Holbrook News Blog

Headlines are great but it seems the lower on the food chain of the news hierarchy the outlet is, the worse the headlines get. I suppose that's linked to better writers being at better news sources but still it's an eye-opener.

CNN was an obvious source for good headlines. As I looked into their online site it seemed that most if not all of the rotating headlines were very concise and to the point. No witty banter or word-play was seen here...just information giving you a brief line on the news. I looked at other news sources and even in smaller towns like Des Moines Iowa and St. Paul still had good headline writing.

The breakdown happened when I started looking at news sources in small towns. We're talking about the the little towns that dot America. I'm not quite sure if the Dakota County Tribune would ever be considered a large news source but when the hard hitting news of the day's headline reads "Destined for Destruction" is talking about a bridge being torn down. Way to be hard hitting.

Posted by holb0019 at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Business Ethics in the marketplace are an oft talked about and reviewed topic in the times of Enron and AIG. With problems on the part of top managers being all to apparent to the rest of the business world, faith in these "people" as a whole can't help but be shaken just a bit. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics writes that the "tone at the top" must dictate what happens in an organization. The middle manager is bound by the demands of his superiors to meet a bottom line while producing a large profit margin in whatever they do. This often causes the break in ethics that we see. The unrealistic demands followed by the overwhelming business environment promotes an environment in which the weak will undoubtedly take the easy road out.

An online zine targeted towards the large business, www.business-ethics.com produces news and articles focused on the business owner or the corporate executive. This site is a great source of information for the executive and also promotes excellence in the community by recognizing those that excel in the area of business ethics.

Posted by holb0019 at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dining reviews seem to have a certain punch to them that other writing lacks. Maybe it's that the writer loves what they're writing about and the zest and life that comes from that love shines through in their writing. I read a review of a local coal-fired pizza restaurant in the StarTribune this past weekend and the language that the writer used was so much more alive than the way a regular piece in the paper reads.

I suppose one of the reasons that Dining Reviews have stayed alive in papers is that people enjoy reading them. They're so much more interesting than turning to the page 6 of the Business section to read about interest rates hikes and in a way I think they offer us a bit of escape. Food never seems to be an offensive, worrying subject when you pick up the paper but rather a happy and joyful thing.

This is why we love our food critics...because we all love food in some way and they help us connect with our passion

Posted by holb0019 at 4:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Opinion articles in the news media are exactly that, the opinion of one person. As I read an Opinion piece in the Star Tribune that spoke of the upcoming elections I felt as if I was in an intimate conversation with the writer himself. He spoke of his belief in one of the candidates and went on about how he believed one would better suit the country than the other.

As Opinion pieces I found that that tone of the articles that I looked at seemed to vary as much in view as the names of the authors. It would seem logical that the authors would all have different ways of looking at different topics. But, with the liberty to say what one feels on a topic I also think that in the Opinion piece has the capability to give a very slanted authors views to the reader. Reader beware.

Posted by holb0019 at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I read two articles from the Star Tribunes page (Petters and Recession Sting pieces) I notice that as business articles, they have a constant flow of information and facts that the opinion articles don't. The quotes from people interviewed are generally from either institutional sources or educational sources providing some sort of expertise.

The business article on Petters and the collapse of his empire had a more feature story tone than the article about the recession and its effects. The recession article was purely focused on the technical aspects of the story and the information needed to back up the quotes from the experts. The difference between the two business pieces can be measured in how much artistic freedom is taken when presenting the story to the reader.

Posted by holb0019 at 1:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I started looking at the Vice-Presidential Debates with the local paper the Star Tribune. The focus immediatley in the article was Palins inability to say anything of substance that plced her in a position of credibility for the Republican ticket. They sadi she was merely a puppet for the ticket and but did conceded that the previous eight years have seen some "huge blunders". For the credit of the Strib they did look evenly at the two candidates and fairly criticized Biden on his faults as well. This piece seemes to cofus on what the candidates said against each other rather than the substance of thier message.

Looking into a smaller market paper, The Intelligencer out of West Virginia made a solid statement that Palin had stood her ground well and held the pressure of Biden and his more experienced tenure as a politician. In general the coverage that the Intelligencer provided was a very basic blow by blow of what the candidates had talked about during the debate. It offered no in depth analysis of the debates or even and opinion of who had won. While there did seem to be bit of a bias towards the Republican ticket because they led off with Palins remarks, it seemes farily even coverage.

The Washington Post said Sarah Palin came in a a much more confident and leader-ready individual to break her previous image of nevousness and fragility behind the camera. They thought she cam across as knowledgable with the exception of what the vice president does. Biden presented himself as very compitent and has the ability to take care of the issues. He squarely took charge of what his responsibilities would be as a VP candidate. Bidens appeal to the people showed a very poised individual who knew his role in the future of government. While this also was a very play-by-play look, it was much more in deapth and with greater understanding of what the candidates were actually saying.

Posted by holb0019 at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'll be covering the Presidential Debate reviews as done by three different press outlets including CNN, Fox News and Kare 11. I believe this will give the perspective from two large media outlets that have differing views on the candidates and then also a local outlet to see the Twin City spin that may have been put on it.

The Wall Street Journal coverage of the Presidential Debates looked at a comparison of the Reagan / Mondale debates of 1984 and saw how the current debates parralelled them in both syle and effect. The Journal noted that while Mondale had a great debate in 84 much as McCain did recently, it still won't change the facts that there are underlying fundamentals that can't be ignored. The Journal seemed to favor Obama as the victor and placed him ahead of McCain due to his consistant message that he is not more fo the same.

Salon Online covered the debates in a pretty partial manner in stating that it's the beginning of the end for McCain and the Republican party. They said some of it had to do with the 'unraveling' of the economy but mostly just due to the fact that his stance as a cadidate is thin and untennable in the long term. Obama was touted as beign the young rosy cheeked senator from a sepratist state while McCain was portrayed as an old man barely keeping his head above the waterline. Clrealy, Obama will be leading the country into the next four years...or so Salon says.

The Star Tribune coverage was great. Th wealth of stories covered everything from the substance and stylke of teh candidates to the way that McCain is out of touch with temiddle class and how he failed to mention them in during his debates keypoints. Even at this point the edge was given to Obama with he campaign solidly overtaking McCains efforts during teh debates. Clear winner for the Strib...Obama.

Posted by holb0019 at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times financial analyst Peter Goodman had a fantastic article on the current market crisis. Goodman went into enough detail to filll in an uninformed person as to what the details of the governments plans for the future of our economy will be. His use of sources was quite good, quoting a former vice chair of the Federal Reserve and also an NYU business professor. I came away from this article feeling like I knew what the possible plan would do and how it would do it. I didn't get that from the others that i read.

The Wall Street Journal article from Hitt, Palletta and Solomon seemed to focus more on the political aspect of the crisis and not as much on the economics of it as the Times did. This may be due to the normal readership of the Journal being more knowledgable in regards to finances than the average Times reader. Also there is a very 'government involved' discussion between the reader and the author in the Journals coverage. When I say that i mean that they very much go into the politics of it and not just the basics of who is passing what and for how much.

The local Star Tribune coverage from the AP was adequate for someone that didn't want an in-depth look at every facet of bailout. While covering the major players it didn't have the completeness that the New York Times had nor the government twist that the Wall Street Journal had. The Star Tribune covered the issue of the buyout with a very brief and summarized piece that didn't get into too much detail. It was basically a nuts and bolts type of coverage...here are the issues and here is what the Fed and Reserve said they'll do about it.

Posted by holb0019 at 1:42 AM | Permalink