Questions from Pg. 96 in the Text
1. The news values present in this news story are timeliness, conflict, and the bizarre or unusual. Timliness is evident because the old woman’s trial had just taken place a few days previously, and the recommended death sentence was just announced the previous “Tuesday” before the article had come out. Conflict is a news value in this article in that it is associated with the murder of 5 people, as well as the conflict that is apparent between the Faye Copeland, the woman charged with the murders, and her husband, whom Copeland claims abused her . This article involves the bizarre or unusual because if the judge rules for the death sentence, Copeland will be the oldest person on Missouri’s death row.
2. Who: Missouri Jurors and Circuit Judge E Richard Weber; Faye Copeland
What: Jurors recommended death sentence for 69 year old woman.
When: The previous Saturday jurors sentenced the woman for the murders, which took place the previous year; the following Tuesday is when the recommendation for the death sentence was decided.
Where: Livingston County, Missouri
Why: If sentenced to death, Copland will be the oldest person on Missouri’s death row.
3. Personal Sources, Stored sources of Information, Possibly Observation
4. One source evident in the news article is David Miller, public defender for Copeland. The article includes indirect quotes from Miller near the end of the article. Stored sources of information, including Missouri’s jail and death row records, as well as the internet and newspapers, could have been used in this article to look up the facts regarding the details of the murders she committed and about the oldest people sentenced to death in Missouri. I believe the the reporter probably got most of the information about these trial and sentencing proceedings through personal observation, by going and waiting outside the courthouse to speak to those involved or sitting as a witness in the trials.
5. I would want the reporter to double check the statements from David Miller, Copeland’s attorney, about the courts refusal to allow testimony regarding Copeland’s alleged “battered wife syndrome.”