Monday, February 6, 2017

Week Four Blog Post

Topic One: Profile

This week I will be choosing to profile a person with LBCC connections. My first choice is the LBCC men's head basketball coach Everett Hartman. His "claim to fame" is that he has coached in Harrisburg and Albany for a combined 23 years. Before I interview him, I will talk to a couple of people who know him well. This will be beneficial because I might get background info that I may have otherwise not come across. The first person I will interview will be assistant coach Ron Richards. I think coach Richards would be a good choice to interview because he works side-by-side with coach Hartman on a daily basis. The second person I would interview would be team captain Kendrick Abraham. The reason I would interview Abraham is that although he works with coach Hartman on a daily basis, his experience with him would be different than it would be for coach Richards. I think it would be a great idea to get two different perspectives of coach Hartman before I actually interview him for. I would ask coach Hartman at least five questions: My first question will be about his days as a young adult. What first inspired your love of sports? Which sports did you play growing up? The second question I will ask coach Hartman would be about his decision to start coaching. Was it something you always wanted to do? Did you want to be a coach from a young age? The third question I will ask coach Hartman would be about his early days as a coach. How old were you when you first started coaching. Did you have to work your way up through the ranks by starting as an assistant coach, or did you an head coaching job right from the start? The fourth question I intend to ask him would be if he had any coaching role models. Did you have any coaches that you used for either guidance or to help develop your coaching style? My fifth question will be regarding his current coaching situation at LBCC. What made you take the LBCC job on an interim basis. Did you volunteer to take the job, or did someone first ask you to do it?

My second choice for a profile subject would be the aforementioned Kendrick Abraham. I will also probably ask him five questions as I did with head coach Everett Hartman. The first question I will ask Abraham will be about his interest in basketball. What first started you interest and involvement in sports? The second question I will ask Abraham would be about players in either college or the NBA that he models his game after. What players do you feel have similar qualities or traits that you have on the basketball court? The third question I will ask Abraham would deal with his future after he is finished with LBCC. What are your plans when you are done playing at LBCC? Are you planning to transfer to a four year college so you can continue to play basketball? Also, what are your career plans after you are done with college? What is your major? The fourth question I will ask Abraham will be about him being voted team captain of LBCC's men's basketball team. What does being captain mean to you? What type of leader are you? Are you a vocal leader or do you prefer to just do things the right way and have your teammates follow your lead? Or is your style somewhere in between? My fifth and final question I will ask him would be about what he does off the court. What do you do for fun?

Topic Two: Edna and SPJ's Code Of Ethics

My JN216 class continued reading Edna Buchanan's book The Corpse Had a Familiar Face. Last week we read about the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. One of the four principles of the SPJ Code of Ethics is titled "Be Accountable and Transparent." If we apply that principle to Edna Buchanan's days as an Miami news reporter, she doesn't always follow SPJ wishes. For example, when Buchanan was first starting out as journalist, she was working at the Miami Beach Daily Sun. The Daily Sun was a small circulation, weekly tabloid style newspaper. In the sports section of the paper, they had an "expert" pick greyhound race winners. That "expert" was Edna Buchanan, who had never stepped in foot in a dog race track. And yet she was the one that the Daily Sun anointed as dog expert. Since Buchanan was picking winners, she should have divulged that she had no prior experience and that people should follow her predictions with extreme caution. She did not make this clear however. Also, Buchanan and the head sports editor wrote inflammatory Letters to the Editor under fake names. This is the extreme opposite of being transparent. Buchanan and the sports Editor's goal was to have their fake letters cause enough of a ruckus that actual readers would send letters to the paper so that they didn't have to make up fake letters. A quote from Buchanan's book that proves my point is: "I had never been to the dog track, but I picked the greyhounds for the sports department. There was no one else to do it. And occasionally, when the need arose, the sports editor and I wrote The Letters to the Editor, signing fictitious names, of course. We wrote them volatile, hoping to rile real readers enough to send in their own and relieve us of the job." Although I understand why Buchanan took the course of action that she did, I would have taken a different route. For the greyhound races, she could have made clear she was a novice and yet have a good natured column in which she would try to outsmart the odds makers, while keeping a weekly total of her wins and losses. When it comes to the fake letters, she could have encouraged the sports editor to take a more hard hitting approach to his weekly opinion piece. Although it may seem like having stronger opinion isn't that big of a deal, just look at Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. Both are extremely successful sports pundits because they inspire such divided opinion from their viewing audience.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Week Three Blog Post


Topic One: SPJ CODE OF ETHICS

Reporting the news is not only a job, it is also an huge responsibility. That is why the Society of Professional Journalists came up with a code of ethics. According to the Society of Professional Journalists, the code is based on four key pillars: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, be accountable and transparent.

Of the four key components to the SPJ Code of Ethics, the one I think is the most important is to seek truth and report it. I chose this pillar because people  want to know what is happening around them and also around the world. I also chose this pillar because when a well-known news outlet publishes an article, people who read the story will assume that the information given is both verified and factual. According to the SPJ Code of Ethics, if you want to ethically report the news you must "Take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Verify Information before releasing it." Another aspect of seeking truth is that as a journalist you must report both sides of the story. Reporting both sides of certain stories can be difficult. But if you don't give each side a voice, then who will? That is why the SPJ Code of Ethics has as a guideline "Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing."

Topic Two: STORY #2 UPDATE

For my second story, I chose to cover Linnbenton Community College men's basketball game. The game occurred last Wednesday, and featured Lane Community College as the opponent.
The nut graf: Wednesday evening LBCC men's basketball team took on Lane CC in an fast paced game in which there were hard fouls and big dunks.
I will be using three sources in my report. My first source is LBCC's Jesse Marchant, who was awarded offensive player of the game. My second source is LBCC's  Kaj Bansen, he was named defensive player of the game. My third and final source is Kendrick Abraham, who is LBCC's leading scorer and team captain. The five questions that I asked were: What advantages did you feel you had over Lane CC? Lane CC used a zone defense frequently against you, is that a tactic they often use, and was that the most zone defense you have had to deal with so far this season? Did Lane CC present any challenges you hadn't yet encountered this season? After trailing most of the game you managed to complete an alley-oop, which brought the crowd to their feet and caused Lane CC to take a timeout. Soon after the timeout ended, you subsequently took the lead. Do you feel that energy and momentum caused by your alley-oop had a tangible effect on the outcome of the game, especially since there was only 5:05 remaining when the play happened? Lastly, it seemed that Lane CC only played 6 or 7 players. Did it feel to you as if Lane was tiring towards the end of the game, and if so, did it negatively effect their play?

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Week Two Blog Post

Topic One: Biggest  Challenge

I had one major challenge appear while working on my Young Democrats Club story. I had set up a meeting with the club advisor, president, and a regular member. Unfortunately, the meeting was unexpectedly postponed at the last minute. For my next story, I will definitely have a plan B story, just in case something derails my original idea. Also, I will make sure to get the email addresses of each of the sources that I plan to interview. This will come in handy, if by chance, the meeting is canceled. If it is canceled, I'll be able to email them my questions. Although I have not yet conducted any interviews, I know that it will be a learning experience. After discussing in class about how to carry out a successful interview, I've come to the conclusion that interviewing people is a skill that must be honed over time and also practiced frequently.

Topic Two: "The Corpse Had a Familiar Face"
The most interesting story I have read so far in Edna Buchanan's "The Corpse Had a Familiar Face" has to be about former race car driver Christopher Wilder. Wilder was a serial rapist and killer, who went on an 8,000 mile journey to kill and rape as many attractive looking women as possible. By the time his brutal quest was over, Wilder had brutally impacted the lives of eleven young women. Eight of them were either killed or went missing. One of them survived, but only after Wilder poured hot glue into her eyes. One of them escaped after being tortured. Lastly, one women came home unscathed after Wilder put her on a plane that flew to her hometown. Wilder's trek finally ended after he was shot during a scuffle with two New Hampshire state policemen. A quote I thought both summed up this story and also the unfairness of life is "But Police did arrest somebody in this tragic case- the heartbroken parents of Rosario Gonzalez. Unable to restrain themselves any longer, they went to Wilder's home on Mother's Day, seeking some trace of their daughter, missing then for two and a half months. Officers collared them. The charge: trespassing. Prosecutors later dropped the case." Wilder may have felt pain when he was shot to death, but the pain that Rosario Gonzalez's parents felt was much worse, and it lasts forever.
Edna Buchanan's book is not only an iconic work in the true crime genre, but it is also a great book for aspiring journalists. An attentive reader can find many useful tips in Buchanan's stories. For example, Buchanan was writing a story about a Haitian cab driver who was shot four times yet still refused to give up the 79 dollars that the assailant wanted. When Buchanan arrived at the victim's house, the victim's family went out to greet her. During the middle of Buchanan's interview with the family, it started to rain. Buchanan began to turn towards her vehicle when she realized that it wouldn't be fair to have the family stand in the rain while she sat in the comfort of her car. Because of Buchanan's decision to stay, the family became less guarded towards her, and gave Buchanan information they may have otherwise not divulged. After reading about this event in Buchanan's book, I now know that it is important and beneficial to get to know your source. If the source feels that they can trust you, they might be more forthcoming with information that could be crucial to your story.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Week One Blog Post

Topic One: My First News Story
My first news story is about the Young Democrats Club. I have three sources that I will use for my story. The first source is Dr. Robert Harrison, who is the head advisor of the club. The second source I will utilize will be the class president. The third source I will use will be a regular member of the club.

The five questions I will have answered are; What motivated them to start the Young Democrats Club? The second question will be about their reasoning for disbanding the Democracy Club and founding the Young Democrats Club in its place. The third question I will have answered is how many members does the club currently have? The fourth question I will ask is if they have aspirations of growing the club, and if so, how? The fifth and final question I will get answered is what events are they planning in the coming week's?

Topic Two: About You
I enrolled in JN216-News-Reporting because I am a journalism major, as well as a history major. I am interested in learning about how journalism is conducted, most specifically on how journalists embedded in war-zones deal with the danger that can confront them while still carrying out their mission of reporting the news.

Outside of school, my major interest and hobby revolves around sports, most specifically: baseball, hockey, football and basketball, with my interest in each in that order. I love baseball for many reasons. One major reason why I am so obsessed with baseball has to do with all of the different  statistics such as batting average and Wins Above Replacement Player (WAR) that you can pore over to extract information from game-to-game and even season-to-season. Also I love the history of baseball, from its founding during the 1840's all the way to current day. In fact, I own over 250  books about baseball, most of which center around the great history of this seminal sport.

Topic Three: Your Three Goals
I have three main goals that I hope to accomplish during my tenure in JN216. The first goal is to develop reliable sources that can give me an heads up about a developing news situation. The second goal is to learn how to master the art of brevity, I often have trouble with that. My third and final goal I hope to accomplish while in JN216 is how to conduct professional and informative interviews.