4.2 News Values

“Good Guy” Holds Teacher, Students Hostage

1. The news value that is present in this article is the bizarre or unusual.  Because Eli Dean, the student who held the teacher and students at gunpoint, is considered someone who would never hurt anyone, this is a rare or unusual event.  It is also bizarre that he held the teacher and students hostage for 8 hours with a gun but seemed to have had no intention of shooting anyone.

2. Who – Eli Dean, the 18 year old student who held his teacher and classmates at gunpoint.

What – A teacher and 15 students were held hostage in their school by a  fellow student for more than 8 hours.

When – The event took place on a Monday at around 11:10 a.m. until about 7:30 p.m.

Where – The event occurred in Melody Money’s classroom at Central High School.

Why & How – Dean held the teacher and students hostage by using a .44-caliber revolver.  They believe he did all of this because he was extremely upset over his recent suspensions after he set off a fire alarm and broke a window.

3. The major source of information that was used in this article was interviewing.  The reporter interviewed Sgt. Martin Jenkins, the state police officer that was present during the event.  He also interviewed Amanda Garr, a student who is a classmate of Eli Dean.

4. The reported wrote that no shots were fired and there were no injuries. He also wrote that the event took over 8 hours and that a .44-caliber revolver was used.  This information most likely came from the state police officer that was interviewed.  Any information written about Eli Dean, such as the claims that he was a good guy and someone who wouldn’t hurt anyone, most likely came from the students that were interviewed.

5. There were parts of the story that could have been more specific.  For example, the reporter writes that the state police could not give an exact count of how many hostages were released soon after the siege began.  There were only 15 hostages total so it should not have been that hard to find out how many were originally released.

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