Pitch #1
How environmentally friendly is WSU?
WSU prides itself on being 'green', claiming it continuously tries to be more consciensous of its impact on the environment. They recently installed a new, more efficient steam plant that reduced water consumption, the irrigation for the new golf course is supposedly more efficient and an article in Friday's Daily Evergreen covered the recycled waste that is used as compost.
However, in light of these efforts, the recycling system was taken out of the residence halls during fall semester, at the Hillside dining center all utensils, plates, cups and bowls are disposable, not to mention the lawsuit WSU currently faces over their water rights.
I think this is newsworthy because there is a growing interest by the public in 'going green'. It would be meant for the Daily Evergreen and possibly the Pullman-Moscow Daily News because it affects the students of WSU as well as the local community. I think this also has a hint of conflict to it because it might shed negative light onto WSU.
My contacts for this story would be members of the Evironmental Club, employees of WSU Facilities and Operations, the RHA board members and the general manager of Hillside Dining Center.
Pitch #2
Many have been awaiting the opening of the new golf course on campus, but just because it's located on university property, it might not necessarily be associated with the Crimson and Gray.
WSU plans to have an outside entity manage the new golf course. This might affect hiring and whether or not students will be an option for employees. In this story I plan to find out what the costs and benefits are for WSU as well as the management company.
I think this is newsworthy because it affects students and community members, it is very timely because the course should open this spring, and people will want to know what type of accessibility they can expect if management is not the university. This story would most likely appear in the Daily Evergreen or the Daily News.
My contacts for this story would be employees of WSU Facilities and Operations, as well as employees of Capital Planning and Development and hopefully representatives of the new managment company.
Pitch #3
WSU began in 1892 as the Washington Agricultural College, but how closely does it stick to its roots?
In this story I plan on finding out how much of the food the Greek community and residence halls consume is actually from local farmers. Do the actions of WSU really support sustainable agriculture, like some of the posters within the dining centers claim?
I think this story is newsworthy because it reflects the values as well as impacts of WSU. This story has a high level of proximity, human interest and timeliness. My contacts for this story would be the director of dining services, employees of Facilities and Operations, Capital Planning and Developement and local farmers. It would appear in the Daily Evergreen and the Daily News.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Compare/Contrast news sites
The news sites I chose to look at were King5.com, CNN.com, and NYTimes.com.
King 5's website gave prominence to local stories which makes sense because it is a more locally centered news site. Their 'Breaking News' section mainly focused on weather reports because it snowed around the Seattle area last night. I think that King 5 would meet the Murrow standards of being fair and balanced. In the articles that I looked at, the stories seemed to give full, well-rounded coverage for the most part. There were a few clips about their winter 'storm' which might be considered to be dramatized without a full story which pushes the reader to make their own inferences about what happened. This website's primary audience is Washingtonians; particularly residents of the greater Seattle area, and it focuses on stories that would mean more to those people.
CNN's top stories were focused on the 2008 Presidential election primaries. The entire top of the page was designated to the latest on stats and recent wins. I also think that this website would represent Murrow's standards especially because CNN is held nationally, to a very high standard of news coverage. The audience this site focuses on would be considered nation-wide which is most likely why the prominent stories are based on the election, because they easily affect the whole nation.
The New York Times' main stories were also about the election. They stories focused on the winnings of the primaries and looked a lot at statistics of the candidates' current rankings. This website would also hold true to the Murrow standards because of their reputation and their continuously dependable coverage. Similar to CNN, this source is considered to be national, and considering we have easy access to their newspaper here in Pullman, its audience can be found at every corner of the country.
Personally, if I had to choose just one of these sources to look at, I would choose CNN because of their reliability and because their international news coverage is more expansive than the others. However, because I am from western Washington, King 5 is very relevant to me so I would want to look at their site as well.
King 5's website gave prominence to local stories which makes sense because it is a more locally centered news site. Their 'Breaking News' section mainly focused on weather reports because it snowed around the Seattle area last night. I think that King 5 would meet the Murrow standards of being fair and balanced. In the articles that I looked at, the stories seemed to give full, well-rounded coverage for the most part. There were a few clips about their winter 'storm' which might be considered to be dramatized without a full story which pushes the reader to make their own inferences about what happened. This website's primary audience is Washingtonians; particularly residents of the greater Seattle area, and it focuses on stories that would mean more to those people.
CNN's top stories were focused on the 2008 Presidential election primaries. The entire top of the page was designated to the latest on stats and recent wins. I also think that this website would represent Murrow's standards especially because CNN is held nationally, to a very high standard of news coverage. The audience this site focuses on would be considered nation-wide which is most likely why the prominent stories are based on the election, because they easily affect the whole nation.
The New York Times' main stories were also about the election. They stories focused on the winnings of the primaries and looked a lot at statistics of the candidates' current rankings. This website would also hold true to the Murrow standards because of their reputation and their continuously dependable coverage. Similar to CNN, this source is considered to be national, and considering we have easy access to their newspaper here in Pullman, its audience can be found at every corner of the country.
Personally, if I had to choose just one of these sources to look at, I would choose CNN because of their reliability and because their international news coverage is more expansive than the others. However, because I am from western Washington, King 5 is very relevant to me so I would want to look at their site as well.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Ace in the Hole response
#1: Charles Tatum of "Ace in the Hole" stumbled upon a man stuck in a cave dwelling which became his story of choice. As a jounalist, Tatum's role and responsibility was not to help rescue the man or interfere with the situation in any way. His only job was to report on the story in an accurate manner with no manipulations. Because of his actions, Tatum essentially created the story and determined the outcome in pursuit of his big break. Unfortunatley the majority of his interference was strictly meant to help him get back to New York and the success he was used to.
Tatum didn't take into account any ethical considerations while dealing with this story. He attempted to create a story that would benefit him which ultimately killed the man in the cave. His prolonged the crises by bribing officials such as the sherriff and the engineer responsible for saving him in order to sell more papers. Upon stumbling on the story, Tatum should have let the situation take care of itself and pan out the way it would have if he had never found it. Reporting on the untouched story would have brought attention to Tatum and the man in the cave, not to mention it would have kept the man alive.
#2: I think that even though this film takes place in 1951, its depiction of media coverage is still very relevant to some forms of media today. Back then as well as today it still holds true that bad news sells faster and grabs more attention than good news. The tragic and controversial news stays on the stands and front pages/covers for much longer than good news. Tabloid news and gossip magazines are constantly filled with the negative aspects of news (if sometimes you can even call it that). Custody battles with Britney Spears' children have been front page 'news' for weeks if not months. Reports on rocky marriages between celebrities can be found more frequently than their efforts to help underprivelged children even though you would think that because those stories are less prevalent and have a greater impact, they would be more desireable for journalists. In the movie the reporters were made to be eager, selfish and caught up in the 'juicyness' of the story, which is unfortunatley still very true today.
Tatum didn't take into account any ethical considerations while dealing with this story. He attempted to create a story that would benefit him which ultimately killed the man in the cave. His prolonged the crises by bribing officials such as the sherriff and the engineer responsible for saving him in order to sell more papers. Upon stumbling on the story, Tatum should have let the situation take care of itself and pan out the way it would have if he had never found it. Reporting on the untouched story would have brought attention to Tatum and the man in the cave, not to mention it would have kept the man alive.
#2: I think that even though this film takes place in 1951, its depiction of media coverage is still very relevant to some forms of media today. Back then as well as today it still holds true that bad news sells faster and grabs more attention than good news. The tragic and controversial news stays on the stands and front pages/covers for much longer than good news. Tabloid news and gossip magazines are constantly filled with the negative aspects of news (if sometimes you can even call it that). Custody battles with Britney Spears' children have been front page 'news' for weeks if not months. Reports on rocky marriages between celebrities can be found more frequently than their efforts to help underprivelged children even though you would think that because those stories are less prevalent and have a greater impact, they would be more desireable for journalists. In the movie the reporters were made to be eager, selfish and caught up in the 'juicyness' of the story, which is unfortunatley still very true today.
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