Recently in Analysis Category

By Octavio Abea

For this analysis I chose to look at the press conference done by Jay Carney, the new press secretary for the White House.

This press conference took place on Feb 23, 2011 and covered a wide range of topics such as President Obama's policy on the Defense of Marriage Act, oil, and the uprisings in Libya.

Dana Milbank at the Washing Post wrote an article that chose to look at the context of Jay Carney's debut more than the actual content of his answers. He says that Carney had a difficult time descrbing the White House's policies because there was a lack of one. He goes on to say that the administration has been very passive about certain events. Milbank does not choose to pick apart Carney's words, but instead he places them in the bigger picture of how the administration has been functioning as a whole.

By Octavio Abea

For this analysis I looked at the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal

For the NYTimes I found a multimedia option for a story about the violence in Libya. This multimedia option was not just a slideshow with corresponding text on the side, but it had audio clips to compliment it as well. The writing for the pictures followed the structure of first descrbing what happened in the image and then expanding on it in the next sentence. The audio was a narrative of the reporter's experience in Libya done by the reporter himself, which I thought was an interesting touch. The slideshow had very powerful images and really opened up the story that it was found on.

In the WSJ I looked at a story about the small protest in Beijing that was immediately stopped by authorities. Their multimedia option was also a slideshow, but this one did not contain any audio. The writing followed the same structure where they described the action in the image and then expanded with some background info. These pictures were also powerful and really made the straight-forward story more dynamic.

By Octavio Abea

There are two distinct angles seen in these two stories from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times covering the killing spree that took place in New York.

The Wall Street Journal had the earlier article that covered more of the breaking hard news aspect of the story. The lead can be seen as a typical hard news lead with the action displayed right away. Although, the lead is a bit lengthier, but that's only because the amount of information that made the story different and interesting was plentiful.

The New York Times wrote the follow up story, which has a completey different tone than the former. This lead immediately tells the reader about one of the victims and her refusal of the killer's romantic advances, which isn't the meat of the story, but it makes for a different angle. Instead, this story is about the signs that people in the neighborhood noticed before the murders took place. At the end of the article they summarize the charges and the events that took place.

The second story advances the news by getting comments from people in the neighborhood that knew the killer before the incident. This makes for an interesting and clean follow up to an otherwise violent event.

By Octavio Abea

In this story by the New York Times they talk about a new website that has emerged from the defectors of Wikileaks in order to compete with Assange.

The sources used range from statements directly from the former employees of Wikileaks, statements from Assange, and thoughts from an author who specialzes on the internet and its effect on government.

The reporter of this article spreads the attributions evenly throughout the story. Each attribution is followed by a section that elaborates on what was said which really fleshes out each statement. The reporter makes sure to give each statement context as well. This is because this story is not only about the newly formed website, but also about the disagreements between Assange and his former employees.

I felt this structure was very effective. I had no trouble following where the article wanted to take me. There was a clear progression in tones and ideas even though there was a lot that the reporter had to juggle.

By Octavio Abea
In this story by The Washington Post The lead reads: Twenty-five people were arrested for trespassing Sunday as hundreds protested outside a strategy session of conservative political donors at a resort near Palm Springs, authorities said.
This lead takes on the challenge of fitting in a lot info needed in order to give the article just enough context. The biggest element here is the actual news itself. If you go on to read the rest of the article you see that there is a history to these protests at this specific event at this specific resort, but that isn't the news. The news is that these people were arrested. For that reason the second part of the lead is said as if in passing as opposed to the first half which is much more descriptive.
The elements this lead keeps detailed are the why, when and where. Everything else is kept pretty much general. You can see that there is no specific time, the lead doesn't tell you that the protests took place over two days, and "strategy session" could really mean anything.
This is your basic, clean hard news lead that sticks to the action.