Boone County Courthouse increases occupancy rate and in-person proceedings

Article's link: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/covid19/boone-county-courthouse-increases-occupancy-rate-and-in-person-proceedings/article_9d0a9688-d9aa-11ea-9623-1b2dacd0f607.html

This is another story written based on the news release. Rewriting a news release is still a challenge for me.

I conclude several steps in rewriting a news release.

First, reorganize the news release. Change the order of the information listed in the news release according to the level of importance.

Second, change as many expressions and words as possible in every sentence.

Last but not least, read the whole article again, to ensure its coherence and clarity.

Another notice, when editor help revise your story, you should be careful of the changes in the story. On one hand, you can learn a lot from how they change the organization and language of the story. On the other hand, sometimes editors are not as familiar with the story as you are. You can correct their changes when you notice they mistakenly change the fact in the story.

City Hall work intended to improve customer service

Article's link: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/city-hall-work-intended-to-improve-customer-service/article_8a0e7b5c-cc2c-11ea-bcbd-bb8b894410c7.html

It is a pity that I cannot contact the architect of the project despite my persistence and effort, but at least I get as many aspects as possible from city memo, budget meeting, and the finance director.

Sometimes it is difficult to conduct such news story when the project is still in the plan and not so many people know the details of the construction. Under this circumstance, doing research is highly important. When you read through the memo and review the recording of the budget meeting, you will always spot interesting angles in the story and raise key questions to your source.

For instance, in this story, you can ask questions related to the difficulty of working on a historic building by reviewing the city memo.

FAA puts nearly $10 million toward Columbia runway project

Article's link:https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/faa-puts-nearly-10-million-toward-columbia-runway-project/article_fbf718b6-d10c-11ea-a886-477c603331b7.html

When the interviewee cannot make time for a phone or in-person interview, it can be useful to ask them to reply to you through e-mail.

Even though you cannot see people's facial expression from their written word, you can also obtain important information from their answer.

There is no need to provide very specific number (money, population and so on) to our readers, especially in headline.

Always consider your audience of the story. For instance, in this story, we should pay attention to the local airport first. After that, we can provide more details on other airports around the country.