Friday, December 10 choosing your news stories

 News of the Day

Noah Harris is the first Black male elected student body president of Harvard University.

By Randi Richardson

Harvard University undergrad Noah Harris arrived at a Black Lives Matter protest in June in his home state of Mississippi bearing sunglasses, a bandana mask and a “say their names” sign. By summer’s end, he led his classmates in raising $300,000 for Black advocacy and civil rights organizations.

His work grabbed the attention of his fellow Harvard undergrads, who elected him as their first Black male student body president last month. Harris, 20, is a part of a wave of Black student body presidents recently elected at top-tier academic institutions where Black students have been historically underrepresented.

The uptick coincides with the racial and political interlockings of Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter movement and a surge of political polarization on and off college campuses, the Black student presidents said. They added that these issues either influenced how they campaigned or reprioritized their goals once elected.

Harris said he knew that he and his vice president, Jenny Gan, would have to meet this “unprecedented time.” They ran on “building tomorrow’s Harvard” with an emphasis on “diversity, inclusion, health, wellness and student life” aimed at holding “Harvard accountable to its commitment to anti-racism” work and making the most of remote learning.

When they first put together their platform, they planned to advocate for “normal, in-person stuff,” Harris said. But now, getting Harvard to use its influence has become the priority: “When Harvard gets involved, they normally get the outcome they want,” he said, which would include pushing to eradicate chokeholds by police or holding police officers accountable for lethal actions.

He pointed to how Harvard successfully sued the federal government when it attempted to deny international students entrance into the country as an example of what the school’s involvement can accomplish.

Harris said he also wants to tackle creating a remote environment that is as close to the in-person campus community experience as possible. His plans include a program to help students store their dorm room items while they continue school from home, and “closing the gaps in student experiences and advocating to the administration when it needs to be better from an academic standpoint, a student life standpoint and a mental health standpoint.”

Harris is part of a cohort of Black student body presidents at predominantly white institutions across the country. Jason Carroll of Brown University, Danielle Geathers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Naomi Riley of the University of California, Los Angeles all took office in May. Midshipman Sydney Barber is the first Black woman to become brigade commander, the U.S. Naval Academy’s version of a student body president.

***************************************************************

Learning targets: I can introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

I can develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic.

I can conduct short  research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.


All the grades will be up-to-date by tomorrow morning.  Lots missing; this is disconcerting- both for me and you.

Assignment: Your own news stories. Due by Monday, December 21. This is a major writing assignment. Let me emphasize that is NOT as essay but a news story and should therefore, be formated and organized as such.

In class today: For today, I am asking you to make your selection and post on the blog. This goes in as a class grade.  Use the format I wrote below.  There may be some overlapping, but let's talk about angles, so no one will have the same story. It's important we communicate.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU `WILL BE WORKING ON THE STORY OUTSIDE OF CLASS. In class we are looking at headlines and models. This also your time to ask questions!!!

Topic choices below:  If you have 

another idea, post and, if there is a problem, I'll get back to 

you.  blank slate is a tabula rasa

 Post to the blog with

 your name and respond with the following:

______________ intends to write a news story on

 ___________________________. This topic is newsworthy 

because__________________________. To gather the 

information I will 1)____________________, 2) 

_________________ and 3)______________ (include 

details and specifics as to your planning). I intend to speak 

with at least two people, recording specifically what they

said. 

Please see the list below for suggestions. You, of course, may 

augment and adjust the topics, and, as well, you may have your 

own ideas.  Please create a work document before you post, in case

 you have difficulties.

   After the suggestion list, there is a rubric, a general checklist for you and a couple of effective story examples.            

See samples at the end of the blog.

Suggestions; this is in no way exhaustive.  Be creative.

parking woes

college application pressures

traffic tickets

body art

cliques

sports / teams at SOTA- this can be broken down into subtopics

volunteerism at SOTA- this can be broken down into subtopic

school security: morning scanning / during the day

riding the bus

lunch excursions

bumper stickers

measuring up to an older sibling

passing time in the hall

detention

electronics

personalizing a locker

part time jobs

tardy / absenteeism

hair styles: male / female

behind the scene: theatre / teaching, etc

life as a middle schooler

senior economics

vending machines

fashion: male / female---choose an item

the reality of senior year (economic / social / frustrations / fears)

bullying

reading for "real life" 

cultural appropriation

culture and community

diversity

school as a safe environment

pros and cons of having a  middle school

triggers

politics at the dinner table

recycling

Check list:

Are the most important and recent facts first? 

Is the story accurate? Are the sources identified fully? 

Are the paragraphs short? 

Is the sentence structure varied in the story?

 Is the story neat and double-spaced so that it is easy to read?

Does your story flow? Did you use the transition/ quote formula?

 Did you use active voice?

Unbiased?  

At least one attributed quote?

headline? (we'll review this on Monday)

by line? (that's your name)

correct punctuation / grammar?

                                          

**********************************************************************************************************

What Makes Something Newsworthy?

1. Impact or Consequences

Generally, the greater the impact a story has, the more 

newsworthy it is. Events that have on impact on your readers, that

 have real consequences for their lives, are bound to be 

newsworthy. 

An obvious example would be the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In how many ways have all of our lives been affected by the events of that day? The greater the impact, the bigger the story.

2. Conflict

If you look closely at the stories that make news in any given day, 

chances are most of them will have some element of conflict.

 Whether it’s a dispute over banning books at a local school board 

meeting, bickering over budget legislation in Congress, or the 

ultimate conflict – war – conflict is almost always newsworthy. 

Conflict is newsworthy because as human beings we’re naturally interested in conflict. Think of any book you’ve ever read or movie you’ve ever watched – they all had some type of conflict. Without conflict, there would be no literature or drama. Conflict is what propels the human drama.

Imagine two city council meetings. At the first, the council passes its annual budget unanimously with little or no argument. In the second, there is violent disagreement. Some council members want the budget to provide more city services, while others want a bare-bones budget with tax cuts. The two sides are entrenched in their positions and in the city council chambers the conflict erupts into a full-scale shouting match,

Which story is more interesting? The second, of course. Why? Conflict. Conflict is so interesting to us as humans that it can even make an otherwise dull-sounding story – the passage of a city budget – into something utterly gripping. And the ultimate conflict – war – is always a huge story.

3. Loss of Life/Property Destruction

There’s an old saying in the news business: If it bleeds, it leads. What that means is that any story involving loss of human life – from a fire to a shooting to a terrorist attack - is bound to be newsworthy. Likewise, nearly any story that involves property destruction on a large enough scale – a house fire is a good example - is also bound to be news.

Many stories have both loss of life and property destruction – think of the house fire in which several people perish. Obviously loss of human life is more important than property destruction, so write the story that way.

4.Proximity

Proximity has to do with how close an event is geographically is to your readers or viewers. A house fire with several people injured might be big news in your hometown newspaper, but chances are no one will care in the next town over. Likewise, wildfires in California usually make the national news, but clearly they’re a much bigger story for those directly affected.

5. Prominence

Are the people involved in your story famous or prominent? If so, the story becomes more newsworthy. For example, if an average person is injured in a car crash, chances are that won’t even make the local news. But if the president of the United States is hurt in a car crash, it makes headlines around the world.

Prominence can apply to politicians, movie stars, star athletes, CEOs – anyone who’s in the public eye. But it doesn't have to mean someone who’s famous worldwide. The mayor of your town probably isn't famous, even locally. But he or she is prominent in your town, which means any story involving him or her is likely to be more newsworthy. Prominence can apply on a local, national or international level.

6. Timeliness 

In the news business we tend to focus on what’s happening this day, this hour, this minute. So events that are happening now are often more newsworthy than those that happened, say, a week ago.

Another factor that relates to timeliness is currency. This involves

 stories that may not have just happened but instead have an 

ongoing interest to your audience. For example, the rise and fall in

 gas prices is something that’s been happening for several years, 

but it’s a story that’s still relevant to your readers, so it has 

currency. 

7. Novelty

Another old saying in the news business goes, “When a dog bites a

 man, no one cares. When the man bites back – now that’s a news

 story.” The idea, of course, is that any deviation from the normal, 

expected course of events is something novel, and thus 

newsworthy

 Rubric for evaluating inverted pyramid stories

Ace reporter	Good	Fair	Poor
This story — so professional one would think it were cut from a professional news publication — convincingly demonstrates mastery of the inverted pyramid form by doing the following: ❍ with precision, arranges the key facts of the story from most important to least important ❍ relegates background information — information the writer could have known before the event — to a place below all new information ❍ is devoid of unattributed opinion ❍ artfully illustrates points with interesting, well-punctuated and well-attributed quotations; a transition is used to introduce each quotation. ❍ is a model of brevity, using few words to maximum effect. ❍ avoids passive voice except in the rare cases when it is merited ❍  shows few, if any, errors in the conventions of written English	This solid inverted pyramid story, while not as impressive as that written by the Ace Reporter, consistently does most or all of the following: ❍ arranges the key facts of the story from most important to least important ❍ generally relegates background information — information the writer could have known before the event — to a place below all new information ❍ is devoid of unattributed opinion ❍ illustrates points with interesting, well-punctuated and well-attributed quotations; a transition is used to introduce each quotation ❍ is for the most part concise ❍ generally avoids passive voice except in the rare cases when it is merited ❍  shows few, if any, errors in the conventions of written English.	This story suggests general awareness of the requirements for an inverted pyramid story, but does not suggest great prowess in meeting those requirements. This lead does much or all of the following:   ❍ unconvincingly arranges the facts of the story from most important to least important ❍ in some cases, fails to keep background information in its place at the bottom of the story ❍ may include minor unattributed opinion ❍ sometimes illustrates points with quotations but may do so awkwardly and without adequate transitions or ❍ shows too little attention to the need for brevity ❍ may slip into passive voice ❍  shows some errors in the conventions of written English.	These story doesn’t meaningfully address the assignment. This lead does much or all of the following: ❍ either does not have all the basic facts or shows clear errors in organizing them from most to least important ❍ fails to keep background information in its place at the bottom of the story ❍ is bereft of meaningful, supportive quotations; may fail to introduce quotations at all ❍ includes significant unattributed opinion ❍ noticeable over-use of the passive voice ❍ is wordy ❍  shows multiple errors in the conventions of written English. (Note: The fact that a person is speaking to students is not in and of itself newsworthy; stories should focus on what a person says, not the fact that he/she has spoken.)