Obtained Skills

         The media writing class really opened up a new writing skill that I would not been able to achieve otherwise. I have learned how to cover news in these format styles:

• Obituary
• Beat
• Feature story
• Movie review
• Covering speeches
•  Editorial and Columns

I also know how to broadcast in journalism. I know how to write for broadcasting and radio news reporting.

Also, I know how to do online reporting. This consists of bogging and incorporating links and multimedia.

I have come to understand the laws and ethics in media writing. These laws and ethics are:

• Press rights
• Press wrongs
• Understanding Libel
• Invasion of privacy
• Copy right
• Code of Ethics

In order to make the stories journalistic I learned the Associate Press style of writing. I learned how to:

• Write in proper grammar
• Properly use attribution
• Properly use numbers
• Write in inverted pyramid style
• Write leads
• Write with a good story structure

Next, the interviews were an important piece of information in covering a story. I leanred how to:

• Ask proper question
• Get familiar with that specific person or topic
• Know who are the liable source in a story
• Know what type of interview is appropriate at time like: in person, by phone, or by e-mail.
• Never to forget that I am in charge
• Keep focused on my questions
• After the interview, it is always good to ask for more sources to contact

There are great tips from the pressroom that can be helpful in being successful in journalism. Some of the tips I took a good look into are:

• Eliminate lazy adverbs, adjectives and instead choose strong verbs that suggest what they mean.
• To keep leads short in the first paragraph
• To avoid words that reinforces ethnic racial, gender or ageist stereotype.

Working in a pressroom is a key to a successful journalistic career. This is what I know about the pressroom that is helpful:

• Different people edit rough draft of stories than those who write them. They also work together to create a good story.
• Understand different position in the pressroom
• Not to commit myself to one single technology because it will be changing.
• When writing stories one can be a beat report or a general assignment reporter.
• There people who work in the editorial board
• People who do photos and graphics in print and online

Over all, the media writing class helped me better understand the media world and what are my best options on how I can use my skills in management way. I have acknowledged important trends that influence the business of journalism, media writing, and my outlook on journalism career:

• The unbundling of news in economical and consumer behavior is increasingly centering on journalism’s future.
• The tier of future of New and Old Media.
• The mistaken notion on the news media shrinking.
• Technology is further shifting power to newsmakers through their ability to control the initial accounts of events.
• The self-interested information providers are growing rapidly and news organizations must define their relationship to them.
• Due to online audience numbers the traditional media content still prevails lead to cutbacks in old media and how heavily y it impacts what the public is learning through the new media.