MBTA

Today the MBTA announced that they will run trains and popular bus schedules until 3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights. As of right now, response has been very popular, with #MBTA being a popular topic, and just about every post being positive. For the longest time, the trains stopped running at midnight on every night, which posed a problem on the weekends specifically because most bars stay open until 2 AM. With the new schedule, the city of Boston will have to worry less about drunk driving. Not only that, there are not a lot of cabs in the city, making it even harder for people to find a way home when trains are not in service. The new schedule will start in the spring, and will have a one year trial period. If successful, it will be extended.

Could it happen here?

New England shark experts say that a shark attack off the coast of Massachusetts is very unlikely, and that the water is pretty safe for the general public.

This statement comes after the body of 17-year-old Chrissie Watson was found severely mauled by an unknown attacker on South Beach. When this was reported, talks of a shark attack began.

According to Dr. James Sulikowski, associate professor in the Marine Biology Department at the University of New England, there have been less than five fatal shark attacks in MA. waters over the past 400 years. "People in MA. have a higher probability of dying by being struck by a falling icicle than by a shark attack in MA.," says Sulikowski. 

The last fatal shark attack in New England occurred on July 25, 1936 at Hollywood Beach, Mattapoisett, MA, when 16-year-old Joseph Troy was the victim, according to newenglandsharks.com.

Sulikowski went on to say, "If you are killed or even attacked by a shark in New England, I would consider you one of the most unlucky persons around. While anything can happen, I would say the waters are pretty safe for the general public." 

  

  

 

Thoughts about this class

As this class comes to an end, I can not believe how fast it went by. For starters, I can say that this is one of the hardest classes I have taken at UNH. I did not anticipate everything I would have to do, such as getting one story a week. This proved to be very hard at the beginning of the semester when I had no idea what I was doing. I did not know anything about finding sources and almost less about what to ask them. However, no matter how hard this class is, it is probably the most useful class I have ever taken at UNH. This class has prepared me for journalism in the real world better than anything else could have. It has been challenging, but it has taught me a great amount, and I know it will help me in the future.

Shark Attack

A body has been found washed up early this morning on the Amity Village Beach, severely mauled by an attacker of unknown origin.

The body was identified as Chrissie Watson, a 17-year-old resident who was reported missing at about 6 a.m.

Watson was reportedly at a beach party last night, and was last seen leaving the party with another teen, a male identified as Christopher P. Hoggenbottam III, at about 11 p.m.

Police have been told by Hoggenbottam that Watson decided to go swimming and entered the water at a remote section of South Beach near the South Beach Shoal bell buoy. 

Police investigators have also learned from witnesses that both teenagers had been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana during the evening.

According to Amity Police Chief Martin Brody, only Watson went in the water, and Hoggenbottam passed out on the beach. 

At the press confrence, Brody said there were currently no suspects, however Hoggenbottam’s credibility has gone down because he was intoxicated at the time of Watson’s missing.

A shark attack has not been ruled out, however according to Brody, shark attacks are remote, and there are no dangerous sharks at the beach.

Finding Sources

As the semester progresses, I have found finding sources for stories to be much easier. Many of my sources now a days come from one simple question: "is there anyone else I could talk to?". That question almost always gets me at least one extra source. Ask that every person you talk to, youre almost always guaranteed another person to talk to. It has made covering stories much easier. Im very glad I figured out this technique, because had I not, I would still be running around campus hoping that I can find someone to contribute to my story. Not only is that method stressful, its also very time consuming.

Red Sox Parade

One of the most amazing experiences I have ever had was when I went to the Red Sox championship parade last week. The atmosphere in Boston was truly amazing, as probably most of the city was there and thousands more from surrounding cities and states as well. Everyone there was just happy to be at such an amazing event. I was near the end of the parade, so we had to wait a while for the parade to reach us. Even still, no one was mad or getting impatient. When the duckboats were finally in sight, the crowd roared. For the next 10 minutes, the crowd was constantly cheering. Cameras and cell phones could be seen everywhere, as everyone wanted to take a picture of history being made. An event I will definitely never forget.

Take Back The Night

This was the first big event I covered, and it was fun, hard, and pretty emotional. The night started off seeming like it would be really cold, however the cold would not be a very big factor. Right as I got there I tried interviewing a few people that showed up. Not a lot of good quotes unfortunately. I ended up writing my story more about the events happening instead of what people had to say. The crowd walked around Durham yelling multiple chants. After they got back to the Great Lawn, they formed a circle and people talked about their experiences with sexual assault. A truly emotional moment. This was a great event to cover for my first time because of all that was happening.

My First Published story

Today I got my first published story, and it is a great feeling. I went to my first TNH meeting on Tuesday, and they said they needed someone to cover Take back The Night. The problem was that it was due Thursday night, and the event got done Thursday around 9. This meant that it was going to be a long night, but I was willing to take it. After covering the event, I got to TNH office and immediately started typing. It was an interesting feeling knowing that I had a deadline to meet. Luckily, most of the TNH staff were there also, typing up stories of their own and getting fridays edition ready. The TNH are all really great people who know how to bring a good vibe to a stressful working environment, even if its at 1 in the morning. At about 1:55 my story was done, and I showed it to Susan Doucet, the editor. Luckily she liked it. She thanked me for staying so late, and while I was tired, it was a pretty good feeling.

Fluffy

At 9:30 a.m. at the Durham Zoo, Fluffy the rare spotted leopard was discovered missing, and she has still not been found. 

“We are searching the grounds of the zoo, but so far we haven’t a clue,” says Gerry Durrell, director of the zoo.  “She may have left the area, and she could be walking around Durham at this point.  We just don’t know.”

According to Kitty Smith, the zoo’s chief zoologist, Fluffy is a 10-year-old Romanian spotted leopard, one of only five in existence. They were driven to the brink of extinction in Romania because of their appetite for children under 8 years old.  Needless to say, they are extremely dangerous.

According to Smith, “If these cats are cornered-or encountered on a dark night or in a dark alley- their defense is to kill, and to kill quickly.”  Smith urges anyone who encounters Fluffy to get slowly to the ground, go limp, lay still, and avoid eye contact at all costs.  “Fluffy may then do a lot of sniffing and licking, but unless she senses fear she’s not likely to react violently.”  

Fluffy is black with white spots, weighs 146 pounds, and can run 60 miles an hour.  She is a carnivore whose diet consists largely of old chickens that are thrown into her cage.

Police Chief William Blaire said that if they can not find Fluffy in the zoo, they will begin searching the neighborhood at 11 a.m., moving further and further away from the zoo.  Their goal is to find her by 2 p.m., or else it will be a long night.  

Portsmouth

Justin Williams

Engl 621

Meeting story exercise

·      Students will have a different punishment

·      Might have to go to saurday detention

·      Hope to stop students from smoking in school

Intro

Students may be facing a new punishment for violating school policies, after Tim Steele, a member of the school board, made a motion requiring students who have disciplinary problems during the week to attend a Saturday morning session. 

This would be a very big change, as the previous punishment was the student sitting in a classroom with a teacher all day during the week.  Because this is such a big change, there have been some negative responses. 

                                    Negative responses

“I work six days a week and it’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday.  Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well?” says parent Peggy Bacon. 

Another voice came from senior Lisa Gallagher, who opposed this plan.  “I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week.”

                                                Specifics

The session would run from 8 a.m. until noon several weekends during the year.  Besides parents having to worry about getting their children to this session, another problem they face is the session requiring $3000 per year, thus increasing taxes. 

                                    Support

While this plan was unpopular with some of the parents, Steele saw potential to stop students from breaking school policies, most notably smoking in the bathrooms.  “I know this isn’t good news for parents, but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules.” 

Another supporting opinion came from resident Bab Farley of 64 Elm St.  “Parents aren’t teaching their kids any discipline, so the kids have no respect for rules.  Maybe if they miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”

Steele then reiterated how the only reason he is proposing this is to stop the issue of smoking on school property

                                                Result

In the end, no decision was made at the board meeting where all this discussion was taking place.  The board voted 5-3 to table the issue until next meeting.  During that meeting, Steele will have to had to come up with figures on in-school detentions so far this year.   

  

Notes

After looking through my text book, I have been realizing things I have to either start doing or get better at. One thing I realize that I really need to improve on is note taking. While doing interviews I do take notes, but they are not very useful. Its mostly me just writing down one word about a certain topic. I mostly rely on recording with my iPhone. While this ensures I always have exactly what they said, it takes a long time to find certain quotes to put in my story. It would be much easier if I were able to jot down the main points and even quotes so I can just look at a few pieces of paper instead of rewinding and fast forwarding a 5 minute interview. Based off the examples in the textbook, I know what I should be doing, now I just have to find a way to do it myself.

Federal Shutdown

The biggest story right now is obviously the shut down of the government. This is being reported in multiple ways. Some people are blaming others, some people are writing about the final fall outs, and some are just reporting how this is going to effect workers. An article in the Boston Globe touches on that subject, saying how many workers are now being furloughed. The article mentions how many people came into work today in MA not being sure if they would have work. To their disappointment, many people were turned away, and told to go home without pay. On place the article focused on particular was the John F. Kennedy Library, which has been shut down until further notice. The article began with a group of French travelers on vacation who were turned away from the library, thus effecting their plans. As many articles in the Boston Globe do, I really enjoyed this one because it only focused on the problem, and not what caused it or who is to blame. The purpose of this article was to let the country know just what kind of effect this shut down will have, and the consequences of it.

Hardest Week

Last week, I think I can say I experienced one of the hardest and most stressful weeks of my college career. I feel like I truly got to experience what it is like being a reporter. I was able to get 5 interviews done in 2 days, and it was not easy. Almost every person I asked told me to come back some other time for an interview, meaning I had to schedule that time around my classes and other interviews. By Tuesday afternoon I was running around Main Street trying to get all those interviews done. Thankfully, I was able to get them all. What also really helped was that the people I asked for an interview were willing to do one, just not at the time I originally asked them. The one person that gave me a hard time was a cook at one of the restaurants who clearly did not want to do an interview, but would not just say it. He kept making the excuse to come back when he had more time, even though the place was completely empty. Maybe he really was busy, but he sure did not look like he was overrun. When I finally did get the interviews done, it was time to write the story, which proved much harder than I thought. In the end though, I was able to get the story done, and use all my sources. While it was not easy, I think that was the most experience I have gotten so far in journalism.  

Delayed Lead

Since I began writing, I always liked to start a paper with a delayed lead. I always thought that giving background info first was a great way to start a story. Since taking journalism however, I have learned that this is not how you should begin a story. The lead should always be quick and get to the point. However there a few times when a delayed lead can help a story. One example is when its a lead story that is clearly going to be long and cover a lot of topics. In this situation, giving some background information would most likely help. There are other stories, however, when you should just get to the main focus of the story immediately. In these stories, too much background will bore the reader and cause them to lose interest very fast.

NPR

The interview on NPR about what to do and what not to do in interviews was very eye opening to me. For starters, it made me realize that even the best news reporters today can make mistakes today, especially the ones that are already famous and try to make the story about themselves. He also made me realize that even though it may seem like common knowledge to not ask types of questions (such as dont ask yes or no questions etc) it is much harder than people think. He made me really rethink about the way I interview and the type of questions I ask.

Sourcing for past 2 stories

Looking back, there were a lot of things I could have done different in my last 2 stories. In the last story I wrote about unrecognized fraternities, I realized I did not speak to the right people. Originally I had a person in mind who would have been perfect for the interview, but he was sick all the days I had available. Because of this, I should have honestly redone the whole story. Instead I attempted to do the same story with different sources, which I now realize did not make sense. Midway through the story, I pretty much switched topics, something that is never allowed. While I should have definitely used different sources in that story, I feel that the sources in my first story were very well chosen. I did a story about scope, and got interviews with 2 new members, and an older member who was also a director. I felt that the combination of these three people gave a great insight to my story topic, which was the comeback of scope. Getting sources is completely new to me, and I am still learning. However I feel that I am getting better and hopefully I will be able to know what the perfect source is for a certain story.

Readings in the Boston Globe

When reading the Boston Globe recently, the number one story that has been tracked is the Syria conflict. It seems that new information is developing every second, and the Boston Globe is always updating their stories. One of the most recent articles is about a speech the president gave, in which he talks about threats and diplomacy to Syria. The one thing that I found interesting in this article was that the writer seemed to go out of their way to criticize the presidents speech. In one part of the speech, the president made the point that America is not the worlds police. The very next paragraph, the writer points out how with Americas help, they can stop children from being gassed to death. I found this very interesting, considering the Boston Globe usually does nothing but report the facts, and does not try to give the reader a biased view.

Requirements of writing the news

Since taking this class, the hardest thing to adapt to has been setting up interviews and following up with people. I just finished my first interview for the class, and it was with SCOPE. Contacting them was one of the hardest and most stressful things I have had to do at UNH. At first I called them and got no answer, so emailed them on Friday in hopes that they would get back to me. By Monday I still had no response and tried calling them again, and again no answer. Finally I walked to SCOPE's office that afternoon in hopes that someone would be there, and I could not have been any luckier. There were two girls that agreed to be interviewed, and midway through, the executive director came in and agreed to be interviewed as well. While I was able to get 3 very good interviews, it proved to be much harder than I thought. The number one thing I learned was that getting an interview done can easily be a week long process.

Finding my story

I have never had to create a story in such a short time. The only other time I had to write one was when I had to write a news letter for my fraternity. However, I had a whole semester to write this story, not a week. Finding a story proved much harder than I thought. While it was a very vague topic, "something big happening around UNH," I had a hard time. Luckily, one of the biggest announcements all semester was made last week. That announcement was that Kendrick Lamar is coming to UNH. When that was announced, I knew exactly what my story was going to be. It was perfect, SCOPE had been in trouble for the past year and they just made a huge comeback by getting one of the biggest rap artists in the country. I knew that my story was going to be on the comeback of scope and how they got Kendrick Lamar.

My most popular source of news? To be honest, I have to say it is Twitter. While of course I use CNN a lot, the biggest stories I have found out about recently have come from Twitter first. Months ago, when the Boston Bombing happened, I found out about it on Twitter before CNN even had a story about it. Now one of the accounts I follow on Twitter is CNN Breaking News, and even still I find out about stories quicker through retweets. If there was anything I had to know every day it would be world conflicts, most recently the conflict with Syria. I truly think that Twitter has revolutionized the way news is spread. While I am very interested in world conflicts, it is not my biggest passion for news. That award goes to sports news. If there is one Twitter account I could never unfollow, it would be the Sportscenter account. They are always guaranteed to bring breaking sports news with great accuracy. Why? Because of all their insider reporters. With twitter, I am able to have more knowledge about a sport or team than I need to know, without even following them closely. As this class progresses, I hope to continue to use Twitter, and to find out how to use it even more effectively.

News is...

News is a collection of facts that people will have to decide whether it is worth their time to follow those facts, or if they could care less if they ever heard about them. In a global story such as the Boston Bombing or the attacks of September 11th, it is quite clear what the general consensus was on if people thought it was worth their time to follow those facts. However on a much smaller scale, such as facts about a man that simply woke up and went to work, are people going to invest their time to follow those facts? If they do, it will not be nearly as many people that followed the facts of the Boston Bombing.