Here are step-by-step instructions:

Talk to at least four people. The people you talk to must represent diverse parts of the Muncie and Ball State communities: young, old; men, women; affiliated and not affiliated with Ball State ; white people and people of color, etc. You may talk to only one person who is a Ball State student and only one person you knew before you started this assignment. Get each person's name, age, occupation, phone number and email address for inclusion in your typed assignment. We suggest you interview people at different locations in Muncie , including the mall, downtown, a community event, etc. If you cannot find a good news story from talking to someone, find another source. You must have a total of four different ideas (one from each of four people) to complete this assignment successfully. NO MORE THAN ONE OF THE FOUR STORY IDEAS CAN INVOLVE A PROFILE OF THE PERSON YOU SPOKE WITH.

Use your interviewing skills to ferret out one solid news story from each source. The Broadcast News & Writing Stylebook (see pages 88-89) lists four good categories of broadcast bites, and you can also look at interview subjects in those same four ways. Interview subjects can provide 1)personal accounts (a first-person account of something that happened to them that might be newsworthy); 2)witness accounts (some news event they saw taking place); 3)expert opinion (where they're the expert, and everyone may be an expert on something); and 4)personal opinion (everyone has one, and this is the most common source of ideas people have). You, of course, will want to start your interview by introducing yourself and explaining your mission. After that, try to conduct the interview like a conversation. Here are some questions to help you get started, but remember that good interviewers listen to people and respond with follow-up questions:

• What is the most important concern on your mind these days? Tell me about it.

• What story do you think is important but not being reported by the media. Why?

• Tell me a little about your neighbors or friends. Is there one whom you think would make a good human interest story? Why?

Keep talking to that person until you are sure you have one good story idea that reflects at least two of the news values we discussed in class: significance (impact), conflict, novelty, prominence, proximity, timeliness.

Write a one-paragraph story idea that came from each person you talked to you. You must include the name of the person you interviewed, some descriptive words (works at Wal-Mart, mother of two) and the person's telephone number. Then write a one-paragraph story idea that reflects the news values. Here is an example:

Josephina Smith, bank clerk, National City Bank, 555-1234, jsmith@internetprovider.com.

Smith and her neighbors in West Muncie say the city is not listening to their concerns that an empty lot in their neighborhood is hazardous. Smith says the lot is overgrown with weeds and brush and that it has become a dumping ground for old appliances, tires and other trash. Neighbors have complained to the owner, who lives in New Castle , but he has taken no action. Since March, they have filed a complaint every month with the city, but the lot still has not been cleaned up. This could be a good story about conflict between neighbors and the owner, proximity because the people are from Muncie and novelty or human interest because many people have – or fear they will have – lived near someone whose unkempt property reflects poorly on the neighborhood and poses a potential hazard.

An important consideration: Soon, you will need to begin working on your final project (this links to the final project portion of the syllabus). You might want to use this exercise to begin exploring ideas for that project.

Due: Tuesday, September 12 at the start of class.

Any questions, contact your instructor.