Taking The Lead
Carla Smith
Beulah High School
According to Professor Ed Williams, a journalist has two jobs—to gather and to write. Williams coached high school writers through 13 essential tactics to help them in their writing experience at his seminar, “ Crafting Leads That Leap Off the Page”, which was held Monday, June 20th, as part of the 2011 AU Journalism Workshop. Of this compiled list he highlighted the three most important types of skills a journalist can posses: interviewing, grammar, and reporting skills.
“Everybody has a story to tell if you look for it,” the professor explained while instructing the students on one of the most important journalism fundamentals—interviewing. Throughout the workshop, he stressed the importance of such to the students. “Ask ‘none-of-your-business’ questions,” he emphasized throughout the seminar. Professor Williams insisted on getting up close and personal, but not “obnoxiously” close—which he described some questions as being. To have the best lead, one must have the best facts, after all the lead is where the details come into play. One has to continually ask himself/herself who, what, when, where, why, and how. All must be answered in order to present enough facts for a promising lead.
Williams also covered material that accentuated the importance of proper grammar and spelling. During this time in the discussion the professor handed out worksheets with easily misspelled words that were virtually invisible to spell check. He then asked them to choose which word in the list was correct. Students were surprised to find that some questions they didn’t know the correct word usage. “Professor Williams showed me how spell check isn’t really a life saver,” said workshop attendant Maria Paschal. It was noted by the workshop students that not all errors are detected by spell check or grammar check and that one should be aware of their grammar usage.
Attendants were also informed on the type of stories they should select to cover. “Very few stories change the world,” a statement which Williams followed with the story of a town’s love for a dog which hung around a local gas station. He illustrated for the group that despite it’s unimportance compared to some stories he had written, that the story had gotten more response than any other story he had written. He discovered that the audience is the most important part of Journalism, and that as a journalist it is one’s job to captivate the audience’s interest.
When reflecting on the professor’s seminar, student Jarrod Milton asserted, “He gave us a lot of good ideas, and was definitely informative in everything he said. I’m probably going to use a lot of his teachings.”
Beulah High School
According to Professor Ed Williams, a journalist has two jobs—to gather and to write. Williams coached high school writers through 13 essential tactics to help them in their writing experience at his seminar, “ Crafting Leads That Leap Off the Page”, which was held Monday, June 20th, as part of the 2011 AU Journalism Workshop. Of this compiled list he highlighted the three most important types of skills a journalist can posses: interviewing, grammar, and reporting skills.
“Everybody has a story to tell if you look for it,” the professor explained while instructing the students on one of the most important journalism fundamentals—interviewing. Throughout the workshop, he stressed the importance of such to the students. “Ask ‘none-of-your-business’ questions,” he emphasized throughout the seminar. Professor Williams insisted on getting up close and personal, but not “obnoxiously” close—which he described some questions as being. To have the best lead, one must have the best facts, after all the lead is where the details come into play. One has to continually ask himself/herself who, what, when, where, why, and how. All must be answered in order to present enough facts for a promising lead.
Williams also covered material that accentuated the importance of proper grammar and spelling. During this time in the discussion the professor handed out worksheets with easily misspelled words that were virtually invisible to spell check. He then asked them to choose which word in the list was correct. Students were surprised to find that some questions they didn’t know the correct word usage. “Professor Williams showed me how spell check isn’t really a life saver,” said workshop attendant Maria Paschal. It was noted by the workshop students that not all errors are detected by spell check or grammar check and that one should be aware of their grammar usage.
Attendants were also informed on the type of stories they should select to cover. “Very few stories change the world,” a statement which Williams followed with the story of a town’s love for a dog which hung around a local gas station. He illustrated for the group that despite it’s unimportance compared to some stories he had written, that the story had gotten more response than any other story he had written. He discovered that the audience is the most important part of Journalism, and that as a journalist it is one’s job to captivate the audience’s interest.
When reflecting on the professor’s seminar, student Jarrod Milton asserted, “He gave us a lot of good ideas, and was definitely informative in everything he said. I’m probably going to use a lot of his teachings.”