JN216 Week 10 Blog Forum

1. My three goals were improving at approaching interviewees, writing shorter news pieces, and meeting other journalists who can offer critiques. I feel that I was able to accomplish all of these goals. I've become a lot more comfortable asking for interviews, in fact, I've come to really enjoy it. I really wanted to ask Ron Wyden a few more questions but he was looking for softballs, I still had a lot of fun trying to interview him. While there is certainly room for improvement, it's hard to believe I had never written a news piece before this class because I feel my writing has improved so much.
2. I honestly don't have a favorite. I think my lede from the Inauguration Protest article was awesome, I also really like my piece about the Unity Celebration. I guess I'd have to pick all of them because I covered several different types of stories and had to wear several hats.
3. I had to cut out most of the poetic and descriptive language I use when writing news, I had an extremely hard time doing so, initially. I feel like I've got immensely better and just getting the facts on paper but still allow a narrative to form so it's not too dry and then boring. When I started writing articles, I was always narrowing from 1500+ words and now it's more like 1000, which is a huge improvement.
4. I felt I learned a lot from the material on Moodle, but like anything else, I had to learn hands-on. I think one can read a lot about reporting, and it's helpful, but until you get out there, it's hard to understand how it works. I think it would be helpful for students who, like me, need hands-on education to go as a class to cover an event and shadow an experienced reporter.
5. I really liked "The Corpse Had a Familiar Face." I learned broader picture lessons about how to conduct myself, and a few specifics while reading all the incredible stories she was weaving into her narrative. I think it's a good book to have young reporters read, especially those who don't realize most reporters are a little hardcore because most reporting is a little hardcore. Obviously, not all of us will be reporting in a place like Miami in that time period, but it really drove home that most reporters will see things they never wanted to and be in positions they never wanted to.