Pollner professor story

You'll need to decide how to tell this story most compellingly. Perhaps it will be from a hard news approach. In that case, something Eli Saslow says that is an opinion — not a fact that we already know — would likely be the lead. And remember, we usually lead with the statement and follow with the attribution at the end of that first sentence.

If you use a feature approach, you'll pick out what the most interesting story was that he told. That's a lot like what I was trying to say was most effective in writing those classmate profiles. What STORY did he tell that you think readers would want to hear more about? Often that kind of story has drama, or humor, or is just unusual.

Remember the example I gave in class about two ways to approach a speech story? Here's the hard news approach:

Native American women are gaining more political voice in their tribes and the changes that has created are affecting both men and women, the director of UM's Native American Studies program said Wednesday.

And here's a better approach, which is the soft news angle:

Bonnie Craig's grandmother, Grass Woman, sat in a place of authority in the Blackfeet tribe.

And then the story goes on to tell how that played out in tribal politics.

Think about what's most interesting that Eli Saslow says. What would you want to read if you knew nothing about him? It may be something revealing about President Obama. It may be his take on Obama as a person. Or perhaps it could be something about the difficulties of covering a president. You'll have to decide.

Don't try to write down everything he says. Listen to the thread of what he's saying, write down the high points, and listen for compelling direct quotes that will make the story lively.

And finally, DO NOT write a topic lead. Topic lead = F.