Day 4

Students today discussed and wrote about broad topics, such as "What is media?", and "What is news?" The class talked about and learned about some ways in which news is created and where news stories come from. We talked about Public Relations and a PR practitioners' role in disseminating information to the media in order to get that message before an audience/publics.

We talked about leads in journalism stories and shared some tips for lead writing:
-Be concise
-Be specific
-Use active verbs
-Emphasize magnitude of the news
-Stress the Unusual
-Localize and update

among others.

We also discussed various types of leads, such as a delayed lead, descriptive lead, direct address lead, expression lead, first person lead, freak lead, prediction lead, expression lead, question lead, quotation lead, relationship lead, surprise lead, summary lead, staccato lead, dialogue lead, and contrast lead, and illustrated examples of each.

We then discussed observation and how that strengthens writing and reporting. We walked to the Arch on North Campus and observed the gateway to the University of Georgia. We shared some observations from the Arch visit, such as the fact that students who have not graduated don't walk under the Arch.

After enjoying a "Dawgie Bag" lunch, we returned to the classroom and read and discussed the narrative history of media. These include the oral culture, writing culture, print culture and electronic culture.

Students are now reading about media globalization and media organizations and people and will design PowerPoint presentations in 4 groups of three to share with the rest of class and lead class discussion tomorrow.