(week 11) – shaun carney from the age speaks about writing a feature article

The Age’s Shaun Carney speaks to the class about feature writing. Get them interested, wheel your readers in, and tell your audience ‘why’ they should be reading this. ‘Keep telling your reader why they need to read this’. Shaun says he is a fan of writing past tense i.e.; as in the Tea Party reading.

Make sure you meet your interviewee’s in person Carney explains to the class, you will pick up things that you won’t necessarily by talking on the phone, look at body language and what really drives people. Another thing Carney stresses is the importance of contacts and keeping a current contact base, crucial to be an effective journalist. Read, read and read more feature articles Carney says.

(week 9) – death by buffet ‘classic story plot’

‘Death by buffet’ is an insightful piece written by Jonathan Harley into the life of becoming the ABC’s New Delhi-based South Asia correspondent. Faced with a new culture and restricting deadlines, in Harley‘s own words ‘working to constant and rigid deadlines in a country infamous for its unreliability is a volatile combination’.

 Writing in the first tense, he writes about his experiences, I really enjoyed his descriptive tone and the emotions he used, especially in his melt down titled ‘Boys don’t cry’ where after managing to pull together his piece for the morning submission to Australia despite his computer running out of power and unable to secure a power cord, which he has very inconveniently left in New Delhi.

His emotions expressed derive from the pressure his faced with as well as the realisation of the events witnessed during his first story of the torching of Australian missionary, Graham Staines and his two sons. Harley says ‘India can scrape away your norms of behaviour like a sandblaster’ as he loses his nerve with the hotel night manager.

One of possibly the most interesting areas of this article are when Harley exposes his raw emotions and uses those experiences to paper and present an entertaining piece of writing. In preparation for our own ‘first tense’ writing, I find the use of the emotions and the descriptive lengths that this author goes to a representation of what we should aim to involve ourselves in as writers.

I also enjoy the textual references of the chapter titles, ‘Boys don’t cry’ and ‘To sir with love’ taken of course from ‘The Cure’ and the Sydney Poitier film. Being a journalism student the insight into the world of being a foreign correspondent is really what draws me into this piece, the line where Harley says “I adopt the correspondent’s mantra: never explain, never complain – just deliver” and furthermore where Harley realises that the world of news is fickle after he rings Sydney – “Whatever they have thought of the stories, they definitely had no idea about the hassles I was having”.

Finally his rejoice, towards the end of the chapter when the historic summit between India’s Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif becomes a good news story and his statement that ‘Too much peace will mean too few stories”.

The piece also follows the classic story plot of initial harmony, harmony disturbed, hero is found, the quest, the trials, harmony re-established.

(week 9) – yourself class writing exercise ‘its smokin’

Picture by Salvatore Vuono
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659

 

DID YA KNOW ‘SMOKING’ KILLS

I CURSE THE VERY FIRST TIME I picked up one of those bloody things and placed it to my mouth. It was sadly as a teenager, I don’t know why, I mean secondary school was filled with messages of not succumbing to peer group pressure, why oh why didn’t I listen.

I was such a sheep, lead to the cigarette like a moth to a flame; did I really think sucking deadly toxins down into my lungs was cool? I remember meeting my friends after school to practice smoking, huh, this just gets worse, the art of dragging a cigarette deep into my oesophagus and opening my mouth while the smoke lie stagnant at the back of my throat.

Think of how much money I could I have saved, cigarettes are getting more and more expensive, a recent 25% rise in price with the next 2 years set to do the same, this is thing that really kills you, even if the cancer won’t. Oops I dropped the ‘c’ word, most smokers will naturally try to avoid, but how can you avoid the examples of such, garnishing each tightly clad pack.

Why oh why, do I continue to pursue nicotine, um maybe, because it’s now an addiction, and I’m clearly in its trap. Oh me oh my, for little did I know that it would begin a lifetime of slavery, a slave to the drug, for it is a drug and nothing else. The addiction is resent less, when you’re feeling sad you need to smoke, when things are going along well, you just want to smoke.

I wish I had never picked up that first cigarette and placed to my mouth, I wish had of listened to the things they were telling me in school. I wish had every dollar that I had spent on cigarettes, sitting safely in a high interest earning account. I wish I knew for sure that I didn’t have stage 1 cancer eating away at my lungs. I wish I wasn’t addicted and could go stop immediately and never to go back.

Oh me oh my, I think too many things, think it’s time to go now and maybe have a cigarette!

(week 9) – feature story ideas ‘oh what to do?’

My idea for a feature story is the haunted places in Melbourne & I’m looking at getting tickets to go to the Old Melbourne Goals Ghost Seeker night -

Taken from the advert on the Ticketek Website……
Do you have the nerve to pass one of life’s unique challenges… the Old Melbourne Gaol scream test? Find out, because now you have an opportunity to take part in a real life paranormal investigation within the bone-tingling confines of Victoria’s oldest prison. Join the Ghost Seekers team as they search for signs of the unexplainable. In a place of such bleak history – where 135 people were executed – who knows what might be revealed? Suicides, murders, misery: all these elements make the prison the perfect place for novices to embark on a quest for signs of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena using the best available scientific equipment and your own eyes and ears. Previous investigations at the gaol have netted scientific proof that restless souls do linger beyond our infamous bluestone walls. Strange sounds, unexplainable and localised temperature change, unusual lights and photos of ghostly anomalies have all been captured by the team’s specialist equipment. On one occasion, what appears to be the ghostly figure of a man was caught on camera, whilst on June 21st two years in a row recordings have been made of a woman’s voice pleading for “help!” A limited number of people have the rare opportunity to join a professional paranormal investigation, with full use of the best available equipment, the perfect situation to embark on a quest for signs of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena.

How you might go about researching your story:
Probably do plenty of research on the old Melbourne Goal & any recorded paranormal activity, go there during the day to get a feel for the place. Secondly contact the group that is running the tours & see if I can find someone to interview for the feature story – someone with paranormal investigative experience & that has seen some of the stranger happenings that have occured during these evenings.

Who you plan to interview:
Hopefully someone that does the tours or evenings & can tell me about some of the spooky stories

(week 6) – ‘the first time’ class writing exercise

nothing can keep diesel down

FOR THE FIRST TIME Melbourne City Councils are imposing cat curfews, forcing all suburban cats to be brought indoors by sun down and kept there until sunrise.

Bayside City Council covering the suburbs of Brighton down to Hampton was the first to introduce the legislation, with laws coming into effect on the first of January 2010.

Kitties caught out after dark are taken to local shelters, leaving owners with a hefty fine on the collection of their beloved pets.

Bendigo City Council enforced this legislation in 2004, which resulted in many cats left unclaimed in the local RSPCA shelter facing a death sentence, owners rather parting with their pets than cough up the fine.

The legislation aimed at preventing breeding; fighting and the protection of local wildlife is supported by many animal protection groups, despite the obvious pitfalls that occurred in Bendigo.

For one St Kilda cat owner, Nerissa Collie and her 6 year old Tokenise cat Diesel, the introduction of such legislation has left her very nervous.

Diesel has broken through windows, chewed through fly screen and even jumped four stories down to get out at night.

(week 6) – nichel & dimed: on (not) getting by in america

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture by Carlos Porto
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=345

The piece ‘Nichel & Dimed, On (Not) Getting by in America’ paints an interesting picture of the minimum wage living conditions in America. Author Ehrenreich embarks on a ‘live-in’ immersive style of journalism attempting to capture the essence of her story first hand.

For me this brings back memories of back-packing and some of the low paid jobs I did, though not at times as desperate as of the characters in this piece, they way in which employee’s are treated within these professions echoes memories that I had long forgot.

Ehrenreich’s style is much different to Williams, Williams delivers a more hard news style, where Ehrenreich partakes in an immersive soft news style of journalism. Ehrenreich’s style is open to much criticism surrounding whether its ethical behaviour.

Ehrenreich tells a news story by adding statistics in the footers and reporting important issues, rather interesting too, the drug testing requirement within job applications, $2.13 USD being the minimum wages for professions offering tips.

I enjoyed when Ehrenreich  speaks about Gail “But, guess what, she reports to me excitedly later that evening, Phillip has given her permission to park overnight in the hotel parking lot, as long as she keeps out of sight, and the parking lot should be totally safe since it’s patrolled by hotel security guard! With the Heartside offering benefits like that, how could anyone think of leaving?” (pg 32).

The first person tense that this text is given qualifies the ‘live-in’ writing style like a piece like this. Ehrenreich amerces herself within a world foreign to her to deliver an informative and interesting text on the lower classes of American society.

Other situations where this format could be appropriate may include living in foreign places, living within a different culture or socio status, journalists often take on a set task for a story such as losing weight, documenting quitting smoking and recently I saw a program on the ABC of an English journalist with a hunger for beauty procedures in LA without going under the knife. It can be an really interesting way to get to know your subject.

(week 5) – easter readings ‘hard news vs soft news’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture by Salvatore Vuono
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=659

Hard news stories report on an event, a happening of some description and the confinements are based on ethical standards within journalism, they should be accurate and authentic and show a balanced and unbiased occurrence or representation of an event.

Soft news is however does not share the same confinements of hard news reporting, the issue can be fluffier, not as important at times possibly, it can be a ‘good news’ story for example, a family wins the lotto.

The medium used to tell a story can have an effect on whether you use the soft or hard news style, for example a story on the rising levels of violence on the streets of Melbourne may be adapted for TV a more personalised approach to the violence, adopting more of a soft news piece. Broadcasting often adopts more of a soft news approach purely for its entertainment factor.

The article titled ‘Naan Violent protest’ fills the expectations of a soft news story appropriately, although by changing the lead to include the Premier and Minister on Multicultural Affairs  showing their support by attending the lunch, it could be re-arranged to be more of a hard news story style. ‘Flying in the face of convention’, fits the A typical bill of soft news reporting, stories about actors, directors, films, art shows, books and authors. ‘Melbourne Gastronome’ again is a life happening / following immersive soft news piece, following Melbourne ‘foodie’ through a cultural journey for several days.

‘RBA’s Steven warns against housing speculation’ follows the hard news format, so too does ‘Push to end underquoting as market stays hot’, they both use the inverted pyramid to structure the piece, stick to the one sentence per paragraph format. As these pieces report on recent occurrences they are best suited to the hard news style, and the five ‘W’s’.

(Week 5) – Practice media conference exercise

Picture by Suat Eman
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=151

The Age – Tuesday 30th March 2010

TWO POLICE SAVED A COUPLE FROM A BURNING CAR after a rock attack on the Nepean Hwy, Frankston last night.

Four Caucasian men near-by on the scene are believed to have thrown a rock at the car which was travelling north near Mc Donald’s on Wells street.

The driver, Darren Browne, 25, was knocked unconscious as the rock smashed through the windscreen of the red Nissan pulsar he was driving and ran into an embankment bursting into flames.

Senior Detective Constable Glenn Paxton and Detective Senior Constable Craig Small witnessed the car in flames as they came out of a side street and rushed to scene,  dragging the couple from the burning vehicle through the broken windscreen.

 “You could see flames coming from the undercarriage of the car” , “Once we had them out, I grabbed a fire extinguisher from our patrol car and put the flames out”, said Senior Constable Glenn Paxton of Frankston Police.

The couple was taken to the Alfred Hospital, Browne with injuries sustained to the head, passenger Sally Weinstein, 24, was in a conscious state, with a suspected broken arm.

(Week 4) – press release writing exercise

Picture by Dan
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=587

CHOICE says that lax food labelling laws for products containing genetically modified ingredients have left consumers in the dark.

 A recent report by the consumer group says that current Australian law doesn’t require products containing GM ingredients to be disclosed on their labelling.

“You have a right to know if your food comes from GM crops or GM fed animals, directly or indirectly. The law should require full disclosure of any GM ingredients so that consumers have all the information they need to make a truly informed choice,” says Choice Senior campaigner Clare Hughes.

 Choice claims that Australian supermarkets are filled with foods that have ingredients that are likely to be derived from GM crops.

 While most scientific evidence suggests these foods are probably harmless, Choice says a lack of evidence of harm isn’t proof of safety.

There are also environmental and ethical issues around GM food that may mean consumers want to avoid it.

(Week 3) – Story Ideas

Story ideas for our first assessment piece 

Idea (1) ~ Melbourne’s strong growth in auction and house sales – next weekend is tipped to hit the highest pre-Easter market. “If demand is maintained at this level next weekend 2010 will have recorded the strongest pre-Easter market ever. Today there were 835 auctions reported of which 723 sold and 112 were passed in on a vendors bid, of those 64 were passed in on a vendors bid.” Enzo Raimondo of REIV. Interview ideas for this story are Enzo Raimondo of REIV or representative of REIV, a realestate agent,and/or someone currently looking at buying in one of next weeks auctions – could be an article before or after next weekend’s auctions.

Idea (2) ~ Body Corporate says Pregnant Resident’s must leave” – Body Corporate guised as a Company sets unbelievable terms to residents, & if you don’t comply within 30 days we have the right to take your property away from you. Interviewee’s – Residents from the block of flat’s – a representative from the Industry Association

Idea (3) ~ Women earning less than men in the workforce – Julia Gillard said that acess to child care /flexible working arrangements & left overs from the WorkChoices agreement.  Interviewee’s – representative from The Women’s Employment Rights Project (WERP), DEWR – Women with children & the balancing act