Mathophobia

When I took MGF1106, Math for Liberal Arts Majors, my teacher informed my class that there is a UF support group for people who have a fear of math. I couldn’t believe this at first, but I definitely fall into this category, and not necessarily because I’m a writer/editor. There’s much to memorize when it comes to math and so much room to make mistakes. Journalists don’t like mistakes. In fact, we get 50 points taken off assignments, a failing grade, when we make a mistake. I love math when I understand it, but loathe it when it frustrates me.

“JOURNALISTS + MATH = ANXIETY, SELF DOUBT”

My first reading, “Journalists + math = anxiety, self doubt,” revealed that when reporters were tested in math, they scored high when it came to simple percentage changes and arithmetic, which is most of the stuff we encounter within stories. The American Society of Newspaper Editors article, by Scott Maier, asserts that journalists have low confidence in their ability to carry out math skills. We have a complex that says we just can’t “do math.” My journalism friend Jessie owns a shirt that reads, “Too pretty for math.”

Maybe most mathematical errors in stories come from laziness or ignorance, coincidentally two of The Seven Deadly Copy Editing Sins. At first my copy editors at the Alligator either didn’t care to check math and statistics or didn’t know they had to check the info. Recently I’ve tried to remedy this by providing the Web sites that Dr. R provided our class. I think at least the copy desk, if not reporters and section editors, should go through some sort of training in math. In recent articles on Dr. R’s Web sites, writers suggest that newsroom employees should get special training in several topics. I propose that copy editors receive training in math and sports. Sometimes we get opinions articles or news stories that contain sports material, and I have to fetch a sports journalist or editor to read through the article.

A few simple pointers should be included in journalism training. I might even revamp the copy editing test to include online media, sports info and simple math preparedness. Journalists, but copy editors in particular, must have a little bit of knowledge about a lot of topics.

“ON COPY EDITING – WHO WOULD WANT TO BE A COPY EDITOR?”

Another ASNE article, “On copy editing – Who would want to be a copy editor?” by Ann Auman, discusses why journalists would want to try copy editing. I have a few ideas about why journalists should want to spend at least a few years copy editing. We get to hone our skills in many topics. We read dozens of stories every day for tomorrow’s newspaper, and get to practice math skills, spelling, grammar and fact checking. We are gurus.

Auman’s article describes how many universities don’t adequately teach students how to become good copy editors. Worse, many universities don’t teach students the importance or need for copy editing. I think UF’s regular and advanced editing classes do adequately prepare students for copy editing, but I think many students ignore the possibility of becoming one.

Also, the article states that copy editors should be well-versed in certain skills. I don’t think UF adequately enforces learning multimedia skills. All of my journalism electives were classes that taught me slightly useless information: Rock ‘n’ Roll and American Society, Television in American Society, History of Journalism and four credits of independent study. Now I’m regretting never taking photo or multimedia classes. I wish I had been forced to learn these skills.

Like I said before, copy editors are supposed to be gurus on everything. One of the qualities that Auman looks for in a copy editor is a “Quark experience,” something that could be useful in a pinch. Speaking several languages, knowing many newsroom skills, playing sports or reading about them and having an eye for good news are all good qualities that I hope to master.

Who would want to be a good copy editor? Anyone who has a wide array of skills and wants to be able to use ALL of them.

“A BILLION PEOPLE CAN BE WRONG”

A third abstract reading, Sports Illustrated’s “A Billion People Can be Wrong” by Steve Rushin, discusses the math behind the purported one billion people worldwide who would watch the 2006 Super Bowl. Numerous news outlets, like The Detroit Press, interpreted the forecast to actually mean one billion people would watch the Super Bowl. The mark was missed by about 907 million people, according to the SI article. Semantics went into crafting the misnomer: the NFL said the show would be broadcast in 225 countries to a potential audience of 1 billion people, but didn’t say everyone would be watching it.

Like in our case study this week, these football numbers are sensationalized. The SI case is partially a subject of humor, but other stories with similarly sensationalized information can lead to serious consequences.

“The NFL and Fox say that 133 million Americans saw some part of last year’s Super Bowl. But even by that charitable measure, 163 million Americans did not,” the SI article states. So even the people watching the commercials didn’t add up to even close to 1 billion.

Who’s to blame in this sensationalism? Well, the NFL wasn’t doing anything illegal, but its “potential audience” was played up a lot, and probably misled thousands of viewers. SI references credible sources that estimated the actual audience at about a tenth of the purported number.

CASE STUDY

Like the SI article’s assessment of mis-math, our case study interpreted numbers in a sensationalized way. The Sun article correctly assessed that Gainesville’s murders doubled from one year to the next, but the number increased from one to two murders. Although the numbers are 100 percent correct, it’s also 100 percent sensationalism. Without the original numbers, a story on a twofold increase of murders would have serious implications for Gainesville’s tourism industry and holistic sense of safety.

Although Dr. R changed around some of the information and numbers in the article, at first glance, the class didn’t know what information that included. When I read the article the first time, I laughed at the mistakes I thought Sun copy editors had missed. It showed how important it is to a newspaper’s credibility to get numbers and math straight. The article also showed how percentages can seriously misconstrue perceptions.

STORY IDEA WEEK FIVE

Since the beginning of January, I’ve been receiving some of my tax W-2 forms. I held a few jobs in 2007: The Independent Florida Alligator, SPADA Day Spa & Salon and PJ’s Coffee in both Gainesville and Naples. I was thinking that, like me, many students don’t know about their options with taxes. Taxes aren’t due until mid-April, but if students are receiving W-2s in the mail then they can start filing. Freshmen who are filing taxes for the first time may not know anything about them, like when I was a freshman myself.

I would talk to professors in UF’s College of Business. Do students usually get money back, or do they usually need to send in money? What tax forms should students be filling out? Has anything changed this year with filing taxes? Is it better to fill out tax forms online, or through the mail? What are some examples of possible write-offs? Do you have advice for students filling out their taxes for the first time?

I would interview some students in the Intro to Financial Accounting class about how knowledgeable they are about their taxes. I would also talk to some students who are not business majors, to see if there is a difference in what the business students know and what the regular student might know about taxes.

Online, or for a sidebar in the story, there will be a list of tax deadlines, Frequently Asked Questions and pointers/advice. All of this information would be gleaned from and attributed to business professors and professional tax consultants. The online package will also include Web links to sites where you can file your taxes. Photos might include a student receiving financial advice at local financial consultant centers.

A copy editor’s role in the newsroom

The abstract assignments this week weave a theme of copy editing’s position in the media. As a copy desk chief at The Independent Florida Alligator, I think it’s an important theme to consider. After all, William G. Connolly, a former senior editor at The New York Times, once said, “Copy editing can save the world if it’s done well enough.”

THE SEVEN DEADLY COPY EDITING SINS

“The Seven Deadly Copy Editing Sins,” written by Anne Glover for Poynter Online, lists seven mistakes copy editors can make that cost the newspaper credibility and cut down efficiency. While I have probably been guilty of each deadly sin, I still think they are equally unacceptable in the newsroom.

The sins all add up to laziness, which is extremely detrimental to a reporter or someone who works in a bustling newsroom. The sins, Arrogance, Assumptions, Sloppiness, Indifference, Ignorance, Laziness and Inflexibility, are each a separate category, but they are mostly symptoms of laziness. Take this, for example:

“You assume that the reporter did the math, or that the photographer got the name wrong, not the reporter. Or you assume that the reporter meant something that he or she did not.” -Assumptions

As a copy editor, it’s your sole existence to double check a reporter’s math, check names in the cutline and story, call the reporter to clarify a sentence and to check all these things again when you are finished. Writers and assigning editors should not be passing stories with errors in them, but it is your job to ensure the mistakes don’t make it to the readers. Along with checking the facts and producing a grammatically sound newspaper, the copy editor’s next job is to ensure the newsworthiness of the story and to ensure that the “nut graf” explains the story so that the reader remains interested.

Last week at the Alligator, two jargon-riddled, nonsensical stories got through me and went to the editor. I was so busy fact-checking and fixing errors that I let these stories pass. I felt like an idiot and I felt like I had been guilty of several of the seven deadly copy editing sins: Laziness (not re-reading the story after fact checking), Assumptions (the reader would understand this, right?) and Indifference (it’s so late and I don’t care any more).

TABOO TOPICS IN JOURNALISM TODAY

The second abstract reading I completed was titled “Taboo Topics in Journalism Today,” an Accuracy in Media article by Cliff Kincaid. The article was about how people perceive journalism as a liberal entity, which is backed up to some extent. The article asserts that journalists can’t write on certain topics anymore due to previous inflammatory writing that backs up the liberal view on the subject.

Harmful effects of abortion, DDT’s good side effects, questioning the real cause of AIDS, reform of the FBI and CIA, homosexuals who abandon the lifestyle and the good effects of the war in Iraq were all on the list of taboo topics in journalism. The article made me think that it has become fashionable to write negatively on conservative issues, or to emphasize a liberal view. Writing on any other position of the topic would be inconceivable.

To write on the good effects of the Iraq war, for example, would call out reporters on the articles they produced about the “quagmire” that is the Middle East and the ineptitude of the Bush administration. Writing on the other point of view would make the majority of reporters wrong in many previous articles. This isn’t what journalism is supposed to be about. Having a liberal bias is equally detrimental as censoring the liberal view.

50 PLACES TO SHOP FOR STORY IDEAS

One of the “50 Places” is classified ads and other places where people post items for sale. After always hearing about this possible story idea, it finally happened – I read an article about a crazy item that was for sale in a classified advertisement. “Ad for hitman posted on Craigslist” was an Associated Press story The Gainesville Sun ran on its Web site Sunday.

“‘Out of 550 million classified ads posted over 12 years, this is the first such incident that we’re aware of,’ Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press” the article stated.

The article shows how a simple classified ad can turn into a story. Not only was the item interesting (hitman for hire), it also led to legal implications. Police may patrol cyberspace more closely for items like this one on Web sites like Craigslist or eBay. Follow-up stories might include more illegal or dangerous items that police discover on these Web sites. Journalists may even be able to discuss other Web sites like MySpace, a site that is under increasing scrutiny as a dangerous forum for certain audiences.

Like the blog creating a niche in the news market, Web sites like Craigslist are replacing personal, tangible stores with online shopping. The online world is stepping over boundaries in places like the news market and shopping, like the blog and online media.

Although copy editors don’t have a hand in assigning stories, he or she reads every story that goes into the newspaper. Copy editors should be trained to notice patterns within news stories that could lead to series of articles. It really might work.

20 UNDER 40

“20 Under 40″ is a piece the Newspaper Association of America produces every year on the 20 people under the age of 40 who represent the changing world of journalism. I found it interesting that some of the people on the list didn’t even major in journalism in neither undergraduate nor graduate school. Many of the “20″ studied marketing or business.

News is a product, and is becoming more marketed and specialized in order to evolve. The four P’s of marketing – Product, Placement, Pricing and Promotion – are all being analyzed to bring new products into the news market. Cyndy Carr, one of the “20,” said that her team is trying to listen more to what the readers want- including advertisers.

This could pose a problem. Does the publication want to write articles and editorials that are independent of pressures from advertisers? If a publication caters to the advertiser, the publication will be able to afford to run itself but may not have readers anymore. How can a publication evolve in the changing world of media while maintaining a loyal reader base? Does the base change with each evolution?

JIMMY’S WORLD

The case study this week was the article “Jimmy’s World” by Janet Cooke. The Washington Post ran this article, an account of an 8-year-old heroin addict, in September 1980. One skeptical read-through pokes dozens of holes in the story: Why is an 8-year-old, who almost never attends school, in the fourth grade? What are the last names of the boy and his mother/mother’s boyfriend? Didn’t the reporter have an obligation to report this abuse? Why is the house, in the middle of a ‘ghetto,’ comfortably furnished? Why would a parent ‘waste’ money on giving her 8-year-old heroin? Then there’s the language the boy uses. It’s all possible but highly implausible, like one editor writes in our handout.

After the story won a Pulitzer Prize and after Cooke revealed that the story was fabricated, Connolly and a team of journalism professionals analyzed the issues surrounding the article at an ACES national conference. Most decided that deep flaws that any editor should have caught pervaded the story.

Assigning editors should have poked holes through this story before it made it to copy editors. In turn, the copy editors should have questioned the story before it got to readers and before it won a Pulitzer Prize. Like “Eagle snatches dog while owner watches,” a copy editor should have had serious issues with the article. The questionable eagle story may not have been on par with an entirely fabricated story that won the most prestigious award in journalism, but both are stories that should have been looked at with a skeptical eye.

Week 4 Story Idea

At the Gainesville City Commission meeting Monday night, a new ordinance was approved that would prevent residents in the Forest Ridge and Henderson Heights neighborhoods from parking on lawns. The ordinance is scheduled to be voted on a second and last time at the Feb 11 meeting, but if passed, it demands that cars should be confined to driveways in those neighborhoods.

My story idea is a follow-up to the commission meeting. The ordinance is aimed mostly at students, so I’d try to get a cohesive student response. Other than random students I could interview for opinions, I would talk to Student Government officials, like Student Senate President Kevin Reilly. I would also try to find a house with a lot of cars parked out front and get reaction from the renters or homeowners.

Another interesting aspect of this issue is parking for football games. If you are in Gainesville on game day, you know how many people rent out their lawns to anyone willing to pay $10 for a spot to park. Would this practice be illegal under this restriction? I would want to talk to certain people I know who literally pay for their rent every fall semester with money they make renting out their lawns on game days.

I would also want to find out if this ordinance, confined to two neighborhoods, would be a standard for other neighborhoods. Would illegal lawn parking spread to all of Gainesville? I would talk to city commissioners about this.

Students who invite numerous friends over for parties and – just about every UF and SFCC student – would be interested in this issue. Adults who rent out their homes to college students would also be interested in the issue, since they could be penalized for renters who break this ordinance. I would talk to city commissioners about whether this could be a possibility.

On the newspaper Web site, there could be a map showing where the two neighborhoods are located. A link could be provided for people who want to write to the city commission about the ordinance. The comments section of the online paper would probably get responses about various opinions on the issue. There could also be a photo slide show of cars parked on lawns in several Gainesville neighborhoods.

Citizen Journalism

The theme of this week’s abstract readings are of credibility in the news world and ways to achieve credibility and competitiveness through innovative online mediums and obsessive editing.

SKEPTICAL EDITING

A newspaper’s credibility depends partially on the absence of errors, as in “Skeptical Editing” by Reid MacCluggage. This first reading is an excerpt from a speech he made at a company-wide Gannett editor’s meeting. Ironically enough, MacCluggage’s name was spelled wrong in the file. I wonder if our advanced editing class was supposed to catch this or if it was a mistake.

MacCluggage asserts that the problem is not dishonest reporters, the problem is editing that is void of skepticism or incredulity. But MacCluggage’s words of wisdom leave me wondering: where can copy editors draw the line when editing? When is it OK to go over the writer’s head and call the source to get correct information? After the copy editor calls the source, how much of it is the copy editor allowed to simply believe, or should he or she keep questioning?

Writers and assigning editors should have a policy where someone provides the copy editor with documents or Web sites that can help the copy editors check facts. Sure, copy editors are required to be AP Style, grammar and spelling gurus, but if they are given wrong information that they cannot fact check, the blame falls back on the writers and section editors. This also brings home MacCluggage’s point on questioning stories. If a copy editor cannot confirm something, he or she should call the writer to double check facts. They should also question the newsworthiness of a story. A story can always be held or cut from the newspaper, but credibility cannot be reinstated so easily.

JOINT OPERATING AGREEMENTS

Under the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 that President Nixon implemented, two separate daily newspapers can coexist under one roof. Under the “joint operating agreement,” the streamlined process includes a reduction in resources, as the two newspapers combine costs of materials and supplies. The newsgathering remains the same, as both newspapers compete to provide news to the community.

The operation works in theory, but I wonder if readers would believe that the newspapers are competing. If the newspapers are under one roof, it would seem that costs are also cut at the expense of the quality and breadth of news coverage.

Will stories become advertisements disguised as news? After all, advertisers will only have to pressure one source to get a story published on a product. In the same vein, will the editorial departments work together and produce one viewpoint that monopolizes both newspapers, or will the two departments work separately?

I would hope JOAs would leave the sameness to the business offices and advertisement sections. If JOAs could not work independently under one roof, the blog may be the next best medium for news sharing.

MEET THE NEW FACE OF HYPERLOCAL JOURNALISM

“Meet the new face of hyperlocal journalism,” an Online Journalism Review interview, focuses on Debbie Galant, creator of Baristanet. In the interview, Galant talks about how she created her Web site after she left as a columnist at The New York Times. At first blush, one might think managing and writing for a blog is easy, but Galant outlines the details.
One thing I found interesting is that she had to fire a writer due to the writer’s mistakes. I’m so glad that online journalism is adhering to newspaper standards of flawless editing. It should be a given, since readers can’t take a publication seriously if that publication continuously prints errors and mistakes.

Although the Web site is considered a competitive news outlet, it differs from other publications in the market by having an opinion. Galant pointed out that the site’s stories are fair, but can have a point of view. It seems to be a bit more creative than straight print news.

More of what I found interesting is that Galant’s Web site is not just a blog. She widened the definition of “blog” when her crew added video, mapping and audio devices. Galant’s site also includes a comments feature. The comments feature is an innovative addition to online news. Instead of only allowing readers to write letters to the editor, readers can post ideas, comments, feedback and criticism without being completely identified or without the hassle of mailing in a letter. The Letters to the Editor section in newspapers is often edited, but comments sections online are usually not edited. This could be good and bad, as those who comment can use profane language or submit spam links.

‘POTEMKIN VILLAGE’ REDUX

Online Journalism Review writer Tom Grubisich gives a comprehensive list of grassroots news sites that could help journalists everywhere understand citizen journalism. Grobisich mentions that the comments section on iBrattleboro.com, one of the Web sites listed, is a key indicator that the site is up to par with today’s competitive online standards.

But the comments section, like in any online medium, allows readers to submit useless or fake stories. The iBrattleboro site mentions that 9,000 spam links had been purged. However, there are helpful topic discussions listed that really define citizen journalism. These specialized topics allow a community to talk about what they deem important.

COMMON SENSE JOURNALISM
The last reading, “Common Sense Journalism,” defines what the other articles are talking about – “Citizen Journalism,” or simply “cit-j.” The article reminds me to stop holding on to the image of “the way it was,” like in Glaser’s article. Whatever you would like to call it – citizen journalism, community journalism, online/new media, hyperlocal journalism – it’s all here to stay, indefinitely.

As a side bar, it makes me wonder why professors McKeen and Foley make us read the print edition of The New York Times and The Gainesville Sun.

To massage journalists into the new world of cit-j, the University of South Carolina’s Doug Fisher outlines useful tips for starting up an online news source. The first tip reminds journalists that the details still count. This is like Galant’s Web site, a microcosm business that must take details seriously in order to be taken seriously. The article goes on to caution about starting up a Web site – it will be expensive and readers won’t necessarily come quickly.

HartsvilleToday.com, a site created by a group of USC journalism students, is listed as a prime example of cit-j. Adhering to the tips that Fisher outlines, the site is user-friendly and the discussion posts are divided up into sizable topics like education, hobbies and government. Registering for the site may cut down on spam submitted.

For readers who aren’t Internet-savvy, the site provides users with helpful tips on writing posts and taking photos. It then allows readers to submit photos to the site’s image galleries.

CASE STUDY

After reading at length about editing skeptically, it seems absurd that the topic of our case study, “Eagle snatches dog while owner watches,” is riddled with holes that editors should have questioned.
The story sure is good, but editors can’t go by the adage, “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.” It is a one-source story that isn’t backed up with one shred of evidence. Editors should have demanded the owners’ names, the exact location of the gas station, the dog’s breed, a police report if one was filed and possibly videotape footage.

The information may have not been easy or even possible to obtain, but editors should have asked for it and questioned the validity of the story. It may not seem like a big deal, but Professor Rodgers told the class that the story went on to be mentioned nationally, even in the monologues of late-night television shows.
The truth should have definitely gotten in the way of a good story in this case.

WEEK 3 STORY IDEA:

This idea focuses on the Gainesville community. It could potentially run in The Gainesville Sun. Recently, I spoke to a gastroenterologist at Shands at UF. He said Crohn’s disease, an intestinal tract problem, is prevalent in industrialized nations, more so in the U.S. than anywhere else. But it happens to be very prevalent in north central Florida, where Gainesville is located.

This was very interesting. Why is this disease so strong in our local area? What is causing it? I would research these findings, which were published recently in an internal medicine journal. The story may even point to larger issues, such as water or land waste problems.

Next I’d interview Shands gastroenterologists Steven Polyak and John Valentine. They would have insight and opinions to share about these findings. I would also interview Mark Sears, a Gainesville resident who created a Crohn’s and Colitis support group that meets once a month.

The group promotes open discussion between patients and their families and friends. Begun a few years ago, the group began with a few members and grew to about 24. Sears invites local gastroenterologists and medical professors for question-and-answer sessions and seminars. He also sends out e-mails that include updated information about medicine Crohn’s patients may be taking, such as Asacol.

The story could also include research done by the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, a non-profit organization that researches and works toward a cure for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

If the diseases are prevalent in the Gainesville area, local residents would be interested to see if they are possibly at risk of developing an intestinal problem. Online graphics could include statistics about where Crohn’s disease is prevalent. Photos could be taken at one of Mark Sears’ support group meetings.

No Train-No Gain, Revamping Flow

My first abstract reading was on Mark Glaser’s “Revamping the Story Flow for Journalists.” It related to an experience I had last semester, when I started out as an administrative reporter at The Independent Florida Alligator. My university desk editor, Jessie DaSilva, sent her reporters an e-mail. It outlined her ideas for the fall, including a tutorial on online media, complete with video and audio training. Her e-mail ended with “We need to learn this stuff if we want jobs after we graduate.”
Initially I shrugged off the comment, but now I accept it as an obvious fact. Print journalists who aren’t educated in multimedia run a huge risk of being unmarketable in the newspaper world. Reporters who can’t enterprise ways of taking ideas from the community are journalistically close-minded. The Internet is taking over print media, and print media had better keep up with changing times.
Now readers don’t want to just hear about citrus farmers in central Florida, they want to see photos of Farmer John reaching up to adjust his citrus equipment. They want to hear audio of the machines clanking, of migrant workers picking oranges and of Farmer John talking about the changing citrus industry. Readers want to be viewers; they want to see edited footage of how an orange goes from a seed to a plant to an item in a grocery store.
Along with the shift in how a story becomes much more than only a printed article, there is a shift in how reporters gather information. Glaser’s “Revamping the Story Flow for Journalists” describes a world in which reporters mingle with the general public to create story ideas. His idea is that it’s impossible to run a fleshed-out beat without incorporating readers who are encompassed in that beat, and I agree. In Glaser’s world, ideas should flow from all outlets that include the old way of news gathering plus new outlets, such as blogs set up for experts and for reader feedback. Furthermore, readers can comment or edit content Wikipedia-style. In this way, “News” will always be new, due to the possibility of forever correcting and adding content to stories.
I would raise some questions to Glaser’s utopia of new media collaboration. It sounds great, if executed correctly. “The way it will be” allows for freedom of speech and a forum for voicing it, but also might lead to plagiarism within the comments section and might lead to laziness in reporters. Plus, other newspaper reporters might take ideas from the blogs and write their own stories, thereby scooping the reporter who originally set up the blog.

Additionally, newspaper copy editors may have to constantly check the information to insure quality of the writing and facts. Although “The way it was” sounds archaic now, it did allow for complete control over fact errors and content.

My second reading was a Web site that contained the list “50 places to shop for story ideas.”

The list sounded a lot like Glaser’s description of how to find story ideas in “The way it was,” but all could be revamped to include video and audio. I’ve seen this list before, and after reading it I’m always amazed at reporters who complain about not knowing where to find story ideas. Anything, anything can be a story. The enterprising journalist knows how to look at the room surrounding her and to think up a dozen story ideas.

Of course, this is easier said than done. I once thought writing a story about UF’s new General Counsel, Jamie Lewis Keith, would be fascinating for UF students to hear about. Turns out, she was a very nice person but not very interesting. She makes a lot of money, donates some time to charity, has a husband and kid and used to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After writing the story, there really wasn’t much news to Mrs. Keith. My story was boring and it only ran at about five inches.

But the next week, I saw her eating pizza at Leonardo’s Pizza by the Slice. A woman who drives an Audi convertible and alone makes a cool quarter-million dollars a year was eating at a place that offered a full meal for $5? Keith was a good story idea, but I should have tried to focus on a smaller, less-known aspect of her, like her choice of pizza or something else relatable to UF students. I should have written a story about all the faculty members who eat at cheap Gainesville joints, no matter how “indie” the joints are. Anyone who’s taken microeconomics with Dr. Rush knows how much he loves Leo’s. And how spectacular would it have been to see UF President Machen at Satchel’s Pizza? Oh, the wonders of feature writing.

Enterprising ideas is potentially easy, but it might be tricky to focus on a newsworthy topic of that idea. I think this is something all fledgling reporters, like myself, must work on.

 

Week 1 Story Idea: http://thebluepencil.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/hello-world/#comments