Who is to blame here?

This story is about a wrongly-accused man and the question I had is: who is to blame? Was it the police for releasing his name to the public before finding probable cause that he was the carjacker? Or was it the media for publishing the name?

Here's the story.

Write three alternative leads

For the following set of facts write three different kinds of leads. Make sure you still manage to tell what happened.

Joe Jones scored his first touchdown of the season last night.

Jones’ touchdown came with less than a minute to play against Abington High School.

Jones is a wide receiver.

Jones leaped into the air to catch the pass in the back of the end zone.

This was Rockland High School’s last regular season game.

This was Jones’ first game of the season.

Jones broke his leg in preseason practice and was on crutches until three weeks ago.

Rockland beat Abington 6-0.

Jason Lutz is Rockland’s quarterback.

Jones barely managed to keep both feet inbounds.

The winning touchdown was scored on a 32-yard pass from Jazon Lutz.

Rockland plays Whitman High next week in the opening round of the playoffs.

“It was great having Joe back on the field,” said Coach Harry Schneider.

“With Joe back in the lineup, I think we can go all the way,” said Jason Lutz.

“I am a senior and I will graduate in June.” said Joe Jones.

Alternative Leads

As we discussed in class yesterday, feature stories work best if you start them in an interesting way. Some of the different kinds o leads we talked about were:
1. Summary - tells what the story is a about, but with a few interesting details
"The eight eagle chicks that were introduced to the wild in Addison last spring are now surviving successfully on their own."

2. Descriptive: Describes the place, the scene of an event, or a person.
"In the middle of a junior golf tournament on a humid, 100-degree day, Abby Spector, then 12, missed yet another putt she should have made." Her father came over to her, and in a whisper, asked Abby if she wanted to quit. Abby cooly took a different club from her bag and headed for the next tee. "We've been through a lot worse than this," she said.

3. Narrative: Makes it obvious that a story is going to be told. Can be a lot like a descriptive lead

4. Compare/Contrast: Starts with an expectation and uses "but," "yet," or "however" to dispel it.
" Francine Grover can audit and review an expense sheet in her sleep." But she doesn't need those skills at the only job she can find these days: flipping burgers at McDonald's."

5. Question: "Have we come to the end of an era?"

6. Direct Address: The You Lead
" Admit it. You think you're a better than average driver."

7. Quotation (Make sure it's a good one.)
"So how is it you're so lucky to have two moms?" the hair stylist asked Emily. Without hesitation, Emily, 8, replied," Well, they met in college, fell in love, and years later, here I am!"

8. Shocking: The last one is a bit of a shocker, but here's another one:
"Kathy Eldrid should be dead by now."

9. Suspense: Like narrative, but with a lot of drama:
"Looking back, it all seemed too good to be true."

10. Literary, or historical allusion; Referring to a character from history or literature to either make a comparison or contrast.
"Fans seem to consider him more powerful than a locamotive, faster than a speediing bullet, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but Michael Jordan isn't really Superman. He's just the best player playing in the NBA today.

Tampering with photos through history

In the news business, it is considered unethical to tamper with photos. In fact, it is considered as bad as making up quotes and can get you fired. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, which this article illustrates.

For Monday, I'd like you to read this article and write a comment of at least 50 words, giving your opinion on this issue. A good response will refer to 2 or 3 of the examples in the story.

Gende-related pronouns

In an effort to make writing gender-neutral, or gender-inclusive, we sometimes write sentences that could be simpler. For example, "The lawyer told each member of the jury that he or she should weigh the evidence carefully."

Since the jury includes male and female members, he or she is the most correct use of the pronoun antecedent. But it is also a clunky and wordy way to write the sentence. To streamline it, rewrite so that it reads: The lawyer told the members of the jury to weigh the evidence carefully.

In a comment to this post, rewrite the following sentence to streamline it and get rid of "him or her."

Everyone needs to pick up his or her trash before lunch is over.