Task 8: Reporting Controversial Stories (Quoting Opposing Viewpoints)
Write complete news stories about the following controversies. As you write the stories, present both sides of each controversy as fully and as fairly as possible. Also, try to integrate those conflicting viewpoints. Instead of reporting all the opinions voiced by the first source, and then all the conflicting opinions voiced by the second source, try – when appropriate – to report both opinions about the story’s most important issue, and then both opinions about the second, third and fourth issues. Correct any errors you may find in grammar, spelling and punctuation. Take into consideration the key discourse categories.
Story 1: School Attendance Incentive Program
FACTS: Greg Hubbard, superintendent of schools in your city, has adopted a unique but controversial pilot program. Last year, the city’s school district lost $1,132,000 in state funds because it had an overall 6.4 percent absenteeism rate, compared to a statewide average of 5.3%. To try to solve the problem, Hubbard persuaded the members of the school board to set up a $25,000 fund to pay students at Roosevelt High School the equivalent of 25 cents a day – a maximum of $5 a month. Last fall, students in the school began getting a coupon worth 25 cents for every day of attendance. Students can exchange their tokens in the school’s student bookstore for school supplies such as notebooks and pencils. Since then, the absentee rate at the 1,410-student school has averaged about 13.7%, compared to 15.2% for the same period last year, when it had the worst attendance in the city.
ONE SIDE: In an interview in his office today, Supt. Hubbard said: “We're trying this program out in one high school where our worst truancy problems exist. Then if it works, we may expand it to other schools. Under this program, a student can earn the equivalent of $5 a month just for being there – for attending school and compiling a perfect attendance record. They are credited with the equivalent of 25 cents for every day they make it to school and to all their classes on time. They don’t actually get any cash. They get coupons they can use in the school store. We mark up the prices of goods sold in the store about 50%, so it really costs us a lot less than the students receive. So far as I know, the idea has been tried in only two or three other school districts, including one in San Diego, and I just thought we might try it here. We've really got nothing to lose. Some students just don't see any other reason to attend school. My responsibility is to give teachers an opportunity to teach the students, and getting them to attend class is a necessary first step. We already can see the results. Attendance is up, and inquiries have been pouring in from other school districts from all over the state and from news organizations as far away as England and Japan. There’s a tremendous curiosity about it. It sort of shocks some parents to pay children to go to school, but nothing else has worked. If this works, it could save us thousands of dollars a year in lost state aid, and certainly the students are better off being in school.”
THE OTHER SIDE: Stephen I. Wong is chairman of the city’s School Advisory Committee, which is composed of one parent representative from each school in the city. Wong is opposed to the program. Today he said: “The program gambles with taxpayers’ money. The 25 cents they give students comes out of our tax money. If attendance improves by 25 percent or more over a full year, we'll recover the money in increased state aid. But if the attendance figure remains low, we’ll lose money. So we’re gambling, and that just doesn’t seem right. It’s also materialistic and amounts to bribery. We shouldn’t have to pay our children to do something as basic as going to school because then they expect to get paid for everything. Already, we’ve got some students in that high school complaining they aren’t being paid enough, and students in other schools are demanding that they get paid, too. These kids are winding up with some very unrealistic ideas about how the world works and about what education is all about. Besides, the whole thing is cosmetic. It doesn’t solve our real problems. The long-term remedies for truancy lie in more fundamental changes. I'll admit attendance is up so far this year, but not very much, and we don’t know the real reason. It could be the money, or it could be something totally different. You also have to recognize that, once these students get to high school, they don’t have to do well. They can flunk all their classes and still get paid. Some of these students also could be disruptive, so it may be better for other students if they don't come to school. It’s a hell of a mess.”
Story 2: Banning Handguns
FACTS: In a close vote at a City Council meeting in your community last night, the members voted 4 to 3 to ban the sale and possession of handguns, except by law enforcement officers and by those persons holding a permit issued by the chief of police. The law goes into effect on Jan. 1 of next year, and those persons now possessing handguns will, according to the law, have to dispose of them by that time. First-time violators of the law will face a fine of $50 to $500. A second offense carries maximum penalties of up to six months in jail or a fine of up to $500, or both.
ONE SIDE: Councilman Luis Ramirez, who spoke and voted in favor of the law, said during last night’s meeting: “There’s no question, the law is valid and doesn’t infringe on an individual’s constitutional rights. We recognize the deep-seated convictions of a number of persons that they should be permitted to possess handguns for the purpose of protecting themselves and their families and property. But in this case the public interest outweighs the claim of personal interests. We’re adopting this law for the overall good of the entire city, to help protect all its citizens from the careless and lawless use of handguns. I'm sure that hundreds of other cities are going to follow our example and consider similar measures. If they do, a lot of lives could be saved. There’s no sense to the current slaughter. People can’t use handguns to hunt with. Their only purpose is to shoot people. They’re used mostly by criminals and, in this city alone, we have 8 or 10 people killed by guns every year and many more seriously injured. There also are hundreds and hundreds of robberies committed with handguns. This law will help put a stop to that. If people want to hunt, they can still buy a rifle or shotgun, and they can use a rifle or shotgun to protect themselves in their homes if they want. But it’s harder for a criminal to conceal a weapon that large when he goes into a grocery store or restaurant with the intention of robbing it.”
THE OTHER SIDE: Margaret Ungarient, an attorney representing the citizens opposed to the ban, said at the meeting: “We plan to appeal. The law infringes on citizens constitutional right to keep and bear arms. It’s also a matter of self-defense. Criminals do use some handguns in committing crimes. But that doesn’t mean the solution is to take away everyone’s gun. Law-abiding citizens would comply with this law, but criminals never would. So the criminals would be the only ones with guns, and everyone else would be at their mercy. The council has, in effect, ruled in favor of a minority element that has for a long time been trying to deny the rights of other individuals. We won’t rest until this gets reversed in a court of law. If we have to, we’ll take this all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Task 9: Using Quotes in News Stories
You have been given the following information to write complete news stories. Choose any story you like, use direct quotations in each story to emphasize the highlights, but do not use quotations to tell the entire story. Use the most interesting, important and revealing quotations and paraphrase the rest of the quoted information. Correct any errors in grammar and punctuation. Don’t forget to represent some discourse categories in the article.
Jonathan Ashton is a congressman representing your state. He is very unhappy about a decision the House of Representatives made on a bill that was recently brought up for a vote: “The President lost a battle in Congress today. Congress decided against spending $12 million for a cause the president favored. The project involved huge dish-shaped antennas which listened for radio signals from outer space. It was cut from NASA's budget. The House today approved a $14.29 billion budget for NASA in a 355–48 vote. If the Senate agrees with the House, the space agency budget for next fiscal year will be $2 billion above current spending levels but $800 million below what the president requested. The president wanted included in the budget $12 million for the alien-search project. NASA’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a project known as SETI, was to cost $100 million over 10 years. Its sophisticated radio antennas have picked up only static since the program began, but that does not mean that the program should be abandoned. We never may discover life beyond our own planet if we abandon the search for that life.” Rep. Ronald Machtley, a Republican congressman from Rhode Island, opposes the SETI project and the money being spent on it. He had this to say: “I suggest that the money be spent on education. I'd rather see a search for terrestrial intelligence in our schools than a search for intelligent life in space that may not exist.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs today admitted that it’s made a little mistake. This is what Geraldine Anderson, public affairs officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs had to say: “The mistake cost an estimated $5.7 million a year for the past eleven years. Each year, the Veterans Affairs Department pays more than $14.7 billion in disability compensation and pension benefits to more than 2.8 million veterans and to nearly 1 million surviving spouses and other dependents. An audit of those payments revealed that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been paying benefits to more than 1,200 veterans who are dead. The exact total was 1,212 veterans who were reported dead. About 100 of the veterans have been dead a decade or more. Auditors said the department could have reduced the erroneous payments by matching VA benefit payment files with death information maintained by the Social Security Administration. In the past, the department relied on voluntary reporting of deaths as a basis for ending benefits. This means the department will have to develop a new and more strenuous auditing plan to determine who is eligible for benefits and when those benefits should end. Also, the Department of Veterans Affairs will seek to bring to justice those who fraudulently took money from the department that they did not truly deserve. There are many honest and deserving veterans out there who have served their country admirably, and the department wants to continue to serve them and provide the benefits they have earned. But as we all know, it only takes a few rotten apples to spoil the whole barrel. The Department of Veterans Affairs will be implementing a new program in the next several months that will provide a more accurate accounting of the veterans who are receiving benefits and what they are receiving. We are hoping that this new effort will save the department money so there are more funds for those veterans who need our programs.”
Dr. Cathleen Graham, M.D., is head of your city’s Department of Health. At a press conference today, she announced that a prominent doctor recently revealed that he has developed AIDS. Following is what she had to say: “Todd Lefforge is an orthodontist who has been working in our community for 11 years. He is 36 years old and lives at 537 Peterson Place. He has a practice of about 750 current patients. He has treated approximately 5,000 more in the past. Three days ago he announced that he has AIDS. He was diagnosed with AIDS six days ago. He immediately closed his practice. He also wrote a letter to all his patients, mostly children, and their parents. His letter, which parents began to receive today, says, ‘I am very sorry for any anxiety this may cause to anyone.’ ‘I have always followed the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] guidelines regarding infection and sterilization procedures,’ he wrote. ‘I feel no patients could have been infected by me.’ The Department of Health has set up an emergency center at its downtown office where, starting today, his patients can be tested for the AIDS virus and counseled about their fears. In the department’s conversations with Dr. Leforge, who decided to immediately close his practice, he said he tried to be reassuring in his letter. I and the department agree that the risk is minimal. But the long odds don't lessen the fears of a parent. Since we’re dealing primarily with children, it’s more emotional. It’s going to be a traumatic time for them. The testing which will be done in Room 103 of the Patterson Health Center Building on State Street is free. The only thing any former patient of Dr. Lefforge will need is a form of identification. Dr. Leforge has already turned over the names of his patients to the Health Department.”