Notes 4/29 - By Veronica Yaron

● PRACTICE FOR THE FINAL NEXT WEEK
○ Final will be during class period next week 4/7
● This week's current event and next weeks count twice and they will replace your 2 lowest
grades
● How do you study for a final in a class like this?
○ Read over grammar rules and AP stylebook
○ Read over your stories
○ Bring your stories/press releases/broadcasts into your final
■ Can use the comments from those stories on the final
○ Can send in practice stuff until Wednesday to Professor Piacente
○ Read your work out loud
○ Go back from the beginning of the class blog and re-read it
● Finals Questions
○ Your final will be how Professor Piacente gages improvement
○ If you see anything in Blackboard that you think is incorrect let Professor
Piacente know before the end of the week
○ Professor Piacente will give us back the finals with comments
● Headlines
○ When you write a press release you need a headline
■ Make a headline not a label
● Bring in the reader
■ Active or action verb in the headline
■ Every word should be capitalized except for the preposition

● Headline Writing Practice
○ Don’t need the first name in the headline
○ Headlines need to be tight and quick
■ “Weist Named Ravens Assistant Special Teams Coach”
■ “La Break Bakery Introduces Line of New Breads”
■ “La Brea Bakery Celebrates 30th Anniversary with New Bread Line”
○ Keep refining until you get it where you want it!
○ Remember it’s a headline, not a lead
■ “USDA Says Number of Mid-sized Farms Decreasing”
■ “USDA Says Farmers are Getting Older, Farms, Smaller”
○ Think about the sequence of things, what are you announcing in this press
release? What do people really care about?
■ “New Costco to Bring Jobs to Idaho Falls”
● Can’t say brings because it isn’t there yet
■ “Apple Goes Greener, Expands Recycling Program”

● Not goes green because you don’t want people to think you’ve
been killing the environment this whole time

■ “Apple Goes Greener with Expansion on New Recycling Robot, Daisy”
○ The headline informs what you’re gonna write for the lead, so if the headline isn’t
right neither is your lead

● Continuing with Press Releases- Practice
○ When you’re finished, do 4 edits:
■ Edit for proper formatting
■ Edit for structure (is it easy to follow?)
■ Edit for spelling and grammar
■ Read aloud to catch simple errors
○ Leads can only be one sentence long!
○ When is very rarely important enough to start a press release or story
○ If your headline goes on to two lines its too long
○ Make sure to put in all of your contact information, including address (if given)
○ Don’t want to repeat information (from title to lead)
○ Start with the news
■ It’s not about college board releasing a study, have that at the end!
○ Keep tenses the same throughout the piece
● Switching to Broadcast!
○ Make sure to stress the unusual, what is newsworthy.
■ Dog bites man isn’t news but if a man bites a dog, that's news.
○ Present tense
● Stefanie AGAIN-AGAIN
○ Can’t gloss over and expect for us to know who she is
■ The mother of phony terrorist Stefanie Ferguson, is seeking a GoFundMe
campaign to raise $700,000 to appeal her daughter's conviction.
● The amount is eye-stopping so put that in there
● “Is seeking”- keep this in the present tense

● If we want to finish either the Stefanie story or the Clarinet story you have until
Wednesday at 5 PM to get feedback!

4.22.19 Class Blog

·       Don’t repeat information – if you tell what police department it is that you are talking about in the beginning, then just say police from there 

·       No quotes in broadcast

·       Final will be a Press Release and a Broadcast piece

o   There will be no updates during the period

·       Ideas for studying for the final: use fact sheets from the book, turn print journalism piece into broadcast

·       There will be a current event quiz the week of the final

·       First story of the night – Palomino

o   Press release first

o   Broadcast second

·       Headlines go on press releases, not broadcast

·       Review page 34

o   Subject agreement

o   Active and passive voice

o   Dangling participles

o   Appositive phrases and commas

o   That and which

o   Who and whom

o   Apostrophe used to form possessives

o   Commas

·       HOMEWORK: Reread pages 34-37 in the textbook

Aary Bhatia

We briefly discussed broadcast journalism and wrote a lead for practice. Next, we wrote a news story about a hate crime in georgetown. For next week we have to prepare for the current events quiz.

Class Blog 04/01

Broadcast Leads [Last week’s HW]

Takeaways:
1. Grammar Notes -
PRESENT TENSE (!!!): meant to feel like it is happening; draws people in
Verb-Noun Agreement
2. Attribution is unnecessary.
Start the paragraph after the lead with the attribution.
Example: United States Secretary of the Interior Grace Green says …
3. Broadcast leads need to be shorter than print leads
4. Feature/Throwaway lead
It catches the attention, then is followed immediately with an explanation.
Example: If you’re 19, you’ll be waiting a little longer for that first drink.


Writing for Broadcast [PPT]
Writing for the ear, not the eye → reading aloud is essential
Broadcast Writing Style:
- Use present tense
- Round off numbers and statistics
- Place titles before names
- Avoid abbreviations
- Paraphrase quotes
- Avoid extended description
- Avoid symbols
- Use phonetic spelling for difficult names
The Four C’s:
1. Clarity - the audience needs to understand what you are saying the first time you say it
2. Conciseness - central to broadcast writing more than any other kind of writing;
you are writing for time
3. Color - use words to paint pictures and transport people into stories;
look for telling details that convey meaning to viewers
4. Circle - the story begins with the climax, moves to a cause, and then has an effect at the end;
the climax is the point of the story, also known as the “so what?”


Class Activities: 1. Present Tense Worksheet
2. Practice Writing Assignment: Take one of the stories from the homework, make sure the lead is in the present tense, and continue to write the story
3. Practice Writing Assignment: Colonic Study


HW for 04/08: Pick any news, sports or feature story from the nightly news on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, or CNN. Find the same story in the Post. Write 250 words on the differences you found, and which you liked better, and why. Be prepared to discuss next week in class. Print out a hard copy and turn in after discussion.

Class Blog 3/18


Examples of crisis communication
1)College scandal
2) Boeing

Exxon Oil Exercise:
A message you would like to get out to the public
What should he wear
How should he act

Watched Exxon Press Release
Overall CEO did a horrible job, one of the worst debriefings

Do your own press release for crisis communication:
Best Mart piece

Next Week:
Looking into journalistic ethics
Read the code of ethics (emailed)

HW:
Bring in one article that you feel violates the code of ethics (within last month)
Assigned PR

March 4th Class Blog

3/4/19

5 Steps to Mastering the Current Events Quiz

By Veronica Yaron

1. An hour or so before class try going over the e-replica’s from earlier in the week to refresh your memory.
2. If you miss a day go to the e-replica page and click on the down arrow next to the date, from there you can choose the date you missed.
3. Recognize your weak spots! For example, if you’re not that interested in sports and easily forget that kind of information, try writing the headlines down to look over before the quiz.
4. Make sure to pay close attention to Professor Piacente’s e-mails because sometimes he hints at what’s going to be on the quiz
5. Try downloading the Washington Post app to your phone so you can read the articles for the week no matter how busy (or where) you are.

3/4 Class Notes
By Whitney Sarkodie

Life coach Christa Davis spoke and led assignments on the importance of personal branding.

·      

S  Student at GW in leadership development, event planning  

·      Undergrad at GW in International Affairs

·      From Long Island

·      Likes to travel, stay active, and binge watch SVU

·      Used to work in non-profit

·      Works in Women Leadership Development

Personal Branding

·      Representing your best self, sharing the value that you have to offer

·      “I don’t have a brand, but I do have a voice.” – Cheryl Sandberg

·      Ex. Good interview, mean to the receptionist basically think about when you are not on

·      Think of your brand as the who what and the how

·      Who- Who you are

·      What- Things that you do

·      How- How do you demonstrate who you are and what you're doing

·      Values are pretty consistent

·      Consistent parts of who you are is also your brand

·      What do you enjoy to do, why do you enjoy doing it, what strengths show up when you do it?

Next class is Spring Break

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 HW for 3/18: Prep for Current events quiz

Class Notes 2/25

By Gabby Smullen
2/26/19

What is Public Relations?

• PR professionals are advocates for their product which means the writing style differs from journalism
• PR shares information that shapes the perception of the organization
• Information and image
• Most press releases end up in the garbage because they are not newsworthy

Formatting a Press Release:

• Headlines should be one line
• there can be an embargo on the press release which means the publication would be delayed
• Include an active verb to strengthen your headlines
• there is no attribution in the lead
• do not use personal pronouns, but the release should not read like a news story
• each paragraph is roughly two sentences and quotes are their own graf
• double spaced, Arial, 12 point font

Crisis Communications:

• Damage control is an important part of public relations
• Ex: NY congressman video

-30- Origin

• There is no one specific known source of the -30- but there are several theories behind its existence. For example, when stories were written in longhand, — X signified the end of a sentence, — XX signified the end of a paragraph, and — XXX signified the end of the story. The Roman numeral XXX is the number thirty. Here are more theories. 

Important Information:

• the polar bear press release is due 2/26 at 5pm
• if you want extra practice, turn the polar bear story into a news story
• guest instructor next class:
• watch for an email
• read handouts and formulate questions 
• there will still be a current events quiz

Class Notes – 2/18/19

By Meredith Bonington

NOTE: Pictionary Story due 4 p.m. Tuesday – Don’t be late!

What’s giving you trouble in this class?

-        Most are just getting used to the writing

Tips for editing, and getting used to writing:

-        Do one edit for grammar, one for spelling, one for structure, one for tone.

-        Read it out loud. Lots of times when you read in your head you fill in missing words and punctuation that isn’t really there for it to make sense.

-        Read feedback and criticism.

Neuman story, went over specifics/examples.

-        “When” is very rarely the most important part of the story

-        Name isn’t notable unless person is famous

-        Attribution is important and needs to be first and foremost

-        Do not have to explain quotes to the reader

-        Comma proceeds, comes before open quote

-        When quoting back to back, you need a transition. Put the person's name before the quote and keep it simple, introduce it. Clear that someone new is speaking.

-        Ask yourself when editing if extra words are absolutely necessary

-        Attention spans, youtube statistic, 4 seconds.

Reminders that will help grades:

-        Keep leads to one sentence, 25 words or less

-        Prioritize the 5 w’s in order

-        Stress the unusual

-        Human biting a dog is news, not a dog biting a human, so stress the unusual!

-        Past tense for print as much as possible

-        Watch out for attribution

-        When you introduce someone in a story, full name on first reference, and after just the last name.

-        Keep subsequent grafs to one or two sentences

-        Use new graf when you introduce someone new, quote someone, etc

-        Don’t engage rely on linear storytelling. Use inverted pyramid.

-        Don’t try to summarize or force a clever ending

-        No opinions.

Writing practice: Pictionary

-        As a journalist, your story can constantly change just when you think it is done.

-        Learning to adapt and reevaluate new evidence in relation to your story is key.

The Shipping News movie Clip:

-        Scene clip lesson

-        Filter out extraneous information; give reader what really matters

-        You need to emphasize the unusual

-        Imagine headlines as you walk around in daily life

Homework for 2/25: 5 headlines from daily life, anything you want

-        Good headline has an active verb

-        Be prepared to share

-        Next week:

-        Not going to assign any mandatory writing, but practice story available.  

Here's the info for practice stories. No grades on these, but professor will give constructive feedback. Highly recommended that you do at least one practice story.

1 - A study was released today. It was compiled by a team led by Matthias Mehl, a psychology professor at the University of Arizona. The study was published in the Southwest Journal of Science. Researchers placed microphones on 396 college students for periods ranging from two to 10 days, sampled their conversations and calculated how many words they used in the course of a day. The score was: Women, 16,215 words. Men, 15,669 words. “That difference is not statistically significant,” Mehl said. “The idea that women use nearly three times as many words a day as men has taken on the status of an urban legend. But it’s not true." One of the students, Maryanne Roberts, said, “I’m not surprised. There are times I can’t my boyfriend to be quiet.” Rich Hoffman, her boyfriend, said, “You can’t win. Girls say they want guys who communicate. How do you communicate without talking?” The research began with one group of students in 2007, two groups sampled in 2008, and three in 2009. The students, from U.S. colleges in the Southwest, were fitted with simple recorders that sampled their conversations — the students didn't know when the recorders were on. From the samples, a total number of words for the day could be calculated.

2 - A woman named Kitty Noodir was hurt today on her way home from a seaside vacation and could lose an eye. While packing her car, Noodir failed to realize her cat was on the roof. The cat was still up top when she got on US 270, where the speed limit is 65 mph. After a while, a car pulled up and the passenger, an elderly man, started waving frantically. Noodir at first ignored him. The man kept waving. Nooder thought her luggage rack might have come loose. She pulled over, got out and saw that Cuddle Bug, her orange tabby, was on the roof. The cat, unharmed, had survived 10 miles on the roof in strong winds and freezing temperatures. When Noodir reached for the cat, Cuddle Bug clawed her face. Noodir was able to drive herself to County Hospital, where she will undergo eye surgery. “The cat’s fine,” said MHP Sgt. Dooley Kane.

3 - Samuel Pinckney is 84 years old. He married his bride, Teresa, when he was 22. She was younger than he, then being age 17. They had five children. Tonight Samuel shot Teresa in the back of the head with a pistol. He told Washington, D.C. Police, “She begged me to kill her. She suffered for years. Everything was wrong with her, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, blindness, everything.” Samuel told police that he shot her with his .22-caliber revolver and was supposed to then use the gun on himself. They wanted to die together, he said, but after shooting her he couldn’t do the same to himself and called police for help. Pinckney neighbor Robert Matte said, “Sam’s been nothing but a model citizen for eighty years. He should be freed without bail because he’s not a threat to anyone.”