Beast Eats Two, Then Pays the Price

Elisabeth, a young girl known to some as "Little Red Riding Hood" and her grandmother survived after being eaten by a wolf in a cottage deep in the woods. Fortunately both were discovered by a huntsman in the afternoon hours when he cut the wolf open revealing the two traumatized victims.
As thoughtful as Elisabeth's bread, sweet butter, and wine was, it could not stop the two from being deceived and subsequently eaten by a starving wolf. According to police reports, the malicious wolf convinced the young girl to travel off the path to pick wildflowers as he continued on to the grandmother's cottage. By pretending to be the women's granddaughter, he entered the house and promptly ate the ill and elderly victim. As the afternoon continued, the wolf lay in the grandmother's bed waiting for the young girl to arrive at the cottage. When the time came, he tricked the child into believing he was her sickly grandmother, despite her questioning of his "big, hairy ears and bright shinny eyes". She too, fell victim to the wolf's hunger scheme and eventually both grandmother and granddaughter were reunited in the creature's stomach.
Luckily, the beast would not prevail, as his loud snores alerted a nearby huntsman who began investigating the disturbance. Noticing something out of the ordinary, the huntsman cut open the wolf to reveal both victims that although terrified, were still alive.

What is News: Group Discussion

Many of my classmates had insightful interpretations on news and how they gain their information. Katie H. told us she got her news mostly through television because her roommate puts it on every morning. I agreed with her because I too watch the news; however, only when it comes on or is put on, as I find it hard to sit down and watch the news daily especially because it is usually negative. It was interesting; however, that she watches the news everyday because I would have thought television news to be lost on most of our generation. Katie G. on the other hand gets most of her information through the internet, the most popular news source of our time. Her homepage is MSNBC and she frequents twitter to hear the voice of the people and their take on news worthy information. She often finds herself clicking on various links to read more, which shows a lot not only about her curiosity but her willingness to find out more, a trait that is impressive. I too agreed with her stance, as most of the information I hear is through the internet such as sites like Facebook, ESPN, and CNN. Emily looks at news from a convenience point of view, as she has many news applications on her phone such as Pulse. This makes it very easy to check the news regularly, as your phone is typically on you all day. This source Pulse has many categories making the news less dry and more interesting to read about according to her. Lastly, Ken relies on the Daily Show or other television programs for most of his information, as he likes their exciting spin on the news. All of my classmates made interesting and truthful points about the news, how they get it, and what the sources mean to them. I found each answer to be insightful in a certain way and found myself wondering which is better: the less focused but quickly informative footage news or the sometimes duller and requiring more attention news story or article?

What is News?

I believe news is the transfer of information from one source to another. Whether this is through verbal communication, viral, or otherwise; news is information that is revealed from one to another. Typically news is revealed to the public from a higher source such as a television station or a press conference; however, if I tell my friend of something important this can be considered "big news" to him. Therefore, I see the term "news" as the idea of informing another individual or more of something they did not perviously know. News is very important to establishing honesty and trust, unfortunately it can often be biased or the facts diluted. It is essential that news be reported promptly and truthfully otherwise we would remain less educated and naive about the world. 

Initial Post

Hello, my name is Sam Burch and this is my blog for English 621: News Writing. I am a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire and I am majoring in English Journalism with thoughts of minoring in Kinesiology, which is the study of human movement. I look forward to this course and the upcoming semester because I have not had much experience with news writing and hope to further my grasp of the subject. I enjoy writing and journalism has always been an interest of my therefore I hope this class will help me grow as both a writer and a journalist. I enjoy anything to do with music or the outdoors and my hobbies include skiing, ice hockey, hiking, canoeing, or any other activities taking place in nature. I hope that one day I can take my love of writing and nature and combine the two.