Male Teachers.. dun dun dun
October 31, 2005
It’s halloween and thank goodness there isn’t a centerpiece Halloween story, as cheesy as they are, it is kind of nice to see one every now and then. Back in Kansas City Larry Moore on the ABC affiliate every year does a Halloween special where he tells ghost stories about local landmarks and buildings. It sounds bad, but people really do look forward to it and have come to expect it. Much like watching Charlie Brown movies around Halloween and Christmas.
Wanted: Male teachers is a decent story, http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16819 and the reporter has done a nice job with it. I actually saw this story come down the AP wire last Friday night so it is a good example of some weekend reporting. sourcing was decent, nothing special but it brings to light several issuesthat perhaps people overlook when talking about male teachers.
Don’t you cough on me!
October 31, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16801 Officials: shots limit flu mutation. Not a bad story, kinda sorta interesting about getting a flu shot in order to control Avian flu. I keep trying to spel flu with an e at the end by the way. But back to the story, it lacks a little detail in its delivery but overall it covers some good standard flu season reporting issues.
On a side note it is the 2nd major story Sunday with a colon in the headline, what’s up with that?
Katrina Who?
October 27, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16760 by Shane Epping. This story has quite the prose in it! The introductory paragraphs are written with a lot of emotion that just pull you in. I couldn’t keep all of the people in the story straight, who’s related to who and their problems and all. But overall it was a pretty good story. It was in fact a story, sometimes news reporters forget that they should be telling a story, they just state the facts and move on. Inverted Pyramid and al.
Walking in the moonlight
October 27, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16718 Written by Matthew Graham. The story starts out following a family who walks to school each day as a “walking school bus”. This is a very good way of personalizing what could have been a rather dull tax, ballot, voting schmear of a story. With the ballot initiatives rearing up for November coverage like this is a nice alternative to the “this does this, that does that” reporting that goes along with much of election coverage.
Farewell to guard
October 25, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16705 Guard unit bid’s farewell. This story would bring tears to the eyes of a militaryman I do believe. The lede was captivating and captured the spirit of the ceremony. Or how I would imagine the ceremony anyway. The story then leads gracefully into the news of the story and ends again with the emotion of moving on. I feel that the treatment of this story could have been much more. I think that the editorial decision not to drag it out too long is a good one however I think that it could have been longer. More length would have provided more room for information and emotion on the story that i would presume affects many thousands of people due to the lengthy term of service. Freakin’ Maryweather Lewis! That is all.
No dissent on Homeschooling
October 23, 2005
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16702 is one of three articles in the Sunday Missourian on homeschooling. The topic itself it interesting and certainly a different take on education in Columbia. It seems like it is probably a story that is recycled every few years. It is well written with short informative paragraphs and few quotes. If it is lacking anything I think that I would have rather seen more quotes. While the story is crafted very well and is actually extremely long I think that a dissention of homeschooling should have been included in the story or…a separate story written on the subject of people who oppose homeschooling. I think that the three stories written, this one in particular is only giving lip-service to one side of the story. I would imagine that there is another side that would be more than willing to also be vocal in matters.
Change the view and the Page
October 20, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16636 Changing the view and changing the light…what’s the point. The story doesn’t even explain what it is they were trying to light up the corn field for. Also, there is only one picture and it really isn’t all that good. Photo Essays are great and all, there are some really cool things you could do with one online and I think one picture with a couple paragraphs of no info is not one of those cool things.
Public Housing
October 20, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16613 covers a trip that some people from Columbia went on to Kansas City to see how they are handling public housing. It is a nice story and covers a topic that needs to be covered what with all the poverty discourse going on and all. However it seems to jump around and not be in much of an order. The financial paragraphs are all spread out throughout the story. I think that this story would be pretty good if it were given a once over with an order stick.
Ferguson Trial
October 18, 2005
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16602 is an update story to the previous coverage. Unfortunately much of the first half is a rehash of information in the earlier article. I applaud the Missourian for issuing an update on their website but the manner in which the story is written is not consistent with what should have happened. The last 3 or 4 paragraphs of the story ARE the story. The new information is what is important and should have been waay up at the top in the lede or nutgraf. Burying the real story down at the bottom of the story does neither the Missourian nor the writers any good.
Google saves Newspaper
October 18, 2005
What i’m sure started as a standard “hey look at this person, she just got a job for the city” article, Google provided some insight into that person. http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=16589 is a big story about the new airport manager Columbia hired and who had falsified information on her resume and not disclosed that she had recently been fired. This was a good move on the part of the reporter. Going out and doing a standard story like other news orgs would have done is all fine and dandy but that one extra step in googling the new hire led to a much more interesting story and started some additional discourse. The discourse provided by Google is wonderful. two big pats on the back for Kristin Markway!~
