A Brief Memo

Memo

 

Date: November 29, 2007

To: Professor Cynthia A. McCune

From: Grace Lau

Re: Magazine Segment Project

 

There are three parts in this magazine project. First, there will be a short magazine-style piece where I am going to introduce a Japanese cartoon, Doraemon. I am going to describe the cartoon’s general idea, each personality of each main character, and a little bit about the background of the cartoon. Second, there will be some graphics with some captions on the side to illustrate the well being of the cartoon.

 

The last part of this magazine project will be a 60-second broadcast script. The broadcast script will be in a form of cartoon profile/ “new and upcoming” cartoon form. And hopefully, I am able to find one or two sound clips which appear in every chapter and post them on my blog.

 

 

 

Play Editor

I believe this newspaper story contains passages that are libelous.

I think the first paragraph, “Karen Hart … she declined his invitations”, contains libelous passage.

First, Hart said that Jungle has touched and invited her to his apartment.  There is no evidence to proof that she is telling the truth. 

Second, we do not know if this story is truth or not.  The case has not sent to the court yet and we don’t know whether Jungle is guilty or not.  We don’t know if it is just Hart’s side of the story or not.  If the story is published like this, it seems like it is the truth and that Jungle has already found guilty.

I have couple solutions for this news story.

First, I will put Jungle as anonymous.  In this way, it won’t affect Jungle’s reputation if it comes out is not true.  Second, I will not publish the story until it has enough evidences or the case has sent to the court.  

Ethical Decision

Scenario 1

I will ask her about them when she returns, and ask her politely if she can give those documents to me and take a look.

 

Scenario 2

Yes, I would do it.  I think that first-hand experiences are more important and more accurate than any other information, such as interviews.  And also, it will help me to write a better story and won’t miss an opportunity that the editor gave me

 

Scenario 3

1)      I will not use those quotes as if I obtained them myself.  I will try to think of other quotes by myself with similar meaning.  Or if I am not able to do so, I will credit the written source in my feature story.

2)      If I obtained the quotes from a web site, I will credit it at the end of my feature story.  

 

Topical blog post: “A place to learn”

Airport is a place that I hate and love a lot. 

 

 I hate, because it takes people far apart.  Standing in front of the departure gate, you can see people cry, sob or even force themselves to smile.  On this side, a couple is saying goodbye to their kids who are going to study abroad for couple years.  On that side, a wife is kissing goodbye her husband who is going to a business trip for couple months.  Many kinds of separations happen in front of the departure gate; many tears dropped, many weeping sound can be heard there.  I left my family and came all the way to the United States by myself.  I will never forget the atmosphere in front of the departure gate on that day.  I couldn’t stop crying, and I had so much love that I didn’t know how to tell.  Separation makes people understand how important to cherish people, things, and time.  Farewell always brings people to introspect what they have missed and what they have done wrong. 

I love, because it puts people together.  Standing in front of the arrival gate, you are able to see people with happy face.  Kids who study abroad come back for vacation, husband is back from his business trip, and friends come to visit.  Happy reunion appears at the arrival gate; joyful greetings and delighted laugh can be heard there.  However, by that time, people may start forgetting how to cherish… until another departure takes place. 

 

Airport is a place full of laughs and tears, a place that I hate and love.  But, it also is a place for us to learn how to cherish everyone and everything you have anytime and anywhere. 

Topical Blog Post: “Planning”

We always do something that is unexpected, but don’t do things that supposed to be done.

I have two kittens, one boy and one girl.  My boyfriend and I adopted them 5 months ago when they were only 4 weeks old.  There were 5 of them that they were found in a compressive dumpster by my boyfriend’s co-worker behind their workplace. When we got to the veterinarian, the other 3 had already got adopted, and these two little “left-over” fur balls were sitting in the box and meowing for home. Due to our sympathies and their cuteness, we brought the home with us.  This is how we got these two kittens.  But the point is… we didn’t PLAN to get any pets.

According to American Heritage Dictionary, planning is to have a specific aim or purpose.  I always have perfect plans.  I always plan what I have to do the next day on the night before I go to bed.  “The first thing I have to do tomorrow is to go to make an appointment with a counselor, then go to bank to deposit a check, then go to Safeway to buy shampoo, and then go home to do homework.”  When the “tomorrow” ends, however, nothing is done: no appointment is made, the check is still in my wallet, no shampoo when taking shower and, no homework is done.  What I have done that “tomorrow” is I adopt two kittens.  I haven’t done with what I have planned, but I have done something that I haven’t planned. 

Focus Story Structure Exercise

There are 20,000 injuries in high school football each year — 12 percent of them permanently disabling the victims.  Thirteen youths died last year.  Thirty-five percent of the injuries are to the neck or head.  Most critics blame the helmet. 

 

Pete Stenhoff 16, a junior at Chula Vista High School in Redmond, California, is confined to a wheelchair for life. 

 

Stenhoff was hurt in a game during his senior year. He rammed his head into the ball carrier’s chest and cracked vertebrae in his spine. .  “I knew the risks involved when I decided to play football,” he says, and adds, “I wish I would have known just how bad it could be.”   At the time of the accident, he weighed 210 pounds, and now he only weighs 172 pounds.  He didn’t graduate with his class is and trying to get his diploma by taking correspondence courses.  He is not bitter. 

Find That Lead Exercise

1)      Scene-setter Leads

 

Patients without Border

By Sara Corbett New York Times

 

        Long before the dentists and the doctors got there, before the nurses, the hygienists and X-ray techs came, before anyone had flicked on the portable mammography unit or sterilized the day’s first set of surgical instruments, the people who needed them showed up to wait. It was 3 a.m. at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia — Friday, July 20, 2007 — the start of a rainy Appalachian morning. Outside the gates, people lay in their trucks or in tents pitched along the grassy parking lot, waiting for their chance to have their medical needs treated at no charge — part of an annual three-day “expedition” led by a volunteer medical relief corps called Remote Area Medical.

 

     http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18healthcare-t.html?ref=health

 

2)      Direct Address Leads

 

Lawyer: Woman who got HIV wasn’t told organ donor was risk

By Charles Rex Arbogast USA Today

  

   A woman in her 30s who is one of the four organ transplant patients infected with HIV and hepatitis  was not told that the infected donor was high risk, and had previously rejected another donor “because of his lifestyle,” her attorney said.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-16-hiv-transplant_N.htm

 

The magazine I like

ELLE

http://www.elle.com/

This magazine focuses on fashion, beauty, astrology, clothing brands, etc.

Obviously, the target audience is female, especially young-female adults.  They buy this magazine to keep or make them feel updated.

The writing style and tone is friendly and professional.  In addition, they use attractive words, such as “the latest”, “lovely”, to attract reader to pay attention or even desire to buy the items.

90-second television package

via email

45-second radio story

BODY WORLD 2

TALENT: GL

11-10-2007

An anatomical exhibition of real human bodies — BODY WORLDS — has amazed many people. Gunther von Hagens is the investor of Plastination and Creator of the BODY WORLDS exhibits. The exhibition focuses on the education of the human body, its function, diseases, and physical changes. About 200 anatomical specimens on display in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions are authentic.

 

[Cart No.: BODYWORLD1.wav

Time: 28s

Out-cue: “…exhibition is excellent.”

BODY WORLD 2 presents by The Tech museum of innovation in San Jose, California, from September 27, 2007 through January 26, 2008.