Here is an audio sample posted via Sound Cloud
A Series of Muggings In Lincoln Park
During the summer of 2009, Lincoln Park residents were on the lookout after a series of beatings and robberies occurred throughout their community between July and August.
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According to Chicago Police, the victims were all young males in their early 20s, who were walking alone at the time. The offenders would then proceed to attack the victims from behind demanding various valuables, and seriously beat the victims in the head and face.
Five out of the seven attacks were just a few feet within each other, while the other two attacks have yet to be confirmed if they were related to the previous attacks.
As of September 1, 2010 no arrests have been made and the Chicago Police continue to investigate.
Gapers Block Creator Andrew Huff Visits DePaul University
Andrew Huff, Founder of Gapers Block Photo By: Michael Reilley
Andrew Huff is one of the creators, and founders of the website Gapers Block and offered great advice on how to be successful in the field while visiting DePaul University.
Gapers Block is a Chicago based site that specializes in social and news aspects throughout the city. Gapers Block is widely popular because of its simplicity and thorough information that it offers.
According to Huff, the site receives 250,000 visitors per month, and Huff hopes that number will continue to grow as time goes on.
Gapers Block success comes from a staff of 300 writers along with the support of various grants given by the donors throughout the Chicago community.
In addition to the donors, Gapers Block receives its funds from advertising and T-shirt sales. Most recently in 2009, the site received 35,000 dollars to report on the less glamorized communities in the Chicagoland area.
Then in 2010, the site received another 17,000 in grant money. This time, the money was given to only report about various issues affecting West and South side low-income communities.
Although Gapers Block has seen success thus far with its original design, Huff informed the class that several changes to the site would be made in order to improve the structure of how the content is presented.
First, the addition of headlines and briefs from inside stories will now be on the middle of the home page. A feature bar with rotating stories is also being added and potentially a section for business.
As a result of the success of Gapers Block, similar blogs have approached Huff with suggestions and offers to merge and create a bigger blogosphere for the site.
Although flattered by the idea, Huff feels that he wouldn’t be able to bring justice to other areas because he is not from there and that is one of the keys to the success of hyperlocal city blogs.
Creativity is a must and in order to be successful in this field, you have to be able to bring something different to the table.
Not only is creativity a must, but you must also be “skilled as a journalist” Huff suggested. In addition, one must find a niche for themselves to be a shining star.
Huff’s final pearls of wisdom to aspiring journalists were, “Jobs all over the country are looking for journalistic styles in applicants,” Huff stated. And that most of all that passion is needed in whatever you write or report about. Huff stated.
