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11/20/2014

Ohio reporter, 10, keeps neighbors informed

From The Telegraph-Forum

"The newspaper is coming out soon!" proclaims a sign tacked to a pole in the West College Street neighborhood of Granville.

The public relations person, reporter, editor and publisher of said newspaper is a fifth-grader.

Marni Motsch, who just turned 10, started writing up her neighbors' activities in the summer of 2013.

"It's a small neighborhood, and you see a lot of things," Motsch said. "I was bored one day, so I started writing."

In the 15 or so papers she has published, Marni has reported on a variety of topics, from neighbors moving to ambulances arriving.

A sampling of headlines includes: "Vicki Is a Grandma," "Doug and Sandy Got a Kitchen," "The Fair," "Jim in Hospital," and her favorite "Al and Lee," reported when Al slipped and broke his arm.

"I am most interested in injuries," Marni said. "Where were they hurt? How did it happen? What exactly happened?"

Breaking with newspaper writing style, Marni refers to subjects in her stories by their first names and feels free to show a bit of bias. "Al" is shown as a bearded man in glasses of indeterminate age ("somewhere between 60 and 80," Marni says).

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