Streisand donation to St. Paul arts high school
An article with the headline reading, "Streisand gives $10K to charter school" was written for the Pioneer Press by Doug Belden and posted on their website on Wed, Jan. 31. The article reports that singer/actress Barbra Streisand donated $10,000 to the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, a charter school in downtown St. Paul's Landmakr Cetner. According to the article, the Streisand Foundation will give "an additional $10,000 worth of audio and visual equipment." The article has information about the charter school as well as the Streisand Foundation.
This article can be found at: http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/16583665.htm
The reporter quoted Terry Tofte, the executive director of the charter school, a number of times both directly and indirectly. There is a lot of information about this news event; the reporter could have put everything in quotations. Instead, he chose to use the more exciting, colorful quotations from Tofte and paraphrase for the rest of it. For example, the reporter explains how the school will use the money in this indirect quote:
**At the conservatory, Tofte said the equipment will be used to create a recording studio, and the cash donation will be used for staff and curriculum development to support the school's music program, which debuted this school year.**
Then, the reporter mixes is up and actually asks the question he most likely asked Tofte himself and gives Tofte's answer:
**Considering the diva's generosity, will the new recording studio be named after Babs?
"I don't see why not," Tofte said with a laugh. "We're trying to figure out some way to thank her."**
This quotation would not be as meaningful if it was paraphrased. It makes the article more personal and shows how greatful Tofte and the school is for the donation. There is an indirect quotation in the article from Rupa Balasubramanian, an associate at the Streisand Foundation. The information she gives to the article is just that - information; how the conservatory was picked to reveive a contribution and why Streisand decided to donate. This would not make a good quotation because there aren't any colorful words or interesting facts being told that couldn't really be paraphrased. The reporter definitely fought the urge to quote everything everyone said and used indirect quotes instead.
The second article is from the West Central Tribune Online. It is from the Associated Press and posted on Wednesday, as well. This article, with the headline, "Streisand donates $10,000 to St, Paul performing arts school" contains basically the same information as the first article. This article quotes Tofte one time, and the same quote appears in the Pioneer Press article:
**Its executive director, Terry Tofte, said he first learned of the gifts last month, and "my reaction was, 'Well, Merry Christmas!'"**
The rest of the quotations are indirect. One such quote is:
**The Streisand Foundation told the school she identifies an arts organization to support in the cities where she tours. The foundation doesn't say much about its selection criteria, Tofte said.**
This seems like a quotation that didn't need to be put into the article at all. Because it was, it gives a bad conotation and infers that the Foundation doesn't have a criteria for chosing which schools to donate to. There are no quotations from anyone at the Streisand Foundation.
This second article can be found at: http://www.wctrib.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8N02SQG0&forumcomm_check_return
The Pioneer Press article is more thorough and interesting to read, in my opinion. The quotations were chosen wisely, in comparison to the West Central Tribune article, and the lead is attention-grabbing. I also feel that the first article went into more detail about the school and the foundation, explaining exactly what the charter school is all about and their mission. It is more captivating in general.