Atlanta city councilman Derek Boazman was arrested during the protest. State Senator Douglas Dean (D-Atlanta) was also arrested. Dean is the guy asked by the cop if he has a gun. Both were charged with interfering with a government meeting.
Both men were released from jail on a signature bond.
The arrests happened during a meeting of the DeKalb Co. planning commission in Decatur.
DeKalb and Fulton Counties provide government money to fund Grady Hospital.
The old white guy getting interviewed is Bobby Burgess, DeKalb Police Chief.
From the Atlanta city council minutes, July 6 1999. FYI:
Councilmember Boazman remarked that a February 14, 2000 trial date had been scheduled at the Dekalb County Recorder’s Court at 8:30 a.m., as a result of his May, 1999 arrest for interfering with a government meeting while protesting, along with a coalition of other individuals, of Grady Memorial Hospital’s budget cuts by the Fulton/Dekalb County Hospital Authority. Mr. Boazman remarked that although the coalition was not able to get the charges dropped, its efforts did result in $1.1 million being added to Grady’s budget to increase funding for medicine for the indigent.
Your job: Write this package as a current TV news story. The length should be from :60 to 1:30. Script natural sound by using a word or two to describe it, and indicate the time code. Script soundbites more or less verbatim with time codes. Make sure that the first four words and the last four words of the soundbites, and the time codes, are correct. It’s ok to paraphrase what’s in the middle.
Additionally: Write a brief anchor lead-in to the piece. “The downtown connector shut down cold for more than an hour today, and you won’t believe why. Mike Daly reports on the cause, and the roundup of the culprits.”
Tips: Avoid “today,” “this morning,” etc.
Just because it’s in the city council minutes doesn’t necessarily mean it belongs in your story. Note that the council minutes were published two months after the arrests.
You may assume that you have basic file video available of Grady Hospital, as well as the DeKalb Planning Commission.
How do you time it? Read it out loud. Pause for the estimated lengths of the natural sound hits. Read the soundbites verbatim.
This is due at noon, January 4. Send the script to apartmentfire [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com.
“he’s off hes moving down seventy five.”
=== nat sound, 140
For an hour, almost nothing moved in the northbound lanes of the downtown connector.
“he shaked em he faked em he’s off again”
== 150
Nothing, except for the living cargo of a cattle trailer that had overturned.
“they need a rope . they need a rope. I know cows by heart”
=== 130
“((police radio nat sound))
==320
Two cows roamed the six lanes of 75 / 85.
And a large brigade of police officers gave chase.
“don’t run him don’t him”
== 409
Dozens of police cornered one of the fugitive bovines. The commander of an in-town Atlanta police precinct used a rodeo technique to start the capture of the two frightened beasts.
“(cow takes whoop)”
== 530
“now to find another cow
700
eventually, police successfully concluded the asphalt roundup.
“hey man I don’t see cows on the expressway in Chicago much. I’m down for the black reunion. I hope nobody gets hurt”
== 600
“only in Atlanta. Only in atlanta. A cow running down the freeway”
== 113
The district of Columbia will enact an extensive security plan for the inauguration of Barack Obama.
The plan bans parked vehicles for 150 blocks surrounding the capitol.
Federal authorities will enforce a strict no-fly zone, and the Coast Guard will patrol three and a half miles of DC waterfront along the Potomac and Anacostia rivers.
25-thousand military and law enforcement personnel will be on hand to keep the peace before and after the ceremony.
Inverted pyramid story format By Ken Blake, Ph.D. Middle Tennessee State University
Just as they use many different kinds of leads, journalists use many different kinds of frameworks for organizing stories. Journalists may tell some stories chronologically. Other stories may read like a good suspense novel that culminates with the revelation of some dramatic piece of information at the end. Still other stories will start in the present, then flash back to the past to fill in details important to a fuller understanding of the story. All are good approaches under particular circumstances. As with writing leads, though, one should learn the basics before attempting fancier things. By far the simplest and most common story structure is one called the “inverted pyramid.”
To understand what the “inverted pyramid” name means, picture an upside-down triangle — one with the narrow tip pointing downward and the broad base pointing upward. The broad base represents the most newsworthy information in the news story, and the narrow tip represents the least newsworthy information in the news story. When you write a story in inverted pyramid format, you put the most newsworthy information at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information at the end. How do you decide which is which? You use the news values.
An illustration might help. Imagine you must write an inverted pyramid news story from the following basic facts:
An accident occurred. It happened yesterday. Today is Tuesday. The accident was a car accident. It happened in Murfreesboro where Main Street and Broad Street intersect. One person was killed. The person was John Frazier. He was 20 years old and lived in Murfreesboro at 212 Moore Court. He was driving a blue 1998 Ford Mustang. He was driving northwest on Broad Street at about 5 p.m. He lost control of the car. It was raining, and the road was slick. He was also driving about 20 mph over the speed limit. He was the only one in the car. The car smashed into a utility pole along Broad Street. The impact crushed the whole front of the car. Frazier was thrown through the car’s windshield. He landed on the pavement some 20 feet away. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt. He was killed instantly.
To write an inverted-pyramid story from the facts, you first would write a lead that summarizes the most important information. Here’s one possibility:
A Murfreesboro man died Monday afternoon when his car spun out of control on rain-slickened Broad Street, crashed into a utility pole and threw him through the windshield.
Like all good straight news leads, this one summarizes the “what,” “where,” “when,” “who,” “why,” and “how” of the story. The next graf of the story should pick up on some element of the lead and elaborate on it. In this example, the next graf gives more information about the victim:
The man, 20-year-old John Frazier of 212 Moore Court, lost control of his blue 1998 Ford Mustang around 5 p.m. while heading northwest on Broad Street at about 20 mph over the speed limit.
The next graf presents more details about the crash:
Skidding on the wet pavement, the car struck a utility pole along Broad Street. The impact threw Frazier through the windshield and onto the pavement some 20 feet away.
The story’s final graf wraps up the remaining details:
Frazier, who was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash, died instantly. The pole crushed the front of the Mustang.
As you can see, the story would still contain all the essential information if an editor had to chop off the final graf. If an editor cut the next-to-last graf as well, the story would lose important information. But people would still know the name of the victim and a few details about how he died. Get the idea?
Note also how each graf has a logical connection to the preceding graf. The second graf, for example, is linked to the lead by the words, “the man.” The words “the car” do the trick in the next graf, and “Frazier” is the link in the final graf. These links are called “transition,” and they’re essential to keeping the “flow” of the story smooth and logical.
Also note that each graf is very short, usually only one or two sentences long. Your English instructors rightly hammer into your head that paragraphs in an essay should be long. In news writing, though, grafs are kept short. Short grafs add punchiness. They also look better when typeset into a long, skinny column in a newspaper.
Why write this way? Well, for one thing, it’s pretty logical. Imagine you’re telling your best friend that you have just met the love of your life. Chances are you wouldn’t start out with boring details like, “I got up at 8 a.m., I showered and got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, went to class,” then, finally getting to the juicy part, add, ” and on the way bumped into this wonderful person I want to spend the rest of my life with.” Nope. You’d be all excited, and the first thing you would blurt out to you friend would be, “I’ve just met the love of my life!” That would be the “lead” of your story. You’d then describe the next most important information: things like what this person is like, why you’re nuts about this person, what this person looks like, and so forth. Finally, you’d get around to describing all the little details like exactly what you said and exactly what he or she said, and so forth.
There’s a practical reason for the inverted pyramid format, too. Editors editing news stories often have to make the story a particular length so that it will into a predetermined amount of space in the newspaper. Furthermore, they often have to do so under severe deadline pressure. Speed is highly important. If a story is written in inverted pyramid format, the editor can simply trim the story one paragraph at a time, going from the bottom up, until the story is the right length. The editor can do so confidently, knowing that even though information is being cut from the story, it is being cut in ascending order of importance.
Once you get the hang of the inverted pyramid format, you’ll find it has all kinds of uses. It comes in handy for writing letters, memos, short essays — any kind of writing that involves having to make a point or tell a story quickly and clearly. Journalists use it, but it’s not just for journalists.
He emerges from an office on Peachtree Street, a sometime politican, and perennial local legend.
“we gotta get over– OK, lovely”
#1 150
But this was a new hat for Hosea Williams — minister by faith, professional chemist by trade, civil rights agitator, and advocate for the hungry and homeless.
“go ahead and take a right”
#3 234
It is Williams as tour guide, leading us through the streets of his adopted home town.
“Auburn Avenue. probably the most celebrated black economic area, other than Harlem, in America.”
#1 450
And the Hosea Williams tour is more than a drive through Atlanta. It is a look in the mirror. At — who else?
“so this was like paradise to me. I was one of the playboys. I would get sharp as a tack. Coz I was supposed to be real good looking with slicked hair back in those days.”
#1 720
“and i would come to auburn avenue.
#1 705
“it’s loaded with beautiful women.”
#1 630
“you were scopin’ babes the whole time / oh yes sir”
#1 805
“the most beautiful women “
#1 900
“and they got the prettiest women in the world / laff”
#1 920
If Williams sounds a little single minded, well perhaps he’s earned it.
((nat sound from 1987 march, file 87-109, 3430))
He’s made a career of leading high-profile and often ill-fated protests. From Forsyth County Georgia to Selma Alabama.
“been in jail 133 times. bled in 20 states.”
((#2 602 under file video from selma, file A03, 0030))
(nat sound door slam) “where you want to go now? / I want to go to Hunter Street.”
#3 550
Now at age 73, Williams is retired from politics, more or less.
“you do any driving any more / oh yeah. not right now.”
#3 400
He also says he’s quit driving, at least temporarily. The result of a license suspension that followed more than his share of traffic tickets.
“did you ever see that story where they followed you around driving? / i think i did.”
#3 420
“i got to the stop sign and turned right. there wasn’t no traffic coming:”
#3 440
“commissioner williams, at the wheel, running this stop sign…”
file 93-230 25:00
“they talked about how i ran over stop signs and ….”
#3 420
“did you know i was one of the first black race car drivers in the nation?”
#3 433
“hey baby! hey sweetie!”
#2 110
“she’s really crazy about me.”
#2 300
“hi baby baby baby baby baby”
#2 130
even across town from his own neighborhood…
“these are middle class Negroes.”
#2 430
…the territory is home turf to Hosea Williams.
“this is the first nightclub they integrated in the Southland.”
#2 610
“and i bet you were there / oh i was there”
#2 620
“Atlanta was known for having some of the most beautiful black women in the world.”
#2 700
“now on that corner? that was jacob’s drug store. that was one of the popular places where all the pretty girls hung out”
#2 1100
“what was reverend williams like as a young man? / he was fast”
#2 945
“and all the young ladies would walk in and give him a kiss. / ha ha”
#2 955
“just give me a little kiss on the jaw / mmm hm / god bless you”
#2 1009
“hey hosea! / hosea is old and ugly. I am young and handsome.”
#2 1200
“i was telling him the one thing that brought me to atlanta / what was that / atlanta had the most beautiful women in the world.”
#2 1220
“i’m the most popular dude that ever lived in the city. Let’s get out in the street. Take me to Buckhead!”
#3 720
And for williams, it all started a half century ago
“should i go left here? go left here”
#3 550
…with what he cheerfully admits were some less-than-righteous pastimes.
“poker, dice, i mean some of the biggest games i’ve been in in my life / and you were good at it? / oh yes. i was a pro.”
#3 805
“so you were a friend to all the racketeers / all the racketeers. you know i was popular and good looking and dressed well.”
#1 1300
“i sang and i danced. i was a professional dancer at one time.”
#1 1505
“well we used to do the– you know, that was the boogie back in those days. and the other one was the chigger toe.”
#1 1600
“i was good”
#1 1615
“that’s the way i got the attention of them girls”
#1 1620
((nat sound door open #1 1700))
Such a career. And all of it makes perfect sense through the tour-guiding eyes of the reverend hosea williams.
“you were a race car driver once? a race car driver, yes.”
#3 1750
“i’m uncontrollable. but i’m happy. and that’s what life is all about.”
The clothing has a strangely uniform quality to it—plain, white t-shirts, worn by men energetically hustling the sidewalks, the parking lots and the lanes of traffic of a busy four-lane northeast atlanta road known simply as boulevard.
“well a lot of people call ‘em thugs. but I just call ‘em drug dealers”
4650 #2 pam carson, resident
“hey I got weed here—whassup?”
1205 #4 u/c
“weed now. weed now. got that weed”
1844 #4 u/c
“they’re out here to sell you marijuana, cocaine, crack, probably some heroin—whatever it is you want to
buy, you can probably find”
324 #1 debi starnes
“whatever you need, I got it for ya. hello?”
1734 #4 u/c
“everybody knows that boulevard is a high traffic neighborhood for drugs”
2730 #2 rev dennis meredith
the hustle is unabashed and unconcealed—and often done in the presence of the many small children living in this community.
“what’s that / you don’t know what this is?”
1816 #4 u/c
“is it rock? / yeah hell yeah it’s rock. rock on!”
1832 #4 uc
even atlanta police admit that the drug trade on boulevard has peristed here for more than a decade.
for residents, it’s hard to understand—particularly since this neighborhood starts just four blocks
southwest of city hall east, the headquarters of the atlanta police department.
1616 standup
“that ought to say something if the headquarters is so close but yet—“
3550 #2 meredith
“they’re not intimidated to be out there”
3600 #2 meredith [ show drug guys ]
“I don’t understand why it has to be here”
3032 #2 meredith
“that’s a good question.”
1835 #2 maj hagin
major lane hagin admits he’s frustrated. he has data that shows police have made 37 drug arrests on
boulevard since mid-february.
((nat pre-music midtown bust, file 1801-05))
and that includes a sweep before music midtown that netted some arrests and thinned the traffic on some
boulevard curbsides—at least temporarily.
“it’s kinda like turning an aircraft carrier. it’s gonna take a little time. we’re committed to boulevard”
1955 #2 maj lane hagin
“we’ve down fifteen percent in crime. so it’s better than it was but we’ve still got some work to do”
2010 maj hagin #2
((more nat bust, file))
in addition to periodic sweeps, atlanta police and the fulton county district attorneys office have begun
six-month programs to dedicate personnel to this particular area.
“these are good people and they want to see their community improve and so do we. and that’s why we’re
committed to it. and we can do better and we will do better on boulevard”
2207 maj hagin #2
“you can see the police all day every day. every day all day / what about the drug dealers / every day, all
day”
4747 #2 pam carson
“how bout it / cmon man. it ain’t legal out here”
2332 #4 u/c
but there were no police nearby when a young man suggested we accompany him to a nearby breezeway…
“what is that / that’s two hundred dollars / you don’t want that? too rich for my blood / what you want?”
2341 #4
and even encouraged us to sample his wares.
“is that rock / yeah look—put it in your mouth / no I’m not gonna—that’s two hundred? / yeah”
2352 #4
and then, offered to help make financial arrangements.
“cmon spend the money man / you ain’t gotta spend too much. how much you want to spend? / I don’t even have any money so I gotta—I gotta come back / you got a bank card? / yeah I got a bank card. / you got one? / I do but I– / let’s go to the mall. credit card—we gotcha.”
2417 #4
“let’s go to the mall”
2437 #4
“boulevard has been boulevard for as long as I can remember”
1822 maj hagin #2
“and it’s frustrating to people who are trying to live here and raise their kids here and trying to send
their kids to school up the street here”
533 #1 debi starnes
councilwoman debi starnes has represented this area for ten years. which would be news to the fellas
pounding the asphalt on boulevard.
“y’all all right/ whatcha got? / what you want?”
4743 #5
we took another undercover walk up boulevard with councilwoman starnes.
“how much is the weed? / got some dimes / we got dimes”
5922 #5 u/c
and apparently we both had the look of people with a need.
“well, the second guy said I got fifty, a hundred /yeah but I didn’t know what that meant / that’s the
size of the bags”
5401 #5 deb u/c talking to doug
“the size of the bags of crack, I believe”
5422 #5 deb u/c
“were you surprised the guys hit on you the way they did / no I wasn’t surprised”
913 #1
“it’s frustrating, it’s maddening, it’s unacceptable and it just takes a lot of effort to interrupt the cycle. because the dealers will be here as long as we let them be here”
542 #1 starnes
“whassup officer friendly?”
5027 #5 u/c
and what about that uniform—the white t-shirts, which reverend dennis meredith says is more than a fashion statement.
“all white t-shirts because if…”
3503
“somebody decides to make a call, there’s drug trafficking going on, then when they call—well, what
do they have on? well a white shirt. well, ten of em got on white t-shirts. so it makes it very difficult”
3510 rev dennis meredith #2
“don’t you want weed”
0007 #5
and the challenge persists, in a neighborhood whose police presence begins at the headquarters just blocks
away…
“you want crack or what?”
1216 #4 u/c
“I’m just walking / man you just walked thru the trap. we’re gonna ask you. that’s our job”
1233 #4 u/c
…yet barely hinders the daily hustle on the busy four-lane road known as boulevard.
“so you want some / you’re gonna be here right? I know where to find you”
031 #5 u/c
JOURN 4740- News for Telecommunications
Friday 9am- – 11:30
Spring 2009
Instructor: Doug Richards
Office Hours: By appointment
Office: 662 One Park Place
Telephone: 404.775.7140 cell, before 10pm please
e-mail: apartmentfire@gmail.com
Course objectives: As a college student, you already know how to write a coherent sentence. This class will show you how to do it as a news professional. This course will emphasize deadline writing and reporting, as well as production for broadcast media.
Expectations: You will be treated the way a broadcast professional would be treated. Deadlines are absolute. On-time class attendance is expected. Class discussions will enhance learning. The instructor will take attendance and note tardiness. Attendance and participation will be part of your grade. Each student is expected to know the day’s local and national headlines.
Course goals: After taking this course you will
• become proficient in broadcast news writing;
• know how to find and develop newsworthy stories;
• produce news stories that could be presented in television or radio newscasts, with an understanding for the production elements of sound, pictures and interviews.
• develop interviewing skills, including persuading subjects to be interviewed, and negotiating of confidentiality of source identity;
• develop critical skills to effectively evaluate the quality of contemporary broadcast news stories, and apply them to your own projects.
Text:A Broadcast News Manual of Style, by RH McDonald. ISBN 0-582-99865-4. Emphasis on Part II, with part IV as a style guide.
Lab Use, Supply cards, etc. The GSU Communications department requires all students enrolled in this course to purchase $100 worth of supply cards early in the semester to use video and recording equipment, and the Multimedia Lab (307-CS). Revenue from these cards is used toward the cost of supplies and maintenance.
Students will be allowed access to these resources only after they have
• Registered for the course
• Purchased and turned in the supply cards to the Instructor and
• Signed and submitted an Equipment Use Agreement to the instructor. The initialed supply cards, as well as the signed Equipment Use Agreement will be turned in to the instructor Friday January 16.
Supplies and Information
• Cameras and video accessories have been assigned to this class. There isn’t enough equipment for all course students to use at the same time. It is critical that you plan ahead for your equipment needs. The instructor will be the manager of the equipment inventory and have the final say in resource allocation.
• Equipment checkout schedules are posted at http://communications.gsu.edu/checkout/. We will be using Final Cut Pro, which is editing software embedded in the Media Lab’s Apple computers.
• The required forms are available to download and sign at http://communication.gsu.edu/undergradforms/
• Students will be responsible for purchasing their own external hard drive and a set of headphones / earbuds. An external hard drive will cost about $100. Students will also have to purchase thumb drives, which will be used to submit assignments.
• Students are not allowed to consume any food or beverages in the classroom / Media Lab.
• The instructor will maintain a blog at dougrichards.wordpress.com, posting video and class notes.
Class Schedule
Week 1, January 9: Introduction to class, syllabus, text and course materials. Instructor’s background. Will play one investigative piece, one feature, and show scripts. Basics of news writing. First in-class writing assignment.
Week 2, January 16: Broadcast newswriting. Raw video exercise. Collaborative writing assignment. Critique Monday January 19 NBC Nightly News 6:30pm on WXIA, and 7pm Evening News with Brenda Wood on WXIA. Submit by noon January 21.
Week 3, January 23: In-depth discussion of January 19 newscasts. Second in-class writing assignment.
Week 4, January 30– TV photography and editing. Guest speaker—longtime TV news photographer Mike Daly. Show raw video in class. Assignment: Write story based on raw video, turn it in by February 4.
Week 5, February 6: Discuss January 30 assignment. Story ideas for first TV project. Doug shows some feature pieces. Assignment: Submit 5 story ideas in February 6 class. Guest: Julie Wolfe, WXIA reporter.
Week 6, February 13– Class discussion of story ideas, finalize story idea for first TV assignment, due March 9. Digging for stories, conducting interviews. In-class writing assignment. Assignment: Watch WAGA’s 6pm news February 16, Submit critique by noon February 18.
Week 7, February 20 – Interviewing and news conferences. News conference with DeKalb Co. Sheriff Thomas Brown. Submit thirty-second story by end of class, longer-format piece by noon February 25.
Week 8, February 27—Visual storytelling, telling stories through people. Deadline for submitting script for project number one.
Spring Break
Week 9, March 13. Turn in project. Play projects in class. Guest critics.
Week 10, March 20. Submit story ideas for second project. Begin production of project #2, due April 10. Radio reporting. Guest speaker: WABE radio reporters Jim Burress and Odette Yusef. Write :30 story on their presentation by end of class.
Week 11, March 27. Mainstream media and the web. Guest – Chris Sweigart, WXIA. Write a :30 story about Sweigart’s presentation. Turn in by end of class. Submit script for project #2.
Week 12, April 3. Investigative reporting, the care and feeding of sources. Guest – Dana Fowle, WAGA. Write a :30 story about Fowle’s presentation. Turn in at end of class.
Week 13, April 10. Review project #2.
Week 14, April 17. Producing a newscast. Guest: Beth Black, WAGA. Watch and critique WSB’s 6pm news April 20. Turn in critique by noon April 22.
Week 15, April 24. The future of the news media. Guest speaker: Bud Veazey, former VP news, WAGA.
Week 16, May 1. Presentation of final TV project. Guest critics in house.
Grading:
Jan 9 in-class writing assignment: 1 percent
Jan 16 in-class writing assignment: 2 percent
Jan 19 critique of WXIA newscast: 2 percent – extra credit
Jan 30 Story based on raw video, 3 percent
Feb 6 Five story ideas: 2 percent
Feb 13 in-class writing assignment: 3 percent
Feb 16 WAGA critique: 3 percent- extra credit
Feb 20: :30 story on Thomas Brown newser, 2 percent
Feb 20: longer-format story on Brown newser, 3 percent
March 13 video project: 15 percent
March 20 Waters :30 story, 3 percent
March 27 Sweigart :30 story, 3 percent
April 3 Fowle story, 3 percent
April 10, video project, 20 percent
April 20 WSB newscast critique, 3 percent – extra credit
May 1 final project: 30 percent
Textbook quizzes: 2 percent
Attendance: 4 percent
Class participation: 4 percent
Unauthorized use of Twitter, Facebook, text messaging in class: minus five per infraction
Grading rubric for writing assignments:
Submitted on time: 100 points.
Missed deadline: Minus 100 points.
Lead sentence fails to deliver essence of story, or appropriately build story: minus 5
Use of jargon or non-conversational English: minus 5
Wordiness: minus 1 – 5
Spelling error: minus 5
Name misspelled: minus 10
Fact error: minus 10
Inappropriate source: minus 5
Confusing writing: minus 3
Improper / lack of attribution: minus 5
Overall absence of concision: minus 5 – 15
Overall absence of interesting writing: minus 5 – 15
Subjective assessment by instructor: plus or minus 5 – 20
Grading rubric for video assignments:
Submitted on time: 100 points
Missed deadline: Minus 100 points
Technical flaws (black holes, dead air etc): Minus 10
Visuals fail to support copy: minus 2 -5
Fact error: minus 10
Unattributed opinion: minus 10
Use of jargon: Minus 5
Subjective assessment by instructor: plus or minus 5 – 20
