http://trustshisbarber.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] trustshisbarber.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2009-02-12 06:48 am
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Journalism: Thursday, Period 4, Class 6

"Okay, pass up your reviews and I'll get to work giving them my criticism," Jonah said. He was practically cackling. He'd figured out his favorite part of being a teacher,"

"While i'm doing that, you're going to get started on your next article. That's right, we're doing another article. If you looked at your syllabus-" Jonah had still never passed those out and he probably wasn't going to by this point, "it would have told you we were doing something else, but I changed my mind. If you have a problem with that, write a letter to the editor and leave it by my office on Friday. Anyway, what we're focusing on this week is tabloid journalism."

"The word 'tabloid' technically refers to paper size. Instead of being a huge paper with folds all over the place, the sheets that make up a tabloid tend to be about half the size of a traditional newspaper and use more of a magazine layout. Pretty much nobody knows this anymore because the word has come to refer to the sleaziest, least journalistic kind of journalism there is. When most people think of a tabloid, they think of the National Enquirer, the New York Post, Weekly World News, and damn near every newspaper in England, where facts can be made up for the sake of a story, headlines are the ONLY important thing, and unidentified sources tend to be something you ate last night that's causing you to hallucinate now and that's good enough. They're the kind of news sources where, when you hear that somebody got in trouble for making stories up entirely, it doesn't surprise you."

"Now, don't get me wrong. Going for sensationalistic stories is one thing. It can get people reading your newspaper when that's an increasingly rare thing. But once you have the flashy story with the flashy headline, you have to back it up with real journalism. Find out what the facts are, report them, back it up with sources that actually exist. The trashy tabloids often don't bother with any of that. That's why they're called the 'gutter press.'"

"Today I'm going to let you see how easy it can be to be this kind of journalist. Pick a subject - someone you know, something you hate, I don't care - and write a profile on he, she, or it. Make up sources, quotes, and even basic facts about them to make for a better story. They have two siblings and you think it would be a better story if they were an only child? Run with it! Implicate them in a triple homicide? It's tabloid journalism, that's fair game! Talk about a building that's scheduled for demolition even though it was torn down a decade ago? As long as the building's in Iowa, nobody will ever know!"

"Write about me and you have detention. Get to work!"

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[identity profile] swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com 2009-02-12 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Claire handed in a review of Rumor Gal Season 1 that focused on how she wanted to kick the brown-haired girl and the whiny boy in the teeth a lot.

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[identity profile] minnesota-teen.livejournal.com 2009-02-12 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Amber turned in a hastily, but what she considered, well-written review of a certain vampire movie.

She was trying to get over this last weekend, really.

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[identity profile] gameknowsgame.livejournal.com 2009-02-12 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Blair turned in a review for That Guy Doesn't Care For You Overmuch which focused on how the brunette needed to stop acting so desperate and learn to be more awesome.
peace_n_war: (Back To Work)

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[personal profile] peace_n_war 2009-02-12 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Warren was going to hand in a review on... Well. On Sandwiches at the Cafe Fina. Why the hell not, right? It wasn't like he didn't know the topic inside-out.

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[identity profile] robinthefrog.livejournal.com 2009-02-12 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Robin handed in a favorable review of The Muppet Movie. It is rather clearly biased.
the_merriest: (knives at the ready)

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[personal profile] the_merriest 2009-02-12 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Rikku wrote up a cheery review of one of the guns they had at the Wellspring Arms, detailing some of the cooler features and a few drawbacks.

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[identity profile] not-a-mused.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
Cal handed in a review about Oedipus Rex that read less like a discussion on classic Greek plays and more like how life is just inevitably crappy.

Re: Homework [Class 6]

[identity profile] iruinenglish.livejournal.com 2009-02-13 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Buffy had clearly tried to up her word count, but she beat her limit. Suck it, Professor Hair.

This Weekend: A Review, by Buffy Summers

This weekend sucked ass big ass. Here is why. While the weekend started out great, with a detention that turned out to be a pool party (take that), things just got weirder and weirder, and this was because the whole town and everyone in it except me had gone crazy really really crazy. The Lit teacher was walking around with an axe, there was an axe murderer who was totally separate from that, and anyone who didn't seem to be walking around with an axe or a using an axe on the unsuspecting like we were in some bad horror flick was a vampire. Only they weren't even normal vampires. They were unkillable vampires that were really really hard to kill and worried about their clothes or stalked me from the shadows like I don't get enough of that at home. And also, my roommate was a bitchy girl named Jessica.

And for some reason there were a ton of people around with my last name that I wasn't related to. Two of them were even the same guy. If that doesn't make you want to drink, you've been in Fandom too long.

And that was why the weekend in Fandom sucked a lot. I give it zero stars out of five and do not recommend it for people as fun for the whole family (especially since I missed the creepy little vampire girl).