Rob Preiwe, head of the journalism department at Linn-Benton Community College, teaches one class that is specifically focused on learning to write news stories. This class provides useful information to students interested in learning how to write about what happens in the world around them.
One of the main aspects taught in this class is how to create a great lead. The lead is the first sentence in an article. It is intended to draw the reader or audience into the rest of the story. It is generally short and flashy, for it is meant to simply grab onto the readers focus.
The second part of a news story, also taught about in this class, is the nut graph. This sums up what the story is about. It generally groups together what the story is about, where it happened, who took part in it, and a few other things. After you finish with the nut-graph you are ready to write the rest of your news story.
This segues us neatly into the main point of how journalism works. It is a style called the inverted pyramid. This is a major rule or guideline when it comes to writing in a journalistic manner. This means, to put the largest and most important pieces of information near the top of the article and the less important details closer to the end.
Rob's class also covers how to prepare for an interview, what questions to ask, and how to take notes and quotes effectively. And that is all in a days work.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
How Does America See the World?
Worlds news is just not being seen. Alisa Miller, CEO of Public Radio International, spoke on how Americans see today's world, covering just that issue. “The USA itself has 79% of total news coverage.” She stated. Miller went on to tell of how the news agencies have decreased global coverage by 50 percent.
She also spoke of how in the year that Korea agreed to dismantle their nuclear weapons, in Paris the IPCC released a study confirming human influence on global warming, and there was major flooding in India. In fact, there are no news networks in all of Russia, India, and South America. CBS, in total only has three people covering global news out side of Iraq.
Despite of the lack of news in America about the world, the number of Americans who state that they follow global news closely rose to 53 percent.
Where do Americans go to see the news? The highest percentage of us went to our all reliable TV. She went further to say the internet is really not much better. A study was done one what the most popular news stories cover, it turned out that they cover the same 23 basic stories that were covered by CBS.
Now, what are they reporting on anyway? The death of Anna Nicole Smith exceeded the amount of coverage of any country other than Iraq.
“The fact of the matter is reporting Brittney is cheaper.” Miller made this very clear, meaning that these type of stories are easy and cheep. Getting conversations with government officials and crime lords to report real news is harder.
Now the question is up to you. Miller in her closing line states. “I know we can do better, and can we afford not too?” This now goes from her hands and into yours. What will we as a people do about it?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
An Art Department and the Budget Crunch
Art classes are being targeted for greater budget cuts than other classes: true or false?
For the next two years the 17 community colleges throughout Oregon were given approximately $100 million less from the state for operation than they were originally told. As a result, budget cuts had to be made and there has been talk of the art department being hit with these cuts harder than any other subject.
In the past, the community colleges of Oregon were given around $500 million biannually to cover costs of operation. At the beginning of this year the estimate in funds landed at $550 million. That estimate fluctuated over the year causing much worry among the staff for the safety of their jobs. At one point the estimate given went as low as $410 million. This was not quite the case and instead they were given $443 million to cover them for the next two years.
The drop in funds meant that the administration needed to find a way to decrease expenditure at LBCC or increase revenue. The entire staff received salary cuts in order to prevent having to lay off employees. Beth Hogeland, the dean of the art department said. “LBCC has been very thoughtful with their decisions.”
Last year the photography department was closed down. This caused quite a bit of distress among students, especially those who were taking part in the program. Hogeland also stated that there still were photography classes, they just no longer offered classes that held college credentials. The digital imaging program also was halted this year but will return soon if everything goes as planned. The instructor is doing a tour in Iraq and to save money while he was overseas they simply didn't fill the position.
“There were a lot of rumors running around, such as that the art department was going to be closed down entirely,” last year’s Art Dean Gary Ruppert explained. He also confirmed that such rumors were indeed false.
Gary Westford, art history instructor, said “The administration spoke to us about developing a solid curriculum in the fine arts.” He went on to explain that classes were moved around and new ones were added even, such as watercolor. They're now offering more art-based classes at the Benton Center as well.
As part of our campus, the art department is part of what we are. “Student involvement is important,” Westford explained. To have an art department healthy and strong, students need to take a step in helping it stay that way.
For the next two years the 17 community colleges throughout Oregon were given approximately $100 million less from the state for operation than they were originally told. As a result, budget cuts had to be made and there has been talk of the art department being hit with these cuts harder than any other subject.
In the past, the community colleges of Oregon were given around $500 million biannually to cover costs of operation. At the beginning of this year the estimate in funds landed at $550 million. That estimate fluctuated over the year causing much worry among the staff for the safety of their jobs. At one point the estimate given went as low as $410 million. This was not quite the case and instead they were given $443 million to cover them for the next two years.
The drop in funds meant that the administration needed to find a way to decrease expenditure at LBCC or increase revenue. The entire staff received salary cuts in order to prevent having to lay off employees. Beth Hogeland, the dean of the art department said. “LBCC has been very thoughtful with their decisions.”
Last year the photography department was closed down. This caused quite a bit of distress among students, especially those who were taking part in the program. Hogeland also stated that there still were photography classes, they just no longer offered classes that held college credentials. The digital imaging program also was halted this year but will return soon if everything goes as planned. The instructor is doing a tour in Iraq and to save money while he was overseas they simply didn't fill the position.
“There were a lot of rumors running around, such as that the art department was going to be closed down entirely,” last year’s Art Dean Gary Ruppert explained. He also confirmed that such rumors were indeed false.
Gary Westford, art history instructor, said “The administration spoke to us about developing a solid curriculum in the fine arts.” He went on to explain that classes were moved around and new ones were added even, such as watercolor. They're now offering more art-based classes at the Benton Center as well.
As part of our campus, the art department is part of what we are. “Student involvement is important,” Westford explained. To have an art department healthy and strong, students need to take a step in helping it stay that way.
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