Short Writing Assignment: Media Pitch
- evanliewer
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
By Evan Liewer
Chat GPT Version:
To: Name , Reporter, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead
From: [Your Name], Communications Specialist, Homeward Animal Shelter
Subject: Fargo’s Homeward Shelter Prepares for Bitter Cold — and How the Community Can Help
Hi Name,
As Fargo braces for another long, bitter winter, Homeward Animal Shelter is preparing for one of its busiest — and most crucial — seasons. Each year, countless cats and dogs are rescued from freezing conditions, and our staff work tirelessly to bring these survivors into warmth, safety, and care.
With more than 42,000 adoptions since 1966, Homeward’s story is deeply tied to Fargo’s resilient spirit. Our Executive Director, Keri Sticka, can share how the shelter is responding to the challenges of subzero temperatures — from heating kennels to organizing emergency rescues — and how local residents can make a difference through donations, fostering, or adoption.
This story would offer a timely, visual look at what winter means for homeless animals and the community that rallies to protect them. We’d love to invite The Forum to visit the shelter, meet our team, and capture how Fargo’s compassion keeps tails wagging, even in the coldest months.
Warm regards,
[Your Name]
[Email] | [Phone]
My Version:
To: Name , Reporter, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead
From: [Your Name], Communications Specialist, Homeward Animal Shelter
Subject: Fargo’s Homeward Shelter Prepares for Bitter Cold — and How the Community Can Help
Hi Name,
As Fargo braces for another long, bitter winter, Homeward Animal Shelter is preparing for one of its busiest and most crucial seasons. Each year, countless cats and dogs are rescued from freezing conditions, and our staff work tirelessly to bring these survivors into warmth, safety, and care.
With more than 42,000 adoptions since 1966, Homeward’s story is deeply tied to Fargo’s resilient spirit. Our Executive Directory, Name, can share how the shelter is responding to the challenges of subzero temperatures. From heating kennels, to organizing emergency rescues, and how local residents can make a difference through donations, fostering, or adoption.
This story offers a timely, visual look at what winter means for homeless animals and the community that rallies to protect them. We’d love to invite The Forum to visit the shelter, meet our team, and capture how Fargo’s compassion keeps tails wagging, even in the midst of winter.
Warm regards,
Evan Liewer
Evan.Liewer@ndsu.edu I 701-707-9749
Final Submission:
ChatGPT helped develop a locally relevant and timely piece that reflects Fargo’s seasonal changes and the community’s resilience during winter. For this assignment, I selected Homeward Animal Shelter in Fargo, North Dakota, as my organization. After brainstorming possible story ideas, I chose to pitch an interview with The Forum focusing on how Homeward is preparing for the upcoming cold season and how the community can help stray animals find warmth, safety, and shelter.
I provided a detailed prompt that included the genre, tone, target audience, key themes, and three main story elements. The resulting draft demonstrated strong alignment with the guidelines provided and captured the community-driven tone I envisioned. I was impressed with how naturally the writing reflected local identity and conveyed a sense of urgency as winter approaches.
My revisions were primarily nitpicky, stylistic, and aimed at improving professionalism and flow. I removed unnecessary bold formatting, replaced em dashes with commas for smoother readability, substituted the placeholder “Name” for the executive director, and changed “This story would offer” to “This story offers” for an overall more confident voice.
In conclusion, the changes were minimal, but the experience reinforced an important lesson, the quality of the prompt directly influenced ChatGPT’s output.
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