fandomhigh | Journalism 101/201 (Friday, January 13

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Journalism 101/201 (Friday, January 13 - 7th period)

"Good afternoon, children. Sign in as you enter, thank you."

"The title or caption of a newspaper article, usually set in large type," Rita said with a smirk. "That would be a headline, boys and girls. Headlines, as one might imagine, are a tad important. They inform your reader of the content of the article, and thus have to be a smidge...attention-grabbing."

She held up a slightly yellowed newspaper, which read, DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE in distinct, bold letters. Underneath the headline was a moving photograph of a large, uncomfortable-looking bearded man.

"This is a fine example. This headline not only catches the attention of the reader, but given that it is an exposé covering an error in judgement made by the headmaster of another school, the title is quite clever, if I say so myself," she said smugly. "You're more than welcome to read the article if you wish. It'll be up here on my desk for the duration of the period.

"Your assignment: I would like you all to write a headline - not a full article, just a headline - about something that happened to another student. You must get the full details of the story, because if your headline is interesting enough, I'll ask for elaboration.

"This must be turned in the next time we meet at the latest. Any questions?"

[ooc: ~~Wait for OCD threads!~~ They're up, have at it!]

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...

Quinn's here, yay!

Quinn's listening. She's just not the question-asking type.

Quinn's headline reads simply:

NO STRAIGHT BOYS AT FH!

Not exactly news, but it is disappointing.

A man in a grey-brown jumpsuit and a bulky black backpack knocks on the doorframe.

"Hey, a pretty lady like you wouldn't happen to know where a guy might find some directions around here, would you?"

"Directions?" Rita asked, quirking her brows. "To where?"

"Well, normally I'd be asking where you and I could get a drink, but unfortunately I'm here on business." Venkman shrugs. "So maybe we can save that for later? Say, dinner tonight? I'm sure you know a lovely little restaurant, candles, a quiet violin, a corner booth where we can kiss like giddy teenagers while our food gets cold."

Rita stared.

"Sorry. I'm new in town, Mr...." She trailed off, realizing the man hadn't given his name. "I'm afraid I don't know of a place of that particular setting yet. So I'm going to say...no, but thanks for the offer, I suppose?"

"Shucks, ma'am. My name is Venkman. Doctor Peter Venkman. Maybe you heard of me? You see me and the Ghost Busters were kinda famous a few years a go." Venkman flutters his eyes. "I'm only in town for the day, you see. Takin' care of the gremlin problem. You wouldn't have a guy dine alone on his only night in this lovely little village, would you?"

"Ghost Busters? Why would you want to try to hurt ghosts? They're generally harmless. Not their fault they're stuck here. Unless you mean poltergeists, in which case...good for you, Dr. Venkman," Rita said almost kindly. "And surely you're not working alone to - wait. You're here to do what, exactly, to the gremlins?"

"Oh, I'm sure Ray and Egon have some master plan that'll involve something reasonably humane. I mean, we don't kill ghosts, you see. You can't, since they're dead already." Venkman gives his best lady-killer smile. "We just store them in a place where they really are harmless and can commune with each other in their ghost-ness. Very nice, very human, and everyone goes home happy."

Rita rolled her eyes. "Well, of course you can't kill ghosts. That's absurd. But why trap them? I don't think it's inhumane or wrong or anything of that nature - I'm a journalist, you see," she explained, smiling smugly. "I ask questions."

The bright green quill on her desk jerked up, along with a sheet of parchment, and sat poised mid-air.

"Oh, you're with the press?" Venkman smiles again. "Mind if I take a seat? I can answer any amount of questions you'd like. As for trapping them, well, we don't go around doing it as charity work, you see? We get called in when people are having trouble with ghosts, and we trap them for a substantial fee. So we only get the nasty ones, for the most part. None of the dearly departed family members or anything."

Anakin signed in.

Rita waved at the desks, indicating it was fine for him to sit. "I see. Where are you all from? You're not wizards, are you? Because I've never heard of exactly this being done, but I believe there are similar magical practices."

The quill began to scribble.

Dr. Peter Venkman, presumably qualified scholar of the paranormal, earnestly discusses his somewhat endearingly primitive methods of spectre control and rehabillitation. While this practice of capture is somewhat barbaric when one considers the sentient nature of ghosts, Dr. Venkman's charm and obvious interest in this journalist make up for his clear inability to meet with reality.

Anakin took notes.

And doodled a little bit.

And carefully avoided looking at Draco.

Venkman sits down, careful not to bump the proton pack.

"We're not wizards, ma'am. We're just a bunch of humble scientists from New York. Some of us more humble than others." He smiles again. "About our only experience with magic was when we hosed Vigo the Carpathian a few years back. Real ugly sucker, too."

"Fascinating. So you use muggle technology to manage the paranormal? And it works" Rita asked, tapping one long nail to her chin.

"Muggle?" Venkman actually manages to stop being all swarthy and confident for a moment and puts on a puzzled face. "We only use the ~~eighties-ist~~ latest and greatest in cutting edge technology. We're scientists, not showmen."

He quickly regains his composure. "Now here I've gone on all about me and I've not even heard your name yet."

"A muggle is a non-magic person," Rita replied for seemingly the hundredth time since she'd arrived in Fandom. "And forgive me - Rita Skeeter, most lately of London, England. It's a pleasure."

Peter signed in.

Venkman snaps his fingers. "I shoulda known, a classy accent like that. It's a pleasure meeting you too, Miss Skeeter." He stands up and quickly cups her hand in his and kisses it. "It is Miss, isn't it?"

"Yes," Rita replied, looking only slightly skeptically at the display of chivalry. "Though technically I suppose it's Professor, these days."

Peter took notes. Working for J. Jonah Jameson had introduced him to the art of creating a headline. Being the subject of many of those headlines had given him a true appreciation for the art.

"Professor? In terms of creating headlines, what do you find more important: a big, bold statement, or an accurate summary of the story? Ideally, it should have both, I'm sure, but which do you think is more beneficial?"

Draco signs in.

"Professor? I used to be one-"

"VENKMAN!" shouts over the walkie-talkie clipped to Venkman's belt. He smiles awkwardly.

"One moment." He then picks up the walkie-talkie and takes a step back from Rita. "What is it, Ray?"

"Venkman! We've got ourselves a problem down here!"

"That's nice, Ray, but I've got myself a definite non-problem over here."

"We need you! We found the motherlode, and boy is this mother putting up one heckuva fight!" Ray's voice echoes from the walkie-talkie.

"Fine. I'm coming. But you owe me a beautiful blonde when we get back to New York." Venkman grumbles and reattaches the walkie-talkie to his belt.

"Sorry, Professor Skeeter, ma'am." Venkman shrugs. "Looks like duty calls." He starts backing up towards the door and gives that ridiculous gesture of raising his thumb to his ear and outstretching his pinky to his mouth. "Call me?" He says, right before booking it out the door.

Draco was careful to sit far away from Anakin in class today. He tried to concentrate on the lecture but couldn't help but think of Anakin flipping his imaginary hair and laughed to himself.

Clark signs in.

Clark takes notes and looks studious ~~and may or may not have used his x-ray vision to read the Dumbledore article without having to actually get up and walk over to it.~~

"Excellent question, Mr. Parker," Rita smiled. "My experience has shown that it largely depends on the type of article, but as a whole, the bold statements are more likely to grab the attention of the reader and thus encourage them to read further."

"Mr. Clark? Do you have any questions or anything to add?" Rita asked with a benign smile.

Rita tilted her head.

"A pity," she said wryly, surveying Anakin, Peter, Clark and Draco. "Ms. Morgendorffer, how did you come by this knowledge?"

"That's kind of the impression I've gotten in the past. Thank you, professor," Peter said.

Anakin slid lower in his chair and blushed.

He was sure Draco was laughing at him.

And he couldn't really blame him for doing it.

"Well, there was a phone message I got last week, and then everything I hear on the radio...." Quinn sighs. "And oh, I'm not blind." Which is a shame, since they're all so pretty. Or not really a shame. Whatever.

Rose signs in.

Anakin wrote down and scratched out a number of headlines:

~~MALFOY TAKES PITY ON DERANGED, GREMLIN-BIT FELLOW STUDENT~~

Too personal.

~~LOGAN ECHOLLS: COMPLETE JACKASS~~

Too obvious.

~~RORY & ANAKIN: OMGJUSTFRIENDS~~

Not going there.

He sighed, then finally scribbled down:

POOL CLOSED: POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN SOLO, FERRET SEX?

Complete rumor, of course, but it might be something that Professor Skeeter would be interested in.

After getting permission from Rory to write this headline, Peter submitted his assignment:

GILMORE ENJOYS SMART DOCTOR GLASSES

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Journalism 101/201 (Friday, January 13 - 7th period)

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