Wednesday February 29 photojournalist project

REMINDER: test FRIDAY
Make sure to review the material

48 hours in Hanoi, Vietnam by Mike Carter


Hanoi's fish market

Huc Bridge









Weavers with conical fish baskets



Now that you have an idea of the objectives and techniques behind photojournalism, we'll look at specific photographers, moving onto aspects of composition and finally your own work. Please read the following carefully. Today and Thursday are exploratory days. By the close of Thursday  in class, you will hand in a list of three photo journalists and on Friday, I'll let you know which one is yours. The objective is not to have duplicates.
Photojournalism / Photojournalists
1. Spend today and Thursday  exploring the works of the following photo journalists. The list is by no means exhaustive, so you might have some ideas of your own.
2. Choose three that appeal to you and write down their names in order of preference.
3. On  Friday, I'll tell you who you will be researching.  There should be no duplicates.
4. Monday and Tuesday, March 5 and 6, you will have time in class to reseach and organize your project, which will consist of:
a. Researching the biographical information on your journalist, noting significant influences in their work and philosophical perspectives.
b. Creating a power point  presentation consisting of seven slides: a title slide that includes an image of the photojournalist with his or her name and life dates, followed by 6 images taken by the journalist. Put your presentation on a jump drive!Next  you will present your research to the class
With accompanying notes, you will give an historical overview of your journalist, noting particularly the significance of their work. As well, you should be able to accurately and objectively describe the images, as well as putting them into historical context and location. Be able to answer the question, why the image works.
You must have your work on a jump drive. There is no time to access your material through e-mail.
Note power point attributes: NO WHITE BACKGROUNDS
                                               On the slide with the picture of the photographer, you may include a 
                                                quote.
                                               One very large image on a slide and a cut line only.
                                             
Possible topic choices. If there is someone else you wish to research, please let me know.

1. Eddie Adams
2. Timothy Allen
3. Stephen Alvarez
4. Moahmed Amin
5. Pablo Bartholmew
6. Felice Beato
7. Marcus Bleasdale
8. Margaret Bourke-White
9. Mathew Brady
10. Dan Budnik
11. Pogus Caesar
12. Robert Capa
13. Joseph Costa
14. Paul Couvrette
15. Manoocher Deghati
16. Sergio Dorantes
17. Clifton C. Edom
18. Roger Fenton
19. John Harrington
20. Deborah Copaken Kogan
21. Andre Kertesz
22. Russell Klika
23. Danny Lyon
24. Don McCullin
25. Spider Martin
26. Enrico Martino
27. Susan Meiselas
28. Hansel Mieth
29. Lee Miller
30. James Nachtwey
31. Kenji Nagai
32. Lucian Perkins
33. Dith Pran
34. Altaf Qadri
35. Reza
36. Jim Richardson
37. James Robertson
38. Ingac Sechti
39. Josef Jindrich Sechtl
40. W. Eugene Smith
41. Melissa Springer
42. Juliea Tutwiler
43. Roman Vishniac
44. Zoriah
45. Jacob Riis
46. Carol Guzy
47. Corky Lee
48. Stan Honda
49. Walker Evans
50. Lewis Hine
51. Robert Doisneau
52. Manuel Alvarez Bravo
53. Alfred Eisenstadt
54. Roy DeCarava
55. Sebastio Salgado
56. Timothy O’Sullivan
57. Oscar Rejlander
58 Eadweard Muybridge
59 Helmut Newton
60. Ansel Adams
61. Dorothea Lange
62. Alfred Eisenstadt
63. Edward Steichen
64. Galen Rowell
65. George Ngondo
66. Henri Cartier Bresson
67. Jim Brandenberg
68. Robert Capa
69. Margaret Bourke-White
70. Sam Abell
71. Gordon Parks
72. James Vanderzee
73. Addison Scurlock
74. Eli Reed
75. Remi Ochlik
76. Radhika Chalasani

Photojournalism Monday February 27

MOVING ON
We are beginning a unit on photojournalism.
Before proceeding, please go to this site and for the next few minutes, look at the images. Really look. These photos all showed up in news services. Why? What makes them note worthy? Have they anything in common? Quick write/ quiz grade. Answer that question in approximately 100 words an send it along.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/

Please note the following for a test on Friday March 2. It will consist of explaining the key concepts and terms, plus short reponses to the seven aspects of photography that follow. There is a substantial amount of reading. I suggest you take notes and look at the accompanying images. I'll give you time in class today and tomorrow; however, you will be starting the first part of your photojournalism projects on Wednesday. Make productive use of your time.

Key concepts and terms
• Despite the ease of the technology, taking a good picture – one that is worthy of good journalism – is difficult; it takes both skill and planning.

• Three types of photos dominate photojournalism – 1.establishing shots, 2. midrange shots and 3. close-ups.
See examples at right. Be prepared to identify.

• Pictures can be inaccurate in that they can place information in an inaccurate context; photojournalists must have the same commitment to truth and accuracy that other photojournalists have.

 

• A pen and notebook are as important to the photojournalist as a camera.

 

• Three of the most important elements in making a good photograph are drama, emotion and action.

 

• Mug shot – journalistic slang for a picture of a person’s head and shoulders.

 

• Cropping – in the photo editing process, eliminating unnecessary parts of a photograph.

 

• Scaling – changing the size of a picture to fit into a publication or web site.

 

• Proportionality – maintaining the relationship between the width and depth of a photograph when it is being changed in size; the opposite of proportionality is distortion.

 

• Cutline – the words that explain what is in a photograph. Cutlines are sometimes hard to construct, but they are very important. Photographers do not always have to write the cutlines for their pictures (although they should do so whenever they get the chance). They should gather the information needed for a cutline, including the names (spelled correctly) of the people visible in their photos. This, of course, is not always possible.

• Associated Press policies on electronic handling of photos

The following statement of our policy on electronic handling of photos was issued in 1990, the infancy of high speed photo transmission and digital picture handling. It is as valid today as it was then.

Electronic imaging raised new questions about what is ethical in the process of editing photographs. The question may have been new, but the answers all come from old values.

Simply put, the Associated Press does not alter photographs. Our pictures must always tell the truth.

The computer has become a highly sophisticated photo editing tool. It has taken us out of a chemical darkroom where subtle printing techniques, such as burning and dodging, have long been accepted as journalistically sound. Today these terms are replaced by "image manipulation" and "enhancement." In a time when such broad terms could be misconstrued, we need to set limits and restate some basic tenets.

The content of a photograph will NEVER be changed or manipulated in any way.

Only the established norms of standard photo printing methods such as burning, dodging, toning and cropping are acceptable. Retouching is limited to removal of normal scratches and dust spots.

Serious consideration must always be given in correcting color to ensure honest reproduction of the original. Cases of abnormal color or tonality will be clearly stated in the caption. Color adjustment should always be minimal.

In any instance where a question arises about such issues, consult a senior editor immediately.

The integrity of the AP's photo report is our highest priority. Nothing takes precedence over its credibility.

ART and photography
It was only after the turn of the century that photography began to breach the walls of the gallery and museum world in America, and even then with limited success. Now, however, photographs can sell for six figures — not in the same league as the millions for a Van Gogh painting, but not exactly chump change either — and be presented in fine art museums, not industrial expositions.

The question remains: if photography is an art, what kind of art is it? If we call a specific photograph a work of art does that mean it shows technical excellence? That it reminds us of a particular kind of painting or drawing? Provides a good record of something we regard as beautiful, such as a sunset?
Photographs need not be unique, unlike the Mona Lisa and other paintings, except for daguerreotypes. It's possible to make a lot of copies, so what does rarity mean? (Some photographers are now making "limited editions.") And since photographs can be taken in many ways, what makes one artistic and one ordinary? In the early days of the twentieth century, photographs imitated painting as the way to claim artistic status, modelling a photograph on Whistler's famous painting of his mother, or recording a New York skyscraper with compositional devices learned from Japanese prints and a dreamy softness that removed the image from being confused with an "objective" factual record.


Then along came modernism, and photography eventually caught up, with sharp-focus, and up-to-date notions of subject matter and treatment. Edward Weston's image of a pepper takes something that is familiar and common, isolates it to concentrate attention on it, and through careful lighting and printing makes it look like a monumental sculpture.

Finally . . . along came post-modernism, in the guise of Andy Warhol, who used photographs as the basis for paintings. Many photographers were no longer trying to go out and make pictures "from nature" in the manner of Ansel Adams. Adams, the figure probably most identified with beautiful photographs by the general public, was a man whose ideas about art were essentially ninteenth-century ideas. Post-modern photographers in the late twentieth century appropriated images from other sources such as photojournalism or advertising, or staged their own scenes instead of trying to go out on the streets and capturing "real life." Photography became a tool, and a modern and useful one. Beauty was one thing, "interesting visual images made using photography" was another, maybe. That's where we are today.

In slightly over a century and a half, photography has gone from outsider to insider status, but now the rules of the art game seem to have changed, as "mixed media" (collage and installation art, with photography, painting, and sculpture joined) and "new media" (video and computer) disrupt the old-fashioned divisions into painting, sculpture, and prints and drawings. Photography may be the new kid on the block, but the whole neighborhood is changing fast.

Photography and War

War photography also raises questions about freedom of the press, with government control inevitably at issue. There is always the possibility that censorship by the government and self-censorship by photographers, editors, and publishers, combine to limit what we see about any particular military situation.
The history of the century has been the history of changing versions of the conflict between the government and the press, and changing photographic coverage. In World War I, censorship was heavy, access to the front for photographers was limited, and there were relatively few photographs of actual combat. (Some of the supposed war photographs look staged.) In World War II, for the first time, photographs of American dead were published. After initially being held back by censors, a photo of three American corpses lying on the beach after a landing in the Pacific appeared in Life magazine.
In Korea, the nature of the war ("police action" in official parlance) led to some nasty fighting and, in David Douglas Duncan's famous photographs, a sense of exhaustion rather than triumph. In Vietnam the photos (and television images, both a rival and complement) were more explicit and more shocking: images of a Buddhist monk burning himself to death, a napalmed young girl running down a road, a South Vietnamese general executing a Viet Cong suspect, Vietnamese villagers massacred by U.S. troops at My Lai. All became icons of the war and helped turn public opinion.
The Pentagon and the government learned from what they perceived as a mistake of allowing the medium too much freedom. The press was throttled at Grenada and again during the Gulf War, where photographers were kept away from the combat zone except under tightly controlled conditions. In the Gulf War, virtually no combat photographs were published, so that it was left to images of the aftermath to suggest what had happened — and then a photograph of an incinerated Iraqi soldier caused a controversy because of its graphic revelation.
That picture was a shocking reminder of what actually happened. In a world where the United States public and politicians want only casualty-free wars, the imagery of war is becoming video images showing cruise missiles and plane-launched bombs, along with official shots of the military in effect "on parade," i.e., in controlled, even staged circumstances, and shots — how ironic that term — of refugees, the casualties of war.
In the aftermath of Vietnam, government control of the media in wartime is once again an acute issue. The situation now resembles that during the pre-Vietnam era. The military wishes to strictly limit access and publication; the press insists on the right to see all and show all.
"War photographs" implies more than just pictures of combat: it can refer to military photographs in general, photographs of civilians caught in the middle of conflicts, or images of "the home front." For many people, the photographs of the concentration camps, which came out only after World War II, were too much. These photographs may be the most shocking ever published. After them there could be equally graphic horrors (from Cambodia or Rwanda, for example) but not the initial shock at what human beings had done, or the shock of seeing it presented so unflinchingly in a photograph. As war photography and photographs of other extreme situations such as famines have become increasingly explicit, it has been argued that seeing such images desensitizes people to the horrors and produces "compassion fatigue." Some say that even the special realism the camera brings to the depiction of war can no longer shock, for we have seen too much, and true shock is no longer possible.

Digital Truth
It is true that The National Geographic moved two of the Egyptian pyramids closer together on a cover, to fit the vertical format. And, yes, the cover photo on A Day in the Life of America was manipulated to move the cowboy closer to the moon, again to fit the format.
Does that mean photographic truth is at an end? Who says it ever existed? Photographs have always been manipulated. Usually the results have not been big whopper lies, pictures that claimed something happened when it didn't, but less serious sins, touch-ups in ads and portraits. The tabloids have always used a bag of photographic tricks. In early examples, as when cameras were barred from courtrooms, scenes were staged and images created through cutting and pasting to show what happened. The tabloids still use photographic trickery to turn the fantastic into the supposedly realistic, showing Actor A with Actress B when they never met, or Elvis alive and well in Country C (or on the moon). With the tabloids "Believe it or not" can mean mainly "not"; seeing is not necessarily believing.
When will digital manipulation become a serious problem? We'll see. So far, no digitally manipulated image has provided the occasion for a major crisis in the truth-versus-falsehood department. It may happen tomorrow, or it may never happen as imagined, with someone creating a fake of something important and getting away with it at first, affecting public opinion.
Photography has always been awarded a special status for truthfully recording the world. But that doesn't mean all photographs, all the time. Digital imaging may pose a serious challenge to traditional photographic technology — film, cameras, paper. And it may eventually affect how people view the images they see in newspapers and magazines, or even in family albums. Right now it looks as if the digital effect on photography is more on transmission and handling than on image-creation. There was always darkroom trickery — retouching, double-exposure. It's just that such effects are easier to produce now, and less easy to detect.
The problem is that with digital manipulation of photographic images so simple, a slippery slope is created where minor cleaning up of an image can easily lead to major changes. It is not easy to identify a point where truth is lost and the picture enters the realm of fiction. In a world of images showing the most fantastic, imaginary situations in the most realistic, convincing fashion — think of science-fiction films, or the more exotic kinds of still advertising images — the balance may be shifting between traditional straightforward photographs and more spectacular kinds of images made through digital manipulation. It is possible that audience tastes and our sense of an image's credibility are shifting as well: do we still draw sharp lines between news photographs and the other pictures we see in newspapers and magazines?
There is one other potential problem with digital imagemaking. In the civil trial for the murder of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson cried "fake" when a photo turned up showing him wearing Bruno Magli shoes, the kind responsible for bloody footprints at the crime scene. The contact sheet (apparently) was convincing evidence and proved him wrong. That may be hard proof to come by in the future, when photos on digital cameras leave no tracks, as it were, and certainly no negative. In the past the negative was the key physical record of the photographic act and a guarantee of sorts for photographic truth.
Our sense of the truth to be found in images may be changing because of digital manipulation. But we still are waiting for our first great test case of digital truth, that is, digital lying.

Presidential Image Making
Acting presidential is one thing, appearing presidential can be another, and in the contemporary United States, it is hard to know which is more important.
Of course not all presidential pictures are neat, dull images of handshakes after signing bills into law. For that matter, not all American political pictures are of presidents. Politics is played in many ways, and in many places besides Washington, D.C. There are plenty of photographers — and politicians — to go around, and there are plenty of photos of all kinds besides the standards. Some carefully staged media events backfire: Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis looked silly and out of place, not "presidential," riding around in a tank with an ill-fitting helmet on his head. Some political photos are funny — one or two of them intentionally. Most political photos are totally forgettable, some memorable, and a few key images are totally unforgettable, capturing moments of high drama in ways that provide a shared sense of history for all. When that happens, political life somehow escapes control of the spindoctors and image masters, and manages to recover a sense of immediacy, vitality and significance.

Advertising and Persuasion
By the late ninteenth century, advertisers were already convinced that illustrations sold goods, but the shift to photography came after World War I, during the 1920s as the modern advertising industry exploded. Photographs were thought to be more convincing because of their "realism" and "truthfulness."
Advertising photography created an idealized version of middle-class life that was always white, attractive, happy, and capable of reaching the next rung on the ladder to health, beauty, luxury, and success. In the late 1960s some of the race and gender biases of advertising were at last addressed.
For all of photography's supposed realism and its power to make fantasy credible, the underlying strength of photography in advertisements lies in its ability to glorify — and glamorize — the object. A handful of cigarettes can be made to look like the most beautiful, precious and desirable objects in the world. A car can be presented as the symbol of a "lifestyle," the very object needed to prove one's entrance into the world of the rich, stylish and sexy. Of course, photography can work both ways. It can make cigarettes attractive. But it can also help create images that turn people away from cigarettes, by using fashion-model looks as the lure for an ad that warns against smoking.
It is unlikely that people ever swallowed advertising claims whole. Yet even when an advertising photograph is recognized as a performance, it touches real wishes and anxieties and invites belief or wish fulfillment, at least subliminally. For those in search of identity, advertising offers a kind of pictorial windowshopping. The innumerable images show products that promise to create a new sense of self, and they do so with all the brilliance and conviction photography can offer. Seeing through the photographic sales pitch may not be that difficult — but resisting it can be.











Social Change

In the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries Jacob Riis, a Danish-born journalist, used photographs to help support his arguments about the need to reform slum life. The title of his most famous work, How the Other Half Lives, remains a simple description of how social photography generally operates, providing a look at the lower classes to awaken the conscience of the middle and upper classes.
Lewis Hine, known for his photographs of child labor, thought that photography could be "a lever for the social uplift." He believed in the realism of photography as a means of providing unquestionable evidence, although he also used accompanying captions and text to give the photographs even more punch by providing telling information.
The photographers of the Farm Security Administration worked for the federal government during the Great Depression of the 1930s. They were hired to photograph the struggles of the rural poor, and the programs designed by the government to provide help. In the end, they provided a complex portrait that went beyond those boundaries, and their work became a model for many later photographers. As images that attempted to rally support for government programs, the FSA photographs — now stored in the Library of Congress — often played on people's sympathies by showing individuals in trouble, and therefore in need of help, but not in such bad shape that aid would not make a difference.












Today, photographers continue to use the camera to win support for social causes: poverty and homelessness, AIDS, the farm crisis, the environment. Sometimes they work independently, sometimes they work as photojournalists, sometimes they work for charitable organizations or government agencies. It has never been easy to find support for social reform photography, or to find outlets where it can be published. But many dedicated photographers are still fired by the belief that if they can show hardship and injustice truthfully, fairly and forcefully, people who see their pictures will be moved to respond.


Cultural Identity
Given the treatment of members of these groups in the past (and present), the stakes are always high when it comes to photographic representation. Where stereotypes are at play, any picture can create a positive image or reinforce a negative one. The stakes are increased when the photographer is white, the subject a person of color, and the audience largely white — and more often than not, that has been the case.

Someone who belongs to a group may have greater personal experience and knowledge of its ways and may elicit a more trusting, open response. Social proximity can lead to a physical and psychological closeness made evident in the photographs. But insider status is no guarantee of pictorial success. The results, as always, depend on the individual photographer and the elements of the specific situation. Partly as a result of ethnic pride movements and a greater concern with the ethical and political issues surrounding the use of photographs, a new wave of photographic work is now being done by members of different ethnic and racial groups, with a full consciousness of what it means to participate in self-representation. Some of the work is photojournalism, intended for publication in newspapers, magazines, and books. Some is art, intended more for presentation in galleries and museums. In either case, the photographers show a heightened awareness of the importance of controlling one's own image and the images that represent one's group.

Tuesday 14 February tabloid journalism

Please read the following article from Time Magazine. A Brief History Of: Tabloids!! By Kate Pickert

When John Edwards admitted what the national Enquirer had been saying for months--that he had had an affair with a campaign videographer--it was only the latest in a string of high-profile scandals broken by the supermarket press. But politicians' foibles weren't always the target of choice for the tabloids. In the 1950s, their pages were splashed with bloody car accidents and gruesome mutilations. Enquirer owner Generoso Pope dialed down the gore in an effort to appeal to housewives in the checkout aisle, replacing it with alien abductions and medical oddities. Celebrity gossip took over by the late 1960s, as the Enquirer and rival Globe feasted on Chappaquiddick, Jackie Kennedy's remarriage and the death of Elvis. (The Enquirer paid a Presley relative to snap a picture of the King in his coffin.) Rupert Murdoch's Star joined in soon after. Weekly World News, billing itself "The World's Only Reliable Newspaper," carried on the mantle of the weird, covering miraculous cancer cures and zombie sightings. "When we inform people, it's usually by accident," admitted its editor. Tabloid circulation peaked in the 1980s, but the O.J. Simpson trial prompted a rapid--and ironic--reversal of fortune. Broadcast coverage of the spectacle eclipsed anything that could be done in print, setting a template for sensational TV journalism that would drive the tabs' circulation down 30% by the mid-'90s. Celebrity print media has bounced back in recent years, thanks to Britney and Paris, although mostly in the glossy magazine format that Star switched to in 2004. And as it is with most papers, the Internet is impinging on tabloids' turf. The new medium has already claimed Weekly World News, which folded in 2007--but readers looking for the latest on the ALIEN BABY LOVE CHILD can still find it online.

ASSIGNMENT: Part 1- DUE the end of class on Wednesday 15 February.

Irresponsible journalism-what you don’t want! Go to the link below:
http://www.toptenlinks.com/cat.php/News:Newspapers:Tabloids

If you have trouble with this, here is a list of tabloids. 1, National Enquirer 2. Star Magazine 3. Weekly World News 4. New York Post 5.The Mirror 6.The Sun 7.New York Daily News 8 Globe Magazine 9. Tabloid 10. Mega Star

Read 4 articles from 4 different tabloids. In approximately 250 words, respond to this question: What commonalities do you find within these articles? What ethical problems do you note? What purpose do these writings serve.

Assignment:Part 2 of the assignment; due Friday  17 February

Now write your own tabloid article: length approximately 400 words. Make sure to include an image at the top of the article. Possible topics:

mythology / folk / fairy tale characters. The Three Bears Cinderella Little Miss Muffet The Return of Odysseus Robin Hood The Trojan Horse Davy Crocket at the Alamo George Washington and the cherry tree The Old Woman and the shoe Johnny Appleseed Casey Jones Aladdin Little Red Riding Hood The Little Mermaid Snow White The Three Little Pigs Anything else that appeals to your imagination. Don't forget to apply the who, what, where, when and how to your article, as well as your quote. 

Public Service Project checklist

 ALL PROJECTS ARE DUE THIS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10 at the beginning of class.
Ten points off per day for late material.

checklist
1. Prepare a cover sheet that lists the following: your organization and the members of your group.
Inside:
           a. Your event information: date, time, budget details (location, food / items/ speakers / entertainment)
           b. Press release (look at last Wednesday's blog); this is the promotion for your particular event.
           c. Public Service Announcement. No matter how you intend to convey this- podcast, video, live reading- you must turn in a script or scripts, depending upon whether you are working individually or in a group.  If you are working alone, this is one one minute PSA. If you are working in twos or threes, you have a second PSA of 30 seconds.  AGAIN, you must turn in a script.
           d. List of contacts to whom you would send your press release and psa(s).  These are the exact names, numbers of the people from two television and two radio stations.
           f. Promotional items: one if you are working independently, two for groups of two or three. These can be t-shirts or other physical object, brochures, posters, or a short video. You need to have an image of the object or the object itself to turn in on Friday.




How the presentations will work: This is essentially a sharing, but it's your opportunity to speak to a group, hence the grading: oral presentation, organization and content.  
1. You will introduce your organization, explaining its history and purpose. As you researched and wrote these out all ready, this will be done extemporaneously, that is no reading.
2. Present your Public Service Announcement (s). This is live or recorded.
3. Discuss your event.
4. Show your promotional materials. 


Once again all work is due Friday and is not related to your presenting your project.


           

Wednesday Day 3 public relations project

At this time, everyone should have posted their project and group (Monday-classroom participation grade), as well as their 200 word response (Tuesday, writing grade)
The following is the summary of the project, which must be ready for presentation on Friday 10 February.

1. Two Public Service Announcements: 30 seconds and one minute. One of these must be in script format. Samples below.

2. A press release publicizing a related event Samples below


4. A detailed event budget, including advertising fees See section #4 below for details.

5. List of contacts for the events See section #5 below for details.

ALL MATERIAL-written out PSA (even if you have filmed it), the press release, the two promotional products, the event's budget and the contact list is DUE FRIDAY 10 FEBRUARY. They are not dependent upon your presenting the PSA to the class. Assemble all the materials neatly with a coversheet that has your organizations name and the members of your group. 3. Two of the following: posters, brochures, t-shirt or print ads or something else imaginative that will promote your organization.Divide up the work and make a timeline of who is responsible for what and when.
1. The public service announcement (who is writing the 30 second spot? the one minute spot?
2. Who is the speaker? who can best deliver the content? Are you filming or doing this live?
3. Who is designing / making the products? or brochure? or poster? These should be as close to professional looking as possible.
4. Events budget. You need some activity to raise awareness of your organization. Be realistic and imaginative. (Really that is not a paradox.) How much is this going to cost? advertising? space rental? caterers? speaker? Activities? Who might donate? What are you charging? How many volunteers do you need to make this successful?
5. You need a contact list. Who specifically liaises for this organization within our community?

#1 What is a PSA or public service announcement?
Unlike a press release, a public service announcement is usually transmitted electronically, via radio or television in a short spot of ten to sixty seconds. A requirement of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is that stations donate a certain amount of airtime to serve the public and the community. Most public radio and TV stations have a community calendar for which they will announce events to the public. Health or safety tips are included within this public service requisite.
A public service announcement typically heralds a community event, usually, but not always, for a non-profit organization. Commercial groups can also announce non-profit events or services. If you just want a pre-event plug, the community calendar is where you should direct your PSA. Many local newspapers also have community calendars so PSA’s are not limited to electronic media.

The following are some examples of public service announcements for the ABATE, an organization in Arkansas that defends the rights of motorcyclists.

Public Service Announcements:

10 Second PSA: WE COME FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE, BUT WE TRAVEL DOWN THE SAME ROAD. LOOK FOR MOTORCYCLES & SHARE THE ROAD. THIS MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ABATE of ARKANSAS, www.arkansasabate.org

15 Second PSA: DID YOU KNOW THAT 75% OF MULTIPLE VEHICLE ACCIDENTS INVOLVING MOTORCYCLES WERE THE FAULT OF THE OTHER PERSON? DON'T BE PART OF THAT DEADLY STATISTIC, LOOK FOR MOTORCYCLES & SHARE THE ROAD. THIS MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ABATE of ARKANSAS, www.arkansasabate.org

20 Second PSA: APPROXIMATELY 75% OF THE MULTI-VEHICLE ACCIDENTS INVOLVING MOTORCYCLES WERE THE FAULT OF THE OTHER PERSON. MOST OF THOSE DRIVERS SAID THEY DID NOT SEE THE MOTORCYCLE. DON'T BE PART OF THAT DEADLY STATISTIC. LOOK FOR MOTORCYCLES & SHARE THE ROAD. THIS MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ABATE of ARKANSAS, www.arkansasabate.org

30 Second PSA: DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO RIDES A MOTORCYCLE? CHANCES ARE GOOD THAT YOU SEE MOTORCYCLE RIDERS WHEN YOU ARE BEHIND THE WHEEL. FOR THE REST OF YOU, YOUR CHANCES OF BEING THE PERSON WHO HITS A MOTORCYCLE RIDER JUST WENT UP 300%. THAT'S RIGHT, YOU ARE 3 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO HIT SOMEONE RIDING A MOTORCYCLE JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE WHO RIDES THEM. DON'T BE PART OF THAT DEADLY STATISTIC. LOOK FOR MOTORCYCLES & SHARE THE ROAD. THIS MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY ABATE of ARKANSAS, http://www.arkansasabate.org/

Here are some more PSA examples; this time from National Public Radio

Thank You

(15 seconds)

Hello, my name is _______________, a teacher at ____________.

Thank you for supporting your local public school.

Together, we're making great public schools for every child. That is America's promise.

Celebrate American Education Week with us, November 13th through 19th.

A message from (station call letters) and the (local association name).

______________________

A Community

(15 seconds)

This week, November 13th through 19th, is American Education Week.

A good time to remember that caring teachers, education support professionals, substitute educators, and involved parents make the difference in a child's learning.

Together, we're making great public schools for every child. That's a dream we're working to make a reality.

A message from (station call letters) and the (local association name).

______________________

Watch Them Learn

(15 seconds)

Visit your neighborhood school during American Education Week, November 13th through 19th.

Watch children learning to think, solve problems, and cooperate on projects.

Better yet . . . ask how you can help reinforce their learning skills beyond the classroom.

Together, we are making great public schools for every child. That is America's Promise.

A message from (station call letters) and the (local association name).

_____________________

Teachers in America

(30 seconds)

America's public school teachers equip our youngsters with many skills.

They teach students to read and do math.

They teach children history and science.

They help them learn how to solve problems, resolve conflicts and cooperate with each other.

Teachers care about how and what their students learn.

Teachers want all of them to succeed.

Just like you--their parents and community members.

Please . . . come into our classrooms and see how we are fulfilling America's promise by making great public schools for every child.

Celebrate American Education Week, November 13th through 19th.

A message from (station call letters) and the (association name).

_____________________

What I Like Best (script for children's voices) (Script example)

(60 seconds)

Girl #1: What I like best about my school is my classroom teacher, (name), because he/she taught me how to read (name of book). When I grow up, I'm going to write a book.

Boy #1: What I like best about my classes is how we learn to solve problems and work together as a team. I can do a lot of things by myself, but I like being able to help others and work together to get a project done.

Girl #2: What I like best is biology--studying chromosomes and DNA. After I go to college, I'm going to medical school and become a doctor. If I could find the cure for cancer or diabetes or AIDS, that would be like totally awesome!

Boy #2: I'm not sure what I like best about my school. It's a toss-up--I like history, art and gym. Who knows? Maybe I'll be a historian. Or design computer graphics. Or be a basketball player. My mom, though, she'd like me to be a teacher.

Announcer: America's schools teach children to think, cooperate, solve problems, and much more.

Visit a school during American Education Week, November 13th through 19th, and see the future taking shape, one student at a time!

A message from (station call letters) and the (association name).

______________________

All the Difference

(60 seconds)

Sometimes one teacher can make all the difference:

A teacher who stays after school to help you understand an algebra problem.

A coach who tells you that you can do it--and gets you to run faster than you've ever run before.

A teacher who pushes you to do things you didn't think you could do--write a poem, create an algorithm, play a Bach sonata.

Sometimes one day in school can make the difference for a lifetime.

The day you learn how to read.

The day you win an award in the science fair.

The day you start thinking "I can" instead of "I can't."

November 13th through 19th is American Education Week, a time for celebrating the crucial differences that educators make in young lives.

The classroom is where students learn to think, solve problems, and cooperate with each other.

These skills are critical in shaping the future of America.

This week, visit your child's classroom and show your support.

Whether it's thanking a teacher, reading to kindergartners, or talking with high school students about your work, your support can make all the difference!

A message from (station call letters) and the (association name).

______________________

______________________

All the Difference

(60 seconds)

Sometimes one person can make a difference:

A classroom aide who stays after school to help you understand an algebra problem.

A crossing guard who assists your child across a busy street.

A computer technician who retrieves your once lost term paper from a disk.

November 16th is National Education Support Professionals Day, a time for celebrating the crucial differences that education support professionals make in young lives.

The school building is where students learn to think, solve problems and cooperate with each other.

These skills are critical in shaping the future of America.

This week, visit your child's school and show your support.

Whether it's thanking an Educational Support Professional, reading to kindergarteners, or talking with high school students about your work, your support can make all the difference!

A message from (station call letters) and the (association name).

#2  What is a press release?

Press Release Definition

Let us begin by reviewing what a press release is. By definition a press release is simply a statement prepared for distribution to the media. The purpose of a press release is to give journalists information that is useful, accurate and interesting. Get it? Useful, accurate and interesting; it is that easy.

Press releases are in all actuality ‘cookie cutter’. Once you get the hang of writing them, all you have to do is fill in the blanks. Press releases conform to an established format. Journalists receive so many press releases a day, they have set standards and expectations that you must conform to just to have your release read, let alone published. If your press release is printed ‘as is’, without changing even one word, then you know you have conformed to the journalistic standards of that particular medium. “Write on”, you’re doing a great job!

Press Release Format 

Read and follow carefully.

Press releases should be printed on company letterhead. (Use the logo of the organization you have chosen)  The organization's  name, web address, location address and phone number should be printed clearly at the top of the page. PRESS RELEASE should be spelled out in all CAPS and centered in bold. The press release contact person's name (that's you) should be underneath the wording and all contact numbers printed clearly underneath. (Use the school's number) If the press release is for IMMEDIATE RELEASE, say so, on the left margin directly above the title in all caps.

Title

The next essential component of the press release is the Headline or Title. It should be centered, and in bold. The heading of the press release should capture the journalist. The title of the press release should be short and snappy, and hopefully grabbing the attention of the journalist and impressing them enough to read on.

Content

You are now ready for the useful, accurate and interesting BODY of the PR. The body of the press release begins with the date and city for which the press release is originated. The body of the press release is very basic; who, what, where, when and why.

The first paragraph of the press release should contain in brief detail what the press release is about.

 The second paragraph explains, in detail: who cares; why you should care; where one can find it; when it will happen. Also, included in the second ‘informative’ paragraph is generally a quote that gives the release a personal touch. Touchy-feelies go a long way with journalists. Press releases and news stories are boring to journalists without a ‘human interest’.

 The third and generally final paragraph is a summation of the release and further information on your event with the event's coordinator's (someone in your group) contact information clearly spelled out.

The content of the press release, beginning with the date and city of origin, should be typed in a clear, basic font (Times New Roman, Arial, etc.) and double-spaced. If your press release exceeds one page, the second page should indicate ‘ Page Two’ in the upper right hand corner.  (Yours will only be one page)Journalistic standards have set basic parameters to define the end of a press release: ###. Three # symbols, centered directly underneath the last line of the release indicate the end of a it.

Checklist

• Company Letterhead, Name, Address, Phone Number, Web Address
• PRESS RELEASE in all caps
• Contact Person’s Name
• Immediate Release or Release Date(all caps)
• HEADLINE or TITLE in BOLD/CAPS
• BODY-Date/City-who,what,when,where and why.
• Catchy Text
• Sum it up…
• Basic Font, Double Spaced, Page Numbers, and ###

Here is an example of an event press release, which is mostly like the format you will use. Don't forget the logo

Morning Mist Health Foods
2 Foodroad, FL 35367
www.morningmist.com
Phone– 555.555.5555
Fax – 555.555.5555
Info@morningmist.com

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Manny Squire
Office: 555.555.5555
Pager: 555.555.5555

Morning Mist Health Foods Inaugurates College Town Marathon

Morning Mist Health Foods Inc. had its beginnings in Chapel Hill, NC. Now the national chain has returned to the college town to sponsor the First Annual Chapel Hill-Durham Marathon. The race will take place on April, 27th and has already attracted many well-known marathoners, including multi-race winners Herb Putkin and Shelly Walters.

“Morning Mist is all about health and staying young,” said company CEO Manny Squire, “What better way to give back than to have a road race between these two great college towns.”

Morning Mist was founded by Squire and college roommate Tracy Scroggins as a small health food store in Chapel Hill near the University of North Carolina campus. The company grew to several stores in the Raleigh area, including one in Durham near Duke University. Morning Mist has expanded to forty-five full-size grocery stores nationwide.

“The race will start in front of the Duke store and follow highway 501 to the original Chapel Hill store,” said company president Scroggins. “We hope this becomes a great tradition”.

Morning Mist Health Food was founded in 1989. It is headquartered in Raleigh, NC, and employs 12,500 people in the US and Canada. It is listed on NASDAQ as MMHF.

###

Example 2

CityScape Communications
447 North Walnut Springfield, IL 62703
www.cityscape.net
Phone– 217.535.1010
Fax – 217.535.1009
Info@cityscape.net

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Luan Aten
Office: 217.535.1010
Pager: 217.622.0134

CityScape Communications Forges Strategic Alliance with EduNet to Offer School Fundraising Solutions

Springfield, IL December 30, 1998 – CityScape Communications has signed a strategic alliance with EduNet of Springfield, IL. EduNet offers fundraising solutions to school systems in Illinois by reselling Internet services.
CityScape Communications will provide the Internet service, technical support and billing. School children will solicit family, friends and neighbors to sign up for Internet service to support their school system.
The EduNet fundraising solution provides school systems a much higher return than traditional fundraisers such as candy sales. CityScape Communications President and Chief Technical Officer Steve Horrighs, Jr. stated, “We are very happy to have formed an alliance with EduNet. We feel strongly that this fundraising program will benefit schools, not just by raising much needed funding, but also by offering affordable and reliable Internet services to communities that do not yet have access to the Internet.
CityScape Communications is a ‘total solutions provider’ offering expert data networking consulting, design, implementation and maintenance. CityScape Communications provides a wide range of data and telecommunications services, including Internet services, professional web site design, telephone systems and voice mail applications. For further information, contact Luan Aten at 888-248-9722.

###

Section #4 details

You must plan a promotional event. You should keep it modest, as the more the splashier your event, the more complex the requirements for pulling it off.

1. Decide on the event. Suggestions: book signing; discussion panel; community get-together
2. Specifically where and when will it be held?  You must then find out how much it will cost to rent the facility. (research). How many people are you expecting? 
3. Tables and chairs? lighting? what is included?
4. What is the entertainment? How much? 
5.  Food? What and how much?
6. How many volunteers do you need?
7. How do you intend to raise money?
8. Each group must turn in a detailed description of the event, including specific costs for the above-mentioned items.

Section #5 details

     This is a list of the following:

1. The leaders of the organization that you have chosen. Try to find a local liason.

2. Two newspapers and radio stations that would accept your PSA and Public release announcements Include specific names and addresses. This is available on line.