Libra-log

The New York Times wrote an obituary for Dith Pran, the “Killing Fields� photographer who died Sunday. The lead was a standard obituary lead with his name, his claim to fame and how old he was when he died.

An obituary differs from a resume because it does not necessarily only have the good accomplishments of a person. An obituary is a reflection of someone’s life—including the details the person may have been less than proud of. Here, there are gruesome details of Pran’s life during the Cambodian genocide that would never be included in a resume. There are also quotes from people who knew Pran in life.

Posted by libra012 at 9:01 PM | Permalink

A Minnesota Public Radio article advanced the movie opening of “Older than America,� which will be screened publicly for the first time at the Walker Art Center. It mentioned the important information like the name of the director, what the movie is about, and where it is playing, but it also used a lot of background information. Its angle was why this movie is important on an individual and societal level. Part of that was the fact the film was shot in northern Minnesota. The movie is about Indian Reservation boarding schools, so the reporter included broad context information. The angle made the story more interesting than it would have been if the reporter had only listed the “where� and “when.�

Posted by libra012 at 6:02 PM | Permalink

The Star Tribune reported on the Minneapolis City Council’s Feb. 29 meeting. As evident by the meeting agenda, many things were discussed and decided. The Star Tribune reporter, however, chose to write about just one of those things—the authorization to take bids on a possible “green roof� for the Target Center.

The meeting agenda and the newspaper story hardly resemble one another. The meeting agenda only says this of the green roof topic:

“Target Center Green Roof: Authorize commence cost bidding process for three green roof options. Direct staff to report back to Committee with results of bidding process no later than October 16, 2008.�

The reporter, on the other hand, wrote ten to eleven paragraphs about the decision. He was clearly present at the meeting and listened to the deliberations. He also did a lot of background work. In fact, most of the article was putting the decision into a context. He said what the Council decided and then explained what that actually meant for the city.

Posted by libra012 at 8:57 PM | Permalink

CNN’s story on the Academy Awards is an example of a “spot and follow� or a developing story. The story was updated repeatedly throughout the night the award show aired. The newest story version was similar to the first but with added details.

In the first story, the lead was about the French actress Marion Cotillard winning her first Oscar for her role in “La Vie en Rose.� The rest of the story summarized her other accomplishments, talked about Javier Bardem’s best supporting actor win, the host Jon Stewart, the costume design winner and the other category winners that had been announced so far.

The updated story had the same lead, but since the show was complete some of the fact blocks about the less popular categories were deleted. There was also more about the Coen brothers and “No Country for Old Men� since it won many awards, including best picture. In the previous story they had only speculated about its possible wins. They also used the example of “Brokeback Mountain� which won many awards, but not best picture. Obviously, that part was cut in the updated story.

I was surprised that CNN did not change the leads of the updated story. The headline highlighted the most recent award winner, but the lead remained the same for most of the night in the updates. Marion Cotillard’s best actress award is important, but I think the best picture winner is the most important news piece. It did not make much sense to me to mainly only change the ends of stories.

Posted by libra012 at 11:09 PM | Permalink

Article: “Pakistan Tense Ahead of Key Vote,� BBC

This article is structured with news blocks. The first paragraph after the lead explains the lead more. The next paragraph explains the lead a little more and introduces the exact people involved in the story. In this article, it is President Musharraf, his party and the opposition parties. Each news block adds more information, with the most important information the closest to the lead. Every block is about one subject so the story is easy to follow.

The reporter has summarized the information in basic terms. The election situation in Pakistan is complicated, but the reader is able to understand because of the reporter’s story structure, plain language and by breaking the story down to its most important points.

The reporter could have ordered the news blocks differently. He could have put the background of the issue sooner, but that would only made things confusing and less compelling. What happened months ago is no longer news.

Posted by libra012 at 8:19 PM | Permalink

Article: “12,000 Flee Darfur for Chad, U.N. Says,� by The Associated Press, published in the New York Times on February 10, 2008

In this article the United Nations serves as the main source. Multiple people were spoken to, but they are all connected somehow with the United Nations. The attribution is evenly scattered throughout the story.

Many paragraphs begin with “U.N. officials said� or “a particular person said.� Constant attribution leaves no doubt that all of the information is trustworthy and verifiable. As discussed in class, the attribution also always has the subject followed by “said� and never the other way around.

Most of the information is from people. The only numbers used are to express the amount of refugees and the death totals. They are also scattered evenly throughout the story so that they add additional information without being distracting.

The writer paraphrased most of the information. There are direct quotes and partial quotes, but primarily the writer uses his or her own words to tell the story. Professor Golden said that beginning writers typically use too many direct quotes. I think it is because, unlike the writer here, they lack confidence in their own words and so they rely on the words of others.

One time in the story the writer constructs the attribution by saying “Caux told The Associated Press.� I wonder why the writer made this decision. It was either for variety or to distinguish that quote from the others. If the latter is the case, I wonder how the other quotes were obtained. To me, “Caux told The Associated Press� suggests that quote was said directly to an AP reporter, whereas the other quotes were not.

Posted by libra012 at 8:31 PM | Permalink

“Rebels in Chad seeking to overthrow the government fought their way into the capital city, N'Djamena, Saturday morning after a five-day march from Chad's eastern border, across from Darfur.�

This is a hard-news lead with all six of the news elements. It answers every basic question. Overall, it uses mostly specific details, like the words Chad, N’Djamena, Saturday morning, five-day march, eastern border, and across from Darfur. These concrete facts make the lead clear and concise. There are still other general words and they keep the lead from getting bogged down.

The first lead was used by National Public Radio to introduce an Associated Press story. That article had a different type of lead.

“Tanks rolled through Chad's capital on Sunday, turning the streets into a battle zone between the government and rebels littered with bodies. Fighting also raged in an area where some 420,000 refugees live near the border with Darfur.�

This lead still has news elements, but it is more descriptive than the previous lead. It uses specific details, like the number 420,000. It answers the questions of “who, what, when and where,� but it does not address the “why and how� like the first lead does. It also creates a very different image. Here, the horrific violence is highlighted. I think the writer chose to write the lead this way in order to thrust the reader into the scene as opposed to just informing them of the events in Nairobi.

Leads from National Public Radio:
"Rebels' Fight Way into Chad," by Scott Simon and Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
"Fighting Rages in Chadian Capital," from the Associated Press

Posted by libra012 at 10:54 PM | Permalink