News Story Brainstorming

I think that an interesting topic to cover for my news story would be child labor and child labor laws in different countries. Here in the US, there are many laws restricting and prohibiting child labor, but in other countries, it is considered normal. I think it would be interesting to see how different laws are in a country where child labor is common. I could look at articles from the US as well as ones written by people in other countries. I searched child labor on twitter and found that a lot of people are tweeting about it, so I can use social media to compare differing opinions and experiences.

Brainstorming

To make news interesting to college students today, the stories would have to relate to a vast audience filled with different thoughts and opinions. Articles about teen drinking in today's society and the role social media plays in our lives would probably be the most relevant to college students. Drinking is such a social aspect in University life and I think news relating to this would appeal to many people. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites have taken over our lives. I think that news about how the sites have influenced young people, both negatively and positively, would catch a lot of people's attention.

Gunmen kills 21 students in Nigeria

On Sunday, September 29 2013, in the dark, a man with a gun approached a college campus in Nigeria late at night. The gunmen proceeded to shoot violently and killed at least 21 people in their sleep, the article says. For some reason, he aimed for the guy's dorm. The man will be charged accordingly. The article goes on to explain and question that this may be part of a pattern. Starting in year, 2009 a certain group called Boko Haram has attempted murder in the northeastern region of Nigeria. Boko Haram apparently translates to "Western Education is a sin."
I find this to be very disturbing. These college students were harming no one, causing no trouble. They were literally sound asleep where they thought they were safe, on campus, in their rooms. Unfortunately, they were not safe at all. I also find this to be interesting because people are detecting a pattern among this group, Boko Haram. It sounds like this group is out to get Western schools so people in the western region of Nigeria really need to be careful and possibly up the security or something of the sort. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/29/world/africa/nigeria-college-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

News Story Brainstorming

I think that an interesting news story would include interviewing people and asking their opinion. Controversial issues like gay marriage and marijuana legalization usually draws peoples attention. I think a good idea would be to do a report on an article that relates to a controversial issue and then go around campus and get a few different opinions. Controversial issues always gets people talking because they usually have a strong opinion on it and care about it. I know alot of people, especially college students who have strong opinions on the legalization of marijuana. Everyone has something to say about it, so it seems like a good place to start.

News Story Idea

A topic that causes great debate in today’s world is smoking. I think it would be a good idea for a news story. It really interests me due to the fact that it is very common worldwide. I would go about this topic interviewing both smokers and nonsmokers. I would ask questions concerning health, attraction, and pricing. I imagine that there would be many differing answers that would make a great news story and have many people tuned in to watch. I could even use different social networks to ask my questions to the public. I think it would be interesting to hear both sides.

brainstorming news article

Like most people who watch the news, the stories that catch my eyes are the stories involving crime.  I have a feeling, this isn't because people like when bad things happen to others but it is what pulls on peoples heart strings. For my own news story I would want to do something related to crime and how people are affected by it. I was thinking of doing an news article on why people are more attracted to articles related to crime rather than something else. I could do this by posting two articles on face book or twitter and see which one I get more of  reaction from.  I also believe that people are so interested in crime because it happens every where and can happen to anyone at anytime. In my opinion, people always want to read about crime because in some way, it  makes people feel like bad things wont happen to them or it makes them feel like better people. But I am interested in finding out the real reason why people get so interested when something goes wrong. Another idea I had was to  write a fictional  article based on a crime that happened from the perspective of someone who was involved. I think this would be interesting to do because I could take it in so many different directions. I could take the perspective of the person who committed the crime, any one who was involved, their family, or the police.

Melisa: Brainstorming

          I think a very interesting article to compare based on countries would be Peru's expansion of the growing of coca, the plant used to make cocaine. I believe that the way American countries are writing about Peru is in such a way that leads people to believe that the whole country is in the wrong. I also believe that the exaggeration of drug trafficking in Peru has helped alter the affect that this particular news has on people. I would like to explore more into this topic from both perspectives, maybe even three, the US's, Peru's, and a peruvian civilian's. I was worrying that social media (twitter) would not have too much to say on this topic, but I was surprised to find out the complete opposite.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24234210

InSight Crime@InSightCrime   Peru now leads the world in coca cultivation says @UNODC but drug war violence has so far stayed low ow.ly/pf1NH       05:02 PM - 29 Sep 13