Pulled Quotes

In the USA Today article Thousands seek tix to see pope in USA, the writer talks about the fact that in both N.Y and D.C, the venues selected to house the pope’s visit have been “sold out.” The article in effective in that it gives us most of the information around the pope’s visit. There are a few questions left unanswered such: as are these the only cities that he will be visiting? When will there be another visit? 

The lede also begins with the two archdioceses. While this is clearly important, I believe that I would start the article with the number of ticket requests rather than the two archdioceses. Another important fact is that of the venues: Yankee Stadium and Nationals Park. I would most likely begin with the number of requests and the places that were filled to the brim. 

Another interesting fact that wasn’t as stressed as I believe it could have been is that the archdiocese of Baltimore’s website was shut down due to all of the traffic; that just seems pretty unusual/unexpected to me.

An article on the USA Today website caught my attention. Apparently there’s a new school in California, Oaksterdam University, that prepares its students for the medicinal marijuana industry. The school is located in Oakland, where some of the first practices with medicinal marijuana began. If you’re wondering where the name of the new school comes from, combine the names Oakland and Amsterdam (the city in Holland infamous for pot) and there you have it.

What works in this article is the obvious wit,  but this isn’t a magazine, it is a newspaper. The first few lines of the article act more as a tease than any kind of informative intro. By the third paragraph, I am finally understanding what is going on here. Do not be surprised to find out that the students who enroll into the program (which is a 2 day course on the weekends, full until May) are either in it out of curiousity, or to gain tips on how to ehance their own experiences with pot.

The article brings up some necessary points and facts though. Yet again, we’re hearing about California, a state that is typically finding its way into the controversial spotlight that surrounds the legalization of marijuana. We’re also finding out that, yet again, some students may be abusing the courses this school is offering for their own personal lifestyle. In turn, this has outraged some people in the community, making marijuana, once again, the ongoing controvery it is.

With that said, so what? I’m not even sure how seriously I’m supposed to take this article when its opening lines are vague and mysteriously intriguing, yet close with a man from the DEA talking about the grave seriousness of the matter. What is someone supposed to take from this?

The article I read on msnbc.com, “Trial of 3 NYC police officers begins,” is a typical news story that describes the scene of the crime, talks about who was charged with what, and lays out the facts. Sean Bell, 23, was at a bachelor party the night before his wedding and was killed by police gunshots outside a strip club in Queens. Bell was, supposedly, drunk and dangerous.

This article is newsworthy because when police make wrong, deadly decisions, that impacts the rest of us that are at risk. The story is timely because it happened today, and it also has a certain degree of proximity because it happened in the United States.

After learning more about how to construct a news story, using the appropriate type of lead and moving from more general information to more specific information, I feel that I can effectively critique this article. I thought the lead should have been a “what lead,” since a man being shot on his wedding day is the most interesting piece of information, at least in my opinion. However, the Associated Press started off the story with a “who lead,” using the three police detectives as the subjects. They focused the story more on the police than on the dead man, but as the story progressed and got more specific, they included information about the man’s devastated bride-to-be. I guess this story was a good guide for the news story I’m working on.