New York Times talks education

On the New York Times website, an article titled "To Keep Students, Colleges Cut Anything but Aid" discusses the importance of steady college enrollments in today's society and how colleges are not downsizing financial aid offers this year, even with the economy's recession. Instead, colleges and institutions live and breathe on high enrollment counts, so if the number of prospective students drops, so does the school's economic stability. This article caught my attention because even with this troubled economy, students can still go to school and not live credit-to-credit. Instead, students win and get the education they need to succeed, whereas the university also benefits from their active population.



This article elaborated on the hand-in-hand relationships between universities and students that I never uncovered before. I assumed that the current economic hardships were hurting various student aid packages, but I'm relieved to witness the opposite effect. The New York Times did a great job targeting an audience both concerned about money and schooling opportunities, and I'm glad to hear the facts favor both sides of the tuition bill.

Afghan Air Force

There is an article in the New York Times called Facing Language Gaps and ‘Flying Trucks,’ U.S. Trains Afghan Pilots by Elisabeth Bumiller. It is about how American soldiers are trying to establsh an Air Force in Afghanistan. This is estimated to take until 2016 and cost $5 billion. A set back is that the American pilots are having trouble teaching the Afghan pilots because some of them do not speak English.

Bumiller writes an excellent lede: "Col. James A. Brandon flew Black Hawks when Moscow was considered a mortal foe of the United States and spent years in the Army studying enemy aircraft. So he now finds it a little bizarre to be piloting an old MI-17 Russian helicopter, a legacy of the Soviet invaders here, in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan." She not only tells who and what but she also hooks the reader into finding out why Brandon is flying an MI-17.

Since Obama's inauguration, I have not really kept an eye on FOX News. I went to the station's website today just to see if there was any news presenting of Obama's economic plans with a hopeful tone. Sadly, I got just what I expected. The first three links available were as follows: Budget Plan Has Little Room for Error, Obama Spending Creates a Dept Nation, and Former Bush Aide Blasts Budget Criticism.

These reports, while based on Republican criticism, fail to communicate any sense of Obama having support. He has a group, but as far as the author will allow his audience know, they do not consist of experts or informed people. The fact that these stories come up first on the station's homepage shows that the bias does not end with writers, but can be found within the editing staff as well.

I realize that it's popular and easy to criticize FOX News, and there probably was no point in checking in. But right now, if there ever was an example of what not to do (unless it pays), this is it. I've now had my turn. I suppose we all get one.

Meta-media roundup

Some interesting stuff related to media and journalism:

• More research continues to reshape conventional wisdom about liberal media bias.
• False equivalency can happen to the best of them.
• The News-Press hosted a forum on the economy and then made its coverage of that event the lead story on Wednesday. Any thoughts on newspapers creating their own news?
  

Pentagon Lifts Ban

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101196080

This NPR article addresses the recent lift of the ban on media pictures of soldier coffins. Pentagon now allows the family to decide whether or not media photography should be allowed at the Dover. This article is well written and organized into an inverted pyramid.
But the really interesting thing here is the media's influence. The right to free press has always had limits. President Bush Sr. started the ban in 1991. The image of dead soldiers returning home in hundreds doesn't represent the president in command very well. It seems that when war goes on, the government tries to cover the negative press coverage. This sugar-coating of war seems dishonest.

Jobless Woman on Horseback

I listened to a very interesting story on NPR yesterday: “Jobless Woman Headed For Texas On Horseback.”

This story is about a 44-year-old woman named Donna Byrne, who lost her job as a ranch hand in Arcadia, Florida. So she took her horses and all of her belongings and headed out west on horseback in search of a job as a cowgirl.

I loved the way that this story is written and the way it flows: it flows almost like a fictional story and captures details in a very personal way, all while still managing to sound like a news story at the same time. I think that this kind of style and format is a good example for certain feature stories and profiles. The only criticism I have for this story is that I sometimes had trouble hearing Byrne when she was talking; her voice was very low at times and a little muffled. However, this also could have been a result of listening to the story online.

Stand-Up Desks in Schools

On the front page of today’s New York Times is an article called “They Stand When Called Upon, and When Not.” The article describes something I’ve never even heard of: adjustable desks that allow you to sit or stand as you please. These desks are now being made for children and used in a few elementary and middle schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin as an experiment. The kids can stand, sit on a stool, swing their feet on a swinging foot rest, and wiggle all they want during class. The responses from teachers are very positive so far and there is hope that this idea may help kids with obesity and concentration in classrooms.

I really enjoyed reading this article and thought it was very interesting. I’ve personally never even thought to question the idea of sitting in classrooms; it always seemed to simply be “the way things are.” Reading this article reminded me that it’s never good to accept life as we know it and that we should think critically and outside of the box as often as possible.

I also really liked the beginning of the story, which began with a rather lengthy anecdote that I think worked for this feature-like article. The lede begins with a paragraph describing the sixth-grade classroom that the story revolves around and then describes the experiment with the new desks. Right after the lede, the story eases into the quite fascinating subject by detailing the specific sitting/standing preferences of a few different students. I liked how this article was written in a way that brought me back into these classrooms.

CNN Newsroom and Facebook

This morning as I was watching CNN Newsroom, they were discussing Obama's Presidential Address which is taking place tonight. The interesting part to this discussion was that they were intertwining citizens opinions into the discussion through Facebook. Rick Sanchez, one of the anchors, had set up a page so individuals could send their opinion in to the show on what they believe should be addressed by Obama tonight.

I know that on television productions and such there is always a way to contact and send in your opinion on the show, however what seemed so interesting to me was that CNN did this through Facebook; at least today. Every couple of minutes Rick would show the comments that people were making on the address and then would follow up with a few comments himself.

Not only did I find this to be an appealing way to interact with the audience (viewers) but it seemed to be extremely affective as the anchors continued to share feedback on comments.

Loud Music causes boys death.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99165934



I've never been a fan of loud music. I have senstive ears, so I don't like my music too loud. I especially do not like to be unaware of what is going on around me. I dont know how a kid can walk along train tracks and not realize that a train is coming. Could he not feel the vibrations? And how loud can music possibly be to not hear a train horn blasting behind you? I think they should regulate how loud MP3 players can be set to. Then kids won't have hearing problems, and will be more aware of their surroundings. I can't imagine what it is going to be like when my generation starts getting old. I know that hearing aid sales will be higher than ever. And I'm not looking forward to having to shout all the time because my friends cant hear me.

Win or Bust?

A major recent story in the sports world concerns Alex Rodriguez and his steroid charges. An article in the New York Times introduced Rodriguez's story through an anecdote that grabbed my attention immediately. The first paragraph caught my eye because it not only involved Rodriguez, but his reaction to a fan waiting for his turn for an autograph.

I felt this opening was more than effective. The writer sets the scene with A Rod making his way down the left-field fence, signing baseball after patient baseball. The silent player continued to autograph until one person spoke their mind and ultimately stopped Rodriguez in his tracks.

The man said if A Rod won a World Series anytime soon, the steroid drama would go away. A Rod heard his comment and asked him to repeat himself, and the man said again if the Yankees won the World Series, no one will care about his steroid use anymore. After listening to the comment for the second time, A Rod nodded and continued to make his way down the line of waiting fans.

The man who grabbed Rodriguez's attention remained anonymous in this article and I thought this sense of mystery added to the article's purpose. Millions of people have opinions about A Rod's confession, but that one man could have spoke some truth for the millions of unheard baseball fans. One man took the initiative to speak his mind and was not exposed in this NYT article. I thought the writer did a great job of capturing an opinion of a random by-stander and not exposing his identity for a greater purpose. Sometimes the truest quotes come from the ones you least expect them from.

Profiling the Dead

Tonight, CNN.com posted a profile as an obituary salute to a former Clinton White House resident, who lost his battle with oral cancer early this morning. This was the top news, explaining the fellow's descent into an unending catnap. Working on profiles of our own, I thought we should all take a look at this piece in particular.

The author (anonymous), having a subject unable to tell his tail, uses a mixture of photo-records, released statements, and public knowledge to report how someone down and out could be catapulted into the political spotlight. There is a lack of direct quotes, but the article remains effective.

While we, in our profiles, cannot or should at least try not to cheer lead, I think it becomes acceptable in the case of covering the dead. Everyone tracks in their own fair share of dirt, and I think it is reasonable that even the most hard-hitting journalists would avoid presenting the dead as anything completely inhuman. In this case, without ignoring the deceased's shortcomings as a human being, the reporter celebrates the good, citing his charity work and national support.

Viral titles in online reporting.

In the hard hitting world of online journalism, titles are everything.

Feb. 16th - 14-year old Chinese boy dies due to a chair malfunction.

Feb. 18th, 10am EST- Itai News, apparently a newsblog affiliated with 2-ch, reports the story.

Feb. 20th, 4am EST - Sankaku Complex [NSFW] posts the story with its new title - Chair Kills Boy by Anal Penetration.

Feb. 20th, 8pm EST - Story explodes.


Online stories have to be memetic to get attention. A humorous title, often all that is visible in a packed RSS feed, almost replaces the lede for drawing viewers in. The assigned Slate article approaches this a little; the devaluation of information means it has to be interesting to compete. Stories are targeted not so much as "direct-to-consumer PR packages" but as would-be viral phenomenons. For niche news websites, this means limitless leeway in titles, for major news sites like CNN, this means running the racy.

Outside Perspective

After looking at the NPR profile story yesterday, I decided to check out another one. This paticular story was about a man named Willie Rivera. Rivera is 91 and owns his own shoe shop called Willie's Shoe Service.

The lede started out with an anecdote mentioning that Rivera made shoes for the role of Moses in the movie The Ten Commandments. The writer then says that is how Rivera began his lifelong reputation of creating incredible shoes.

One thing that this article lacked compared to the one read in class yesterday about the set designer is outside perspectives and opinions. There's quotes from a man who apprenticed for Rivera, but he does not really comment on Rivera, just the fact that he worked for him and more so promoted his own work within Rivera's shop.

I feel like the profile on Rivera went from him to more so on Rivera's shop itself.

The Question Lede: To Use or Not to Use?

As I was browsing over USA Today, I spotted a textbook no-no: the controversial question lede.

The article, “With cities’ programs for the poor, it pays to save,” is on the front page of today’s USA Today and also available online.

The story begins with a question lede, a lede that our textbook and many editors call weak, lazy, and irritating. However, while our textbook clearly emphasizes that we should usually reconsider question ledes, it also makes it clear that it is “possible to craft clever, engaging questions that hook us into reading further.” (I believe that we also had a similar short discussion on this in class a week or two ago.)

I personally believe that question ledes should be avoided; I have tried to stay away from them myself when writing for this class. However, I think that the question lede in this USA Today story actually works. Here is the beginning of the article:

LEDE: “Should people be paid to behave responsibly? Some cities believe so.”
NUT GRAF: “New York wants poor people to save money, so it is offering a big incentive to encourage them to do so: a 50% match of up to $250 if they put money from their federal earned-income tax credit into a savings account and keep it there for a year.”

I like this lede. I think that the question sums everything up and gets right to the juice of the story, but also really catches the reader’s attention and engages them. I think this article goes to show that sometimes question ledes can work…but only sometimes!

Swiss Banks

The largest bank in Switzerland (USB) annouced on Wednesday that they would release the names of Americans who are believed to be keeping money in their bank in order to avoid paying American taxes. According to the article, "The bank admitted conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to pay $780 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation into its activities." A few hundred customers names are expected to be released out of the 19,000 accounts that have been investigated.

The bank has said they will be closing their American client's accounts but advised them to get rid of their records and hide valuables that were bought with the money in their USB accounts.

"Prosecutors suspect that from late 2002 to 2007, UBS helped American clients illegally hide $20 billion, letting them evade $300 million a year in taxes."

On Profiles

I never get a chance to check out the news in the papers until the afternoon, so when Dr. Harrison said that there was a pretty good profile on the front page of the today’s News Press in class earlier, I had to check it out.

The article is titled “His personal battle over, Kanzius’ cancer fight goes on” and seems to be sort of a profile. (The article is also available online. Here’s a link.)

The story is about the life and death of a Sanibel man who invented “what may be a groundbreaking treatment for cancer” and how his fight continues after his death. I must say that I really enjoyed reading this article and I think that the story is written pretty well with some interesting and engaging anecdotes.

However, there were a couple things that bothered me a little in this article. The article begins sounding almost like an obituary. In all honesty, I was not truly interested in the article until after the page break. I thought that the story was about another celebrated, heroic doctor who died recently, but when I read that Kanzius was a broadcaster, not a doctor, with zero medical experience, suddenly I was sucked into the story. However, this shocking tidbit is not revealed until after the page break. Kanzius’ invention has been previously covered in the News Press and perhaps this “grabber” is not necessary early in the article, but I still think that this sort of information should have been placed in the first few paragraphs and definitely before the page break. Once I read this detail about Kanzius, I was much more interested in the article and his life stories because I felt that I could relate a little more.

After reading this article, I also noticed something that we discussed in class today: the idea of making a profile subject look like the perfect, heroic humanitarian. I personally feel that the article made Kanzius look a little too perfect and heroic; I really didn’t see a human side of him. Perhaps the “human” side of him may be that he had no medical experience and still managed to create this impressive invention, but I think that would fall into the overdone “ordinary person overcomes all obstacles and rises to success” type of story.

Rourke's Dog Dies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29262382/

The article above is a short, bittersweet story about actor Mickey Rourke. His pet chihuahua Loki died in his arms Monday night. She was 17 years old.
The lead reveals everything; the who, what, and why. The nutgraf reveals the when followed by a direct quote from Rourke. The next paragraph tells about Rourke's career comeback along with his obsession with dogs. The final paragraph ends with a kicker partial quote from his Golden Globes acceptance speech.
This small article is efficient and well structured. The death of a pet is always sad, but Rourke's quote is uplifting.
"Loki is deeply missed but with me in spirit. I feel very blessed that she fell asleep peacefully in my arms."
For pet owners, this is sad and sweet. This is a great example of how five short paragraphs can tell so much and pack an emotional punch.

al-Zaidi the Shoesinnator

Most of you might recall the incident in which our former president George W. Bush, had a shoe thrown at him while giving a farewell speech at the Baghdad news conference. al-Zaidi's charges of assualting a foreign head of state could leave him sitting in jail for up to 15 years. If convicted this could lower the rate of unnecesarry shoe throwing.

Anyway, in class we worked a great deal on learning how to create a lede and deciding what kind of a lede to go with. The first part of the lede is as follows: When Iraqi journalist Muntathar al-Zaidi took the stand Thursday, he said that he hadn't planned to hurl his shoes at President George W. Bush, but the sight of the smirking leader at a Baghdad news conference got the best of him.
In the beginning of the lede it tells who the article is about, what, where and why. I think it is a good lede that has setup the structure to now go into an anecdote or more detail about the incident in which it does. In this one sentence, it is short and general, but to the point where you want to read more to find what is going on. I know not all leads need to answer so many of the five W's but in this case it worked. I think the lede is not easy to create, but it can get easier with more time put into it.
The next part of the lede uses colorful quotes to really depict a picture and reason for Zaidi to have thrown the shoes as he did. Colorful quotes such as, ''He had an icy smile with no blood or spirit,'' and "I was feeling the blood of innocent people moving under his feet." Not every source is going to give such great quotes but these were definitely statements that helped give this story an edge.

A Little More Snazz

I have been hearing a lot of talk and controversy about the recent technology bill proposing to give students inexpensive access to Microsoft software. So I was not at all shocked to see the controversy over the failed bill and plans to reintroduce it slapped on the front page of this week’s Eagle News this afternoon. The article, titled “Upgrade? When pricey tech bill fails, Senate looks to students for support,” was very informative and quite balanced in my opinion, but after reading about two-thirds of the article, I found it a little difficult to continue reading.

Now perhaps this is simply because I have been raised in a generation with perhaps the shortest attention span in history when it comes to reading the news, but I felt like the story was a little too long and not as attention-grabbing.

However, like I said, the article was very informative and I feel, fairly balanced. The bill, which sounds like a great idea when first hearing about it, has a lot of advantages but also a lot of disadvantages and risks to it. I think that the writer did a great job of presenting all sides of the story, explaining the facts, and leaving the decisions up to the reader. I was only aware of some of the details of this bill, but after reading this article, I feel that I have a good understanding of the issues behind the bill.

At the end of the article, one student is quoted making a great point in saying that Student Government should try to get students more involved and engaged in these sort of issues on the campus. Many students are not even aware that our school Senate is voting over an issue that could greatly benefit many students, but at the same time affect where our tuition money goes. This article, however, is one way of informing the students and I think, does a great job at it. However, perhaps if this article were little shorter, a little snappier and snazzier, and more engaging, many more students would be inclined to finish reading it and be more informed and engaged in issues and politics on the campus.

Quotations...

Since last weeks class discussion on quoting sources as well as the placement of quotes within a story, I have found myself looking very closely for the use of quotations within articles. A reoccurring pattern I am beginning to see is that in articles discussing politics or the Stimulus package, quotations are rare if present at all. When these quotes are in fact used, direct quotes seem to be placed later in the article while in-direct quotes pave the way as the article starts rolling.

I specifically noticed this in the New York Times article I found entitled States and Cities in Scramble for Stimulus Cash by Monica Davey. The article used an in-direct quote in the second paragraph while holding off to use a direct quote until later in the article. After paying attention to these articles and the placement of their quotations, I am understanding the concept more and more. I however am still finding myself with questions concerning this topic.

For example, as I stated earlier it seems that in most political articles, quotations are rarely used. Is that typical or is that simply because of the story? I would assume that the power lies solely within the writer, which it truly does, yet it is hard to figure out when quotes are necessary and when they seem to be merely adding more clutter to your facts.

Mystery near Buffalo

On the New York Times website, an article titled "In Plane Crash, the Loss of Momentum Is Still a Mystery" presented great information and detailed facts concerning the place crash that took place in Amherst, New York. I noticed, however, that only several of the paragraphs in the article contained quotations: One direct and some indirect by Steven Chealander, retired airline captain and safety board commissioner who is covering the scene. Can articles still be successful with a lack of personal enlightenment? I say yes. The article presents great background research by the writer that could have been difficult to gather from oral sources. The article tells the main concerns: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, but also develops these questions with deeper research. The writer paints a flip-book of events for the reader and told me exactly what I wanted to know about the crash that took place several days ago. I believe this article could actually be more successful than others because of the great detail and vivid imagery. Maybe sometimes its not the voice behind your sources, but the voice behind your writer.

Opening our eyes to the reality of the recession

The recession that our country continues to find ourselves involved in, as well as subdued in, continues to help me learn more about business along with many other aspects within our government. I was once more intrigued by an article that was discussing our recession; specifically how rents in major cities have dropped so much this last quarter of the 2008 year.

The article entitled Rents drop nationwide as vacancies spike , found on Msn.com, opens up giving facts about how tenants are now given these new opportunities with the economy the way it is due to the fact that rents are dropping so quickly in certain areas. This opening topic alone left me wondering how this happened, what caused this to happen and what was going to fix this new problem; if indeed it is now a problem.

This whole situation with renters and leases seems to be a huge topic as the economy continues to decline. The reason for this is so many jobs have been cut, as the article states 2.6 million jobs were lost by Americans in 2008. With these job cuts comes negotiating with landlords and leasers also putting the tenants in a hard position because they are then pron to a money deficit.

It's sad/hard to acknowledge these chain of events that continue to shake our economy. We live in a world based on money and it continues to blow my mind when I think about how every small change within the economy has some kind of chain effect tolling on the nation as well as Americans. This article helped to once more open my eyes and force me to realize the problems we are facing here at home.

Lastly, not only did the facts within the article catch my eyes, but it helped me to see as well as understand what a "lede" is and how it works. As I continue to read more articles I begin to understand more about the structure that takes place within the articles as well as what is necessary to go into them in order to make them successful and good.

Shield Laws

Apropos our discussion last week about shield laws, it looks like Congress may take up consideration of national shield law legislation again.

Quoting in a WWII Airmen Interview

Yesterday we spent a lot of our discussion learning quote placement strategies, working a story to get the most important quote as near the lead as possible. Tristan Smith, in her CNN report, "As 'Flying Fortress' reaches sky, former airmen relive the high," leads with a scene setter. What is interesting about it is that the scene setter lead doubles as the anticipation for her first quote. Though I think the lead could be worded differently (it confused me my first time through, making me think there was another "88-year-old man"), the quote following quote strongly supports the main idea suggested in the title. Wendell Lawing's reminiscing is exactly why the audience stopped for this article. The rest of the article is mostly paraphrasing mixed with direct quotes leading to coverage of the exact event, which the author chose to leave as a backdrop. Smith, keeping her paragraphs concise and not getting in the way of her reporting, gives us decent example of what a feature report should look like.

Pravda online, celebrating 10 years of irrelevance

Pravda.ru, founded by disgruntled journalists after the dismantling of its prior incarnation - the state newspaper of the U.S.S.R. - celebrated its 10th birthday in January.

Pravda online is what you’d find in the grocery store if Marat were alive and in charge of Weekly World News. Its feature writers are the madmen who wave apocalyptic signs on street corners; its opinion pages are disturbing looks into the minds of those who think racist dogs constitute racial dialogue; the stories are unsupported, irrelevant, and often painfully misleading.

“Homo rapiens be damned: Savagery is not programmed into our DNA” (a title which contains the greatest portmanteau of the English language) summarizes much of Pravda for us:

“

Western Civilization (read Eurocentric, patriarchal, capitalist, speciesist, imperialist, and Christian), the most powerful perpetrator in the brutal and merciless assault on non-human animals and the Earth, codified its sociopathic license to rape by inventing an anthropomorphic deity that gave it the “divine right” to dominate and exploit.

”

Pravda is a paper whose hatred extends beyond national borders or skin color to encompass the very idea of monotheism. They are able to generalize not only social or political groups but the aggregated culture of three continents. These factors make the paper not only unpalatable but irrelevant. Going to Pravda for current news is like going to Wikipedia for pornography. It's there but why, God, why.

G.M. Cuts Jobs

By the end of the year, General Motors plans to lay off 10,000 employees in order to reduce costs. G.M. is also considering selling Hummer and completely getting rid of Pontiac and Saturn (General Motors includes Hummer, GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Chevy, Cadillac, and Saturn). The article states that, "G.M. has received $9.4 billion in loans and could obtain $4 billion more if its progress report passes muster with the Obama administration. Chrysler, which has received $4 billion, also must outline its viability plans by next week."

Many workers are worried about losing their jobs and hope that the only consequence they will suffer will be a pay cut. The article says, "Gail Johnson, who has been at G.M. for 26 years, said, 'I’ll just be grateful if I have a job and a place to come to every day.' I believe I also read somewhere in a different article that one of G.M.'s upper division employees said he is willing to work for $1 a year until their debt is paid off.

Biggest Deficit

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29144295/#storyContinued

The MSNBC article above warns of the looming deficit growing due to the stimulus plan and bailouts. It is a well written article utilizing the inverted pyramid formula. The lead lays out the foundation and transitions into the nutgraf. What's good about the article is that it never uses a direct quote and still provides the information. The author relies on research and paraphrasing. The author uses one partial quote in the end to emphasize John Taylor's support of the government spending. I find it interesting that this article does what it needs to without a single direct quote.

Disney and Dreamworks

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE5185PV20090209


I'm very skeptical about Disney. I like a lot of their movies, but I do not like that they own half of the world. And now that Dreamworks has a contract with them, they own even more. I'm extremely disappointed that Steven Spielberg sold his soul. I think some of Dreamwork's movies are too controversial for Disney, and I hope that they don't make them change things. It's sad when the competitor buys their competition. And the fact that the Dreamworks studio is going to stay on the Universal lot is messed up.

Holocaust denier removed as head of Argentine seminary

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/08/germany.bishop/index.html

I cannot believe that people still deny the Holocaust. Especially people that are in high positions of power. How can you live with yourself being in denial that one of the biggest genocides in history happened? It shouldn't be a question. There are pictures, personal accounts, and even survivors that still remember it. I am glad that they took him out of power. Maybe he'll think twice about being so ignorant.

Sacrifices

In class we spoke about how to make a story about the event, and not to profile anybody. In this article from CNN, about everyday people making sacrifices to be able to eat or feed their families, the beginning starts with a compelling story of a man who has to skip meals to have enough food to last him for the month. It is a sad story of an elderly man who admits that he did not want to receive aid from the federal government. Then it goes into talking about the federal aid programs that assist people with food stamps or funding for food. I think it created a great lede in that it focused on one person, but it related to the whole article. Through out the article, it uses other individual stories of their struggles and how the programs have helped or did not help them as much as they expected. It used sort of an in and out method of personal story, then big story.

Kentucky Hit by Storm and Salmonella

In the New York Times article on Feb. 5, an ice storm has hit Kentucky and there have been 27 deaths so far. 150,000 homes are without power, and many homes are suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators. As if this was not enough, the care packages sent out for people contained contaminated peanut butter and had to be recalled. The writer of the article questioned the governor of Kentucky and received good quotes from him referring to the salmonella outbreak, as well as the disaster. The governor also estimated that the damage from the storm cost Kentucky up to $50 million.

Shadowing Blagojevich

Thursday, we talked about reporters gaining permission to do extended interviews, shadowing a source under terms negotiated prior to the session. On the New York Times website, there is a photo/audio interview covering Rod Blagojevich's last day in office. This is a collaborative report between two photographers actually staying with the ex-governor and a single reporter recording audio of the Blagojevich's final thoughts.

I've been trying to guess the agreed conditions of this report, and from what I can see, the photographs do not present Blagojevich in any particularly negative light. The reporting done underneath each slide is in more of a documentary style, and the audio only provides Blagojevich's voice in a long personal statement. The agreement, in my mind, heavily favored the politician, wanting to have his voice heard. I assume the motivations of the reporters and photographers taking this deal would have to be the message this report sends to future prospects. "We'll play ball for an exclusive." What do you guys think? Playing nice with politicians during controversy may get you a lot of work.

Job Loss

According to an article in the New York Times, the unemployment rate has now reached 7.6%, losing 600,000 jobs alone in the month of January. In the article President Obama was quoted as saying, "All of us in Washington must remember that we’re here to work for the American people. And if we drag our feet and fail to act, this crisis will turn into a catastrophe." So what is to be done? Reportedly, Obama has been putting pressure on Congress "to pass the economic stimulus package." Something has to be done soon because more and more people are being laid off everyday and many have families to support. However, the road to recovering the American economy is not going to be an easy one as we are reminded by Ian Shepherdson (who is the "chief North American economist for High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y..."). He said, "We remain firmly of the view that the package now in Congress is the bare minimum required to slow the shrinkage of the economy over the next year."

It seems as though the only career field that is not suffering as much is the health care industry because that is a necessity. The article states that retailers did not do well this past holiday season at all and as a result had to drop 45,000 jobs. It seems as though the stores do not have as much in stock as they used to and every time I go to the grocery store I see the prices have gone up but (for example) the amount of pasta they give you in a box keeps decreasing.

42-foot snake vs Nazi Doctor

Today I picked up both the USA Today and New York Times papers on my way out of school for a late-night read after dinner. I slid on my slippers, setup my pillows and lounged on my bed with both papers in hand. I picked up the USA Today first and began to skim the front page headlines. Almost all of the articles caught my interest, particularly the tidbit located in their "Newsline" column about the 42 foot snake fossil that was found in Columbia . Can you imagine that? A 42 foot snake! This titanoboa means "titanic boa" and is the largest snake fossil found in the world. After gazing at the hypothetical illustrated picture, I immediately turned the page to read the rest of the details. After finishing the article, I decided to scan the front page of the New York Times next. Was there any hint of the 42 foot serpent? Nope. Any article even touching on an extremly interesting subject (i.e. monster-snake)? Nope. This made me wonder.

At a glance, I was more intrigued by the USA Today's choice of front page material than I was the New York Times, but isn't the New York Times more a more respectable publication? I really don't like snakes because I, well, think they're creepy. But a 42 foot one? Now that's news! As a college student, I am pulled to stories that astound me, compel me, intrigue me and wow me. On the front cover of the New York Times, the first article on the left was about a Nazi Doctor in Egypt. After reading the first couple paragraphs in the story, I caught myself drifting. As much as I wanted to read the headlining story of the New York Times, I felt more pulled to the articles in the USA Today. This difference in interest made me wonder: Are writers for the New York Times really writing to interest readers, or writing to impress them? I understand that the New York Times is a well-circulated newspaper and many readers find their articles interesting, but I can't help but not like the USA Today better. I wanted to read the New York Times because people above me read it. My dad reads the USA Today because he enjoys it. Which route do I choose? I'm at a fork in the road and want the best of both worlds. I want the knowledge of the New York Times but the self-interest of the USA Today. Will these paths ever cross?

Christian Bale Outburst

It is on every website and in every newspaper. What's making a huge ripple in America's media? A three minute audio clip of actor Christian Bale screaming obscenities at a director of photography on the set of his upcoming film "Terminator: Salvation." Apparently, the director of photography walked through a scene being filmed. He was angry. Um...so why is this news? How can a little temper tantrum surface in so many locations? This belongs on celebrity gossip websites, not on every outlet of news. People will read it though because he is at his peak in showbiz and people like to see failure or bumps in an actor's career. It gives people a sense of normalcy. Every human being is capable of having an outburst of anger like this. Last time I checked, actors are real human beings too. Give the actor a break. He's obviously very obsessed with his line of work and probably got too in depth into his character. I bet this happens on every set every couple of days. The fact that it was recorded is the news break. Let's focus on headlines that will actually affect us, like top rated coffee brands that are cheap.

The Stimulus Package

Last Monday, the News-Press ran an article from the associated press about the stimulus package currently going through the U.S. Senate. This article again appeared on Yahoo News. It talked about how the bill is not getting bi-partisan support, like President Obama wants. There was one line in it that I felt was biased against the stimulus package. The writer of this article said this stimulus package "allows Democrats to go on a spending spree unlikely to jolt the economy." Reading this, I felt like this writer was clearly biased against the stimulus package.

Wall Street at its finest...

Wall Street has been the common conversation holder over the past few weeks and it's beginning to become even more common as we, as a nation, continue to trudge through this recession. In the New York Times, I read a very interesting article titled "Wall St., a Financial Epithet, Stirs Outrage and Punch Lines" on Wall Street's financial situation giving many different perspectives along with great facts.

I loved how the journalist, David Segal, tied a persons personal story into the article to get the piece going. The article started off telling how Iris Chau, a 35-year-old woman worked at JPMorgan for 11 years before she was "let go". Segal opened up the article with this great story along with a great quote from Chau, saying the one thing she wouldn't miss about JPMorgan was telling people that she works there.

I found this part to be very intriguing because it is nice to hear someone give their honest opinion on a subject that is so important in our economy. I believe that her saying this really helped the readers to see a side of Wall Street that isn't so glamorous. When she said that, I was taken back, because people wouldn't typically be so bold when speaking in regards to a business or corporation held to such a high position in our society.

Continuing, this article really helped me to get a better understanding of what Wall Street is and what is taking place there during this trying time. We hear assumptions and stereotypes about Wall Street all the time, but to see inside it and hear individuals opinions and insights that work there was a whole new experience for me. It was this reality check that enabled me to see just how stingy some people are, especially at a time when our nation is at a catastrophic loss for funds.

Lastly, there was a part in the article that just shocked me. A chief executive for Merrill Lynch explained bonuses as a way to keep "your best people." This just completely left me in awe that branches such as Merril Lynch have lost so much money, continue to cut jobs, yet still make excuses and find a way to provide their "best people" with bonuses?! I guess this just shows how the world really work.

Snuggie, the latest fad

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/01/30/carroll.snuggie.cnn

Really? 4 million of these 20 dollar blankets have been sold? They talk about the economy sucking, yet people are paying 20 dollars instead of the 5 they should be for a blanket. This thing is a blanket with sleeves. I could make that, cheap. I think the idea is cool. But I really dislike the price. I'm not big on advertising anyways. Someone out there is making millions from taking a blanket, cutting holes in it, and sewing sleeves onto it. America's laziness continues to amaze me, day after day.

Immokalee Star

When viewers open the Naples Daily News website today, one of the first articles posted was about current Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James, who is heading to the Super Bowl today. He is originally from Immokalee but has risen to stardom as a phenomenal football player. He overcame drugs, his family was poor, and "safe" was not a term used to describe his community in his Immokalee town. James rose from the bottom and is a successful millionaire today, but after reading this story I began to think about local reporting. If James did not come from Immokalee and did not undergo a harsh childhood, would his story be news-worthy at all? The article tended to only focus on his past, and did not attend to the fact that he was going to play in football's national championship in a few hours. After considering these observations, I came to the conclusion that readers must rather read a struggle-to-success story than a pure success story of a local star. The writer focused more on his troubles than his current position, and I found this reporting strategy an unfair one.

Reality on Super Bowl Sunday

Everyone has a story that molds them into the person they are today, it's just a matter of whether or not individuals publicize this story or not. As a professional athlete, on Super Bowl Sunday, your story is very likely to make news not only for publicity purposes but because it gives the people someone to idolize on such a day. I found an article online on the New York Times website about Darnell Dockett, a defensive player for the Arizona Cardinals, entitled One Way or Another, Arizona's Darnell Dockett Will Get His Ink.

This article told the story about professional football player Darnell Dockett who went through many hardships is life from the murder of his mother to the loss of his father a short 4 months later. The story tells how Dockett wears these stories and hardships on his sleeve, literally, as he copes with these tragedies through tattoos. It then went on to describe the tattoos he has and specifically where on his body, concluding by giving the symbolism behind the murals.

I just found it interesting that a story such as this would make the opening page for the New York Times, online. However, when I take our society into perspective it doesn't seem as far of a reach as I had thought, seeing as it is Super Bowl Sunday and we look for individuals to provide us with reason to support them as well as their team. Yet, does it not seem mind boggling that a story such as this is what seems to be worthy of the nations attention when there is so many larger issues occurring throughout the world?

The article did catch my attention, as I'm sure it did many other individuals in the nation, today because of the Super Bowl, however the story seemed to hit me in a weird fashion. I was attentive and interested continuously throughout the story, yet something left my mind yearning...