Week 3: Assignment

Tiffany VanVolkinburg

ThursdayNov 30 at 12:24pm

Manage Discussion Entry

Today it is no longer quite so easy to distinguish journalism from other forms of writing and imagining. Now, it is hard to determine precisely where journalism ends and other forms begin, and lines between forms of journalism have been similarly disrupted (Miller, 2012). Because of this, employing journalistic techniques that capture the attention of readers is paramount to the success of a story.

The two stories I evaluated from the business section of my local newspaper, The Fargo Forum, were about North Dakota business developments. The first was a story (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. about a local father and daughter who recently opened a store in downtown Fargo, selling personally refurbished decorations and furniture. The second story (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. was about the progress of a soybean plant being built in Spiritwood, ND.

The two most prominent techniques I noticed that were used in these two articles to capture the readers' attention were an interesting and captivating lead, and ample use of source quotes. The book states that "while journalistic conventions restrict what writers can do in some ways, there is still plenty of room for creativity" (Stovall, 2015). This was very true in the case of the first article.

The lead followed the necessary conventions--i.e. it was less than 35 words--but it was creative in that it gave the reader a teaser as to what the article was about by only revealing enough information to make a person want to read more. The lead read: "Jeff Kale knew more about how he could refurbish things he found on the curb than what he would do with the finished products, at least when he started collecting" (Johnson, 2017). It left the reader with the question 'how,' wondering how Jeff Kale found what to do with his finished products.

The second technique I believe both stories utilized well to capture the readers' attention was ample use of source quotes. The quotes helped to break the monotony of the stories, preventing them from becoming boring or stagnate. This was a useful technique to use that I believe took into account readers like myself, who typically find business stories uninteresting.

Tiffany VanVolkinburg

References

Johnson, R. (2017, November 27). Father and daughter open furniture, decor store in downtown ... Retrieved November 30, 2017, from http://www.inforum.com/business/4365431-father-and-daughter-open-furniture-decor-store-downtown-fargo

Miller, J. (2012). MAINSTREAM JOURNALISM AS ANTI-VERNACULAR MODERNISM. Journalism Studies, 13(1), 1-18. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2011.578946

Stovall, J. G. (2015). Writing for the mass media (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.