaluable.
-- Keep your information current. Only go back about a month or so in your research.
-- Use at least three or four different source publications.

If you have any questions, post a comment on the blog here, or e-mail me.

Covering a Public Meeting: Your Availability

One of the assignments will we do this semester is a story reported and written after covering a live public meeting, such as the Long Beach City Council.

Because these kinds of meetings don’t take place at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursday, my hope is that we can cancel one of our morning classes, sleep in and attend a meeting later in lieu of that class.

But for that to work, I need to know that everyone has enough flexibility in their schedule, between other courses and work, to attend a meeting outside of our regular class hours. (This story is not due until early December, so that we’ll have learned a lot of good reporting skills before covering the meeting. I’d think a meeting in November would be our best bet.)

The easiest public meeting to cover would probably be the Long Beach City Council. They meet Tuesdays starting at 5 p.m., except for the last Tuesday of each month. However, for those of you live in cities far from Long Beach, I’d be willing to let you cover a meeting in your hometown, too (with my approval of the meeting).

I might also consider letting you cover one of the major campus organizations, such as the student government, though I’d caution you that finding a decent story in a smaller meeting can be difficult. In other words, you’ll find a lot more to write about in the Long Beach City Council than you will in the CSULB student senate.

Please let me know by posting a comment below this blog entry on 1) whether you have availability to attend a Long Beach City Council meeting at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday; 2) if you have a different preference, i.e., covering the San Juan Capistrano City Council, etc. whenever they meet; 3) or whether you have a different type of meeting you’d really rather cover, in which case I’ll listen to your pitch and let you know.

Mea Culpa: My Homer Simpson moment

OK, we've been working with Lexis and Factiva, and I think I'd mentioned that last semester, the CSULB library also had a newspaper database called ProQuest, which I thought they no longer had.

Good news! You still have it, it just wasn't where I thought it was. And better news! It's pretty easy to use.

Here's where to find it:

Go into the library Web site and click on databases by topic. From there I've been directing you to click on "Journalism," which leads you to Lexis and Factiva. When you see them, though, look a few spaces down to "Newspapers." Click there and you'll see "ProQuest."

In the box of drop-down menus at the top, you enter your search terms. If, for instance, you wanted to see what kind of stories your instructor has been writing, you'd enter "Orange County Register" in one box and "Peter Larsen" in the next -- leaving the drop-downs on "Citation and abstract" and you'll find plenty.

Or, on the story you just did for homework, enter "Ornella Maccari" in the first box, change the drop-down menu to "document text" and you'll find better stories than you probably did in Lexis or Factiva.

My apologies for spacing out on where the library had moved ProQuest. From here on out, I suggest you make it your No. 1 database search site, since to me, it seems a little easier to use.

More On Using Clips and the Internet for Background

This is an in-class exercise that we'll do in teams. We'll start with the following basic info....

Date: Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006

Where: Orange County Sheriff's Dept. Command Post, at the intersection of Blue Gum Drive and Rim Crest in Yorba Linda, near the South Ridge Trail entrance to Chino Hills State Park.

Speaker No. 1: Good morning, thank you all for coming. I'm Jim Amormino, public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff's Dept. I have a brief statement.

At 7:11 a.m., the sheriff's department received a 911 call about a mountain lion roaming the streets. A resident walking outside to drive his child to school saw what appeared to be a mountain lion crouched in the middle of the street, staring at him. A few seconds later, a motorist coming up Rim Crest to turn left on Blue Gum Drivehit the mountain lion from behind, killing him instantly. Sheriff's investigators and officials with the state Department of Fish and Game arrived on the scene and continue to investigate. There are no injuries to report, other than the dead mountain lion.

Speaker No. 2: I'm Doug Nash, an investigator with Fish and Game. The cougar appears to be a juvenile male, about 100 to 110 pounds, well nourished. At this time, it appears he came somewhere out of Chino Hills State Park. We don't know why. Where there are deer, there are mountain lions, and some residents have reported seeing more deer recently. A necropsy -- the animal equivalent of an autopsy -- will be performed to see if the mountain lion had rabies or any other disease that might have affected its behavior. Mountain lions are reclusive and rarely come into contact with humans.

Speaker No. 3: I'm Cassandra -- Cassandra Wilson. I live over there (points to 23316 Blue Gum). My husband Steve is the one who called 911. He was taking Timothy, our seven-year-old, to school when he saw it. It really freaked us out. We've been living here for more than six years and have never seen a mountain lion. It scares me, but I guess we chose to live near a state park, so we really don't have the right to complain."



That's what we got at the briefing at the command post. Back at the office, we decide -- or maybe our editor yells at us -- to give our reporting more depth by fleshing it out with background on mountain lions, Orange County, contacts with humans and so forth.

1)We start by Googling "mountain lions orange county"

2)We find a long article, but is the guy in it credible? Legit?

3)We next Google "California Department of Fish and Game" and search the department site for "mountain lions."

Wikipedia, Pros and Cons

In reading through the Green Day story, it's clear most of you are very familiar with Wikipedia.

And in many ways, that's a good thing. I check Wikipedia pages all the time, when I'm first checking out a story idea or beginning my research.

Wikipedia has a lot of information on many different subjects. However, because it's entries are created by users -- any of you could get on there right now and add to a topic -- its accuracy has been questioned from time to time.

The former editor of the Nashville Tennessean earlier this year discovered that someone had listed him as a suspect in the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which wasn't true. Wikipedia itself recently blocked posts from Congressional aides because it turned many of them were either posting flattering stuff about their bosses or negative stuff about their political foes.

On the other hand, a study
study by the respected journal Nature found that Wikipedia articles on average were almost as accurate as similar entries in the Encylopedia Brittanica.

Still, for now, Wikipedia should not be your primary source for background on news stories. Here's what I'd ask you to do:

-- Feel free to use Wikipedia as an initial place to look for info, as sort of a place to check out tips or find leads for your research.
-- But don't use the stuff you find there in your work unless you verify it somewhere else.
-- Instead, look for other sites that are more established or mainstream to verify anything you find there. Such as Nexis or Factiva, which are available through the CSULB library.
-- By avoiding Wikipedia as your sole source of information you'll avoid repeating any errors there, and also be double-checking the material you're using.
-- And, as always, be sure to attribute your background material when appropriate.

First you kill 'em off...then you write their obit!

It's an old newspaper cliche: the new kids have to write the obituaries.

And while that's not exactly true, there's good value in the art of the obit: you're basically writing a profile, and the lessons learned in doing that will stand you well in any kind of writing you do.

For this homework assignment, the main goal is to keep practicing good backgrounding skills, using Lexis and/or Proquest through the CSULB library.

Here's what to do:

1) Go the Los Angeles Times obituary page and read a few random obituaries to get a sense of the style they use.

1a) Or, amuse yourself and/or learn from an obit I wrote recently. Here's the web version which was done quickly to get online. And here's the longer version, that ran in the paper the next day.

Basically, in the lead you want to say that So-And-So, who was famouse/noteworthy for this-and-that, has died. And in a separate short sentence, how old he or she was. Or, as you'll notice in my second version, you can make it a little more feature-y at the top, and get the death/age into the third graf or so.

2) Then pick someone from the list below, complete with fake death and location, and research their background on Nexis or Factiva.

3) Then put it all together in an obit of at least six paragraphs -- the lead and five or more grafs of background/profile material.

Remember to read some obits on that Web page to get the style down, and also that even though I've given you some absurd ways to die you have to write this as straight news.

Your Candidates for Death include:

-- 50 Cent; fell over board while bass fishing on Lake Okeechobee and drowned.

-- Woody Allen; hit on the head by a gargoyle that fell off his Manhattan apartment building.

-- Long Beach Grand Prix winner Paul Tracy; crashed during practice laps after water balloon hits his windshield.

-- Paris Hilton; took overdose of pills at her home in Beverly Hills after another scandalous sex tape appeared online and nobody noticed.

-- Keith Richards; natural causes, in his sleep at his country house in England.

-- Nick Nolte; car crash on Malibu Canyon Road.

-- David Hasselhoff; heart attack while sunbathing on vacation in Cannes, France.

-- Roger Clemens; side effects from steroids, while watching the playoffs.

-- Tommy Hilfiger; complications during face lift surgery in Beverly Hills.

Any questions, call or e-mail me, and have fun!