4/12/17 Class Notes

Hi everyone!

We started the class with a comparison example between past and present tense:

Present - Gail Baker works at Wendy's

Past - Gail Baker worked at Wendy's

After our pop quiz on the present tense, we moved on to discuss the recent incident with United Airlines. I have a feeling some PR jobs will be available soon so look out for postings. We continued by analysing the CEO's comments, published below:

"As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right."

Professor Piacente then instructed us on how to handle a situation similar to this: 

1) Make a statement immediately after the incident 

2) Apologize for the situation

3) Offer proposals to change

4) Improve the situation and then make sure it never happens again.

We discussed some problems we had with broadcast. It is important to keep the lead in present tense and try to use present as much as possible. Using phrases like "officials say" helps maintain the present tense. When it comes to introducing quotes, paraphrase the quotes and remember to stress the unusual. When using the conversational tone, do not include your opinion and use easy words people use in everyday conversations.

We then analysed leads on the Busdicker story, a 89-year-old jazz musician who passed away playing his clarinet.

After the break we returned to looking at press releases and researched reasons for the Skimm's increased popularity. Examples included, how it's free and conversational.

For Friday's HW (4/14/17) due at 5pm is the press release announcing the Skimm in the correct format.

Also remember next week's current events quiz with from the Skimm not the Washington Post!

Have a good weekend everyone!