Journalism 133: Prof. Craig: Story Ideas Exercise, Part II

Story Ideas Exercise, Part II

(1) How dangerous is it to cross streets surrounding San Jose State.
a) Audience: Students who live on and off campus
b) Interviews: University Police Department, San Jose Police Department, SJSU students, store owners near crosswalks
c) Info needed to gather: Find most used crosswalks by students, get stats on how often crashes have happened near them, reference stats on how often cars run red lights. Talk to cops about how often they ticket people for jaywalking and how often they ticket drivers in the area. Ask what are the issues enforcing traffic laws and making sure drivers stay safe. Talk to students who park in the garages about how driving around campus is. Do they have to be on alert for more pedestrians? Talk to Bus drivers, UPS and Fedex truck drivers about being alert for pedestrians.
d) After doing preliminary research, talk to city officials about whether they need to take any measures to increase pedestrian safety such as building more signals or stop signs.
e) Potential secondary story ideas: Potential fines and their amounts for reckless driving around campus. Is San Jose a pedestrian friendly city?

(2) Architecture on campus
a) We would talk about the new buildings that have been built versus the older buildings that have been here on campus and the difference of design. Also, discuss if the university is preserving older buildings for historic reasons or if they are moving forward to renovate the campus. 
b) Audience would be on-campus mostly.
c) We would interview students who live in the bricks, any administration who know about building finances
d) We would need to know the background information about when buildings are built, and the history of construction on campus
e) A focus feature on CV3 replacing bricks would be an option to relate to this topic.

(3) Autism awareness
a) We would focus on how this month is Autism Awareness month but it comes after attempts to defund the Special Olympics. We also would discuss the controversy of Autism Speaks organization, and since there is a sorority on campus that promotes that organization, we could talk to them.
b) Audience would be on-campus as well as off-campus.
c) We would interview students, sorority members, an A.S. candidate that is developmentally disabled and is running a platform on it
d) We would need to know the background on the foundation and if the school has done anything for Autism Awareness Month before.
e) Focus feature on sorority who backs the foundation, or more about Special Olympics and talking to the AEC.