Extra Credit assignment #6

1. Pole was not the only person that got his bike stolen. There's a multitude of other people who lost their bikes. Missing bikes are becoming an epidemic.

2. I can do a news feature about how to speed skate for fun. The news peg would be because the Olympics is just over which means that the story still has the timeliness element to it. My nutgraf is to inform people on some of the techniques and tips on how to speed skate for beginners.

3. Cruises have been popular for married couples. A huge number of them are taking vacations on these cruises, along with their wedding parties.

The Cruise Lines International Association says that there was a sixty percent increase for cruise weddings. This association represents big cruise lines and travel agencies. Carnival Cruise Lines expects about two thousand couples marrying on-board. These couples pay about one thousand dollars for a simple ceremony and about two thousand dollars for a more complex ceremony.

Extra Credit assignment #4

Part 1

1. I am usually reluctant to write about topics that I am unfamiliar with. For example, religion is a topic that I try to stay away from because I don't think I can talk about it as in-depth as a religious person would. Also, I think any topics that make me have a personal opinion on, I should stay away. Some of the topics that I think might be hard for me to cover objectively are abortion, global warming, movie ratings, government spending and school related issues.

2. If I had the choice of choosing another topic, I would because I feel like I'm writing something that I disagree with but I have no choice because I know that I can't be bias. For example, I'm for abortion. I think that the moms have the right to decide if she should have or not have the child. If I were to write a story on this topic, I would have to talk about how the baby is a life too and that the child should be born. I think that will make me feel like I'm contradicting myself. However, if I really had no choice but to write a story that I have a strong opinion on, I think I would definitely research and find more information on the opposing viewpoint and be really careful as to what I say when I write the story. Also, try not to put my viewpoints in it.

3. Yes, I think the media are biased because the media are capable of manipulating the public. For example, celebrities might want their fans to think a certain way of something. Also, newspapers put bad pictures of the president, celebrities, etc all the time. This probably shows a strong opinion from the newspaper staff. I think that journalists have the power to eliminate these biases because they are one of the sources people go to for news. The journalists should give the opposite viewpoint if they do detect biases.

Part 2

1. I don't think they covered the story fairly because they made the speech seem like it was a complete joke. The writer constantly used the word "laughed" numerous times to reiterate that most of the things Governor Rod Blagojevich said was all lies. Also, there were not that much quotes from Blagojevich or Northwestern students. I feel like it was mostly based on the writers observations of the crowd of students who were in opposition of Blagojevich. There were no voice of the students for Blagojevich.

2. Some of the ethical considerations I might take into account is to make sure that the headlines, photos, graphics and quotations don't misrepresent. Also, give voice to the voiceless. In this case, I would also interview the students. The two ethical tenets that may conflict is be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges and question sources' motives before promising anonymity. Keep promises. These two conflict because if you promised to keep the sources anonymous but this person is charged of a wrongdoing, then it's up to the journalist to decide if he or she wants to tell the name to the court or go to jail. There is a potential for libel because if you reveal the name of the anonymous source, then you can ruin that person's reputation.

3. I would written this story differently. I would have interviewed the professors and students of Northwestern see how they feel about Blagojevich's speech. Also, I would try to combine both sides of the story. I think the Tribune ran the story this way because their staff had a strong opposition to Blagojevich.