Article ideas

For which ever of the following stories that I choose to use on my website, I will use a couple of them in my actual newspaper as well, for example in the small stories consisting of just a column or so, or the article on the second page. The following article ideas that I have thought of are a mixture of stories that I can create and stories that are real, and that I can research into. Through out this post, I am going to think about which type of story would be better in the way that they interest the readers, how realistic they sound and are and whether one will be too difficult to carry out successfully.

My initial local story ideas:

1.Plans to destroy run down homes & rebuild them stronger

2.Plans to build a park for the children of a village with very few facilities

3. Couple travel the world to raise money for (cancer research, building shelters in a 3rd world country)

4. 6th Form prepare to provide more space for their growing number

5. local shop been running for decades shuts down due to lack of customers - recession double dip is definitely taking place

6.6th form raise money by having a 'pyjama day' for Essex air ambulance

7. speaking to students and parents about their struggle in affording to go to university

8.bus services stopping
9. Three Essex Councils merging together on services, it can save them £100million a year.
10. Olympic costs - some of the olympic competitions are taking place in Essex - Raleigh & Brentwood. Cycling& mountain biking
11. A burglary/theft

12. University Fees

13. Car crash

14. House fire
15. Parking prices in a town
16. Something related to a primary school
17. A burglary or theft
Expanded details and ideas for the stories above:

1. For this, I would have to be able to find a run down area in area with houses that look very poorly kept, with out traveling a fair distance, I would not be able to gather photographs for this story, but I could write the article with out photographs being present, which I have seen on many other local newspaper's websites, for example the Halstead Gazette.

2. For this story, I could take a photo of a grassy area in a small village, but this would not be very interesting to look at from the readers point of view, so similarly to my first idea, I could write the article without the use of photographs to show the reader where the park is going to be built, or I could take a photograph of the village sign or some village children who are looking forward to their new park being built. I could even use photographs of the village itself, for example picturesque houses or the village church etc.

3. This would probably be the easiest story to create. I would only really need to take a photograph of the supposed couple who are planning to travel to raise money for a specific charity, for example Cancer Research UK. Despite this story being created from scratch, I could ask friends or relatives for reasons why they might do something like this for charity, therefore getting some realistic reasons and perspectives.

4. This story would also be fairly simple to create. I would be able to take photographs of parts of my school & be able to write about how the 6th form is growing as is the need for more facilities. But on the other hand, photographs might not actually be very interesting from the readers point of view unless it includes a decent amount of visual information about the 6th form and what is going to change. To create a more interesting feel to the photographs, there would probably have to be more than one photograph, and this is rarely seen on newspaper websites as it may be giving out too much unnecessary information that the readers may not actually be interested in.

5. This article may be harder to create than the others that I have thought of, this is because of the fact I would need to find a shop that either looks old(or is old) or that is shutting down, or perhaps even both. And this would be extremely hard to come across. But this would a be good story to have on the website as it links very well with the economic crisis and the recession going into the so called 'double-dip' therefore being an up-to-date story that would be interesting to a larger range of readers than the other ideas for articles that I have come up with.

6. This story would be very easy to complete successfully, as my 6th form are raising money for Essex Air Ambulance next month, therefore I could actually interview one of the people who came up with the idea and photographs would be very easy to take. Through out research into local newspaper's websites, I have found that some of the articles and stories actually contain small interviews with people who are involved in the story,(for example, The Suffolk Free Press.)

My 6th form has now had it's pyjama day, we have raised £128.24, and I have taken photographs of groups of peers to use on the website, and newspaper if I decide to use this story on both newspaper and website, but I will only use one photograph on the website, and possibly more on the newspaper, I will go into more detail later on in the post.

7. This story would also be fairly simple to write as I could interview many or just one family to have their point put across about the doubling or even quadrupling payment for university in the next couple of years, similarly to the story 5 above, I would be able to link it to an up-to-date event in nowadays money crisis. For a photograph, I could take one of a university near by or just the family of who I have interviewed.

8. For this story, I could simply take photographs of a bus from a specific company and use that along with a supposed interview with some one who uses this bus service frequently. To make this story realistic, I could talk to a relative or friend about what they would do if a bus service they use frequently were to stop running.

9. For this story, as it is true, I can easily carry out research into the details and the story will be realistic and of interest of possible readers. I will be able to talk to people (i.e. adults & tax payers) to get a mature and real perspective of the people that this council merge will effect.

10. For this story, I have family friends from within the Raleigh and Brentwood who I could talk to and interview. I would be able to talk about where it would be taking place and I would easily be able to take photographs of this aswell, for both the website and the newspaper if I decide to use it in the newspaper aswell.

11. For this story, I have heard a story about a friend's mum's collegue that they had been steeling money from the till at Boots, and then got fined £80 at court, and was free to go. Soon after, he then got a job in Tescos in the same town.

12. As university fees are affecting a lot of my friends, I would be able to talk to them about how it is affecting them and how they are going to deal with this. I would easily be able to interview them and have a fairly realistic article.

13. Car crashes are a fairly frequent occurance. This means that I would be able to achieve photographs and evidence that would be simple to link to this type of story.

14. House fires are occasionally reported, they're not extremely common, but they are common enough to become an article that people would read constantly in a newspaper.
15. This would be a good idea for a small article that could appear on both a page on my website and either the front page, or the 2nd page of my newspaper. But probably the 2nd page. If I were to need to take a photograph, this would also be easy to get around as I could go to the town that I based my story on and take a photograph of a car park.
16. People who read newspapers, most often have children, or even grandchildren. Therefore creating a story about a primary school would perhaps attract this audience. I would also be able to take a photograph of either the school my mum works in, or my school/sixth form.
17. Burglaries and thefts are not that rare. Therefore I would be able to find other articles about thefts and easily be inspired by them and therefore create my own story about a theft.