Recently in Analysis Category

For the final analysis, I am writing on a story from the Boston Globe (found on nicar.org) about cab drivers accepting bribe.

For reporters of the Boston Globe, finding the information required intensive investigative reporting. The story focused on Boston Cab drivers accepting illegal amounts of payment from who is getting the ride. They used analysis and records to discover that many cab drivers are at financial risk for insurance, constant accounts of being held for professional conduct, police are not tracking crimes by or against cab drivers, and cab drivers don't produce a legally required receipt.

To enhance the story, the Boston Globe has used many interactive to keep the story alive. At the top of story is a video behind what this story is about. Towards the middle of a story is a graph that shows how much medallions in the cab industry are worth. The graph shows that is beats S&P 500, CPI, and Gold. Furthermore, the writers used pictures to show who is important, what the writer said, and why the writer wrote it.

For this story is be what it is, the reporter must've had skills in producing a video to get this story moving and knowledge in how to produce a graph that tells the story even more. The graph produced was to help readers get a better understanding of what the story was about.

National Public Radio did a report on what it is like inside North Korea. Their headline read "No Obvious Signs of Crisis."

The story begin with a slight background on what North Korea has been doing the last few month. It mentioned the numerous threats, the preparation of missile launches, and more. There has been speculations that North Koreans will be hostile within their own boarders as the government continues to threaten the US and South Korea.

But NPR says it is the exact opposite. Reporters saw children and their parents laughing and having a good time in North Korea's capital. The reporter specifically writes "rollerblading and shouting with joy." The reporter wrote that people who have visited North Korea many times say that it has never been hostile.

The reporter used sources of people who have been to North Korea many times. The reporter continued to say that while there is a presence of strong patriotism, there is also prosperity among the people. The reporter said "mobile phones are much more common, and the shops are full of goods." Furthermore, they added that there is a consumer class and it is growing.

The reporter closes out the story comparing what is and isn't real about North Korea. What's real is the political propaganda that the government is pushing. What isn't real is that the people are completely shut off.

The BBC News released a story regarding the monthly US jobs report which showed the use of numbers in many different ways.

The reporter used the numbers to show how much jobs were added in the month of March and to show the percent change in the US unemployment rate. The reporter went on to talk about the average monthly decline in job losses and explained how that compares to March's numbers. The reporter continued the story by breaking it down into demographics and talking about the unemployment rate among demographics.

I believe that these numbers are overwhelming. First, there were a lot of numbers to the point where it was kind of hard to figure out what goes where. Second, the reported used both million, thousands, and percents which threw me off because I had no idea which one I was supposed to compare and contrast.

As the story progressed, the reporter used started to use a "header" number. There was a specific number that the next section would be based off of. The reporter, sadly, did not use math effectively to show how the percent works with the number above. It would have enhanced the story more. The source of the story came from the US Labor Department but the analysis were from British economists who were able to make numbers somewhat understandable.

While most news sources just cover what the speech is about, this analysis will be based off of the article from the Chicago Tribune about what Rand Paul missed when he filibustered in the Senate this week.

The journalist who reported on the Rand Paul filibuster has decided that he would attack the Senator from Kentucky over what he "missed."

He crafted his story by paralleling Paul's filibuster to the infamous filibuster in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." The story starts off with background information by discussing what caused Sen. Paul to filibuster one of Obama's nominees, which had nothing to do with the nominee. The articles proceeds by discussing the reactions from both people within the Senate and from outside the Senate.

How did this help the readers? The writer expanded on the story by 1) explained the purpose of the filibuster, 2) gave reactions to the filibuster, and 3) gave information on what could happen in the future. The importance was to give the readers information on what is going on in politics today.

(This, somehow, did not show up when I had problems accessing the website)

For this week's analysis, I will be comparing the BBC News and NBC News.

Comparing the BBC and NBC is a little difficult. Both of them are laid out similarly. However, as I dove into both sites, I noticed the differences between the two websites. The first thing you see on BBC is what is today's top story. For NBC, it is usually a follow-up story or even a breaking news story.

The biggest differences between the two, however, is that the BBC divided up the types of news you can get. There's an actual "news" tab but also a tab for sport, weather, travel, future, auto, tv, and more. The BBC is more than just a news channel. It is Britain's biggest network. NBC News has tabs, however, their website is already divided up, so it is easier to get right to the news.

When you get to the BBC's news page, it is a lot more clearer than NBC. The big story of the day is front and center. Other big stories are directly below and the lesser important stories are all the way down. When I look at the writing, I noticed that the BBC is straightforward and direct with what the story is about. It's going right for the news. NBC kind of hides it. You get a sense of what the story is about, however, you don't actually know what it is about until you click on it.

On Friday, a meteor raced passed Earth that left about a thousand injured in Russia and is followed by the start of a clean-up, according to two news sources.

On Friday, CNN had an article that described the sight a meteor that raced passed Earth in Russia. The lead focused on what happened. It pretty much said that a meteor streaked through central Russia because it exploded causing a large boom that created shock waves. These waves caused damages to building and even injured some civilians.

The BBC News followed up on story beginning with the start of the clean-up. As mentioned, the meteor caused damages to a lot buildings and injuries to about 1000 civilians. In this story, lead talks about Putin's response which include the operation to begin cleaning up the mess.

To compare the two stories, CNN's right away story was more about what people saw. The BBC's follow-up was about what actually happened. Furthermore, the BBC focused on updates from the science community. This article advanced the story but filling details about the meteor now that we were able to see it. For example, BBC reported that science estimated a whooping 500 kiloton of released energy was detected later Friday.

The New York Times has published a story about a teenager who helped start the fire for the Syrian civil war.

The boy was described of fleeing Syria into neighboring Jordan where he carries the burden that he knows that he and his friends have helped spark the uprising in Syria. In order to tell this story, the reporter has used him, the person this story is about, and his father. However, because he is mostly likely wanted by the Syrian government, he (and his father) has asked that they'd keep their names private. The attributions in this story are all throughout the article. We are getting details about who he is and what and why he did what he did.

Living in Jordan, the reporters are able to contact him and use his story to help inform the public about the Syrian uprisings. The reporter has decided to order the information first by where he was now and an update on the Syrian civil war. The reporter went on to tell the boy's story. The boy's story continued with the father who was able to tell his side of the story.

The New York Times has published a story about a teenager who helped start the fire for the Syrian civil war.

The boy was described of fleeing Syria into neighboring Jordan where he carries the burden that he knows that he and his friends have helped spark the uprising in Syria. In order to tell this story, the reporter has used him, the person this story is about, and his father. However, because he is mostly likely wanted by the Syrian government, he (and his father) has asked that they'd keep their names private. The attributions in this story are all throughout the article. We are getting details about who he is and what and why he did what he did.

Living in Jordan, the reporters are able to contact him and use his story to help inform the public about the Syrian uprisings. The reporter has decided to order the information first by where he was now and an update on the Syrian civil war. The reporter went on to tell the boy's story. The boy's story continued with the father who was able to tell his side of the story.

The New York Times has published a story about a teenager who helped start the fire for the Syrian civil war.

The boy was described of fleeing Syria into neighboring Jordan where he carries the burden that he knows that he and his friends have helped spark the uprising in Syria. In order to tell this story, the reporter has used him, the person this story is about, and his father. However, because he is mostly likely wanted by the Syrian government, he (and his father) has asked that they'd keep their names private. The attributions in this story are all throughout the article. We are getting details about who he is and what and why he did what he did.

Living in Jordan, the reporters are able to contact him and use his story to help inform the public about the Syrian uprisings. The reporter has decided to order the information first by where he was now and an update on the Syrian civil war. The reporter went on to tell the boy's story. The boy's story continued with the father who was able to tell his side of the story.

In the Chicago Tribune's article, "Texas man arraigned on murder charges in shooting of 'American Sniper,'" the author went straight to the point on what this story refers to in terms of the killer of a prominent American sniper.

Rather than starting with a past event, the author used timeliness to give us, the readers, to most important update. In this case, the most recent update is the killer who gunned down the Navy Seal officer is being arraigned in Texas. The paragraphs that follows gives the previous less timely information that is important to the story.

In this story, the most detailed part is the name of the Navy Seal, Chris Kyle. The reasoning (most likely) is that this Seal member is an important figure in American history (helped killed Bin Laden). The most general information in this lead is the facts themselves. The killer was arraigned but there weren't much details after that other than it was on two counts of capital murder. Ultimately, the lead is very general and straight to the point. It could capture the readers' attention.