Covering the talk and writing talking-worthy stuff...

I really believe that these two chapters were probably the two most important chapters in the book that I have read so far. I say this because the writers of the book continually emphasized on the fact that as beginners in the field, our assignements will mostly include covering events and other such things. I never realy considered news release to be such a big deal, but apparently, after reading ch 11 it definitely seems like it. I liked how the authors discussed the different kinds of news releases, ad demonstrated ways for us to tackle each of them. I also enjoyed how they insisted that we are free to rewrite the news releases, and should infact take the ob a step further and investigate thepiece. There is not much to say about this chapter except that news releases do have an impact on the newsroom as illustrated by the "Diamonds in the Rough" article. We need to constanty look beyond what we have, and train our minds to constantly ask questions even if the answers are obvius. I do need to mention that I quite liked he part at the end where they provided tips to write news releases.
Ch 12 was an extreemly informative chapter because I felt that the authors were sensitive to the needs of a beginner. I have been asked to cover events before, but I always approach the story with much worry because I am always at a loss of how to handle the situation. There is always SO much to cover. For instance the meeting at the city hall was so extensive, and it carried on for 90 minutes and probably more. But the question is how do I exactly pick and choose what I need to while at same time not getting bored and getting distracted? I once again liked how they demonstrated ways to tackle each type of "event". For me personally, covering speeches seems the hardest. This is because it is aone sided interaction. So it is hard to communicate. But I did appreciate their tips on how to save time, because while I cover events, I always find myself haphazardly taking notes when my handwriting is horrible to begin with!! Anyway, these chapters were small and useful, and I am pretty sure that I will reder back to them again.