Hi, my name is Drake Martin.  I’m an editor at Terrier News, famous for my extensive list of works.  I have been heavily involved in the following:

• Fake News Intro (February 7th)
• Did You Know of the Week #1
• Birthday of the Week
• Did You Know of the Week #2
• CCHS165 Meme Review

As you can clearly see, none of these segments involve actual journalism.  I am an expert in the field, and today I am sharing my greatest tips.

1.  Capitalize on “OF THE WEEK” opportunities

3 of my 4 segments this year have been “of the week” segments, and for good reason.  This unique art form is very easy to capitalize on, especially with relevant information.  For instance, 2 weeks ago it was Mr. CCHS (Kevin Lee)’s birthday, as well as local legend Johnny Jazz.  We turned this into Birthday of the Week, a segment where we talked about the birthdays of people that we thought would be funny to feature.  This included Barron Trump, Chris from Prank Invasion, and the ultimately rejected Harvey Weinstein. Tying this into our school by awarding Mr. Thomas’ special birthday card to Kevin Lee kept it relevant.

2.  Gradually stretch the boundaries.

Be careful with how far you reach out from the assignment.  Me and my team have been gradually pushing the boundaries for what is possible in this class.  We started off on the wrong foot. We created one of the longest Terrier News intros ever, and because we had no buildup to that moment we were forced to speed it up to decrease the duration.  We took a couple of weeks off from doing goofy stories and stuck with the basics. I did a story on the vape epidemic and Ian did one of the girl’s soccer team (1-8-2). The next week we pitched our big idea: Did You Know of the Week.  This was a step into goon-territory, but still had elements of investigative journalism. We had the next week off for spring break, and so for our comeback, we decided to go for birthday of the week.

3.  Make stories you enjoy.

This is my 3rd blog post of the year.  My previous 2 have been about Vulfpeck, my favorite band.  Not only were these stories easy to write but it was truly an enjoyable experience to go in depth about something that I care about.  It showed in my work. I put the effort into my review of Vulfpeck’s Hill Climber because I wanted to get my opinions across in the article.  While it will be difficult to do every single time, it is a goal you should reach for.  Even for this blog post, I asked our supervisor Mr. Dunn if he would be okay with me doing a story on how to “hack” your way through the class.  While that may sound like a criticism, I think it shows the way that you can use your strengths to create a great experience in the class.

Journalism is the most enjoyable class I have taken while in high school.  Being able to use prior, as well as learned, skills to make content that I enjoy watching is the most I could have possibly asked for from this class.  I recommend this class to anyone that is willing to put in the work to make good products. There are many ways to enjoy yourself, but they will all require work.