Monday, October 3, 2016

JRN 200: Story Pitches ...

... include:



  • What is sports attendance dropping among MSU students?
  • Condom use among students
  • Hassles of early lease period for off-campus housing
  • How are high school students being affected by the presidential election?
  • MSU's on-campus tobacco ban (FOUR people are doing this one!)
  • Academic impact of living on-campus versus off
  • Time management challenges of student-athletes
  • PTSD among military veterans
  • Transgender student life at MSU
  • Racial climate at MSU
  • Financial challenges of out-of-state vs. in-state students at MSU


... and more!

Overall, I think it's a very strong set of topics. These are all ones that can be locally reported; they all regard trends and issues in that they're not hooked simply on the fact that something's happening; they seek context through looking at pros and cons and who's affected and in what ways. Really nice bunch.

A few of you did NOT send in a pitch. Big mistake. Each of these out-of-class stories are worth around 10 percent of your final grade, so these are the projects on which we have to be perfect. The deadline clock is already ticking (see related blog post); you need to get me a pitch ASAP. You will also be docked on your final assignment grade for missing the tip sheet deadline.

Still, it's better than blowing off your assignment. If you miss your story deadline, you will blow a hole in your final semester grade that will be so severe you will be hard-pressed to do better than a 2.5, at best and potentially much worse, in this class.

That's by design. In journalism, an editor can work with a piece of junk story that's submitted before a deadline. An editor can print, post or air something that's never turned in. And in this business, along with getting facts wrong it's an unforgivable sin.

Let's get on it, folks.


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