Jaws Story - Second Issue

Ella Nilsen

An idyllic afternoon at Village Beach turned horrific as 10 year old Alex Kintner of Mayfair Court in Amity was killed by what police said appears to be a shark attack.  This comes a day after the discovery of local teen Christine Watson’s mangled body washed up on South Beach.

“Alex Kintner was killed in what appears – and I stress the word appears – to have been a vicious and unprovoked shark attack,” said Chief of Police Martin Brody.

Brody’s statement comes just a few hours after a press conference with the police, Mayor Bob Farley, and Medical Examiner Robert Niven had emphatically denied that Watson’s death was due to a shark attack, blaming the 17-year-old’s death instead on a freak motor-boating accident.

At a local press release held on Watson’s death, medical examiner Dr. Robert Nevin confirmed that the autopsy on Watson had pointed to an unfortunate encounter with a propeller, and stated, “I’ve been here thirty years, and this looks like any other motor-boating accident.”

Brody insisted he still could not confirm that Kintner’s death had been caused by a shark attack.  “We hasten to ask the press not to jump to any conclusions regarding the perpetrator or perpetrators in this tragic incident,” he said in a press release.

Nevertheless, Brody admitted that there were similar characteristics in both deaths.  “We now believe that it may be possible that the Watson death could also maybe have been linked to possible shark activities in the vicinity of Amity,” said Brody.  “That investigation is ongoing.”

At Village Beach, the scene was nothing short of hysterical as beach-goers suddenly noticed a growing red stain of blood in the ocean water, not far from where Alex Kintner had been paddling on a yellow rubber raft.  Chaos broke out as young children ran screaming from the water and their parents yelled for them on the beach.  Kintner was not among the hordes of children who were able to run to safety.  His body remains missing.

Brody expressed the town’s sincere condolences to the family of Alex Kintner, and announced that he would be holding a meeting at 6 p.m. tonight along with Mayor Farley and the Amity Board of Selectmen.  Among the business that will be discussed will be a plan to close the beaches for the Fourth of July weekend.  However, the beaches will remain open for the rest of the day, as Brody announced no beach closings in the press release.

Jaw Story - First Issue

Ella Nilsen

The mangled body of a local teenage girl was discovered on a remote section of South Beach around 6 a.m. this morning.  Questions remain on how she died as police and local officials assured residents that the beaches would be stay for the Fourth of July weekend.

“The Amity Police Department is investigating the tragic death of a teenage girl near one of our fine beaches Sunday night,” said Amity Police Chief Martin Brody in a press release.

The facts of the case remain murky. Christine W. Watson, 17, of 23 Sharkstooth St., Amity Island and a senior at Amity High School, was last seen alive with Christopher P. Hoggenbottam III, another local teen who is a sophomore at Trinity College.  The two were seen leaving a beach party on South Beach together at around 11 p.m. Sunday night. 

Both Watson and Hoggenbottam had reportedly been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana at the party.

Watson, an excellent swimmer who was a member of the varsity swim team at Amity High School and a lifeguard at the Amity Island YMCA pool, entered the water at a remote section of South Beach near the South Beach Shoal bell buoy.  Weather and sea temperatures and conditions at the time were fairly mild.

According to Hoggenbottam, he did not follow Watson into the water due to his inebriation. After noticing that she had not returned from the water, he notified police around 6 a.m. this morning. Watson’s body was recovered after a short search.

Police are currently investigating the cause of death.  Watson’s body was severely mauled by an attacker of unknown origin. The body is currently at the coroner’s office post-autopsy. No charges have yet been filed.

At a local press release, medical examiner Dr. Robert Nevin confirmed that the autopsy had been performed, and stated that all evidence pointed to a motor-boating accident.

“I’ve been here thirty years, and this looks like any other motor-boating accident,” said Nevin.

Police Chief Brody stated that police were thoroughly searching the harbor-master’s logs and interviewing local boaters to try to find anyone who was boating in local waters at the time.

Nevin and police, however, are still not ruling out the possibility of a shark attack or homicide, pending investigation.  Nevertheless, they emphatically ensured residents that the beaches were safe and would remain open to the public for the Fourth of July weekend, which is Amity Island’s biggest of the season.

“This was so far away from where people swim, we’re just not worried about it,” said Amity Mayor Larry Vaughn.

“We want to assure all residents and visitors on our fine island that they are in no danger,” added Brody.  Our lovely beaches will remain open for swimming pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Cover Letter - This American Life

Ella Nilsen

60 Strafford Avenue, Apt. K3

Durham, NH

03824

Dear This American Life Staff,

I wish to work for This American Life simply because I recognize the importance of a good story.  I love listening to people and the stories they have to tell.  Throughout my college career, I’ve interviewed dozens of people and by doing so; have gained more insight into the world around me than I could any other way. 

I grew up the classic National Public Radio kid.  Living in Northern New Hampshire, seemingly the only place in the world without a television signal, my parents kept the radio on all day.  The shows of NPR and the voices of thousands of people surrounded me from a very early age, always telling me their stories. 

I would be an excellent addition to the intern staff at This American Life because of my dedication, work ethic, and story-telling ability.  I have a very distinct voice in my writing that I believe would add to the program.  I would love to gain the experience of producing a radio show.  As I have been involved in the production of numerous print publications, I think the opportunity to do this in radio would be incredibly rewarding.

My journalism experience is extensive.  As a freshman in college, I joined the staff of the University of New Hampshire’s only student magazine, Main Street Magazine, and have learned so much from my experience with the publication. I started the now permanent music reviews and interviews section, interviewing artists and musicians including Passion Pit, the Smith Westerns, Wild Beasts, and Kap Slap. 

I have written many other pieces for the magazine as well, and as the Design Editor, helped transform the magazine’s layout and appearance.  I have grown with the magazine and feel an extremely strong connection to it.  Additionally, I have had three pieces to date published in the UNH school newspaper, The New Hampshire, and plan to publish more.  I have extensive experience with research as well, having completed a university funded research project on my own family’s history and Jewish heritage.

I am very experienced with the programs Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, and am going to be learning digital editing and Pro Tools this coming semester.  I have extensive experience interviewing subjects for research and investigative articles, as well as music interviews.  I am about to start my first extensive investigative piece on the Northern Pass in Northern New Hampshire, a proposed line of electrical towers that is vehemently opposed and being fought by New Hampshire residents.

I can be reached at elheafield@gmail.com.  I eagerly await your reply!

Sincerely,

Ella Nilsen

New York Times Log: November 13-15

Monday, November 13^th:

The Times story on gun rights is an excellent article.  I really found the structure the used, narrating a very specific example at the outset of the piece and then delving into the background of states rulings on gun rights and felons apparently easy access to them.  The article is well organized and very well written. 

This article is a good example of investigative news piece rather than a regular summary news article.  They indicated that they “examined hundreds of restoration cases in several states.”  A terrifying statistic the Times reports, offered by Washington, D.C. pardon lawyer Margaret C. Love is that “in more than half the states, felons have a reasonable chance of getting back their gun rights.”

This article was also much more substantial and longer than most other summary news articles.  The type of people the reporters talked to was much more varied than in summary news articles.  For example, one source who offered an opinion was a felon who had his was a felon who had his own gun rights restored easily.  He said, “It’s kind of spooky…we could have all kinds of crazy hoodlums out here with guns that shouldn’t have guns.”  The article especially focused on the powerful lobby for gun rights in the United States and how much influence it has in Washington D.C.  The article then takes a close look at five other cases of convicted felons who were easily granted gun rights and attempted shootings or killed after obtaining these rights.

Tuesday, November 14^th:

The article on the changes the nation’s healthcare has undergone since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care act in 2010 was a substantial look a t a very complex issue.  The consensus of the article is that things have changed considerably.

The opening sentence of the piece is good writing:  “For the nation’s health care system, there many be no going back” hits hard as a lead.  It gets the point across well and makes you want to keep reading.

The article is slightly difficult to understand just because the content is so dense and complicated, seeing as individual states are challenging it.

I thought that the piece on young people’s enthusiasm for President Obama starting to wane was interesting, given that it was so overwhelmingly strong in the 2008 election.  The article heavily relied on quotes from all the young people who are not reconsidering their votes for President Obama, but not fining themselves nearly as excited about the change he has so far produced as president.

Wednesday, November 15^th:

Today I focused on international stories, like the one on frustrations building in Europe over Germany’s perceived domination of the European economy.  I thought that the lead of this summary was too long and wordy.  It could absolutely have been re-written to be clearer.  The rest of the article was good, but also slightly dense.  The reporter mainly used sources like financial experts from different governments, private groups, or academic institutions, and did not incorporate quotes of popular sentiment in European countries, rather than just alluding to it.  The article certainly was well informed, but it wasn’t very compelling.

NY Times Log: November 7-9

Monday, November 7^th:

I thought today’s issue was overall a very diverse one with interesting articles.  I though that the article on increasing sexual harassment in middle and high school was disturbing but not at all surprising.  I was especially saddened to see that half on those who reported being sexually harassed did nothing about it.  Hopefully, most of these children at least feel as if they have someone to talk to about their problems.  I think that the article was a very good and concise summary news article with some great quotes from children and school officials.  I think that the Times could definitely run a feature piece spotlighting a particular school where harassment was reported, or on a particular student who had a story to tell, this would really bring a more immediate, human perspective to the issue as a whole.

The other national story today that I found rather disturbing is the one about Christians advocating corporal punishment for children and the deaths that have been tied to parents who seemed mentally unstable to begin with, who used tips from the book.  This debate centers on where the overlap is between punishment/ discipline for children and abuse and neglect.  I thought that this article was extremely in depth, perhaps more so than the story about bullying.  I thought that the extensive quotes gotten really added to the piece, and that quotes from the Pearl’s parenting book “To Train Up a Child” also gave a lot of material to work with for the article.

Tuesday, November 8^th:

Today’s big headline in the Times is the first public accuser who has come forward to put forth allegations that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed and groped her.  This marks the first serious public allegations that could mar Mr. Cain’s campaign, as well as the first serious sexual harassment charge that has come out for the campaign (not to mention, it’s the most serious charge that has been aired at a candidate in years).  The Times’ story mainly focuses on the woman who made the public allegations, Sharon Bialek.  They repeat her allegations and describe Ms. Bialek at the press conference she recently gave, saying that her voice cracked and that she became emotional while she recounted her experience with Herman Cain.  The article portrayed Ms. Bialek as someone who was not seeking financial gain from her allegations, rather, someone trying to speak up for more of the women who felt they could not come forward themselves.  The Times noted that even though Ms. Bialek has had past financial problems, she was not seeking monetary compensation from either Herman Cain’s campaign or the television talk shows that had invited her on to share her story.

Wednesday, November 9^th:

I thought the lead on the Times piece on Italy’s debt crisis and Silvio Berlusconi’s immanent resignation from his post was very concise and very good.  I also like the language used by the author, including the sentence: “political commentators said they could see no escape this time for the prime minister, whose Houdini-like ability to wriggle free from scandals is legendary.”  Additionally, I thought the article’s balancing of the main important points of the debt crisis with smaller details surrounding the case, including the sentence: “After the parliamentary vote, a photographer’s zoom lens caught Mr. Berlusconi writing ‘eight traitors’ on a piece of paper on which he had also written ‘resignation.’”

I found the Times’ business section article on Occupy Wall Street influencing organized labor and unions to be more vocal and aggressive in their demands very interesting.  It’s interesting that the unions were at first cautious about supporting the movement.  It was intriguing to read specifically about the seemingly vicious and raucous fight between the Teamsters and Sotheby’s because of the auction house’s lockout of art handlers associated with the Teamsters.  The article integrated good quotes from a lot of the Unions.  Even though the Unions have been inspired by Occupy, Occupy reps said that they must stay autonomous and not be attached to any one social or politically influential group.  The give-and-take between this new movement and this historically political and embattled organization is very interesting.

NY Times Log: October 31st - November 2nd

Monday, October 31^st:

I was extremely interested in the article on the rising popularity of Pakistani cricket star, anti-government symbol, and aspiring politician Imran Khan.  The picture with the article I thought showed the obvious widespread dissatisfaction with the current government in Pakistan.  I thought that the article could have focused more on the career of Khan in addition to focusing on what the popular response to his candidacy has been.  The article only briefly alluded to the fact that Khan’s political expertise might be vastly lacking, as he is a sports star whose political popularity is due simply to his celebrity.  It will be interesting to see whether Khan’s hype can translate to a solid candidacy, or if he does get elected, to a legitimate and effective tenure in office.

I reread the article on the early winter snowstorm that we had discussed early in class, and additionally noticed the short part in the article that briefly raised the question of whether or not this storm will raise debates on the validity of global warming.  This article posited that this storm was further proof that global warming is a legitimate threat, saying that an unexpected and fierce storm so early in the season was a sign of a rapidly changing climate.  I agree with the claim, but thought that this small section of the article was perhaps too small, and could have merited a second article devoted to this issue specifically.

Tuesday, November 1^st:

Today, I decided to focus on the noticeable difference between the writing styles of many of the other sections of the New York Times versus its regular News section.  For instance, Science Times.  It’s of little surprise that the science section does not employ the same type of summary lead that is often used in the regular News section.  Instead, the articles of the science section often tells a gradual story, a narrative around the gradual development of the hypothesis, experiments, and ultimate scientific conclusion.  However, the articles on science in the NY Times are not so methodical.  The one in Tuesday’s issue on Steve Jobs’ pancreatic tumor shows how, even with the extensive research that has been done on cancer, it is difficult for many to know how to proceed treating numerous kinds of cancer.  The article is as inconclusive as the subject it covers.

The article debates the various choices that cancer patients have when faced with their very specific types of the disease, but ultimately comes up with the conclusion that cancer and tumors are very complicated and the decisions of patients on how to proceed with them are very personal.  The article is like a news article in that it deals with both facts and emotion, however it represents the facts and emotion in a different format.

Wednesday, November 2^nd:

Today I was surprised at first seeing the article on Levi’s jeans on the front section of the Times.  I had thought that maybe this article was fit more for the business section rather than the regular news section, but after reading it; I decided that the article merited front-page status.  Part of a series of articles increasingly focusing on water shortages, this one was focusing on how the water used to make and clean jeans is drawing significantly from our natural resources.  I thought the article was a good length and devoted enough time to both the business and environmental aspects of the article.  Ultimately, reading the article gave me hope about the larger environmental situation simply because large companies are deciding that it is crucial to jump on the conservation bandwagon.

I thought that the photographs in this issue were particularly good, possibly because I was noticing more color photos?  Don’t know if there actually were more color photos or if I’m suddenly noticing more.  I particularly thought the picture accompanying the article on Egypt’s declining tourism rates was incredibly beautiful and very accurate for the content of the article.  The next two pages in the world section also had great photos, especially on the man walking on a plank above floodwaters in Thailand.  

NY Times Logs: October 24th - 26th

Monday, October 24^th:

I thought that that national issues that the Times covered in today’s paper were interesting – I’m finding occasionally that I don’t understand why some things are put on the cover while others are left out (notably, why an article about hearing aides was put on the cover, but the main story on the national page was about the contentious issue of selling water and pressure on farmers to not water their crops, rather, selling that water to cities that depend on this disappearing resource.)  It’s making me wonder about how the layout of the front page is determined, and more importantly, how what is put on the front page is determined.

I thought that the three snapshots of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta accompanying the article on military spending captured well the fraught and tense debate over the defense budget that is now being waged in Congress.  After the victories against Al Quaeda in the past year, Panetta is urging Congress to not cut the defense budget, like, he insists, they have done in the past.  I thought that the lead of the article was very descriptive yet concise, and the content of the article was excellent.  I thought that it was extremely laid out and detailed about both the Panetta and the vast challenges he faces in Washington.  

Tuesday, October 25^th:

I liked the layout of the Times today, with the emphasis on the small pictures that were “Snapshots of Suburban Poverty.”  I thought the photos were very interesting and very stark.  I liked the fact that they displayed multiple small photos, rather than one large one – I think this helps to drive home the point that this problem is widespread and affecting many people.  Especially considering that the suburbs were largely seen as symbols of American prosperity and happiness in the 1950s, I think that the article on suburban poverty is very interesting and very indicative of the problems that the American people now face.  The statistics provided in the article are astounding.  “The increase [of poor] in the suburbs was 53 percent, compared with 26 percent in cities.  The recession accelerated the pace: two-thirds of the new suburban poor were added from 2007 to 2010.”

The pictures that the Times provided fit the article so well, and I think provided a needed balance to the article.  I personally like and appreciate photojournalism a lot and think that especially with an article that involves a lot of raw data, having these snapshots to accompany makes good sense for people that might otherwise shy away from such a statistics and numbers-laden article.

Wednesday, October 26^th:  

I enjoyed a lot of the content in today’s issue; writing style made a big impression on me with several of the pieces.  I thought the story on the Iraqi circus had a great writing style that fit the quirkiness of the article’s content.  Instead of being a conventional news article, the piece told a story of rebuilding and attempts to return to normalcy in a war-torn country.  And normalcy is certainly not the first thing one would think of when confronted with the words “circus in Iraq.”  I particularly enjoyed the author’s writing in the first paragraphs and thought it really complemented the subject and photos.  It shows both the slowness and frustration that comes with rebuilding a war torn country, as well as the willingness and need of its citizens to return to some sort of ‘normal life,’ with diversions and entertainment that draws away from the reality of today’s Iraq.

I thought that the article on rescue efforts in Turkey provided a great example of a classic summary lead and story.  I thought that the article provided good description of rescue efforts in the beginning and described the scene in Turkey very well (the pictures of the rubble definitely helped bolster the article’s description).  I was surprised that the article only devoted two short paragraphs to the question of some buildings’ poor construction.  The article only presented the question of whether or not the buildings’ construction was inadequate, but did nothing to answer – probably because more evidence will have to be determined before the questioned can be answered.