We Don’t Need No Water Let the….
December 11, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=17471 I’ve never even heard of firehoses freezing before. I guess it was just freakin’ cold out that night. It is unfortunate when the fire department has to take a break and carry bags of salt so they can stand up to fight the fire in your house. Quite unfortunate indeed. I suppose its the shock value of this story that makes it good. Other than that its pretty darn short and no valuable quotes either.
Selling the Story
December 5, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/utown/story.php?ID=17371 This is a prime example of some great writing. In order to cut through the clutter news stories must be able to reach the reader in a way that evokes emotion. It has become aparent that just writing a news story is not enough, it must be breakthrough in order to get any response from readers or viewers. Much as the advertising community must now be breakthrough creative, journalism also now is in the business of selling news. This story is well written and while it is not very long it is effective in telling a story, and isn’t that what we’re really here for anyway?
Window Dressing in real life and in paper
December 4, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=17364 I’m guessing this was more of a photo essay in the print edition as opposed to the online. Two smooshed paragraph with nary a quote and two pictures isn’t a newspaper story, its a blog post. Maybe the Missourian has a blog. This could be a nice little event-coverage story, but it had to be ruined by no reporting what so ever. Come on, its not that hard to go talk to a little kid and his parents about braving the cold to see people dressed up in windows. Its something that doesn’t happen every day, cover it and cover it well.
Forcing the Armed Forces
December 4, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=17352 Neat idea to include a rural sociologist in the sourcing for this story on armed forces recruiting. The rural focus of the story was a good tactic in this case. The college bonus is bogus, just my opinion and I can’t say that its a very fact-based one at that. I always was skeptical of the military paying for college as if they would say “sure we’ll pay for all it, if you can survive all these insurgents shooting at you day and night”. Phwah! I remember in high school when recruiters would call. I hung up on one once. I didn’t even consider a military career and still wouldn’t. Just not my thing. I belong in a place where there aren’t people shooting and hating each other (hmm, so maybe detroit isn’t for me).
Blogging from Buses
December 1, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=17318 I’ve never been to the bus station, so maybe it would have been good to include some current pics and surely they have an artists rendering of the final project somewhere. So, uh give me some pics and a survey might have been a nice touch. A little poll goes a long way though. Some other passenger comments would have really added to this boring story. Lets hear what customers actually wanted. Oh, and wifi is always a plus.
Pain in Film Follows Fellow filmakers followers
December 1, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=17280 Film festival/cultural event. I find one of the more interesting parts of this story at the end when the conflict comes out about the city funding such an event. It does sound like its one-sided but it is also obvious that the intent was not to hurt of leave out. The story is good, the story telling was good. The writing is a little confusing. You have to be careful when doing a story this long to keep the audiences attention and I have to admit that I skimmed through some of this.
Sistas and Mentors
December 1, 2005 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=17269 The story-telling on this story was pretty good, but not exceptional. The headline could use work, its obviously playing off the sista2sista title of the group but it just doesn’t flow or have a ring to it. If you’re going to have a catchy slangy headline, do it up right! The story is a good warm-hearted feature, probably doesn’t need to be front-page news above the fold but its nice to read a good little story on youth in the community every now and then.
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