February 2010 Archives

In taking a look at the differences between the Huffington Post, a completely online newspaper, and the St. Cloud Times' website, which is a printed paper, it's clear that multimedia takes on different roles for each site.

Huffington Post relies heavily on photos to go along with their reporting. The homepage features a slide show of each headline's accompanying photograph, going at a modest pace.

The St. Cloud Times' website features much more text than photos. Photographs are only found once an article is clicked from the homepage.

As for video, Huffington Post has multiple ways to engage their online audience. It can use the embed function for secular websites' online videos (i.e. from ABC, YouTube, NBC, etc.) to accompany their articles posted. This offers up a huge vault of videos to send to their audience. It does lack its own video news section, meaning Huffington Post simply compiles videos instead of making their own.

The St. Cloud Times just simply doesn't use videos on its site.

The videos and photo slide shows compliment the writing on the Huffington Post immensely in that the reader can visualize more of what's going on, even if the photo is as simple as a man standing in rubble. The audience gets more of a picture of say, what the destruction in Chile looks like instead of reading about it.

The St. Cloud Times only features photographs that get printed in the newspaper. The photographs definitely related and compliment the writing but are markedly less stylistic and interesting as the Huffington Post's photography.

In news content with multiple multimedia sources there tends to be less writing. This is probably done so that the reader doesn't have to muddle through the text to get to the videos that can tell the same story better with visuals. The writing is short and to the point: who, what, where, when, sometimes why. One thing about the Huffington Post is that it links articles from different news sites in its text that add more to the story. The St. Cloud Times does not do, as it is simply the printed text thrown up online.

Overall, for a more interactive approach to consuming news, I would suggest following online newspapers that don't go to print like Huffington Post or MinnPost. But sites for the St. Cloud Times are still going to be around so I would suggest to them that they beef up their multimedia presence online as it would probably garner more consumers, at least online.

President Barack Obama is "in excellent health and fit for duty," said doctor Jeffrey Kuhlman Sunday. "All clinical data indicate that he will remain so for the duration of his presidency."

According to the doctor's reports, the president is encouraged to continue "smoking cessation efforts."

Obama is reported to eat healthy portions but his cholesterol was found to be high during this check-up.

According to Kuhlman, Obama's last visit with a doctor was in July 2008 during his presidential campaign.

Obama is "doing the right things," according to Cam Patterson of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "It means he's taking care of himself."

Screenings for cancer, which killed both Obama's parents, found nothing suspicious.

Minnesota-based coffee company Caribou Coffee is undergoing some big and small changes to their brand, starting with their logo.

The former left-leaping caribou on the brand's cups and other merchandise is now redesigned to leap right with a new body constructed from a coffee bean and antlers in the shape of a C. A blue background was added behind the caribou on the logo as well.

Even the cup lids are changing. The now brown lids won't show lipstick marks, according to design director for Colle+McVoy in Brooklyn Park who worked with Caribou for the brand's redesigning.

Stores started making the change Sunday night.

Caribou reportedly lost $16.8 million in 2008. "We wanted a visual signal that Caribou is alive and well," said Alfredo Martel, senior vice president of marketing for Caribou.

"The new logo signifies a leap into the future," Martel said.

A Clear Lake man stabbed a 23-year-old Cedar man in the chest early Saturday morning after an argument in a St. Cloud parking lot.

20-year-old Joseph Brang, a graduate of Foley High School, was arrested and brought to Stearns County jail after arguing with a man who asked him to leave a party early Saturday morning. Brang stabbed the victim in the chest once. The victim was found in a parking lot when police arrived to the scene. He received emergency care at the St. Cloud Hospital. The victim is in serious condition.

Police said Brang was at a gathering at 403 7th Ave. South in St. Cloud when he was asked to leave by guests there. As Brang went to his vehicle he continued to argue with the guests and stabbed one of them in the chest.

The Obama administration appointed former Obama campaign adviser Julianna Smoot as the new social secretary for the White House.

Smoot replaced president Obama's Chicago friend Desireé Rogers after she resigned from the position, the White House said Friday.

Rogers' resignation follows being under scrutiny for an incident when two uninvited guests gained entry to Obama's first state dinner in November of last year, which she was a key player in planning.

The Washington Post quoted White House press secretary Robert Gibbs as saying, "She's not been asked to leave. She's decided it's time to go back to do other things she loved."

Smoot, who was Obama's financial adviser for Obama's presidential campaign, is said to share the commitment "to creating an inclusive, dynamic and culturally vibrant White House.''

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile Saturday, in what the Chilean government calls one of the worst hits the country's ever faced.

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet said the death toll from the earthquake reached 708 and is expected to rise, placing the country in a "state of catastrophe."

Concepción, one of the hardest hit cities during the earthquake, is said to be running low on food. Looters in Concepción are facing military force for attempting to steal from supermarkets, according to Al-Jazeera.

Curfews are being enforced in Concepcíon and Maule, beginning at 2100 local time, according to BBC's report.

It is also reported that more than 60 aftershocks went through Chile after the initial hit.

US and British officials sent out aid despite Chile not requesting help with the immediate relief efforts.

The first day story on the Rosedale Center stabbing/fight/melee is pretty bare bones in comparison to the information you get next day. The first report on the incident tells the reader when it happened (8 p.m. Friday night), where it happened (Rosedale Center in Roseville, Minn.) and what happened (police shut down the shopping center after a fight broke out).

The story printed the next day revealed more details about the incident. A mall employee who dealt with the suspects in his store was interviewed for the article, police data was given, police officials gave personal statements on the matter and details on what Rosedale Center is doing to bump up security in light of the event.

The main action of the story is given right at the beginning of each story. The only difference is the second story is able to offer more details in its "martini stem" where as the first day story basically had a kabob of information blocks. The leads differ in that it went from just being a stabbing that shut down a mall to a frilly lead that read:

"Shoe-shoppers and teeny-boppers returned to Rosedale Center Sunday afternoon, many apparently unaware of the brawl that had left one teen critically injured and led police to clear the mall and lock its doors on Saturday night," which I believe undermines the seriousness of the fight, which left one teenager stabbed and another with facial lacerations.

TV news reports were summarized in the first day report with little of Star Tribune's own input to the story. The second day story takes on more shape with the addition of interviews and police information, giving more details for the reader to stay interested.

Jake Harris, the son of the late Phil Harris of TV's 'Deadliest Catch,' was arrested after a drunk driving incident involving a hit-and-run Thursday night.

Harris was due to appear on the BJ Shea Morning Experience, a Seattle radio show, Friday morning but appeared in court with a lawyer instead.

Harris was stopped by state troopers when calls reported a BMW driving erratically down Interstate Highway 5.

Police said Harris' car matched the description of the vehicle that rear-ended another driver's vehicle earlier that evening.

Harris was charged with drunk driving, hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license. He is being held in jail on $2,000 bail.

This incident follows the death of Harris father who suffered a stroke while fishing on their vessel Jan. 29.

The Washington Post reports a Casper man died at a hospital Saturday after a gas explosion in his home.

Michael Lesher, 44, disconnected all gas lines in his home Saturday morning, which prompted a third party to call a police on suspicions of suicidal behavior.

Three officers who reported to the scene were also injured. They were treated for abrasions and bruises when before being released from Wyoming Medical Center Saturday.

Trib.com reports that Lesher was no longer with his wife and that he had been given an eviction notice to be out of his home by noon Saturday. Reports also say Lesher told family and friends that he was planning on "going out peacefully" after discussing suicide with them.

Al Jazeera reported that Israel's air force has revealed its new fleet of drone planes that hold capabilities of flying to the Gulf, making Iran within range, all without a pilot.

The planes, called the Heron TP drones, have a Boeing 737 wingspan and are equipped to fly 20 consecutive hours. They were developed by Israel's Aerospace Industries.

Brigadier General Amikam Norkin, the man in charge of the base that houses the drones, told Al Jazeera, "we are realising the air force's dream" by operating the drone planes.

BBC says the drones can reach altitudes of more than 40,000 ft. No information has been divulged as to how many drones there are.

Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is quoted in Al Jazeera as saying he thinks Israel is "seeking to start a war next spring or summer, although their decision is not final yet."

To rebut, Israel's prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called Ahmadinejad's claims "manipulations" and that there are no plans for military action.

According to KSTP, police say that after an altercation a 59-year-old man is accused of stabbing his younger brother Saturday.

Star Tribune followed up later during the day to report that the man had been arrested on charges of stabbing and killing his 50-year-old brother.

The two brothers shared a home at the 1200 block of Charles Avenue where police pronounced the victim dead on the scene.

No names have been released. Police have booked the man in the Ramsey County jail.

In a rare melee, two teenagers were left injured at Rosedale Center in Roseville Saturday night, the Star Tribune reports.

According to WCCO, police said they arrived at Rosedale Center on a call related to a "gang fight" in time to break up the fighting group of twelve that left one 18-year-old with severe lacerations on his face. Brawlers were reportedly using chairs as weapons, police said.

While in the mall police received reports of subsequent fights breaking out in other locations. KSTP said one such incident resulted in a 16-year-old getting stabbed in his back near Ruby Tuesday's restaurant in the mall.

The 16-year-old who was stabbed is in critical condition. He was able to identify his attacker, police said.

The 18-year-old with facial lacerations is in stable condition.

One arrest was made in the aftermath of the fight. The alleged attacker who stabbed one victim is being held at Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-huntsville-shooting14-2010feb14,0,1187769.story?track=rss

This story about a science professor at University of Alabama at Huntsville has a detailed progression of facts for the reader. To put a "shape" to this story is somewhat difficult but the "martini glass" fits it best, although it somewhat resembles a kabob.

The reason it fits a martini glass structure is because the story goes through events in chronological order. The story starts with the shooting and goes step by step what happened afterward. However, an interesting twist to the article is that sprinkled within the chronology of the shooting are bits of backstory detailing Amy Bishop's history and how she was perceived by students on campus. All of this supplemental information helps the reader make sense as to why Bishop would be inclined to commit such a heinous crime. There is some insight into her psyche and what kind of teacher she was; tough.

The reason this story is somewhat "kabob"-like is that for the last few paragraphs it goes quote-information-quote-information-information-information, all of which don't go into chronological events of the shooting.

I think the structure of this article is effective because without the peppering of side information about Bishop and her history the reader would become bored. For the uninterested reader, the most relevant information is summarized in the beginning four paragraphs. The extra paragraphs add another whole dimension to the story that kept me reading and eventually looking for more information from other news sources because it was such a macabre story.

To have done this story differently, in a more straightforward, clear cut timeline could have also been effective. However, I think it would lack the depth of the other structure I described above.

Two roommates living in an apartment together are charged with murdering a Minneapolis man found dead Friday last week.

Michael Fonta, 45, was found dead in the snow last week. A medical examiner described the cause of death "complex homicidal violence."

Alfunda Scruggs, 50, is charged with first and second-degree murder. His roommate and girlfriend Hope Cook, 38, is charged with being an accomplice to the murder.

According to the police report, Scruggs and Cook lived with Fonta for about a month but had not been seen since Feb. 2. They had all been smocking crack before the incident. Scruggs allegedly attacked Fonta after Fonta called Hope a 'bitch,' sitting on him and choking him with a black cord.

Scruggs proceeded to stab Fonta in the back of the neck with a knife or screwdriver. Cook then opened two doors so Scruggs could drag Fonta's body outside.

Investigators on the case found a bag full of blood stained bed sheets, braids of hair and Fonta's wallet.

If convicted, Scruggs could face life in prison. Cook could also face up to 20 years of incarceration if convicted of being an accomplice to the murder.

Revered fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found dead Thursday in his London home. It is reported he hanged himself. He was 40 years old.

The cutting edge designer was most famous for his trend-setting designs worn by the entertainment world's elite like Lady GaGa, Kate Moss, Madonna and Naomi Campbell. His death comes as a shock to many in the fashion industry but details have recently surfaced as to what prompted the designer's suicide.

McQueen recently revealed to Harper's Bazaar Australia that a lover, whose name he got tattooed on his arm, left him, saying, "(He was) a bastard who went back to Australia and I was left looking at his name."

McQueen's death also fell on the eve of his mother Joyce's funeral. She died less than a week before her son's suicide.

McQueen's spring collection was to show at Paris Fashion Week March 9.

The second reported case of police squad cars being struck by other vehicles happened early Sunday morning when a drunk driver blew through a green light and failed to stop for the police car ahead.

Capt. Mike Langer of the Minneapolis State Patrol was driving through a red light at 35W and Stinson Blvd. with his siren and lights flashing as a woman drove through the intersecting street's green light and struck the patrol vehicle There was a passenger in her vehicle who suffered minor injuries.

It is not known why the woman's light did not change to red, the police officer said. Langer was reportedly responding to a back up call before the crash happened.

A University of Alabama-Huntsville science professor with a doctoral degree from Harvard described as "gentle," opened fire in a faculty meeting Friday, killing three of her colleagues and injuring three more.

Friday afternoon Bishop sat in a faculty meeting for up to 40 minutes until she pulled out a handgun and shot and killed three other faculty members. She then left the room, dropping the gun in a bathroom. She was arrested outside the building by police minutes later.

Amy Bishop, 44, "loved teaching," her husband James said in the Boston Herald. However, students described Bishop as "awkward socially" and a tough test maker.

An interesting facet in the case reveals Bishop shot and killed her 18-year-old pianist brother in 1986. Records of the shooting have since gone missing but the case was originally marked an accident.

Police refused to comment on Bishop's motives for the shooting. However, Bishop was denied tenure at the university for which she had an appeal going for. Bishop was finishing up her final semester of the six year time limit the university will hold onto non-tenured professors.

Bishop had success outside of teaching. She and her husband developed an automated cell incubator slated to be marketed by Prodigy Biosystems. The company garnered $1.2 million in financing for the innovation.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has plenty on her agenda for a three-day trip to Qatar to garner support for the West's propositions of implementing sanctions for Iran's nuclear program.

Clinton had to delay her trip one day as her husband Bill underwent a medical procedure at a New York hospital, BBC says.

US President Barack Obama visited Egypt last June, calling for a "fresh start in relations with the Muslim world," Al-Jazeera reports. Clinton's speech is expected to be a follow-up on the same theme, focusing on Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements.

Clinton is expected to meet with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

A big piece of her agenda for her first ever trip to Saudi Arabia is to assure the Chinese that sanctions against Iran would not impose any loss of revenue, said BBC reporter Kim Ghattas.

Clinton will speak Sunday at the US-Islamic World Forum, which is held by the Qatari government and the Brookings Institution from Washington.

There were multiple sources quoted for the Al-Jazeera article detailing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's uranium boosting proposal to Iran's Atomic Energy organization.

First off, Ahmadinejad's televised statement provides the primary source for the article. His announcement came as a surprise for Western powers of the world especially after the P5+1 and the IAEA proposed an agreement for Iran to ease back on their nuclear fuel production and not invest more time exploring the powers of uranium.

Secondly, having quotes from said Western powers like Robert Gates and John Kerry gives good perspective on the dangers of such a proposal Ahmadinejad's making. Their quotes express the concerns of the Western people well.

To counter those statements, Al Jazeera offers up Tehran University professors' viewpoints on the issue, stating that countries like the U.S. like to peg Iran as the bad guys in this situation and they go on to give their opinions on the issue.

The quotations are spread throughout the article but appear at the right point in the story. For instance, you don't read a quote from an Iranian professor right before you read what our Secretary of Defense has to say on the topic.

The information used in this article isn't public record but it was publicly available on state television in Iran and online (I searched for the P5+1/IAEA agreement presented to Iran and found what they had written up here). I assume Iran's written rebuttal to this proposal will become publicly available once it is presented Monday.

The attributions for quotes are set up with the partial quote format of "Statement, statement, statement," he said. "More statement." I wouldn't say this is confusing at all. It's effective in that each person quoted is provided more or less the same "newshole" to get their opinions expressed. Very fair reporting done by Al-Jazeera, I have to say.

On February 9th, rap star Lil' Wayne will be put behind bars after gun-related charges.

According to MSNBC, the star admitted plead guilty to these felony gun possession charges and will be held in prison for 12 months.

The rapper was quoted in Rolling Stone as saying, "I don't like to stop. I believe you stop when you die."

Lil' Wayne has been keeping busy before serving jail time by recording new music for his upcoming album, shooting music videos and spending time with his family.

MTV news says Lil' Wayne was arrested for the related charges in July of 2007 after a concert. MTV also reports "Weezy," as he is often referred to as, is giving up "syrup," a mixture of codeine a promethazine, cold turkey as he serves his sentence.

Rolling Stone quotes him saying, "It ain't that easy -- feels like death in your stomach when you stop doing that sh--," Lil' Wayne said. "You gotta learn how to stop. You gotta go through detox."

The rapper will face 12 months but chooses to see purpose in this event, saying in Rolling Stone, "Everything is meant to be. I know it's an experience that I need to have if God's putting me through it."

A Minneapolis man was found dead in the snow Thursday, authorities said.

The Star Tribune reports 45-year-old Michael Fonta was lying dead behind his home at the 300 block of 8th Street SE. He died of "complex homicidal violence," according to Hennepin County medical examiners.

WCCO says the man's body was found early Thursday morning by police and emergency personnel.

No updates are available as to what injuries Fonta sustained. This has been the eighth homicide in Minneapolis 38 days into the new year.

Interesting research by the Star Tribune says Fonta's criminal record is "lengthy," and laced with "mostly minor crimes."

Two 17-year-old males were indicted for murdering three men outside a market in Minneapolis.

KSTP reports that both men, Mahdi Hassan Ali and Ahmed Shire Ali, admitted to robbing the Seward Co-Op Market on Franklin Avenue and to shooting three men.

The Star Tribune contributes to the event, saying one shooter, Ali, held two customers hostage in a back storage room while Mahdi robbed other victims.

Ali's lawyer, Frederick Goetz, is quoted in the Star Tribune as saying the indictments were "nothing surprising." Goetz went on to say, "this has been a sad situation for the victims as well as the defendants." He says the prospect of life in prison adds to the sadness of their predicament.

WCCO lets its readers know that this indictment step makes first degree murder charges more of a reality for the teenagers in stating in their report that in order for a first degree murder trial a grand jury indictment is necessary.

The two teens face life in prison if convicted.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Atomic Energy Organization to start "enriching uranium."

"I [ask] Dr Salehi to start work on the production of 20 per cent fuel using centrifuges," Ahmadinejad said on Iran television Sunday.

Ahmadinejad also said he will "hand over an official letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency tomorrow, informing the agency that we will start making 20 per cent enriched fuel from Tuesday."

Robert Gates, US defense secretary said, "If the international community will stand together and bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government, I believe there is still time for sanctions and [diplomatic] pressure to work," in a statement Sunday.

According to BBC news reports, Ahmadinejad's move comes after an offer from Western world powers to have Iran trade their uranium for nuclear fuel out of fear that Iran will muscle out nuclear weapons with their uranium. Iran maintains a peaceful stance on nuclear fuel issues, however.

The P5+1 (a coalition of UN Security Council members, including the U.S.) made a proposal with the IAEA to Iran back in March 2009 in regards to fears surrounding nuclear ammunition being used in Iran's military. Iran declined the terms of the proposal.

Some analysts say Iran lacks the knowledge to construct nuclear fuel rods but the news coming from Iran about uranium enrichment could bump Iran to manufacture "weapons-grade material."

Finally, the Los Angeles Times reports the Coordinating Council of Reform Front, will have supporters hit the streets this Thursday to "call for a return to ideals and principles instead of jail, violence and confrontation with the nation" during Ahmadinejad's upcoming speech in Tehran's Azadi Square.

A "massive explosion" killed two people and injured at least 100 more at a Middletown energy plant Sunday morning, authorities said.

Middletown deputy fire marshal Al Santostefano said in the L.A. Times that there were "confirmed fatalities." More than 50 construction workers were reportedly on site at the time of the explosion. Neighbors said the explosion happened after employees turned on the energy generating system for a test, however a cause of the explosion is not yet known.

CNN offers quotes from people who experienced the earthquake-like boom Sunday morning.

"It felt like the house was shaking," Peter Moore said. "It was really big."

Nearby, Lynn Townsend felt the explosion and said, "It was almost like an earthquake." She also said that when she went outside afterward she saw, "a very big, bright orange flame" between the plant's smokestacks.

Local news reports in Middletown say the workers "were doing a 'blow down' to clear gas from the lines when the explosion occurred." WTNH also reports helicopters appeared on the scene as well as detectives to "help authorities."

WTNH also quotes Middletown residents' Twitter tweets about the explosion. For example...

"First thought was earthquake or huge gust of wind--whole house shook, very brief but powerful," Middletown local Jennifer tweeted.

Finally, the Huffington Post is offering coverage of this event. Their reports are limited, but say that at least seven ambulances left the scene of the explosion Sunday morning.