Newswriting Assignments
Assignment 1: Meeting coverage
Description of Assignment: Newspapers that cover geographic areas frequently send their reporters to cover meetings of city or county government or school boards. The meetings may seem dry, but readers count on their hometown newspaper to be there so they can keep abreast of what’s happening in their community. Look at the websites for a handful of city councils or school boards in your area and find one that meets soon. If the agenda is not posted online, call the city or board clerk and ask him to email it, along with the minutes from the previous meeting. See what issues are on the agenda and read your local newspaper’s clips to understand the background behind those issues. Then, show up at the meeting armed with a notebook. Write a story based on the meeting. Remember--you are reporting on the most important element of the meeting.
Public Domain Source Material:
Waterbury, Conn., is an example of a city that posts its meeting agendas online: http://www.waterburyct.org/content/9565/458/4301/default.aspx
Assignment 2: Puerto Rico crisis
When people or organizations understand that a given topic will interest a lot of journalists, they usually call a news conference to meet the needs of the media. The goal is to convey a polished message to many media outlets at once, rather than in multiple interviews.
You are assigned to cover two updates on the crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. The first is at the White House by spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders and FEMA administrator William B. “Brock” Long. The next is by the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello. (The dates of the news conferences were September 27 and September 30, 2017.)
Write a 600-word story based on these news conferences, with as many quotes as you can collect.
Clearly, you can’t be present to ask questions, so if you have any questions that were not answered, turn them in with this assignment.
Public Domain Source Material:
Huckabee Sanders–Long news conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFSwqcrY9n0
Gov. Ricardo Rossello news conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhMmOh_hJYQ
Assignment 3: Gametime
The sports page is often the most heavily read section in a newspaper, even during times of crisis or war. People like to have an escape from the headaches of the real world, and often turn to sports as a refuge.
At the same time, it’s likely your college has a team that hasn’t had a sports reporter show interest in a very long time. It’s time to right that wrong. Look at your college or university’s athletic schedule and find a game in the next week that you can make. Introduce yourself to a coach on the team and explain that you would like to write a game story for a class project that you can later self-publish on social media if you would like.
Get a roster of players, make sure you understand the rules of the sport, and attend the event. Afterward, make sure to interview the coach and key contributors to the game. Write an 800-word gamer. Don’t forget all the essentials mentioned in your textbook: The score, the atmosphere, the records of the teams, the history of the rivalry, and other elements are essential to a proper game story.
Below are some examples of gamers.
Public Domain Source Material:
Volleyball: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/sep/30/gonzaga-prep-defeats-mead-to-win-linda-sheridan-vo/
Football: http://thezone.rep-am.com/red-zone/2017/09/24/win-serves-as-defining-moment-for-pomperaug/
Assignment 4: Speech coverage
A speech may seem like the easiest type of event to cover for beginning journalists, but it presents unique challenges to the reporter. Boiling down a long speech into a short story takes some tough decision-making. What do you put in? What do you leave out? When do you use direct quotes, and when do you rephrase?
Look at your college or community calendar and find a time when someone well known will be in town for a speech. Give yourself enough time to research the speaker and the topic, so you will have a lot of background available for your story. The people who sponsored the event will have information for you.
Schedule some time with the speaker before or after the speech, and make sure you ask members of the audience what they think about the speech.
Write a 900-word story with plenty of good quotes from the speaker and reaction from the audience.
Below is an example of a speech, and a story from a reporter who covered it.
Public Domain Source Material:
Michael Jordan’s annotated NBA Hall of Fame induction speech: https://genius.com/3383502
The Man Behind the Legend (coverage of Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame induction speech): http://www.espn.com/chicago/columns/story?columnist=greenberg_jon&id=4468210