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 Writing Across the MediaCh1. Writing with Clarity and CoherenceCh2. Writing with ResponsibilityCh3. Writing for AudiencesCh4. Writing and Gathering InformationCh5. Writing the OpeningCh6. Writing Basic StoriesCh7. Writing with Visual and Audio ImagesCh8. Writing Complex Stories

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Exercises and Assignments

ASSIGNMENT 1

From the set of facts provided below, write two 180-word stories — each with a different focus.

  1. The first for your college student newspaper.

  2. The second for a public relations release from the college news service.

The Facts:

You have come across a report from the State College health service.

It discusses sexually transmitted diseases (STDs): chlamydia, genital herpes, body lice and venereal diseases. It describes chlamydia as a bacterial parasite that usually produces no symptoms in affected people but can lead to sterilization in women if left untreated.

The health service director Ellen Jones said: "It seems much easier to have sex with people than to talk about having sex. There are some students on this campus who didn't even know the name of their sexual partners."

The report is on the number of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) diagnosed on campus so far this school year. There are 50 cases so far this school year (near the end of the first semester), and the report estimates the number could reach 100 by the end of the school year.

Jones said the college is launching an aggressive information program about STDs and how to prevent their spread. The program includes lectures in the dorms by health service personnel, an hour-long movie available to professors to show in class and the distribution of pamphlets about STDs and their symptoms.

According to the health service report, the number of STDs reported for the four years prior to the latest results was 20, or about five a year.

Jones said the college is expanding its hours for STD testing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. She said the tests are free and the results are confidential.

According to the report, City University (across town from State College) has recorded 100 STD cases on campus since the beginning of its school year.


ASSIGNMENT 2

From the facts provided below, write two basic stories:

  1. A 6-paragraph story for the late edition of a daily newspaper, published on the same day as the incident.

  2. A 40-second anchor voice/over to be read on the evening newscast the same day as the incident. The pictures available include wide shots of the cabin and the surrounding countryside, shots of all four people (including the two victims and their injuries), DNR officials with the dead cougar, the knife, the dog and officials loading the dead cat into a truck.
The Facts:

The people involved are Troy and Robin Smith and Chuck and Kathleen Jones, all of San Francisco, Calif. The location is a remote cabin near Dos Rios in Mendocino County in northern California. The incident is a mountain lion attack.

Troy Smith's thumb is bitten off by a mountain lion or cougar. He was treated and released from Frank Howard Memorial Hospital, as was Kathleen Jones. The cat bit her on the left forearm.

The animal is dead. The Smiths and Jones' husband managed to subdue the cat and Mrs. Smith stabbed it.

The four people are awakened when the Smith's collie started barking about 4:30 a.m. today. All four go outside with weapons — a shovel, hatchet, kitchen knife and a length of lead pipe — and the cougar runs under the cabin. The collie has several bites on his muzzle — none serious. The four then build a fire to keep warm. While they are standing next to it, the cougar emerges from under the cabin and lunges at Kathleen Jones. Then the Smiths and Jones' husband jump the cat and Mrs. Smith stabs it to death with a kitchen knife. The California Department of Natural Resources (DNR) takes the carcass of the female mountain lion to Sacramento for an autopsy, to check for rabies.

Robin Smith has this to say in an interview: "We were having a wilderness weekend. We just love the country. There are such rugged foothills and mysterious creek beds. It's like the Old West out here. I thought the cougar killed my dog. I was stabbing him like it did. I'm just glad we're alive because it was a close call. That cat was big, it was strong and it was aggressive."

The DNR reports another encounter with a mountain lion four months earlier. This one happened near Placerville, Calif., on a frequently used hiking trail. A jogger, Barbara Schoener, was attacked and killed by the cougar. It ate part of her body. Authorities later tracked down and killed the 80-pound cat.
  
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