fandomhigh | Journalism 101/201 (Wednesday, April 12

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Journalism 101/201 (Wednesday, April 12 - 5th period)

"Hello, boys and girls," Rita said. "Today, we look at structure. Please take a look at the paper, and read through the articles. There are a few instances of not only poor grammar, but bad journalistic structure. Given that we're on a word count when we write for a newspaper, we need to conserve space and say things with the utmost clarity and fewest words. So take a look at the paper. Is this accomplished?"

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...

Anakin signed in.

Quinn signs in.

Peter signed in.

Rose signs in.

...

Anakin read the paper, frowning.

"I don't get the coffee thing," he said, pointing at the bottom of the paper.

"I don't think I understand it myself," Rita replied. "Do you think it's a waste of space? Or would you say it brings enough joy to the student body that it's worth it?"

"I guess it depends what the space would go to," Anakin said. "More for the gossip column? No. But interviews with students or faculty? An article about how many animals Crichton's been turned into? That could be okay."

He shrugged. "I don't know."

*sploosh*

Anakin's hand snapped out and the slime hovered above his head. He looked up. "The sad thing? This doesn't even surprise me any more."

Rita looked at him.

"You don't even have a wand," she said incredulously.

"Jedi thing," Anakin said, shrugging.

"Hmm."

Rita picked up her wand, eyeing the slime. "Nice reflexes, as well," she said appraisingly. "Though I'm inclined to believe wandless magic, personally."

"Thanks," Anakin said. "But it's not magic. I don't need spells or anything." He wrinkled up his nose. "Just something I was born able to do."

He looked up again. "Um, where should I put this?"

Rita murmured an incantation and pointed her wand at the green stuff.

It disappeared.

"Don't worry about it," she said smoothly. "And I was born being able to do this. Just a matter of harnessing it with a wand and words."

Anakin blinked. "Okay, that was interesting," he said. "I can't do that."

"Simple Banishment charm," Rita said, shrugging. "I have no idea where it went. For all I know, it's in a closet on the sixth floor. But it's not here and that's the important thing."

Anakin hoped rather fervently the slime wasn't waiting for him in his room. "Interesting," he said, turning back to the papers and frowing again. "And I don't really understand the point of the defense articles," he said.

"How so?" Rita asked, raising an eyebrow. "They seem to serve a purpose, at least."

"You can't learn defense from three articles in the student paper," Anakin said, wrinkling up his nose. "And some of this stuff will get an inexperienced fighter hurt."

"But you don't think they might pique a reader's interest, and make them want to learn enough to actually defend themselves well?" Rita asked.

"It might," Anakin said slowly, "but I'm concerned about beings who might consider the article enough information to be able to fight a snow monster or a vampire with. And it's very much not."

"Then isn't that a sort of weeding out process?" Rita said. "If they're dim enough to think that's enough, perhaps it's - what's the term...natural selection."

Anakin thought about it. "Leads to a lot of paperwork," he said.

"True, but their personal accountability. Not the writer's fault if their readership is stupid."

Anakin smiled. "I'll have to remember that."

"It's a good policy," Rita said, going back to reading the paper.

Quinn reads the paper. And is not impressed.

"Gee," she says, "can I have a whole section devoted to how the world revolves around me?"

She thinks about it. "No, really. Can I? It'd be much more interesting than trying to sound smart and deep or whatever."

Rita almost smiled. "Can you elaborate?"

"I don't know, but I can totally rant about it," says Quinn. "Okay, blah blah blah blah blah, yeah, it's really nice for the same person every week to vent their emo instead of seeing a shrink like everyone else, but it's only nice for that person! Let's just rename it "ME ME ME." Or maybe "Trying Way Too Freaking Hard." Can I cancel my subscription because oh my god, I'm so over all her issues."

Rita raised an eyebrow. "While your point is valid, definitely, maybe that's the...intended nature of the column."

"If I wanted to see someone whine that much about their own problems, I'd watch the Real World," says Quinn.

"I've no idea what that means."

"It's a show, where a bunch of twenty-somethings all crash in one house and attention-whore at the camera because they're not the most important at every second of the day," she says. "I'm thinking about applying as soon as I'm old enough."

"I think the majority of the school population would fit in well there," Rita smirked.

Peter flipped through the papers and cringed at his articles. "It's possible that I have too much of a casual tone with my StuCo Roundup columns. And sometimes I'm kind of wordy. And throw in some bulletpoints that don't actually have to be in there."

"There's room for improvement on my part."

Rita sighed. "Good heavens, why don't you and Ms. Gilmore just go start a club. She did the same thing in my earlier class." She glanced at him. "Which isn't to say I don't agree with you. Just that I give you an opportunity to criticize others, and you choose to egotistically fixate on your own work."

Well there was a thought. Maybe if DUCKLINGS ever met again, it could focus on his and Rory's feelings of journalistic inadequacy...

"It is still a learning experience, though, ma'am. If we can see our faults now, hopefully we can improve upon them. Next week maybe I'll have some actual content and be a bit more concise."

...

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Journalism 101/201 (Wednesday, April 12 - 5th period)

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After Class

OOC