Folks—we are fast heading toward the halfway point in your internships/ Chips training. (Maybe some of you have already arrived at halfway). Given that fact, please think for a few minutes about ONE THING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH before the end of your internship/training/.
Go back to the Goals you wrote out during orientation, and use that as a springboard. This is NOT A REHASH of the goals, but a very concrete achievement you want to nail—a particular story (a couple of you have mentioned things, like Ana and farmworkers, Argenis and Grandma)—could be a particular KIND of story (multi-media; narrative; column, etc. etc.). Could be anything (getting on the front page, etc.)
AFTER YOU TELL US WHAT THAT ONE THING IS, please tell us what steps you plan to take to make it happen, and how we, here in the threads, or me, via email, can help you get there!
Deadline: Sunday.
DON"T FORGET TO VISIT THE OTHER THREADS—keep the good story-idea discussion going in STORY IDEAS. Keep the good ledes coming in LEDES. And of course, root for your home team (and each other) in WATER COOLER!
Goals I wrote down. 1. Get on the front page. 2. Write more than 40 stories. 3. Learn multimedia skills.
The goals were ranked in order of difficulty in my mind. I can happily say I have crossed off No. 1 and 2. at the halfway point. Here are the descriptions of each.
1. I thought this was out of reach when I wrote down I wanted a story on the front page. Mainly because sports is not a front page item unless it is teased to. But thanks to volunteering to cover a state semifinal game in Lakleland, I was able to see my byline on the front. As well as a jump to the front of sports. It was a memorable experience to say the least, and it all happened because I sacrificed one of my weekends.
2. Being a first-time intern I did not think I would be given more than this amount. I was surprised, to say the least, when I was given a story two days into my internship. Follow that up with 3 to 4 stories a day following that. It’s been fun to say the least.
3. The multimedia aspect has been delayed because of my busy schedule. I plan to start on that soon though. I was fortunate enough to get my byline on a photo I took, so that’s a start right?
I’ve learned a lot through this internship, and plan to learn more by asking questions. Any other suggestions? I’m typed out.
It’s funny you should ask that question because over the past two days or so, I’ve been contemplating this goal: I want to have one of my headlines on the front page. I’ve already had somewhere between 20 and 30 headlines ran on the papers but never one in the front page.
The main reason that is, is because I’ve never had the guts to pick up a front-page story to proof it—not until yesterday at least. I didn’t want to pick up a front-page story because I was afraid that I would miss a bunch of errors—even though more eyes read it after I do. The story I read yesterday was about Congress’ re-examination of Roger Clemens’ steroid denials. I picked it up because I wanted to get rid of my fear of proofing front-page stories and what better way to do that than picking up a sport’s story.
Neither my headline nor my summary got used but it was similar to what I was trying to say. That doesn’t count so I plan on picking up more front-page stories and I want at least one of my headlines to be on the front page by the time I am finished.
Neither my headline nor my summary got used but it was similar to what I was trying to say. That doesn’t count so I plan on picking up more front-page stories and I want at least one of my headlines to be on the front page by the time I am finished.
Sergio—fact that you picked up that front page is HUGE. Hurdle overcome. On to the next one. Have you had a chance to sit down with your supe and ask him/ her what you should be doing to nail that front page hed? Am wondering if they would have any tips/ advice for you… on another note, do you feel like posting the Clemens hed you wrote along with the one that ran and having us give feedback? UP to you!
Much, much, much closer tonight!!!!! As a matter of fact, my mentor said that 90 percent of the credit should go to me.
Here’s my headline:
Agency’s new unit sniffs
trouble, secures waters
Headline that made it to the paper:
New unit sniffs trouble,
secures state’s waters
(Story is about K-9’s in the California Fish and Game Department)
Two friggin’ words (remove agency, add state’s)!!!! Almost but not quite. Ninety percent is not 100 percent.
(I would have posted the Clemens head/summ but I forgot it. This one was much closer though.)
Here’s my headline:
Agency’s new unit sniffs
trouble, secures waters
Headline that made it to the paper:
New unit sniffs trouble,
secures state’s waters
Sergio—wow ! Great news! Isn’t this a good hed, guys? GREAT LEARNING POINT HERE (and this is Not a criticism of Sergio, just a reminder for EVERYONE: WHENEVER YOU CAN, just do not use words like “agency,” “issue,” “panel,” “administration,” “regulation,” “facility,” “recommendation,” “proposal,” etc. etc. etc. I call those “bureaucratic non words.” In truth, they say nothing. They are just space gobblers. Go for the SHARP word, the Visual word (like SNIFFING TROUBLE!” Great!)
This is really developing a skill over time for hearing the “non words” and just having a knee-jerk reaction to delete and find the one that shows ( btw, this is a huge challenge for anyone who covers any sort of bureaucracy.....). Examples welcome!
My main goal at the moment is to write an enterprise story. I’m in the beginning stages of writing one on someone living with HIV/AIDS. The numbers of Latinos in Orange County, Calif. living with the disease continues to increase every year. I can’t ignore that fact and believe a story would benefit the Latinos living in that community. The issue is still taboo and not talked about, but my hope is that my story will change that.
My idea is to tell the story of a housewife or a student or (fill in the blank) who doesn’t mesh with the stereotype of a gay man living with HIV/AIDS. I want people to know that anyone is vulnerable to getting it. I’m getting help from a local HIV/AIDS center who will get me in contact with someone who is willing to speak to me. I welcome suggestions on how to talk to this person. It’s a touchy subject and I want to be careful in my approach.
This story will give me the opportunity to write a news feature, which is different from the type of stories I’ve written so far. I’m aware that it’s a long term assignment, but I want to take my time with it and do the story justice. It merits it.
I hope to become a better story teller and grow more because of this story. I’m ready for the challenge!
My idea is to tell the story of a housewife or a student or (fill in the blank) who doesn’t mesh with the stereotype of a gay man living with HIV/AIDS. I want people to know that anyone is vulnerable to getting it. I’m getting help from a local HIV/AIDS center who will get me in contact with someone ... I welcome suggestions ...”
Martha et al:
This is a really good and strong story FOR THIS REASON: You say that the number of Hispanic new cases keeps getting larger and larger, and that it is not necessarily confined to the gay population.
-- First, you need to NAIL THOSE NUMBERS. I.e, how many new cases of Hispanics getting HIV in 1990. How many in 1995. IN 2000. And last year, 2007.
-- The trend upward in the numbers of that population is THE CORE OF THE STORY. Everything else flows from there (your wanting to get the word out; fact that people still think it’s taboo; that there are still misconceptions, i.e., “a gay disease.")
-- Once you nail those numbers as rock-solid proof of the underpinning to your story, then the next hurdle is, as you say, finding someone, or a couple of someones. Key for you to listen to in your interviews: those themes above (misconception of gay disease; taboo.. people don’t talk about it...)
-- You have a GREAT BUILT-IN DYNAMIC from the start: the rising numbers in the face of its still being taboo (this, after 25 years of AIDS epidemic and awareness education!) That is v. powerful. Taboo is a v. powerful thing in a culture, and a very powerful story element to mine.
My main goal coming out of orientation was to break out of the routine I had established during the first four months on the job. I’m pretty confident I’m on my way to doing that, so now I’m looking to set some new goals.
Setting something concrete is difficult, however. But I thought about what I want most from my job right now, and it occurred to me that there is a story in May that I really want to do. In October I did a story on the Saratoga Rotary Club doing a fundraiser to raise money to support a Rotoplast mission to Guatemala to help people with cleft lip and cleft palate. Several club members from Saratoga Rotary and other surrounding rotary clubs are going on the mission in May. Saratoga Rotary expressed interest in sending me to cover the story, and right now my editor is talking with the publisher of the paper to provide the funding.
This is something I really want to do. It would be a tremendous opportunity. And I know it’s not much of a goal because I really have no say in how it turns out. It just depends on how much the company wants to shell out. Anyway, that’s as much of a concrete goal as I can come up with, but more importantly, it’s what I want most from my job right now, so I guess it works.
But if I do get to go on the mission, I’m going to need a lot of advice from Mary Ann and everyone here. I’ve never been to another country (I don’t think Tijuana really counts), so I’d like to be prepared as I possibly can. One of the things I would have to do is take photography lessons because the company won’t be able to have both our reporter and photographer gone for so many days. Devin’s not in here is he?
My personal goal, outside of getting better with the stories of my normal workload, is to get the opportunity to write some longer feature stories in the sports section.
These last few weeks I will also use this opportunity to put some of my ideas into the sports section. This time of year is good for that because of the basketball season coming to an end, so our local coverage won’t be as much.
I am also trying to become a better interviewer as well. I run into a lot of people that aren’t very vocal when I ask them questions. I want to be able to ask the questions that get the best quote and most important information as well.
Overall I just want to have a few more standout, front-page worthy, award-stories to my name.
M
But if I do get to go on the mission, I’m going to need a lot of advice from Mary Ann and everyone here. I’ve never been to another country (I don’t think Tijuana really counts), so I’d like to be prepared ...
Chris—this is a really exciting prospect! Please keep us posted and if and when you get the OK from your publisher, let us know and we can help you brainstorm out some possibilities… in the meantime, just to get the ball rolling, can you post the url for the original story you did so we can see the background???
Even though, there’s nothing about the braceros in the museums around here. You would think my grandma’s history never existed.
Anyhow, I really think that this story has to be told straight forward and directly. The more facts the better; I want this to be as direct as possible ... My family was not the only one that got deported. More than a million people got displaced as well.
GUYS—important!! Argenis has a big chunk of stuff ahead of him. Question: How do you compartmentalize and organize so this enterprise doesn’t feel overwhelming?
-- First thing: Just to get started, I strongly urge you to write a section right now on what the braceros were. Who were they? What did they do? When did they work? Where? How did they fit into the economy/ culture/ history of the area? Why are they not included in museums?
-- How many? For how long? Where from?
Once you have nailed this central piece of informational backdrop, you can begin to build your gramma’s story into it, with quotes from your family, etc.
But Capturing that basic (and very obtainable) background is KEY to your focus in this endeavor.
-- Please feel free to post, or to send to me for critique… EVERYONE: this is an important step in taming a “big” story. What is the factual, reported-out backdrop. THEN comes grandma’s story.
-- IN the end, you don’t know what form that first-written section will play. Maybe it will be a chunk of the story. Maybe it will be broken up, appearing in ribbons of info throughout. Doesn’t matter right now. Key is to get it done to help you focus and tame.
-- Also, DOES ANYONE SEE A GREAT POTENTIAL LEDE UP TOP HERE? ("You would think my grandma’s history never existed....")l
These last few weeks I will also use this opportunity to put some of my ideas into the sports section. This time of year is good for that because of the basketball season coming to an end, so our local coverage won’t be as much.
Matt—this is a great “final goal.” YOu know where we are. If you come up with ideas you think would be good, let’s share ideas! I think some of us are still pulling for the dwarf basketball player too....
Martha: My idea is to tell the story of a housewife or a student or (fill in the blank) who doesn’t mesh with the stereotype of a gay man living with HIV/AIDS. I want people to know that anyone is vulnerable to getting it. I’m getting help from a local HIV/AIDS center who will get me in contact with someone who is willing to speak to me. I welcome suggestions on how to talk to this person. It’s a touchy subject and I want to be careful in my approach.
Martha I have a couple of suggestions for you, I did a complete issue on AIDS in Spanish for my school newspaper while I was the editor. First of all, you need to get the numbers like Mary Ann said, for that I went to the Center For Disease Control. You need to talk to somebody (like a mother, young person) who has AIDS, while I did the issue we found out that many married Latinas who only have sex with their husbands get AIDS because their husbands are having sex with other man, but they don’t consider themselves gay, that might be something that you can look up. Last but not least, there is an agency in L.A. that promotes AIDS awareness in the Latino community and the name is The Wall Las Memorias. If you need more info let me know…
