Here Are Six Tips for Reporters Covering Press Conferences

Spend more than five minutes in the news business and youll be asked to cover a press conference. Theyre a regular occurrence in the life of any reporter, so you need to be able to cover them - and cover them well. But for the beginner, a press conference can be tough to cover. Press conferences tend to move quickly and often dont last very long, so you may have very little time to get the information you need. Another challenge for the beginning reporter is figuring out the lede of a press conference story. So here are six tips for covering press conferences. 1. Come Armed with Questions As we said, press conferences move quickly, so youll need to have your questions ready ahead of time. Arrive with some questions already prepared. And really listen to the answers. 2. Ask Your Best Questions Once the speaker starts taking questions, its often a free-for-all, with multiple reporters shouting out their queries. You may only get one or two of your questions into the mix, so pick your best ones and ask those. And be ready to ask tough follow-up questions. 3. Be Aggressive If Necessary Any time you get a bunch of reporters in one room, all asking questions at the same time, its bound to be a crazy scene. And reporters are by their nature competitive people. So when you go to a press conference, be prepared to be a bit pushy in order to get your questions answered. Shout if you need to. Push your way to the front of the room if you must. Above all, remember - only the strong survive at a press conference. 4. Forget the PR Speak - Focus On the News Corporations, politicians, sports teams and celebrities often try to use press conferences as public relations tools. In other words, they want reporters to put the most positive spin possible on whats being said at the press conference. But its the reporters job to ignore the PR talk and get to the truth of the matter. So if the CEO announces that his company has just suffered its worst losses ever, but in the next breath says he thinks the future is bright, forget about the bright future - the real news is the huge losses, not the PR sugarcoating. 5. Press the Speaker Dont let the speaker at a press conference get away with making broad generalizations that arent supported by facts. Question the basis for the statements they make, and get specifics. For instance, if the mayor of your town announces he plans to cut taxes while at the same time increasing municipal services, your first question should be: how can the town provide more services with less revenue? Likewise, if that CEO whose company has just lost billions says hes upbeat about the future, ask him why - how can he expect that things will get better when the company is clearly in trouble? Again, get him to be specific. 6. Dont Be Intimidated Whether youre covering a press conference with the mayor, the governor or the president, dont let yourself be intimidated by their power or stature. Thats what they want. Once youre intimidated, youll stop asking tough questions, and remember, its your job to ask tough questions of the most powerful people in our society.

Should College Be Free College - 1614 Words

With the upcoming elections, third-party candidate Bernie Sanders has been one of the most talked about candidates because of his belief that tuition and cost of living at public colleges and universities should be free. Free college has become one of the most talked about policy proposals on the campaign trail, but questions surround the policy, such as how it would work, how much it would cost and how it would affect students (Rhatican). Most colleges bundle their prices in terms of tuition and fees. In 1995, tuition for private colleges was around 14k, for Public out of state it was around 7k and for public in state it was around 2k. (usnews). According to the College Board, the current average cost of tuition and fees for the 2015–2016 school year was $32,405 at private colleges, $9,410 for state residents at public colleges, and $23,893 for out-of-state residents attending public universities. Tuition reflects the overall cost of a college providing instruction and usually incorporates a college s costs for staff, faculty, grounds maintenance, buildings, computer systems, and libraries (Dominique). There is somewhere between 902 billion dollars and one trillion dollars in total outstanding student debt today, and around 60 percent of college students borrow money annually to pay for their tuition and books (Ghannam). Seven out of 10 seniors (69%) who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in 2014 had student loan debt, with an average of $28,950 per borrower.Show MoreRelatedShould College Be Free College?848 Words   |  4 Pages Free College Why are not more people going to college? One obvious answer would be cost, especially the cost of tuition. But the problem is not just that college is expensive. It is also that going to college is complicated. Free college is not just about cultural and social, neither economic. It means navigating advanced courses, standardized tests, and forms. It means figuring out implicit rules-rules that can change. College graduates have higher employment ratesRead MoreShould College Be Free College?1688 Words   |  7 Pagesto cover the costs? Free college is now brought up as a debate whether or not students should receive free college tuition while attending college. Some individuals would like this idea, but I am definite the taxpayers would not like it or support it. If the government cannot afford what they are in debt with now, I am quiet uncertain how adding free college would help the debt go down. I am sure that the government would find some way to get their money back from allow ing free tuition, or twice theRead MoreShould College Be Free? Essay1520 Words   |  7 PagesShould college be free? A current universal problem poses this question. In today’s world, full of public education standards that hold students maybe too high and in a generation bogged down by student debt, this issue qualifies as a problem more than many are maybe even willing to admit. While the prospect of free college proposes excellent ideals such as a stronger and smarter generation, no student loan problems, and a higher educated society, the truth may actually lie in the reality thatRead MoreCollege Should Not Be Free876 Words   |  4 Pagesmake public college tuition free. A recent movement to federally mandate college funding has struck the interest of the lower, impoverished members of society. However, if college tuition were free it would be unfair, unregulated, and cost-ineffective in the long run. What does free really mean? Does it include just tuition, or room , board and books? Also, would it be completely free? Someone has to pay something somewhere down the line. There is no way to make college completely free. It would beRead MoreShould Colleges Be Free? Essay1186 Words   |  5 PagesShould colleges be free in America? It is a question that is more relevant today than ever before. As education is one key factor that determines the nation’s fate going forward, this question is worth debating. Making free college education may sound good theoretically but requires herculean efforts to make it practically possible. The main question is whether such program be effective in the long run or not? If, yes how long will the government able to support these costs and from where? Are tuitionRead MoreShould College Be Free?893 Words   |  4 Pagesor not college should be free. Images of students rallying and protesting can be often seen in the news. They are in favor of making college free. I disagree and feel that college should not be free. People would be more likely to fail because there would be no financial consequence, the financial burden would be passed on to taxpayers who wouldn’t even benefit from it, and it would not be fair to those who work hard through earning scholarships and serving in the military. College should not beRead MoreCollege Should Be Free759 Words   |  3 Pages Should the cost of earning a college degree be free? Some students,parents, and educators say that it is morally wrong for a child to spend their entire life going to public school for free and having them to just turn around and pay for college. The students, parents, and educators all would agree that the cost of obtaining a college degree should indeed be free. Those who are against this issue believe that the students themselves or their parents who are financially able should pay for someRead MoreShould College Be Free844 Words   |  4 PagesShould college be free? Posted on  May 8, 2011  by  writefix Should college education be free, or should university students be required to pay tuition fees? Some countries have free education from kindergarten to university, while  students in other countries have to pay  at every step of the way.  This essay will look at some of the reasons for this difference  at university level. Free third level education has several advantages. First of all,  everyone can attend, so the gap between rich and poorRead MoreShould College Be Free?1907 Words   |  8 PagesShould College Be â€Å"Free† in America? As many young millennials rally behind Bernie Sanders and his outlandish claims of free public college for all, others sigh and shake their heads in disapproval. Are these college students really entitled to free higher education? Is it every American’s unalienable right to have a college education? Despite the recent push for free college in the United States, the economic burden and drop in personal responsibility it would create proves that colleges shouldRead MoreShould College Be Free?1916 Words   |  8 Pagesthroats since elementary, I am planning to attend college. My sisters and I being the first generation in our family to attend college, everything is a little scarier. Nothing scared me more than seeing the cost of the tuition. My parents dropped out of college after one year because they didn’t put the work in to get scholarships, and tuition was too much. My oldest sister is in her third year of college and is already planning to come out of college w ith $70,000 debt, because she is in a private school

Grunge to Urban Grunge free essay sample

According to the book Surfers Soulless Skinheads and Skaters which talks about different sub cultural style from the forties to the nineties, Membership of subculture groups, whose ideas and lifestyles are at variance with those of the dominant culture, is usually dominated by the young. For some it is fleeting and forms a rite of passage; others move through a series of subcultures, and some remain committed to one, long term. Belonging to a subculture can be liberating, offering, for example, certain freedoms in lifestyle, sexuality and politics.By defining their own geographical, social and sartorial boundaries, subcultures also provide a sense of belonging which is independent of the family. (Amy De la Hay and Cathie Dunghill, 1996) Grunge style was sort of rebellion against the starched yuppie, first appearing in Seattle in the late sass. Americas answer to Punk Rock, described both a new generation of loud, guitar-orientated rock music and the attitude of its exponents. We will write a custom essay sample on Grunge to Urban Grunge or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Grunge was originally a genre of alternative rock; the fashion scene however is different.Grunge fashion was influenced by grunge music, which achieved mainstream popularity in 1992 due to the overwhelming success of the band Nirvana and their hit single Smell Like Teen Spirit. In Great Britain, Grunge was the name given by the music press to a loose and short-lived collective of new rock bands. The Nor has since been used to describe the attitude, scruffiness and loud music referred by youth who identify with this kind of music.The Grunge fashion is a combination of second-hand clothing like lain flannel shirts worn with faded stonewashed blue Jeans and heavy boots. The grunge scene was commonly associated with dark color palettes like maroon, forest green, indigo brown, and the GRUNGE In 1988, a Seattle record label called Sub Pop released a boxed set with a compilation of grunge bands like Nirvana, Soundboards and Mudstone and it came Ninth a booklet with pictures by Charles Peterson, the photographer credited for reading grunges hair-sweat-and-guitars look.Sub Pop also sent it to the nations alternative-rock intelligentsia describing its bands punk-metal guitar noise as grunge, the first documented use of the now-ubiquitous term. The vibe now is a little bit like the early asss, before metal ceased to be heavy and relied on adrenaline highs as opposed to despondency, said Simon Reynolds, the author of Blessed Out (Serpents Tail, 1990) a chronicle of rock subcultures. Theres a feeling of burnout in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future. James Truman, the editor in chief of Details, the young mens style magazine that took g runge to the masses, said: To me the thing about grunge is its not anti- fashion, its UN fashion. Punk was anti-fashion. It made a statement. Grunge is about not making a statement, which is why its crazy for it to become a fashion statement. Hollywood also weighed in with a grunge-scene movie, Singles released on the [ear 1992 by director Cameron Crower. Then came fashion designer Marc Jacobs who Nas hailed as the guru of grunge but has never even been to Seattle that time.On April 1993 he launched a grunge-themed fashion show called Couture Grunge and Heroin Chic. During the spring fashion shows, designer Marc Jacobs debuts the seemingly oxymoron couture grunge that emulates the loose flannel shirts, shabby cardigans, wrinkled and torn pants, and the notoriously thin body frames of grunge rock and its largely Seattle-based musicians. This look involves an element that some call heroin chic, characterized by extremely thin models like Kate Moss, and controversially alluding to drug use as an element of the latest trend.