I’m going to localize the Sri Lanka bombings and subsequent religious tensions by talking to RUF leaders about religion on Wake’s campus. I will also talk to a professor from the Religion Dept. to gauge the presence of religious tensions on Wake’s campus. Are we more secular? How does the student body feel about Religion?

Person 1: Annie Calfo

Annie Calfo is a Wake senior and young entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Espreado, a company creating a caffeinated coffee spread. She would make a good person to profile because she is well-known on Wake’s campus and would want to get information about her product out there.

Person 2: Lauren Miller

Lauren Miller is a Wake alum and the founder of Updog Kombucha. They are currently in the process of expanding and would provide an interesting story profile.

For story 3 I’d like to write about the lack of environmental classes in the politics department. I would want to look at the list of professors that attended the environmental workshops and determine how many are actually from the politics department. The intersection between environmentalism and politics is very interesting and relevant today. I would also want to look into any local environmental policies that might affect Wake students.

Localization:

For my localization I am going to talk about underage drinking by focusing in on the scandal surrounding Malia Obama drinking Whispering Angel on vacation. The story will examine the culture surrounding underage drinking on Wake Forest campus and whether students believe the images of Obama are as huge as the media is making them out to be. Sources will include Wake Forest students (both underage and 21) and potentially an EMS worker or RA who can attest to the effects of underage drinking on campus.

NY Times Reporter:

The New York Times reporter that I’ve been following is Catie Edmondson of the Washington bureau. Edmondson focuses on politics, which initially drew me to her work given my major. Her writing style is very descriptive, making sure to note the environment of her stories. She does a good job of showing rather than telling. Her leads are often hard news leads – and rarely more than the 5 Ws of reporting. In all, she uses very strong quotes. This is partially because of the significant interviewees she secures for her articles. Her reporting covers the important issues and gets to the heart of the story.

Her work has given me insight into new ways to end a story. I struggled to find a strong ending to my first story and finally settled on a quote. While I think that ending worked, she also has toyed with alternatives to the strong quote. Her articles are well written and have a clear beginning, middle, and end.  

However, she often falls back on a biased tone. Her stories consist of mainly liberal language, which is not irregular for New York Times writers, but also contributes to the overall image of the news media. She often uses negative adjectives to describe conservatives and neutral ones to describe their liberal counterparts. For example, Jared Kushner “bragged” about his work to get a bill passed while Nancy Pelosi “informed” constituents of her negotiations concerning the shutdown. This language might be subtle, but changes the overall tone of the article.

In all, I think Edmondson is a strong reporter to follow. She reports on important issues that her readers (especially those in Washington) really care about. She does not always follow AP Style – often referring to people as “Mrs.” and “Mr.” when referenced a second time – but has proven to be a talented writer and valuable teacher.

Here is a link to a recent story: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/us/politics/border-wall-deal.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fcatie-edmondson&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection

My story idea for this week is to cover “A Night of a Thousand Petals: A Drag Show.” The event is being hosted by Student Union, Spectrum, and Anthony Aston Players. I want to cover this event because it is a non-traditional, fun event that the university is hosting. Spectrum is a club that I’ve been to in the past and covered for a politics class so I know I’ll be able to get good quotes from members.

Here’s the link:

http://events.wfu.edu/event/a_night_of_a_thousand_petals_a_drag_show#.XGHE989Ki8V

The reporter I will be following this semester is Catie Edmondson. She works for the Washington, D.C. office of the NY Times. I chose her because she focuses mainly on politics and international affairs, which I am studying for my major. She is also a young reporter from New York which draws me even more to her work.

She has also worked for the Columbia Daily Spectator, Boston Globe Media, and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Here are two compelling articles written by her:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/senate-vote-syria-afghanistan.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fcatie-edmondson&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/us/politics/senate-israel-boycott-democrats.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fcatie-edmondson&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection