Story 1: Christensen

A deadly crash occurred at 6:45 this morning when two trucks collided on Interstate 790. The crash resulted in a 14 car pile-up and involved two additional semi-s. Two drivers were killed at the accident and 20 other commuters were injured. Two of the victims involved were in serious condition and were flown to the Statesville Trauma Center via the "Life Flight" helicopter.

All five of the Plymouth city's ambulances were called to the scene along with the help of ambulances from the four surrounding cities. The accident occurred on the northbound lanes of I-790, and closed the entire highway, which forced the morning commuters to reroute to I-690 and resulted in a three hour delay.

Fire Chief Tony Sullivan commented on his observations upon arrival to the crash site, " The crash scene looked like something from a war zone, with bodies laying along the road, people covered in blood sitting next to their cars, sirens wailing in the distance as more fire trucks and ambulances were called." Sullivan reported that three of the cars involved in the devastation had to be cut open from the roof to free the trapped drivers from inside, and stated that of the 19 years of that he has been with the fire department, he has never seen an accident as bad as this.

According to on-the-scene Police Officer, Sgt. Albert Wei, the police department is not done investigating the cause of the accident, and that I-790 will remain closed until further notice.

News Summary #2: Christensen

Kristen Driscoll pleaded guilty to the criminal vehicular charges against her after hitting and killing 48-year-old Christopher Iverson in St. Paul last June. Driscoll was confirmed to have a blood-alcohol-level of .217 percent and was sentenced to 8 months in a work house as well as probation.

http://www.startribune.com/local/82700112.html?page=1&c=y

Broderick: Blogs in all their Glory

What makes a blog a blog is the ability to write the news/personal thoughts/opinions in a manner that is distinct and original to the author. Although some are (biased), blogs are great because they are not biased, to me a blog is the the purest form of the blogger's true self because the blogger has the ability to post their own interpretation of the subject at hand. The best thing about blogging is the fact that other /followers have the ability to contribute to the original post. Although sometimes comments can be negative and obnoxious, the beauty of blogging is, that for some reason when written in text, insults, and negative comments are much more easily shrugged off, while positive comments flatter the blogger and encourage them to write more. Interactions between the blogger and the followers help create a better understanding of the original post and may help open the eyes of many people that read the blog, which ultimately helps everyone understand each other. The most challenging thing about blogging for me is being consistent, in "Journalism 2.0" it said that one of the things that constitutes a successful blogger was updating their blog everyday. I am new to blogging, however, I'm sure that once I am used to blogging, creating new posts will become more of a habit then school work, and I can't wait till then.

Christensen: Do's and Don'ts of leads

When writing a lead a couple helpful hints from the book have helped me to identify and create leads. The text says 1)Who? 2) Did what? 3) To whom? Although in the book this hint was used to help students from using a passive voice it has helped me figure out what really is the News of the story, and it also helps keep the lead more concise. Another helper for me is looking at sentence structure, the book says that most reporters follow the subject-verb-object word order, this helps me find leads and helps me organize the information in a manner that won't become confusing or grammatically incorrect. These tips are helpful to keeping the lead clear and short, however they don't really show how to make a lead interesting. A good way to make a lead short and interesting at the same time is by writing only the necessary information first, then spicing it up once the news is clear. However, not ALL leads follow these rules, but as a beginner these hints definitely make my life a lot easier.

Christensen: Journal-News Summary

New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/technology/19antitrust.html?ref=technology

German Publishers are filing complaints against Google, believing that Google is taking away from their company's revenue. German Publishers are trying to pass a copyright that would require internet search engines to buy licenses before displaying their information freely on the web.

Introduction

My name is Angelina, I have always had a strong interest and passion to anything that has to do with english, so this semester I am exploring journalism to see wheather this is the direction I should take my career path. This semester I am taking Jour 2131, Online Publishing, with Profesor Broderick, as well as Media Writing with Professor Christensen. Both Journalism Classes I am taking will be using my Blog, so I apologize in advance to those who have to comment on my posts, I will try to make it clear as possible which posts are for which class. Now more about me, I grew up in Warrenville, a small town about 30 miles West of Chicago. I moved to Minnesota in June of 2007 with my best friend. I work as a receiver at the Target store in Brooklyn Center and I am currently living in Plymouth with my Fiance, RJ and my cat, Doctor.