“Road to Victory” Rally: Sarah Palin speaks at Elon University
By Kate Austin
10/16/08
Click here for the full slideshow of pictures from today’s rally.
Sarah Palin speaks at the rally at Latham Park, Elon University.
Palin Excites Crowd at Elon University
By Keegan Calligar, Kate Austin and Bryce Little
Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin spoke to a packed crowd at Elon University Thursday afternoon as part of the “Road to Victory Rally.” Palin explained why Sen. John McCain is a better candidate than Democratic nominee Sen. Barak Obama, and talked about various issues, including taxes, the economy and making special needs children a priority.
Thousands of students and supporters packed Latham Park, many arriving as early as 9 a.m. for Palin’s speech, which she delivered around 2:45 p.m.
Politicians, including Celo Faucette, a candidate for State Representative in District 63, Rick Gunn, a candidate for North Carolina Senate in District 24, Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Sen. Richard Burr all addressed the crowd before Palin’s speech.
The Wells Family Band and country star Hank Williams Jr. entertained attendees.
Williams Jr. introduced Palin after singing his song in support of the Republican campaign, ‘The McCain-Palin Tradition.’
Palin told the crowd that McCain’s political and military experiences make him more qualified for president than Obama, and also spoke about taxes and the economy.
She said that Obama would raise taxes, while McCain would not.
“It’s a choice between a candidate that will raise your taxes, and the other choice is a true leader,” she said. “John McCain is going to Washington to work for Joe the Plumber and so many of you that own small businesses.”
Palin, whose infant son, Trig, has Down Syndrome, told the crowd that Americans must make special needs children a priority.
“As vice president, I am going to make sure that these families know that they have a friend and an advocate in the White House,” she said. “John and I have a vision for America where every child is cherished.”
George and Carol Joyce of Alamance County attended the rally to see Palin, whom they have supported since she accepted the vice presidential nomination, and were pleased with her performance.
“I’m a lifelong Republican, but that don’t mean I ain’t voting the other way,” George said.
Still, he will vote for Palin. “I like her ideas,” he said.
John Brown of Sioux Falls, SD, who used to live in North Carolina and is in the area visiting friends, thinks that Palin did a good job Thursday afternoon.
“I think she is a great speaker and said things that I believe in, and that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It makes me feel good about being an American, and I think she is taking us in a good direction. I am afraid that the other guys are going to take us into a socialistic republic.”
Friends of the vice presidential candidate were also in attendance. Dick Stoffel, an Alaskan Delegate and personal friend of Palin’s, cheered and waved throughout the rally.
“I think she is doing real well,” said Stoffel. “Her and John are really good fighters. The fluff is not there so much, and they will just keep on knocking. And when the people go to the polls, I think we will be a landslide. It will be a surprise.”
At least one protestor was removed during the rally. As a protestor was escorted out of the park, Palin quipped, “Maybe we need to tell security that maybe he need not go. Maybe he needs to stay and learn a little bit.”
Alyssa Vigneault, an Elon junior from Massachusetts and an Obama supporter, attended the rally to explore Republican viewpoints.
“I went into the rally because it something that I wouldn’t normally submit myself to … but it was on campus and it was people I know and it was my community, so I went to see what the other side is like,” she said.
Vigneault said that she left the rally because she felt uncomfortable.
“I walked out because I was expressing my opinions, and I was surrounded by people who were yelling and supporting her,” she said. “It was a little intimidating, honestly.”
Vigneualt said that she joined friends protesting outside of Latham Park, but was blocked by the College Republicans, a student group on campus. She said that they then contacted the police, and Smith Jackson, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, told them that they had to move to a location farther away.
“He told us to move to the other side of Lake Mary Nell because of policy, and he could not tell us what policy,” she said. “He just told us we had to move and we were in the wrong place, [and we were told that] if we did not move or give up our signs, the police would get involved.”
Palin spoke at Elon following a campaign stop in Bangor, Maine Thursday morning. Her next campaign stops include West Chester, OH and Noblesville, IN, both on Friday.
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Crime and Court Reporting: A Closer Look
10/5/08
By Kate Austin
In the book, America’s Best Newspaper Writing, good crime writing is characterized by finding a way to “blend dramatic narrative with civic purpose.” A journalist wants to stay away from creating hype and fear in a community; Exaggerations can fuel an “irrational fear of crime,” wrote the authors.
It seems that doing the actual reporting for a crime or court story would be difficult. Sources might be difficult to find, and people involved with a crime will most likely be on edge.
Even with the fears of overstepping boundaries or involving oneself too deeply in a dangerous situation, the best crime writing is the ones that get beyond official sources to the street level where the action is.
Melvin Mencher, a journalism teacher, tells his students to “report and write against their fears…with courage and persistence.” This persistence must also be accompanied by empathy, especially in situations that are tragedies close to the hearts of those involved.
Crime Story Examples
“Stranger than Fiction”, Elizabeth Day, The Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/sep/16/crimebooks.features
Day writes the story in a Quentin Tarantino style; She begins with the ending and then goes back to the beginning of the story. This way, the reader can watch it all play out in order, knowing where the story ends.
It is an effective narrative that sheds light on the character, Krystian Bala, that many people would have trouble understanding. Providing an odd character sketch within the lines of the story pulls on the readers’ interests.
“Headlines and Exonerations” by Clark Hoyt
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/opinion/17pubed.html?pagewanted=1
This article not only illuminates a specific occurrence, but also touches on the act of reporting on crime and court cases, which I found helpful. It said:
In reporting on a major criminal investigation, how do you balance the interests of the public in knowing as much as possible with the rights of individuals who come under suspicion, especially when the information comes from sources — often anonymous — whose motives aren’t clear?
Although the article does not answer this specific question, asking the question calls to mind the ethics and difficulties in reporting on cases such as these. Nicholas D. Kristof, a Times Op-Ed columnist, says that “the collision of the public interest in information with the private interest in privacy [is] enormously difficult to resolve, with no good solution.”
That is one’s job, as the journalist, to weigh different aspects to produce a story that will be in favor of the public good.
Journalist used in America’s Best Newspaper Writing
I found Cathy Frye, of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, to have the most enticing crime reporting of all that I had read, so I will focus on the other installments of the “Caught in the Web” story that won an ASNE award in 2004 for Distinguished Non-Deadline writing.
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=5588#entryway
I found that the articles of the four-article series of “Caught in the Web” were effective, yet incomplete without all four articles. Frye has amazing narrative abilities, but the articles ended very abruptly.
I suppose the articles, published one a day for four consecutive days, kept the readers wanting more.
The second installment does a great job of briefly recapping what a reader may have missed from the day before, and continues on to give a bit more background on Kacie, the victim, and her life.
The story flows pretty much in chronological order, helping the reader to follow the story with no confusion.
Other ASNE Award Winning Stories
In 2005, Helen O’Neill won the Distinguished Writing for Non-Deadline Writing Award for “Kidnapping Grandma Braun” about an eighty-eight-year-old woman who went missing.
Informal polling of Elon University community shows Biden is in the lead following the debate
By Kate Austin
10/3/2008
An informal survey of Elon students, faculty and staff the day after the vice presidential candidates’ debate found that Biden was victorious. The survey was conducted by 18 students in a Reporting course who gathered a convenience sample, polling Elon individuals in person, by phone and online between 10:50 and 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joseph Biden met to debate the position of their presidential counterparts on issues involving the economy, energy and conflict in the Middle East.
After polling 230 Elon University students, faculty and staff, the students found that 85 people thought that Biden had been victorious in last night’s debate.
Matt Lewis, instructional designer at the university said, “It seemed like [Biden] had more specific examples of what he was talking about. He could pull from his experience…I felt like [Palin] just didn’t have the knowledge that Biden did.”
Kelly McCarthy, a senior who works for the Obama campaign, warned that she would be biased because of her position but felt strongly that Biden had won because he “actually argued the points, unlike Palin.”
“He was very organized; he explained everything he thought, and he had policies – straight-up policies,” she said.
The people polled that chose Palin as the winner thought that she appealed to the people more on a personal level.
Ali Armstrong, a sophomore, said, “She spoke to the people and was just herself…she wasn’t trying to be anyone that she thought the people wanted. She was just herself.”
Twenty-seven people polled thought that the vice presidential debate had ended in a tie, and 65 either did not tune in or did not want to respond.
