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Journalism & Current Times

     
           
 


Your assignment is to create a four-page newspaper depicting the literature and culture of the present time.  Your final product can be created in InDesign.  However, the layout should closely imitate a real newspaper, including headlines, bylines, ads, pictures, and artwork.
Your version of The Current Times must have the following sections:

  • Hard News and Feature Articles:

  • Your paper should have two hard news or feature articles. Hard news or impact news is the newspaper’s stock in trade. It forms most of the newspaper’s content—crime news, weather news, accidents, government decisions, disasters, coverage of sporting events, etc.  A feature is an article, usually quite comprehensive and often accompanied by one or more photos which, while not having strong news value, is of interest to the readers.  Most of these articles are written with the 5 Ws. (Who, what, where, when, why)
     

    Hard news or feature news articles change daily which is why it is news. Each article should be between 500- 1000 words in length.

     

  • Famous Figures of the Present Time:

  • Each paper should spotlight one famous figure from the present time in either a profile or interview-style article.  A profile is an in-depth story about somebody—a portrait in words.  The writer’s task is to “capture the essence” of the person.  In an interview, the writer simply lets someone else describe the situation or give a viewpoint.  The writer’s main job is to recognize and understand the point the person being interviewed is trying to make and see that the interview flows smoothly.   Choose from the list below or see the teacher for topic approval.  Articles should be between 400-600 words in length.

Possible Topics:
 

  • Barack Obama John McCain
    Joseph Biden Steven Spielberg
    Sarah Palin Bernard Madoff
    Donavan McNabb Eric Bruntlett
    Quentin Tarantino John Travolta

  • Human Interest News

  • Each paper should include one human-interest article. Articles should range from 500-1000 words in length.  If articles are shorter, do more than two. 
     
     

 

  • Entertainment

    This section should also include two reviews: literature review, movie review, or music review.  A review is a newspaper critic’s personal opinion of a book or other form of commercial entertainment. Read the selected work and write an original review/criticism 600-1000 words in length.



     
     

 

  • Advertisements - 1 advertisements

  • Each paper must have one advertisement.  Ads must be relevant to include artwork as well as copy.  You may find old advertisements to use as a guide; however, the ads for your paper must be entirely original.

  • Editorial

*Editorial – women’s fashions, school test scores, sports related, gay ’s rights, decline of the economy (min. 300 words)

  •   Instances of plagiarism will greatly hurt your score!!

Staying on time:

  • Day 1: 1 hard news
  • Day 2: Second hard news
  • Day 3: Famous person
  • Day 4: Human Interest
  • Day 5: 2 reviews
  • Day 6: Editorial
  • Day 7: InDesign

Sources:

I have included resources by clicking here but you may also research your own topics.

Do not copy and paste from articles. The articles must be original.

 

 
   

Conclusion

You’ve made it!  You’ve presented!  Now write a one-page reflection on this project and put this on the last page of your newspaper.  Was it a valuable learning experience?  Why?  Why not?  Did you encounter any difficulties?  If so, explain.  How has this activity shaped your view of the Journalism? Is this something that you would like to do in your future? How can looking back to the past enhance your understanding of the present and your dreams for the future?  If you were the teacher, what would you change about this project?