I was a little disappointed to see that the reading for this week is on Chapter 10, which is the chapter on obituaries. I am not entirely interested in print journalism as it is, and I hope that I will not have to spend a lot of time writing obituaries. I will agree hower, "in the online world, obituarties are big business." This is becasue online papers can sell advertising to funeral homes and services because they find that readers search for obituarites frequently. I learned this by visiting the obituary page from a newspaper in my hometown, and discovering the number of advertisements on the page. I also agree that an obituary is one of the most important stories to get accurate, becasue it can be so sensitive. You should begin an obituary with the usual factors in crafting a lead such as who, what, when, where and why. This is the important list of facts to be put in: time and place of funeral services, time and burial place, visitation time, survivors, date and place of birth, achievements, occupation and memberships to any special organizations. Mortuary forms will usually provide this basic information. This helps to commemorate the person properly.
A final point that I find to be extremely important in this chapter is the importance of making the story lifelike. In writing an obit., I would want to bring that person's memory and their impact on others to the forefront of the story. Obituaries should be dynamic, and colorful, and truly give a sense of the person's life. Therefore, I think that it is very difficult to come up with a set "standard" on "how to" write an obituary. The story should be individually crafted, and should include interviews with surviving family and friends.