Chapters 11-14

Chapter 11 talks about the news release stories. At first it did not really pop out to me as being an interesting part of the book, but it grew on me a bit. I think it is really interesting how they come up with stories, and they try to come up with stories that are most likely to affect a large audience. I think this is key because otherwise people are just plain bored. Who wants to hear about the county's biggest cockroach farm? Not me, I want a very powerful and interesting story.
Chapter 12 was really not my favorite chapter. BUT, after I began quoting people, I went back and reread it quickly. The chapter deals with speeches, correct quotations, how to cover speeches and quotations. This is key in journalism. One wrong word or phrase in your story could result in the loss of a job, or your credibility. Once I really went over it again, I found that paraphrasing can be shortened a lot more than I thought it could be.
Chapter 13 regarded the covering of disaster stories. It was in the chapter for many reasons I believe, one being that tragedy is quite common as bad as that sounds. You must be very delicate when talking to the victim, victim's family, etc. On the flip side you need to cover the story, so talking to everyone and anyone including cops, firefighters, etc. is very crucial as well. I believe that the more you talk, the more you get. The chapter also went over how to be delicate and take down as many notes as possible.
Chapter 14 It's all in the beat. Beats are kind of like the territory where reporters go for their stories. I feel that this would be a very good thing to work on, especially if you get a lot of stories in your "beat". This could be helpful because you know the area really well, and can get all of the details you need to get to have a great story.