Lofgren's JOUR 3101 Blog

Friday's first Presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, which took place in Mississippi, was concluded to be a draw by many.

According to the New York Times article, there was no clear winner after the debate concluded. The MinnPost.com article agreed that the debate was pretty much a draw except for one of the local debate experts who gave Obama a slight edge.

The New York Times article went into depth about things that each campaign parties did after the debate had ended to point out potential flaws from the other side. For instance, the article talked about McCain not using the term "middle-class" or "working class" throughout the entire debate. Obama was said to have agreed with his opponent's positions far too much.

The article also talked about what the candidates did after leaving Mississippi and the next stages of the election campaign for each, like upcoming debates between the vice-presidential candidates and new ads for their party's election process.

The MinnPost.com article focused only on the debate itself and how each candidate performed. The article had each of the three local debate experts give their opinions on how McCain did, how Obama did, each candidate's usage of body language, and their overall opinion of the entire debate. This worked well for the article because it gave readers a chance to see how an expert analyzed the debate.

Both articles gave good information that made the analysis of the debate fun and interesting to read.

Posted by lofgr050 at 8:24 PM | Permalink

A car bomb in Damascus, Syria left 17 civilians dead and wounded at least 14 more went off Saturday morning. The bombing was near a Shia shrine where Shiite pilgrims from across the region visit each year to pray at the tomb of Zeinab, granddaughter of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, according to the Ottawacitizen.com article.

The car bombing was the worst the worst attack in Syria since the 1980's. The bomb itself was believed to have contained more than 400 pounds of explosives according to the New York Times article. NYT went on to say that the bomb went off at approximately 8:45 a.m. in a crowded intersection near the Shia shrine.

The Ottawa Citizen.com article was very short. It gave the basic fact about the car bomb killing 17 and wounding 14 others. It did not go into any depth other than that.

The NYT article went very deep into the background of the story. The article talked about previous bombings and other problems between Syria and Israel. The article also talked about how the bomb actually may have been targeted for a nearby intelligence agency. The building was one of Syria's highly secretive security services according to the article. This article went much further into this story and ended up giving the reader more information on the story. It made the story that much more interesting by knowing other factors involved in the bombing.

Posted by lofgr050 at 7:57 PM | Permalink

On Wednesday, Federal investigators searched the headquarters of Petters Group Worldwide according to the International Herald Tribune article. IHT went on to say that the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the IRS criminal investigative division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service all took part in the investigation.

Petters Group Worldwide is an investing company located in Minnetonka, Minn., a southern suburb of the Twin Cities. According to the Star Tribune article, the reason that the company is being investigated by the government is for a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme that "lured investors with empty promises."

The company is named after its founder and chairman Tom Petters.

The International Herald Tribune article is short and to the point. They get the facts out there about what is going on and why the Feds are investigating.

The Star Tribune article is more in-depth on the piece. It goes into specifically why the company is being investigated. The article gives out exact numbers of how much is actually being consider fraud and possible explanations of why Petters would go about this. Sure, it may have a little more personal opinion in it, but it seems to be an editorial, so the opinion is acceptable as long as it doesn't take away from the story.

Posted by lofgr050 at 6:58 PM | Permalink

Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin continued their campaign tour in Blaine, Minn. at the hangar at the Anoka County-Blaine Airport.

According to the MinnPost.com article, over 13,000 people showed up for the event.

The article then went on to talk about the reactions of the people who came out to see and hear the candidates. It talked about how it was very hard to hear so some people left early while others stayed and enjoyed the "enthusiasm" and the positive atmosphere.

The Star Tribune article went into more depth of exactly what the two candidates spoke about instead of just getting the reactions of the crowd. The article also talked about how the two were trying to target key voter groups for the upcoming election. For instance, the article talked about the importance of women and independent, middle-class voters and their support.

The Star Tribune article goes more in-depth about the event and doesn't give any bias towards either side. The MinnPost.com article isn't biased, either, but it would have been nice to have more information on exactly the candidates were speaking about.

Posted by lofgr050 at 6:29 PM | Permalink

The Bush administration has proposed a $700 billion bailout of "distressed mortgage-related assets from the private firms," said the New York Times article. The money would go towards helping get rid of the debts on Wall Street.

The New York Times article goes on to talk about what is going to happen with the money and how U.S. taxpayers were going to be the ones also adding to the amount. It never really got into why people were upset with the bailout.

The Chicago Tribune article talked about why both the Republicans and Democrats were upset with adding more money to the national debt amount, which will now be $11.3 trillion. The entire article is people speaking out against the bailout and how it will affect the nation. It is a very negatively steered piece against the bailout. It seems as if the author wants the reader to agree with him and only shows the one side of the actual story.

Posted by lofgr050 at 5:12 PM | Permalink

South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, left his roll on Sunday after heavy pressure to do so from other members of the African National Congress. Mbeki was pressured to step down after allegations arose that he was a major contributor to pressing charges of corruption against his political rival and ANC leader, Jacob Zuma.

Corruption charges against Zuma were dropped because "the prosecuting team violated some of his procedural rights," according to the Aljazeera.net article.

Zuma will likely run for the South African presidency in 2009 when the election comes around. According to the New York Times article, Zuma is in line to be the next president.

The two articles differ drastically. The Aljazeera article is very straight forward and is very unbiased to the situation. The NYT article focuses on the downside of Mbeki as the president. It even later goes on to talk about conspiracy theories that are brought upon by Zuma and his followers. The article is very one-sided.

Posted by lofgr050 at 3:56 PM | Permalink

The re-opening of the Interstate 35W bridge will happen sometime this upcoming week. The bridge collapsed August 1st, 2007 and left 13 dead. It has been closed off for transportation since then.

According to both the MinnPost.com and the Star Tribune articles, the bridge could open up as soon as Tuesday.

The Star Tribune article went on to talk about possible problems with traffic and people changing their routes of transportation now that the bridge will be open once again. The MinnPost.com article did not go into any depth of what could happen with traffic or other potential problems with the opening of the new bridge.

The Star Tribune article also talked about how "hot spots created by the detours should ease" now that the bridge will be open. The article also talks about how they are uncertain of how much traffic will actually be seen on the I-35W bridge because gas prices have risen quite a bit since August of 2007 and less people are driving, or people have found new routes to their destinations and may like their particular route better than their old one of going across the old bridge.

The MinnPost.com article is very short and doesn't give much information about other things that are involved with the opening of the new bridge while the Star Tribune article has other aspects of the re-opening of the I-35W bridge peppered throughout the article.

MinnPost.com article: http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2008/09/09/3449/new_i-35w_bridge_could_open_tuesday

Star Tribune article: http://www.startribune.com/local/28376624.html?page=1&c=y

Posted by lofgr050 at 8:47 PM | Permalink

Hurricane Ike hit the gulf coast of Texas early Saturday morning. Its destructive path has led to a lot of physical damage to the areas, but there is also much more that has caused issues. Residents' health has become a major issue in the recovery stages of Ike.

The Market Watch article was written before the hurricane actually hit the coast. It talked about how to help people who are dependent on electricity for life support to "take appropriate measures to ensure their safety" in there was a long-term power outage in the area. It later talks about other electrical precautions that residents should take to improve their safety throughout the effects of Ike.

The FOXNews.com article was written the day after Ike hit Texas. It talked about how people should be careful of all of the toxins in the air that have been blown around and mixed into the atmosphere because of the heavy winds from Ike. It also talks about precautions that residents should take when coming upon possible contaminated water or even the "increase(d) risk" for the West Nile virus.

Both articles seem to be very helpful for residents of the cities that were affected by Hurricane Ike. They give good tips of advice in a time of need.

Market Watch article: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/tnmp-braces-possible-impacts-hurricane/story.aspx?guid={5E268782-266E-423A-ABAC-2330B1F68F3A}&dist=hppr

FOXNews article:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,422324,00.html

Posted by lofgr050 at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

5 areas in the capital city of India, New Delhi, were the sites of 5 explosions at around 6 p.m. Saturday evening. The total number of deaths is uncertain. The Associated Press lists the total at "at least 8 killed and 61 wounded" while the New York Times says "18 were killed" and neglected to say how many in total were wounded.

A Muslim terrorist group known as the Indian Mujahedeen was responsible for the bombings. The group has also been responsible for bombings against Hindus in May and July where the casualties were much higher.

The Associated Press story is very one sided. It talks about how the Indian Mujahedeen has committed all these terrorist acts against the Hindus, but nothing about what the Hindus do to the Muslims. The story from the New York Times talks about an attack against the Muslims where "nearly 1,000 Muslims were killed by Hindus in 2002, in one of the worst outbreaks of religious violence in India’s history."

The New York Times story goes more in depth with the past between the Hindus and Muslims in India and gives the reader a chance to be able to pick a side if they desire to instead of how the AP story is very one sided and guides readers to a certain way without educating them on the situation in its entirety.

The Associated Press story: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJo4OAMGB0xNXoQfikJ5Nk2cD52AD935T8HG0

The New York Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/world/asia/14indiaweb.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

Posted by lofgr050 at 1:32 PM | Permalink