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In the story, Glamour beasts:The dark side of elephant captivity, there is information on the breeding and inbreeding of elephants as it relates to elephant infant mortality, a recent problem in Zoos.

In this study, there was a Data map that showed the breeding and inbreeding of elephants and their untimely deaths shortly after birth as time elapsed from 1979 to 2006. This was an interesting perspective because it showed the how the "family tree" of the elephants and how they inter-breeded which almost always resulted in the death of the baby elephant. Often the baby elephant was not even named, and this graphic was a dramatic way to show these reports.

For this graphic reporting, the reporter needed to have a fairly large amount of computer graphic knowledge. The graphic tool engaged the reader because it was interactive. The data map showed lines that indicated which elephants breeded which each other, and were different colors of the line showed weather it was inbreeding or not. When an elephant passed away, the circle with it's name turned black. This graphic was a way to tell the story of elephant inbreeding in capitivity in an easily understandable way.

This story was written about a culture group different than my own, the Egyptian Coptic church. The story moves beyond the stereotypes of these people simply by explaining what happened during the ceremony, and explaining the views of the Egyptians in the Coptic religion. This makes the story more substantive because it explains the situation as the writer saw it, and explains the view of the Egyptians through sources. This makes it not appear to have an extreme outsider biased of what happened.

The reporter had to talk to people from that area to know about the event, and the significance of the event. The reporter also had to get an inside view of what being a Coptic Egyptian is like in Egypt. The reporter also talked to multiple sources, who he referenced in his story, to get that insider knowledge of the situation in Egypt.

In an article about the rise in dengue fever in India, the author uses number multiple time.

The author takes time in the beginning of the article to examine exactly what the dengue fever is, and how it effects the human body. It also explains how one may get the fever, and why it is so prevalent in India. Before the numbers are presented, the author also gives life to the story by writing about two children who are infected by the fever. I think the author does this to make the numbers more significant to the reader. If the author would have placed the number at a different point in the story they would not have been as heart wrenching because the average reader doesn't know what dengue fever is or how if effects the body. It also prevents the numbers from being an overwhelming part of the story.

When the author presents the numbers they present the total number of the reported fever cases in October. The number is then placed as a significant increase of 59% from all of 2011. The author may have had to do some number crunching in order to do this. Numbers are also used to examine how many cases go unreported. This is placed to show how the number of Indian people effected is much larger than the number reported. All the numbers are reported to be from officals.

The Obituary I read was of Paul Kurtz a secular humanist responsible for the creation of multiple magazines and publications.

The obituary uses a combination past articles on Kurtz and quotes from his son for the majority of the sources. The reporter also used a few sources from Kurtz own work, as well as quotes from colleagues and others in the field.
The lead of this article strays a bit from a standard obituary lead. The lead still shows the most important impact Kurtz had, but it doesn't say it in a straight forward way. I think this reflects how Kurtz was not a straight forward thinker.

The news value of this story would be novelty, because Kurtz was began a new branch of thought. This obituary differs from a resume because it includes quotations from colleagues and family, as well as a stronger description of what Kurtz did. It is more than a list of Kurtz's successes, but a detailed description of Kurtz's life.

In a story about Vice President Joe Biden's speech in Fort Pierce, Florida, the reporter makes the focus on Biden's discussion of "Romnesia" and the fact that Florida is a swing state.

The story emphasis the fact that Biden is campaigning in Florida, a swing state, for the ninth time in hopes to win the state, and help Obama get re-elected. The story first discusses Biden's talk of "Romnesia." The reporter said Biden used the term "Romnesia" to define Biden's opinion that Romney and Ryan keep shifting their positions on issues.

The article then discussed how Florida is a swing state. In Biden's speech, according to the article, he said that if he and Obama win Florida, they will win the election. The article then goes into the background of how much campaigning has happened, and will happen in Florida. This goes beyond the event itself to discuss this and give the reader a greater understanding in how important Florida has become in the election.

After examining the multimedia packages in NBC news and Time, I noticed how multimedia plays a very important role in online journalism.

On TIME there is a separated section only multimedia journalism. This section contains both videos and pictures. The writing that goes along with these multimedia aspects is brief and specific to the multimedia shown. It lets the picture/video tell the story, only giving enough information to aid in the storytelling. These pictures and videos give an interactive visual to the news story. This allows the reader to not only read, but listen and/or see the news happening. This probably allows people to remember the news story better.

On NBCnews the multimedia is still divided into a special section, but isn't as specifically labeled multimedia like in TIMES. The photos in this section like there own newspaper, showing pictures of note that happened throughout the week, instead of multiple pictures on a specific story like the times. The writing on these pictures is much more brief than in TIME. Some pictures have only a title with a link to a more specific news story, which allows an interactive aspect as well.

As I followed the story of George Hensley's stolen scooter, I saw how the reporter, Chao Xiong, updated the story with new news.

The original story gave the readers insight to the details of the theft. It explained in expanded detail when the scooter was stolen. It also explained where the bike was. What made the story something someone would want to follow was the story of George Hensley's battle with cancer. Xiong placed a large section on the battle with cancer Hensley had, and how he beat the odds. This explains why he needs the scooter, and adds emotion to the story.

The follow up story describes the new news about a law firm donating a used scooter to Hensley. It adds to the original story by explaining how the law firm heard about the story and wanted to help. The story then follows a very similar structure as the original story. It describes the original theft, with a few minor new details and describes the condition Hensley is in. The updated story overall has more detail and gives a happy ending to the story of Hensley's stolen scooter.

I would say this article by Milwaukee Journal Sentinal is similar to the shish-kabob structure in the way that it has a beginning idea, then multiple fact blocks, and then ends with the same idea it began with.

The reporter begins by hooking in readers by stating how bad the student debt is. Next the reporter recaps the results of the rankings and attributes the information to PayScale and the Princeton Review. These elements are important because they show clarity and credibility. After summarizing the entire study, the reporter focuses on University of Wisconsin-Madison's ratings. This is important because it brings the focus in locally. The Reporter then continues by discussing how other Wisconsin schools fell into the PayScale rankings. This is important because it discusses how Wisconsin's private schools are also ranking well. Next, it wraps up the article by using a quote about how one of the schools mentioned is happy with the results of the study because it shows that his students will feel a lesser blow when it comes to student debt. This comment brings the story around full circle.

The way this is structured seems effective. It shows how the rankings apply in general, and then becomes more and more specific. The story could have been done in a way that immediately talked about how Wisconsin school ranks, and then continued to discuss the generals of the study. That would've been more of a Wisconsin focused article, and would've been more applicable to the Journal Sentinel Readers.

In the Journal Sentinal''s update on the injury of the Green Bay Packers wide receiver, Greg Jennings, the sources appear to be a collection of some what contradictory quotes from coach Mike McCarthy and Jennings, as well as first hand reports from Saturday's practice and records from previous seasons.

The article begins with contradictory quotes from Jennings and McCarthy. Jennings is paraphrased saying he isn't 100%, and that he isn't sure if he will play in Monday's Game. Next, its stated that McCarthy disagrees. This shows the relationship between player and coach in an interesting way. Throughout the article, McCarthy seems optimistic about Jennings abilities, and appears certain that he will play in the game on Monday. McCarthy is quoted saying, "Greg looked good today. I thought he made a big jump from earlier in the week. Practiced well."

In contrast, the article shows how Jennings appears uncertain about his injury affecting his game, but hopeful that he will be off the sidelines. His uncertainty is affirmed by the article referring to his performance Tuesday compared to his performance at Saturday's practice. These references show Jennings is recovering from the injury, but is contradicted by the discussion of his past injuries. The sources show both sides of the issue, and appear credible because of the direct quotes and history references.

The lead of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal's story about a high school cross country race this Saturday was somewhat nontraditional in its composition.

The lead is specific in stating what race it was -- Racine St. Catherine's Angel Invite. This specification was extra information because the where in the news lead helped explain that the race took place in Racine. It was previously stated that it was in Kenosha, at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. The who and when of the news lead was general. The who being the talented boys field and the when being Saturday.

This lead seems to be somewhat of a scene-setter lead instead of a straight-forward hard-news lead. It uses extra adjectives to describe the situation at hand. An example of this is stating the course was in excellent condition. The writer also states, " each runner in the talented boys field made sure he took advantage of the speedy track," which helps set the scene for the paragraphs to come. The reader is aware that the competition was fast due to a quick track, and reads further to find out just how quick the young athletes were.