Covering the Press Conference

Covering staged press conferences can be one of the most boring things in journalism...but they're one of the most common things we do, and most important. In this excercise, you're given two of the basic tools of the newscaster: A press release and the audio of a press conference, and your job is to write two different scripters. In case you forget what a "scripter" is, it's a simple script - read by the newscaster - that includes a soundbite in the middle. Remember, you want the soundbite to say something that you can't. No lists of information - no raw numbers. Listen for something that helps you tell the story to a listener. First, click here for the press release - from the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. And now, the audio of the press conference - with poll director Doug Schwartz.