Chapters 11 and 12

In Chapter 11, the book discusses writing news releases. What interested me the most about the concept of writing news releases was the fact that the facts still need to be checked. All of the information is given to you, but that still doesn't mean that there is no reporting to be done. I realize now, that no matter what you are writing, what it comes down to is that every story needs a few essential things. For example, structure, research, quotes, etc.

Granted, the researching involved in re-writing news releases does not seem nearly as in depth as researching for a different story, but it is still research. While you may not need to go attend an event, you still have to talk to a few people and double check all of the facts given to you.

That is another thing that interests me about journalism. No matter what is being written, whether it be a feature story, an obituary, or a news release, as journalists, we are taught to always hold a little bit of doubt in the information that is handed to us. We are told that even when we are fed information, like we generally are in news releases, we should still double check all of the information that we are presented with; question everything.

While I do feel that this constant questioning is a good quality amongst journalists, I do still hold some doubt in the idea of re-writing news releases. I somewhat feel as though it is not necessarily the job of journalists to promote organizations.

Chapter 12 discusses news conferences, speeches, and meetings. Not all of our assignments as journalists are going to be fun. The book explains that these types of stories will generally be assigned to us in the first few years of our reporting careers. The book then explains that preparation is an important factor in covering a news conference, meeting, or speech. You need to know who the key speakers are, what their backgrounds are, who will be at the event, what the event is about, etc.

Even though news conferences and meetings and speeches may be boring, it is still possible to make them interesting. I feel that description is what makes a piece like this interesting to an audience. Describing the different interactions going on, describing the audience, the speakers, the overall environment.