Dinky Town Weekly

Summary: A gunman kills bystanders and himself in a Kansas City shopping mall Sunday afternoon.

The violence started when police went to check on a woman who was reported missing by her relatives. Police went to check on her but they found her dead and her car missing. A police man spotted the missing car and when pulled over the police man was shot in the arm. The driver drove to a Kansas City shopping center and killed and injured four people before taking his own life.

Challenge: The reporter did not release any of the names of the people involved in the incident.

Comparison: Both the Star & Tribune and the USA Today are using the Associated Press’s story

Opinion: This was a successful story. It gave all of the essential facts of the events that took place Sunday afternoon.

Posted by Johan Quie at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary; there is growing anxiety about Trans fat. Recently all bakeries switched from using partially hydrometer butters and margarines to butter. Now people are worrying about butter because there are traces of the natural occurring kind of Trans fat. All Starbucks are requiring the bakeries that make their pastries switch to Trans fat free oil. Bakers across the country are becoming upset because they feel that butter contains so little trans fat that is not worth worrying about and it changes the final outcome of the baked good negatively.

Comparison: The New York Times reported that “trans fat is the kind that New York City health officials decided to ban from restaurants, citing health studies that show that even a couple of grams of it a day can significantly increase the chance of a heart attack.�

Challenge: The reporter did a good job using quotes effectively from public health officials. It appears that the reporter did not face any challenges.

Opinion. This was a successful article. The mater of the story was very news worthy. He covered all sides of the story and used sources effectively.

Posted by Johan Quie at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary the New York Auto Show is taking place at the New York convention center. This year not only new cars were on display but also historic cars including the very first electric car. The most popular type of automobile this year is the cross over. The newest cross over is the Ford Flex. Dodge, Ford and Mercedes all unveiled new models that are getting a very positive reviews.

Challenge: Te reporter faced a huge challenge choosing what manufactures to cover in the story and which ones to leave out. The reporter did not disclose why these specific cars were mentioned while others were left out.

Comparison: The New York Times reported Ford unveiled the Ford Funk Masterflex edition named after hip-hop star Funk Masterflex.

Opinion: This was a unsuccessful story the author did not talk about the auto show, rather he talked about specific cars that might are new to a manufactures line up or cars that were re-modeled. There was no description of which cars where the most popular by the people or how big the show is.

Posted by Johan Quie at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: Prisoner held in U.S detention center Guantanamo bay are being force-fed. Thirteen of the detainees are on hunger strikes to protest the treatment they recieve The detainees have to be strapped down and have feeding tubes inserted to their nostrils. U.S.
Military are monitoring detainees so closely that they have a very difficult time starving themselves.

Challenge: The reporter had a series of good quotes that were of the detainees. It was not clear how the reporter got the quotes. After the quote when the reporter gives reference to the detainees lawyer or medical staff personnel. It was not clear if the reporter talked to their lawyer and the lawyer relayed the information to them or if the reporter accessed these quotes out of public records.

Comparison: The Star Tribune reported that “Pentagon documents show that during earlier hunger strikes, some detainees lost more than 30 pounds in a matter of weeks.�

Summary: This was an unsuccessful article. I feel the article had a biased in it. The reporter made it sound like the U.S. military/government were the “bad guys� in the story. All of the quote chosen were those of the inmates and none of military officials. It had a very negative tone throughout the entire story.
Summary: Prisoner held in U.S detention center Guantanamo bay are being force-fed. Thirteen of the detainees are on hunger strikes to protest the treatment they recieve The detainees have to be strapped down and have feeding tubes inserted to their nostrils. U.S.
Military are monitoring detainees so closely that they have a very difficult time starving themselves.

Challenge: The reporter had a series of good quotes that were of the detainees. It was not clear how the reporter got the quotes. After the quote when the reporter gives reference to the detainees lawyer or medical staff personnel. It was not clear if the reporter talked to their lawyer and the lawyer relayed the information to them or if the reporter accessed these quotes out of public records.

Comparison: The Star Tribune reported that “Pentagon documents show that during earlier hunger strikes, some detainees lost more than 30 pounds in a matter of weeks.�

Summary: This was an unsuccessful article. I feel the article had a biased in it. The reporter made it sound like the U.S. military/government were the “bad guys� in the story. All of the quote chosen were those of the inmates and none of military officials. It had a very negative tone throughout the entire story.
http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1108058.html

Posted by Johan Quie at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: Tubby Smith was announced the new Gopher men's basketball head coach on Thursday. This is a very important for the University of Minnesota after having lost the most games in history last season. Tubby Smith was the head coach of Kentucky. Smtih was formally introduced as the new head coach Thurdsay at Williams Arena.

Challenge: There was no apparent challenge in the story. The reporter used a quote that was taken out of the Herald Tribune. It seemed that the reporter did not have any direct contact with Smith since there were no direct quotes with the StarTribune.

Comparison: The Star Tribune reported that Smith resigned from Kentucky to avoid the possibility of being fired.

Opinion: This was a successful article. The reporter gave history of the Gophers past and explained why Smith's presence will add instant credibility to the Gophers.

Posted by Johan Quie at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: UNLV upset the Wisconsin Badgers, No. 2 seed, Wisconsin Badgers Sunday. Wisconsin is the highest ranked team to become knocked out of this years NCAA tournament.

Challenge: The reporter chose to focus on the significance of the coach’s son while also giving a brief summary of the how the game played out. The Associated Press did not choose to get any quotes from the loosing Wisconsin team.

Comparison. The Associated press reported that Kruger was shooting just 1-of-15 in the NCAAs -- including 1-of-7 Sunday . ESPN.com reported that Lon Kruger was “really happy to beat such a good Wisconsin club�. Bob Kruger said that he does care for players transferring schools to play their fifth year such as Lon Kruger’s son did for UNLV.

Opinion: this was a successful story in terms of giving a proper summary of the game and giving the reader a sense of emotion of the game. The reporter did a nice job giving importance to the father son relationship on the team.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=274000059

Posted by Johan Quie at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: Japan has a very structured baseball system which include farm leagues and minor leagues similar to the U.S. The story focuses on some of the young start players of Japan and also one player specifically who was just signed to the MLB

Comparison: USA Today reported that the Japanese team uses aluminum bats in games and for normal batting practice. But these drills are done with one-kilogram (35.27-ounce) wood bats which are a few ounces heavier than what Red-Sox Slugger Manny Ramirez uses.

Challenge: The reporter of the USA Today really focused on one specific team instead of multiple teams. This was a very specific article.

Opinion: There was an interesting story for the reader. It was very focused and paid close attention to detail. This story has a very specific audience which are baseball fans.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-03-02-baseball-japan-cover_N.htm

Posted by Johan Quie at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: Senator Clinton and Obama both spoke 3 blocks apart on a street named Martin Luther King St. Clinton and Obama each spoke on Civil Right movements and talked how it has affected them personally.

Comparison: the USA Today reported the Senator Clinton said she described herself as a "grateful friend" and "beneficiary" of the civil rights movement

Challenge: The reporter did not go into great detail of what about each of the speeches.

Opinion: The article was effective, the main point of the article was not what the two presidential candidates spoke about it was focusing more on the fact that this is their first time that their campaigns crossed trails.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-04-clinton-obama-selma_N.htm

Posted by Johan Quie at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: Ohio State beat No. 1 ranked Wisconsin 49-48 in Columbus Ohio. Mike Conley Jr. made the game winning basket with only 3.9 seconds to play sending his team to become Big 10 Champions

Challenge: The reporter chose not to summarize how the game was played. The main focus of the story was focusing on the last five seconds and then the action after the game such as responses from the crowed and and fans.

Comparison: Sports Illustrated ranked Ohio State’s Mike Conley as the #1 point guard in the NCAA.

Opinion: Although this story did not have the structure of the traditional sports beat it was still successful in terms of the excitement that took place in the arena Sunday night. The reporter did a nice job capturing the atmosphere of the campus in Columbus, Ohio.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/luke_winn/02/25/wisconsin.conley/index.html

Posted by Johan Quie at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: The NBA All Star game is today. Many say that the NBA has the greatest all star game is sports. The game has an earlier time than usual starting at 5 o’clock eastern. This all star game may be a little different than others because of a few key injured players (Allen Iverson) and other top players are getting older (Shaquille O’Neil and Chauncey Billups) and want to give their minutes to the up and coming stars.

Challenge: The author wrote the story in a casual way. The inverted pyramid was not used. The story started off in a humorous way then stated that key players will not play due to injuries. There for the play of the came may be different than years past.

Comparison: ESPN.com reports that Allen Iverson, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd are all injured and will not be playing.

Opinion: This story was about a light hearted event such as the NBA All Star and for what the story is it succeeded. The author talked about all of the possible outcomes for the story and it ended up working.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index?lpos=globalnav&lid=gn_NBA_NBA

Posted by Johan Quie at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: Illinois senator Barack Obama formally announced today that he will run for next years Presidential race. He visited swing states in his last campaign tour. When Obama announced that he has a plan to start bringing troop home in 2008 the thousands that came out to see him in below freezing temperatures cheered and applauded.

Challenge: For a broadcast story this story was did not take advantage of the visual and audio aspects that broadcasts. This story would have been better off in print rather than TV.

Comparison: The New York Times says that Obama is trying to separate himself from Senator Clinton. Obama is trying to be viewed as a politician of the next generation.

Opinion: This is a good story that is very news worthy. For the story to be aired rather than to keep it on print was unsuccessful. All it needed to be succeful was to have an anchor announcing Barak’s run for presidency and show a him giving a speech. Rather there was a reporter following Barak campagning to the swing states.
http://www.nytimes.com/

Posted by Johan Quie at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summary: the Grammy's were packed with more performances than prizes. The big event of the evening was the band Police getting back together. The 1980's band played Roxanne which fans apparently loved. Other performances were performed by, Beyonce, Gnarles Barkley, John Legend, Justin Timberlake and more

Challenge: The reporter chose to be very specific by only choosing to write about the performances rather than list who won the Grammy's. Although the article is very specific it was still interesting to and kept the readers attention.

Comparison: The Star Tribune reports that Sting "had the biggest hand in the arrangement". Tribune also reported that Gnarles Barkley and his bank dressed up like airline pilots and there song was not a hit.

Opinion: The Star Tribune did a successful job on reporting on the performances. The reporter critiqued each one and then have a each a letter grade A-F, on how she felt the artists performed
http://www.startribune.com/blogs/poplife/

Posted by Johan Quie at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)