Journalism Assignment - Who's on First?

In an effort to examine reliability of our articles and to compare and improve our writing as a class, we are going to complete an activity I like to call "Who's on First?"

As a class, we are to do the following role-playing. USING seven students, prepare a "hall incident" that carries a school suspension punishment. Have the protagonist tell his story, the antagonist tell his, a friend of each should give his rendition, a teacher who happened on the scene should explain the incident, three uninvolved passers-by should tell what happened, and the principal (who was not there) should comment on the event.

For homework, each class member should be the reporter and attempt to write an objective account of the happening in the form of a news article. The article, which is to be a minimum of 500 words, will be due on Monday, in the form of a BLOGSPOT POST ON MUSKETEERJOURNALISM.BLOGSPOT.COM.

We will discuss the posts in a week...

A couple of points.

1. I realize I am asking 7 of you to volunteer and act in this roleplay. I know you can do it.

2. There will be bonus points (25) for the actors.

3. If you don't have the acting, you can't have the roleplay. If you don't have the roleplay, you can't write the stories. If you don't write the stories, you don't get the credit.

4. I have not forgotten those who have not presented their PowerPoints. We will get to those at the next available moment.

5. We have a guest speaker (Terry Hapney, Professor of Communications and Journalism at Marshall University) coming to speak to us on Friday. Please have at least a question or two formulated for about the industry, his occupation, his school, etc. for the Q and A session that will take place after his lecture.

6. Also, Thursday will be our pitch meeting. Get your story ideas ready.

Politics in the Media - Part II

Hey guys!

After you complete the packet, please answer the following questions. Make sure your questions are complete sentences, with responses of no less than 300 words for each question:

1. Who would/will you vote for in the 2008 presidential election? What are the issues that are most important to you as a voter? How did you come to your decision?

2. Why do you believe your candidate will do a better job in the White House than his opponent?

Thanks,

B. Parsons

Politics in the Media

Guys,

Today we watched a video on the role of media in the shaping of a political campaign. Please answer the following questions as a blog, with a minimum of 75 words per question response.

1. What role does the media have in how you follow politics personally? Where would you go to find out political information?

2. How do politicians manage their images through the media? (i.e. photo ops, avails, etc.)

3. How was Kerry misquoted in the media? How did it affect his campaign?

4. Why was the Bush Administration's Publicity Department called the "Broadway" division? 

5. What are the different media options that you can use to access information about the political race?What are their strengths and weaknesses?