Final exam preview

What it will look like

Like the midterm, the final writing assignment will be on a sheet such as the one pictured below. On the left is the information for your story. On the right is a checklist of items you should look for before you turn the story in. At the bottom of the checklist is a signature line. You will need to sign that signifying that you have checked your copy for these items and turn in this sheet with your story.
The checklist is almost identical to the one found on the Inverted Pyramid Checklist page of this web site.



	*Week 15: Introduction • Lecture notes • Reading room* • Final exam •**
	Final exam preview	The MC102 final exam is given in two parts. One part is a 50-question multiple choice exam. The other part is a writing assignment much like the midterm exam. Students are given a set of facts and asked to construct a news release as if they were a public relations practitioner for an organization involved in the story. These assignments are graded on the following criteria. Accuracy in presenting information. To get a major aspect of the story wrong is the fastest way to an F. Students also must understand what they were writing about, so they should read the information carefully. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style. Always. Clear and coherent writing. Always, we hope. Adherence to the form. We have talked in lab and lecture about the form that a good press release should take. Story structure. The lead paragraph should be well written and should emphasize the most important information in the story. The second paragraph should follow-up by developing information in the lead. The information in the story should be organized logically and presented coherently. Quotations and paraphrasing should be used to good effect. Attributing every fact may not be mandatory, but the reader should have some idea where the information comes from. Completeness. The information in these assignments is sometimes complex, although not incomprehensible. The students should write a complete story. Leaving out facts is no way to deal with them in these situations. Appropriateness and relevance of the information. Background information is included in every assignment to help the students understand the context of the assignment. Many students should recognize this information as inappropriate for inclusion in a press release. Some students should understand that they are writing as PR practitioners, and they are working for an organization. As such, they need to cite and quote people in the organization. Many students should know the goals of the press release or the goals of the organization for which they were writing. They should realize that some pieces of information -- in addition to bad writing -- would be highly embarrassing to the organization if they appeared in a press release. Summary. In addition to the story, you will be asked to write a summary that goes under the headline. Summaries, as we learned in weeks 6 and 7 of the course (when we studied writing for the web), are paragraphs that talk about the story in general. They contain more information than you would find in a headline, and unlike a lead paragraphy, they contain information about the entire story -- not just the most important information. A good summary is usually written after, not before, the story itself is written. Checklist for Inverted Pyramid News Stories. Preparation The best way to prepare for the writing portion of the exam is to read and analyze the inverted pyramid examples provided for you in the textbook, supplement and web site. You should have been doing that all along. In addition, this page is designed to give you more directly an idea of what you will be asked to do. The following is a typical set of facts that would be given to you for the midterm. Read through them carefully and decide how you would construct an inverted pyramid news story from those facts. What is the most important thing you have to tell your readers? What information from the lead paragraph will you develop in the second paragraph?
On this page you will find: Example What it will look like What it will be

Example Decommissioning
You work in the public information office of the Secretary of the Navy. Your office is located in the outer ring of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and you have a spectacular view of the Washington skyline -- everything from the National Cathedral to the Washington Monument. You were hired because of your superior ability to write press releases.

One of the most important kinds of ships in the US Navy is the aircraft carrier. Carriers are big, mighty ocean-going cities that have crews of more than 2,000 sailors, and they were of vital importance in winning World War II, and they have been an important part of almost every major naval engagement since that time. Like all other things, aircraft carriers wear out, and when that happens, the navy takes them out of service. That is called "decommissioning" and when that happens, it's an important event.

The U.S. Navy is about to decommission the nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS Wyman Vintson. (Aircraft carriers are usually named after famous Americans and military heroes, such as the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy.) Wyman Vintson was a Captain in the US Navy during World War II and was killed during the Battle of Midway. He was captain of the USS Tuscaloosa, a destroyer, which was sunk by Japanese suicide bombers, but he was credited with saving the lives of 25 of his own men before he died. And he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously after his death.

The carrier was put into service in 1974. At the time, All Hands magazine, the Navy’s personnel publication announced the carrier’s commissioning this way: “When the USS Wyman Vintson slides into the water next month at the Norfolk Shipyard, it will be the biggest, fastest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the fleet. They don’t measure her in feet. They use football fields -- about two and a half.” Since that time, of course, the Navy has commissioned other ships that have been larger and faster than the Vintson.

The decision to decommission the Vintson was a hotly debated one both inside and outside the Navy. Officially, the Navy did not want to do it, but budget cutbacks forced the Navy to do this. Those cutbacks can be blamed on the president and the Congress.
Here’s what the Secretary of the Navy said about the Vintson: “For much of the last three decades, the USS Vintson has been one of the mightiest defenders of liberty in every part of the world. The men and women who served on this ship have done so proudly and have always conducted themselves with honor and courage. The Vintson and her officers and crew represent the finest traditions of the Navy.” His name is John Toplady.

Here are a few of the highlights of the Vintson’s history:

• In 1975, just a few months after she was commissioned, she got the assignment to go to the South China Sea. There, she helped with the airlift of people from Saigon, just before Vietnam fell to the Communists and put an end to American Involvement there. She transported over 1000 refugees from Vietnam to Thailand in April 1975.

• In 1976, a minor race riot occurred on the ship. Not much was said about it at the time, but it involved a couple of hundred sailors and several people got hurt. No fatalities, however.

• She was part of the fleet that helped American forces invade Grenada in 1983. Grenada is an island in Caribbean, and President Reagan was afraid it would fall to the communists if we didn’t do something. So we did.

• The ship was stationed in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War. More than 200 bombing missions were launched from her decks.

The president is going to attend the decommissioning ceremony. So will the Secretary of the Navy, and many members of Congress. The ceremony will be in two weeks at the San Diego Naval Shipyard. They will start at ten o’clock in the morning. It is estimated that about 23,000 people served on the ship at one time or another, and all of them have been invited to attend. Probably about two or three thousand of the former crew members will be there.

The White House press office has sent over this statement from the president that can be included in the press release: “Despite serving in an era of relative peace, the USS Vintson has seen her share of hostile action. This ship has proved her worth many times over. Her captains and crews have steered her wisely and well. Now her days of defending democracy have come to an end, and it is an honor for us to recognize her service to this nation.”

Write a 200- to 250-word press release announcing the decommissioning of the ship and the decommissioning ceremony.

Just what will happen to the ship itself is still uncertain. The secretary of the Navy will have to make that decision, and he’s been slow to do that. Some people say the ship should be scrapped. But others want to make the ship into a museum. We’ll just have to wait to see what he decides.

When you have read this and thought about how you would handle it, click on the image at the left and read a news release that has been constructed from these facts.

Click here or on the image above to see an example of a news release written from this information. As you read through the example, consider what information was not included in the news release. What information would have been inappropriate?

What it will look like

Like the midterm, the final writing assignment will be on a sheet such as the one pictured below. On the left is the information for your story. On the right is a checklist of items you should look for before you turn the story in. At the bottom of the checklist is a signature line. You will need to sign that signifying that you have checked your copy for these items and turn in this sheet with your story.
The checklist is almost identical to the one found on the Inverted Pyramid Checklist page of this web site.

What it will be

Finally, the good stuff.
You will be asked to write a news release using one of the following sets of facts:

Clock

The Acme Clock Company is a company that specializes in building grandfather and mantle clocks and has been in business in your town since the early 1900s. The company's headquarters and single manufacturing plant employ about 150 people. The company builds beautiful and precise clocks, a reputation the town has always been proud of. It has been owned by one of the town's most prominent families, the Hendersons. John Henderson, the grandson of the founder, is the current president of the company.
Because neither John nor his sisters have direct heirs, the company would probably be sold to outside interests when they die. Since all three are getting on in years and since they do not want the company to fall into the hands of outsiders, they have decided to sell all except a small portion of their stock in the company to employees of the company first and then to local people. John has been meeting secretly with employee representatives for the past few weeks and has worked out a plan whereby the employees would buy the stock of the company. The plan is a complicated one, but here are the basics:
* The company has been assessed to be worth about $15,000,000. Some 500,000 shares will be offered at $30 a share.
* The employees may buy as many shares as they wish. In addition, within six months they may sign up for a plan which would withhold 10 percent of their salaries for three years, and all of that money would go toward the purchase of stock. Any salary increases would go toward the additional purchase of stock.
* It is highly unlikely that employees will be able buy more than a third of all the shares available. Consequently, local citizens and businesses will be asked to buy shares in the company. Again, it is unlikely that more than a third of the shares would be purchased by local individuals and businesses.
* Federal Trust Bank, a locally owned and operated bank, has agreed to purchase a third of the shares at a discount rate of $22.50 a share after six months. Because of this discount, the bank has canceled all of the company's outstanding indebtedness, which totals about $800,000.
All of the details of this plan have been worked out. Now comes the job of announcing it and selling it to the employees of the company and the local people and businesses. Also, the announcement of this plan will dispel some of the rumors about what will happen to the company in the coming years. The announcement will be made at a press conference scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. Attending this press conference will be Henderson, George Lomas, president of the local chapter of the Craftsman's International Union, and Harvey Boreman, president of the Federal Trust Bank. Here's a statement that Lomas and Boreman have prepared for the press conference.
Lomas: "I believe this plan offers a substantial opportunity for the employees to have a hand in determining the future of the company. I plan to urge the members of my union to do whatever is necessary to make this plan a success. It will mean financial sacrifices in the immediate future, but I am sure that the historic profitability of this company will mean a lot to the employees. I predict that a substantial majority of the employees will take advantage of this plan."
Boreman: "Federal Trust Bank is proud to be part of this unique plan of making sure that a local industry stays local. I hope that the employees of this company will see the wisdom of the plan and the outstanding opportunity they have in buying into this company. I am sure that many of the local businesses and people will do so, also."
Henderson: "Our family is very happy that this agreement has been struck. We are committed to this community and always have been, and we are glad to know that the future of the Acme Clock Company has been assured. We will do everything possible to assist in this transition."
As a part of the three-person public relations department for the Acme Clock Company, your assignment is to write a press release that will be given to the news media at the press conference, explaining the plan and incorporating some of the statements of Henderson, Lomas and Boreman. The press release should be about 200-250 words long. The press release will be handed out at the press conference, scheduled for 10 o’clock on Friday morning.

Hospital

You are the head of the department of public relations for Capstone Memorial Hospital, a medium-size hospital in a medium-size metropolitan area.
Capstone Memorial is one of nine major hospitals in the area, but there are about 20 doctors' clinics where people not so seriously ill can stay overnight or for several nights. Capstone Memorial is privately owned and needs to make a profit, and it has found in the past few years an increasing number of its beds empty. It is feeling the pinch of rising health care costs and increased competition.
Here are some facts about Capstone Memorial. It has been in existence since 1923. It is the third largest hospital in the area, with 1100 beds. It has a reputation for having an excellent high risk nursery for newborn babies. It also has all of the technology necessary to deal with most common illnesses. The average cost per patient per night is $410, which is about average for the major hospitals in the area.
You and others in the hospital administration come up with a plan to get more people to chose Capstone Memorial. One part of this plan is a campaign entitled "Cutting Hospital Costs," and this campaign will begin Friday at 10 a.m. with a press conference for the local news media. The hospital administrator will announce several measures that will lower costs for patients: an out-patient plan for people who don't need to stay overnight (these exist in many hospitals in the area already); a plan whereby minor injuries and illnesses, especially in the emergency room, can be treated by nurses with doctors on call; an information clearinghouse for medical insurance plans to help people and businesses find the least expensive insurance (this is the first of its kind for any hospital in the area); a low-interest time payment plan for people who demonstrate financial need.
You will need to prepare a press release for this press conference on these measures and also emphasizing the fact that a stay at Capstone Memorial on average costs about the same as a stay in any other of the area's major hospitals. The release should also incorporate some or all of the following statement from Horace Gideon, the hospital chief administrator, who will be making the announcement at the press conference.
“Capstone Memorial Hospital shares the public’s concerns about the rising cost of medical care. We are committed to providing high quality medical care at the lowest possible costs to our customers. That is why we have instituted some new procedures and policies that we will be implementing over the next few weeks. These policies will be of benefit to our patients and their families. We are particularly interested in how the public views these changes, and we will be monitoring the responses to them.”
The press release will be handed out at the press conference, scheduled for 10 o’clock on Friday morning. That should be the embargo date on the release. The press release should be between 200 and 250 words.

Industrial park

You are the public information officer for the local city government. City officials for several months have been working with local business leaders and the Chamber of Commerce to put together a new industrial park within the city that would attract high-tech companies. An industrial park is an area of land that is own by a government (city or county); a company can build a plant on that site and can stay there rent-free or for a nominal rent. Industrial parks are used as incentives for attracting businesses to an area.
A plan has finally come together to have an industrial park in the city. It will be located on the west side of town between Stillman Boulevard and Fisk Avenue, north of Grambling Road. The size of the site is 27 acres. It is largely undeveloped now, being part of the old Sealtest Dairies Farm. The new site will be called the Sealtest Industrial Park.
At ten o’clock on Friday morning there will be a press conference at which the mayor, the president of the chamber of commerce, and other industrial leaders will appear and announce this plan. The press conference will be a groundbreaking for the park, and these officials will appear at the site of the entrance to the park.
The city will spend about fifteen million dollars to clear some of the land, building roads through the park and to install a water and sewer system. The money will come from an issue of city bonds. (A government bond is issued by a governmental body and sold, much like a stock on a stock exchange. The government then buys the bond back over a long period of time. It is a common way for governments to raise money for projects such as these.) The groundbreaking will be the first step of that work on the land. City engineers estimate that it will take about six months to get the park ready for companies to occupy it.
Two local companies which are already located in town have said they would be moving to the park when it is open. One is Lincoln Electronics, and they employ about 60 people now; when they move to the park, they’ll expand to about 80 people. The other is Masterpiece Website Development. They’re planning an expansion from 30 to 45 people.
You should include some or all of the following statements in your press release:
Mayor Ben Quick: “This is a great day for our city. Our park is an ideal tool for attracting new industries to this area. We have already been contacted by a number of technological industries about the possibility of locating plants in the park. We believe that this place has a lot of potential for us.
Harvey Hall; he’s the president of the Chamber of Commerce this year and president of Harvey Hall Hats, a local haberdashery: “I want to commend the many business leaders who helped put this thing together. It took the cooperation of a lot of people over a long period of time. I’m just pleased to be a part of it. This will give our city a real economic boost, and that will be of benefit to us all.”
The mayor also tells you that we can expect the announcement of another company that will locate in the part with the next month or so. He can’t release any details about the company, however.
Your assignment is to write a press release on the opening of this industrial park. This press release will be given to the news media at the press conference/groundbreaking. The press release should be about 200-250 words long. The press release will be handed out at the press conference, scheduled for 10 o’clock on Friday morning.

Music grant

You are on the staff of the public relations department of the local university. At the university is a rather well-regarded School of Music with a number of faculty members who are very performance oriented. The school of music attracts students from all over the country.
It has been a matter of concern for the school’s faculty for some years that not enough local students have been enrolling in the school. They have come to believe that this is because the local school systems in the area have reduced the money and support they have given to music education, and they point to the fact that none of the local high school bands has won any major competition for several years.
The School of Music has just been awarded a five hundred thousand dollar grant from the Finkelstein Memorial Trust. This money will be used by the School of Music for several items regarding music education for children in the local area:
• A general music education program for the schools. Each school system in the area can hire a music teacher. She will travel around to the schools in the system talking about music, encouraging performance, and bring guest performers with her. The grant will pay half of her salary for five years.
• The School of Music will begin instructional classes in brass, woodwinds, percussion, and strings. These classes, which will be offered once a week, will be offered to local students for a nominal fee (about twenty dollars a year). The instructors for these classes will be paid for by the grant money. Students who want to attend these classes will have to audition for them. Students in the fifth grade and up will be eligible to take the classes.
• As many as ten high school students will be given private lessons by School of Music faculty. These ten will be chosen by the faculty members, and the faculty members’ fees will be paid for completely and totally by the grant.
• Ten per cent of the grant monies will be put into a scholarship endowment, and that will generate about five scholarships of approximately $1,000 each every year.
This grant will last for about three years, and then the Finkelstein people will take another look at things to see if they want to renew it.
Your job is to write a press release announcing this grant. You should incorporate some or all of the following statement by Melissa Bowstring, who is the director of the school of music:
“Our faculty has been concerned for several years about the lack of music education in the local schools. A number of our faculty, led by Harvey Gracenote, got together and wrote a grant proposal to the Finkelstein Trust. We are very happy that they have seen fit to give us this money. The different programs that this money will fund will provide education and instruction to many students who otherwise would not have it. I believe these programs will have a positive impact on our local area, and we are very happy to get this money. It will also allow us to develop a closer relationship with the local school systems."
The press release will be sent out on Thursday afternoon, but it should have a ten o’clock Friday morning embargo date on it. The press release should be between 200 and 250 words.

Waubash State

• You’re a staff member in the public relations department of Waubash State University. Waubash is kind of small, about 10,000 students or so, but it is known for its athletic teams, particularly its football, which has four Division IV-B national championships in the last decade. Waubash State is sometimes known as The ‘Bash, reflecting the fact that they occasionally have parties.
• It's the middle of the football season. The Cannonballs -- that's the team’s nickname -- have won five and lost one. Last Saturday, the Cannonballs lost their first game of the season, to the Yorkshire Terriers, twenty to nineteen.
• Actually, the loss wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fight. That was between a couple of the fraternities. Alpha Beta Alpha and Zeta Beta Zeta got into it pretty bad. It’s not the first time that’s happened. But this was the worst incident anybody could recall. About a dozen guys from each fraternity were involved -- fighting each other in the stands near the end of the game. Three people had to be hospitalized, including the date (female) of one of the guys in the fraternity. Everybody is okay and out of the hospital now. The university suspended five people, two Alphas and three Zetas, and it put both of the fraternities on probation for a year. Probation means that one more incident of breaking the University’s rules and regulations about drinking or fighting or any other behavioral problems and the fraternity will most definitely be suspended.
• That incident made all the newspapers last weekend, and the University got kind of a black eye because of it.
• An official University investigation of the incident at Saturday’s game has taken place. The investigation committee was headed by Simon LaGree. He’s a prof in the Waubash Law School.
• The committee found that the fight occurred because of something the frats call "block seating.” What happens is that the frats send their pledges to the stadium early on Saturday morning and they block off a set of seats. The ABAs and the ZBZs had been arguing all day over the seats, and things finally boiled over and all hell broke loose.
• LaGree: “This incident is as childish as any I have encountered in my 25 years at the ‘Bash. This reflects very badly on our university and on the vast majority of students and alumni who conduct themselves properly. Block seating should be banned, and our committee recommends that the University take steps to do that.”
• What the committee recommends is: block seating is hereby banned; all tickets issued to students had been general admission, which means they could sit anywhere in the student section they wanted to, and the committee says that now all seats should be reserved; a student can present as many as four student activity cards to the ticket office and get four seats together; but that’s all. The groups of four tickets will be distributed randomly throughout the student section.
• Today is Thursday. No student tickets have been distributed for Saturday’s game against the Argyle Redsox. Somebody needs to make a decision. Owen Story, who has been president of the University for 18 years, does so.
• “These recommendations make a lot of sense. I appreciate the committee’s hard work in this matter. We are going to implement the system the committee suggested for Saturday’s game. I agree with Professor LaGree’s statement that incidents such as the one last week have no place at Waubash State University.” According to athletic department officials, ticket distribution will be set to begin at noon on Friday.
• You are to write a 200-250 word news release about the new ticket distribution system for release in the local and student newspaper on Friday morning.

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Example		Decommissioning You work in the public information office of the Secretary of the Navy. Your office is located in the outer ring of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and you have a spectacular view of the Washington skyline -- everything from the National Cathedral to the Washington Monument. You were hired because of your superior ability to write press releases. One of the most important kinds of ships in the US Navy is the aircraft carrier. Carriers are big, mighty ocean-going cities that have crews of more than 2,000 sailors, and they were of vital importance in winning World War II, and they have been an important part of almost every major naval engagement since that time. Like all other things, aircraft carriers wear out, and when that happens, the navy takes them out of service. That is called "decommissioning" and when that happens, it's an important event. The U.S. Navy is about to decommission the nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS Wyman Vintson. (Aircraft carriers are usually named after famous Americans and military heroes, such as the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy.) Wyman Vintson was a Captain in the US Navy during World War II and was killed during the Battle of Midway. He was captain of the USS Tuscaloosa, a destroyer, which was sunk by Japanese suicide bombers, but he was credited with saving the lives of 25 of his own men before he died. And he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously after his death. The carrier was put into service in 1974. At the time, All Hands magazine, the Navy’s personnel publication announced the carrier’s commissioning this way: “When the USS Wyman Vintson slides into the water next month at the Norfolk Shipyard, it will be the biggest, fastest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the fleet. They don’t measure her in feet. They use football fields -- about two and a half.” Since that time, of course, the Navy has commissioned other ships that have been larger and faster than the Vintson. The decision to decommission the Vintson was a hotly debated one both inside and outside the Navy. Officially, the Navy did not want to do it, but budget cutbacks forced the Navy to do this. Those cutbacks can be blamed on the president and the Congress. Here’s what the Secretary of the Navy said about the Vintson: “For much of the last three decades, the USS Vintson has been one of the mightiest defenders of liberty in every part of the world. The men and women who served on this ship have done so proudly and have always conducted themselves with honor and courage. The Vintson and her officers and crew represent the finest traditions of the Navy.” His name is John Toplady. Here are a few of the highlights of the Vintson’s history: • In 1975, just a few months after she was commissioned, she got the assignment to go to the South China Sea. There, she helped with the airlift of people from Saigon, just before Vietnam fell to the Communists and put an end to American Involvement there. She transported over 1000 refugees from Vietnam to Thailand in April 1975. • In 1976, a minor race riot occurred on the ship. Not much was said about it at the time, but it involved a couple of hundred sailors and several people got hurt. No fatalities, however. • She was part of the fleet that helped American forces invade Grenada in 1983. Grenada is an island in Caribbean, and President Reagan was afraid it would fall to the communists if we didn’t do something. So we did. • The ship was stationed in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War. More than 200 bombing missions were launched from her decks. The president is going to attend the decommissioning ceremony. So will the Secretary of the Navy, and many members of Congress. The ceremony will be in two weeks at the San Diego Naval Shipyard. They will start at ten o’clock in the morning. It is estimated that about 23,000 people served on the ship at one time or another, and all of them have been invited to attend. Probably about two or three thousand of the former crew members will be there. The White House press office has sent over this statement from the president that can be included in the press release: “Despite serving in an era of relative peace, the USS Vintson has seen her share of hostile action. This ship has proved her worth many times over. Her captains and crews have steered her wisely and well. Now her days of defending democracy have come to an end, and it is an honor for us to recognize her service to this nation.” Write a 200- to 250-word press release announcing the decommissioning of the ship and the decommissioning ceremony. Just what will happen to the ship itself is still uncertain. The secretary of the Navy will have to make that decision, and he’s been slow to do that. Some people say the ship should be scrapped. But others want to make the ship into a museum. We’ll just have to wait to see what he decides. When you have read this and thought about how you would handle it, click on the image at the left and read a news release that has been constructed from these facts.


	Click here or on the image above to see an example of a news release written from this information. As you read through the example, consider what information was not included in the news release. What information would have been inappropriate?


What it will be
		Finally, the good stuff. You will be asked to write a news release using one of the following sets of facts: Clock The Acme Clock Company is a company that specializes in building grandfather and mantle clocks and has been in business in your town since the early 1900s. The company's headquarters and single manufacturing plant employ about 150 people. The company builds beautiful and precise clocks, a reputation the town has always been proud of. It has been owned by one of the town's most prominent families, the Hendersons. John Henderson, the grandson of the founder, is the current president of the company. Because neither John nor his sisters have direct heirs, the company would probably be sold to outside interests when they die. Since all three are getting on in years and since they do not want the company to fall into the hands of outsiders, they have decided to sell all except a small portion of their stock in the company to employees of the company first and then to local people. John has been meeting secretly with employee representatives for the past few weeks and has worked out a plan whereby the employees would buy the stock of the company. The plan is a complicated one, but here are the basics: * The company has been assessed to be worth about $15,000,000. Some 500,000 shares will be offered at $30 a share. * The employees may buy as many shares as they wish. In addition, within six months they may sign up for a plan which would withhold 10 percent of their salaries for three years, and all of that money would go toward the purchase of stock. Any salary increases would go toward the additional purchase of stock. * It is highly unlikely that employees will be able buy more than a third of all the shares available. Consequently, local citizens and businesses will be asked to buy shares in the company. Again, it is unlikely that more than a third of the shares would be purchased by local individuals and businesses. * Federal Trust Bank, a locally owned and operated bank, has agreed to purchase a third of the shares at a discount rate of $22.50 a share after six months. Because of this discount, the bank has canceled all of the company's outstanding indebtedness, which totals about $800,000. All of the details of this plan have been worked out. Now comes the job of announcing it and selling it to the employees of the company and the local people and businesses. Also, the announcement of this plan will dispel some of the rumors about what will happen to the company in the coming years. The announcement will be made at a press conference scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. Attending this press conference will be Henderson, George Lomas, president of the local chapter of the Craftsman's International Union, and Harvey Boreman, president of the Federal Trust Bank. Here's a statement that Lomas and Boreman have prepared for the press conference. Lomas: "I believe this plan offers a substantial opportunity for the employees to have a hand in determining the future of the company. I plan to urge the members of my union to do whatever is necessary to make this plan a success. It will mean financial sacrifices in the immediate future, but I am sure that the historic profitability of this company will mean a lot to the employees. I predict that a substantial majority of the employees will take advantage of this plan." Boreman: "Federal Trust Bank is proud to be part of this unique plan of making sure that a local industry stays local. I hope that the employees of this company will see the wisdom of the plan and the outstanding opportunity they have in buying into this company. I am sure that many of the local businesses and people will do so, also." Henderson: "Our family is very happy that this agreement has been struck. We are committed to this community and always have been, and we are glad to know that the future of the Acme Clock Company has been assured. We will do everything possible to assist in this transition." As a part of the three-person public relations department for the Acme Clock Company, your assignment is to write a press release that will be given to the news media at the press conference, explaining the plan and incorporating some of the statements of Henderson, Lomas and Boreman. The press release should be about 200-250 words long. The press release will be handed out at the press conference, scheduled for 10 o’clock on Friday morning. Hospital You are the head of the department of public relations for Capstone Memorial Hospital, a medium-size hospital in a medium-size metropolitan area. Capstone Memorial is one of nine major hospitals in the area, but there are about 20 doctors' clinics where people not so seriously ill can stay overnight or for several nights. Capstone Memorial is privately owned and needs to make a profit, and it has found in the past few years an increasing number of its beds empty. It is feeling the pinch of rising health care costs and increased competition. Here are some facts about Capstone Memorial. It has been in existence since 1923. It is the third largest hospital in the area, with 1100 beds. It has a reputation for having an excellent high risk nursery for newborn babies. It also has all of the technology necessary to deal with most common illnesses. The average cost per patient per night is $410, which is about average for the major hospitals in the area. You and others in the hospital administration come up with a plan to get more people to chose Capstone Memorial. One part of this plan is a campaign entitled "Cutting Hospital Costs," and this campaign will begin Friday at 10 a.m. with a press conference for the local news media. The hospital administrator will announce several measures that will lower costs for patients: an out-patient plan for people who don't need to stay overnight (these exist in many hospitals in the area already); a plan whereby minor injuries and illnesses, especially in the emergency room, can be treated by nurses with doctors on call; an information clearinghouse for medical insurance plans to help people and businesses find the least expensive insurance (this is the first of its kind for any hospital in the area); a low-interest time payment plan for people who demonstrate financial need. You will need to prepare a press release for this press conference on these measures and also emphasizing the fact that a stay at Capstone Memorial on average costs about the same as a stay in any other of the area's major hospitals. The release should also incorporate some or all of the following statement from Horace Gideon, the hospital chief administrator, who will be making the announcement at the press conference. “Capstone Memorial Hospital shares the public’s concerns about the rising cost of medical care. We are committed to providing high quality medical care at the lowest possible costs to our customers. That is why we have instituted some new procedures and policies that we will be implementing over the next few weeks. These policies will be of benefit to our patients and their families. We are particularly interested in how the public views these changes, and we will be monitoring the responses to them.” The press release will be handed out at the press conference, scheduled for 10 o’clock on Friday morning. That should be the embargo date on the release. The press release should be between 200 and 250 words. Industrial park You are the public information officer for the local city government. City officials for several months have been working with local business leaders and the Chamber of Commerce to put together a new industrial park within the city that would attract high-tech companies. An industrial park is an area of land that is own by a government (city or county); a company can build a plant on that site and can stay there rent-free or for a nominal rent. Industrial parks are used as incentives for attracting businesses to an area. A plan has finally come together to have an industrial park in the city. It will be located on the west side of town between Stillman Boulevard and Fisk Avenue, north of Grambling Road. The size of the site is 27 acres. It is largely undeveloped now, being part of the old Sealtest Dairies Farm. The new site will be called the Sealtest Industrial Park. At ten o’clock on Friday morning there will be a press conference at which the mayor, the president of the chamber of commerce, and other industrial leaders will appear and announce this plan. The press conference will be a groundbreaking for the park, and these officials will appear at the site of the entrance to the park. The city will spend about fifteen million dollars to clear some of the land, building roads through the park and to install a water and sewer system. The money will come from an issue of city bonds. (A government bond is issued by a governmental body and sold, much like a stock on a stock exchange. The government then buys the bond back over a long period of time. It is a common way for governments to raise money for projects such as these.) The groundbreaking will be the first step of that work on the land. City engineers estimate that it will take about six months to get the park ready for companies to occupy it. Two local companies which are already located in town have said they would be moving to the park when it is open. One is Lincoln Electronics, and they employ about 60 people now; when they move to the park, they’ll expand to about 80 people. The other is Masterpiece Website Development. They’re planning an expansion from 30 to 45 people. You should include some or all of the following statements in your press release: Mayor Ben Quick: “This is a great day for our city. Our park is an ideal tool for attracting new industries to this area. We have already been contacted by a number of technological industries about the possibility of locating plants in the park. We believe that this place has a lot of potential for us. Harvey Hall; he’s the president of the Chamber of Commerce this year and president of Harvey Hall Hats, a local haberdashery: “I want to commend the many business leaders who helped put this thing together. It took the cooperation of a lot of people over a long period of time. I’m just pleased to be a part of it. This will give our city a real economic boost, and that will be of benefit to us all.” The mayor also tells you that we can expect the announcement of another company that will locate in the part with the next month or so. He can’t release any details about the company, however. Your assignment is to write a press release on the opening of this industrial park. This press release will be given to the news media at the press conference/groundbreaking. The press release should be about 200-250 words long. The press release will be handed out at the press conference, scheduled for 10 o’clock on Friday morning. Music grant You are on the staff of the public relations department of the local university. At the university is a rather well-regarded School of Music with a number of faculty members who are very performance oriented. The school of music attracts students from all over the country. It has been a matter of concern for the school’s faculty for some years that not enough local students have been enrolling in the school. They have come to believe that this is because the local school systems in the area have reduced the money and support they have given to music education, and they point to the fact that none of the local high school bands has won any major competition for several years. The School of Music has just been awarded a five hundred thousand dollar grant from the Finkelstein Memorial Trust. This money will be used by the School of Music for several items regarding music education for children in the local area: • A general music education program for the schools. Each school system in the area can hire a music teacher. She will travel around to the schools in the system talking about music, encouraging performance, and bring guest performers with her. The grant will pay half of her salary for five years. • The School of Music will begin instructional classes in brass, woodwinds, percussion, and strings. These classes, which will be offered once a week, will be offered to local students for a nominal fee (about twenty dollars a year). The instructors for these classes will be paid for by the grant money. Students who want to attend these classes will have to audition for them. Students in the fifth grade and up will be eligible to take the classes. • As many as ten high school students will be given private lessons by School of Music faculty. These ten will be chosen by the faculty members, and the faculty members’ fees will be paid for completely and totally by the grant. • Ten per cent of the grant monies will be put into a scholarship endowment, and that will generate about five scholarships of approximately $1,000 each every year. This grant will last for about three years, and then the Finkelstein people will take another look at things to see if they want to renew it. Your job is to write a press release announcing this grant. You should incorporate some or all of the following statement by Melissa Bowstring, who is the director of the school of music: “Our faculty has been concerned for several years about the lack of music education in the local schools. A number of our faculty, led by Harvey Gracenote, got together and wrote a grant proposal to the Finkelstein Trust. We are very happy that they have seen fit to give us this money. The different programs that this money will fund will provide education and instruction to many students who otherwise would not have it. I believe these programs will have a positive impact on our local area, and we are very happy to get this money. It will also allow us to develop a closer relationship with the local school systems." The press release will be sent out on Thursday afternoon, but it should have a ten o’clock Friday morning embargo date on it. The press release should be between 200 and 250 words. Waubash State • You’re a staff member in the public relations department of Waubash State University. Waubash is kind of small, about 10,000 students or so, but it is known for its athletic teams, particularly its football, which has four Division IV-B national championships in the last decade. Waubash State is sometimes known as The ‘Bash, reflecting the fact that they occasionally have parties. • It's the middle of the football season. The Cannonballs -- that's the team’s nickname -- have won five and lost one. Last Saturday, the Cannonballs lost their first game of the season, to the Yorkshire Terriers, twenty to nineteen. • Actually, the loss wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fight. That was between a couple of the fraternities. Alpha Beta Alpha and Zeta Beta Zeta got into it pretty bad. It’s not the first time that’s happened. But this was the worst incident anybody could recall. About a dozen guys from each fraternity were involved -- fighting each other in the stands near the end of the game. Three people had to be hospitalized, including the date (female) of one of the guys in the fraternity. Everybody is okay and out of the hospital now. The university suspended five people, two Alphas and three Zetas, and it put both of the fraternities on probation for a year. Probation means that one more incident of breaking the University’s rules and regulations about drinking or fighting or any other behavioral problems and the fraternity will most definitely be suspended. • That incident made all the newspapers last weekend, and the University got kind of a black eye because of it. • An official University investigation of the incident at Saturday’s game has taken place. The investigation committee was headed by Simon LaGree. He’s a prof in the Waubash Law School. • The committee found that the fight occurred because of something the frats call "block seating.” What happens is that the frats send their pledges to the stadium early on Saturday morning and they block off a set of seats. The ABAs and the ZBZs had been arguing all day over the seats, and things finally boiled over and all hell broke loose. • LaGree: “This incident is as childish as any I have encountered in my 25 years at the ‘Bash. This reflects very badly on our university and on the vast majority of students and alumni who conduct themselves properly. Block seating should be banned, and our committee recommends that the University take steps to do that.” • What the committee recommends is: block seating is hereby banned; all tickets issued to students had been general admission, which means they could sit anywhere in the student section they wanted to, and the committee says that now all seats should be reserved; a student can present as many as four student activity cards to the ticket office and get four seats together; but that’s all. The groups of four tickets will be distributed randomly throughout the student section. • Today is Thursday. No student tickets have been distributed for Saturday’s game against the Argyle Redsox. Somebody needs to make a decision. Owen Story, who has been president of the University for 18 years, does so. • “These recommendations make a lot of sense. I appreciate the committee’s hard work in this matter. We are going to implement the system the committee suggested for Saturday’s game. I agree with Professor LaGree’s statement that incidents such as the one last week have no place at Waubash State University.” According to athletic department officials, ticket distribution will be set to begin at noon on Friday. • You are to write a 200-250 word news release about the new ticket distribution system for release in the local and student newspaper on Friday morning.
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