Looking at CNN and Fox's multimedia, both fashion the multimedia fairly similarly.
Both CNN and Fox use video clips and related story links as well as pictures on their pages. Both news organizations place the picture on the left hand side of the story. Related links and stories follow closely under the picture on CNN's website and related links appear at the end of the story with Fox News.
Each news organization also has the 'most popular stories,' on CNN and 'most active stories,' on Fox. Each rank them from the top five.
Most of the multimedia on Fox's and CNN's page is located at the bottom of the webpage.
CNN has links to words that may be unfamiliar to the reader unlike Fox.
These features compliment the news stories in adding more understanding and comprehension. If there is a story and a related video or audio clip is also posted, it brings better understanding of the story to the reader. Another advantage of multimedia on the web is that the news organizations, such as CNN and Fox do, can post more than one picture that is related to the story. These extra photos bring a more real-life feeling to the story.
The writing the in multimedia items is short, terse and to the point. The news organizations do not have much room on the webpage to explain the whole link so the most important 'short lead' will be the headings for the multimedia on the page. These words and phrases are also is smaller print than the story and bolded, I also noticed they are in different color font, blue in the case of CNN and Fox.
February 2010 Archives
A University of California San Diego student is suspended after hanging a noose in the campus library on Friday, CNN said.
The student admitted Friday to campus police she had hung the noose Thursday night. The investigation is ongoing and the police have taken a statement from the student, CNN said.
It is unclear whether the student will be charged with a hate crime. Hanging a noose to terrorize is punishable by up to a year in jail, acording to state law, MSNBC said.
On Friday, students wore red handkerchiefs over their faces and blocked the doors to Chancellor Marye Anne Fox's offices, in reaction to the noose hanging, MSNBC said. Students inside chanted "real pain, real change."
The school took advice from its Black Student Unions to take measure on Friday, which include the establishment of a task force on minority faculty recruitment, a new commission to addressing declining African-American enrollment and finding space for an African-American resource center, CNN said.
"Whatever the intent of the authors of this act, it was a despicable expression of racial hatred, and we are outraged," the UC statement said, reported CNN. "It has no place in civilized society, and it will not be tolerated."
A Seaworld trainer was killed by an orca whale on Wednesday in a Seaworld tank.
Dawn Bracheau, 40, was drug underwater by Tilikum the whale for an extended period of time, Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld's curator of zoological operations, told CNN's "American Morning."
The cause of Brancheau's was probably a combination from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning," the sheriff's office said in a statement to CNN.
This is Tilikum's third connection to a death, CBS said.
In 1991 Tilikum and two other whales caused the death of a trainer at a Victoria, British Columbia. The trainer fell into the whale tank at the Sea Land Marine Park Victoria and was dragged underwater as park visitors watched, CNN said.
In 1999, Tilikum was also blamed for the death of a 27-year-old man whose body was found floating in a tank at SeaWorld in 1999, CNN said.
The problem now is deciding what to do with Tilikum. A former trainer and co-worker with Brancheau said that Seaworld is the best place for Tilikum.
"This is the first time in 46 years that we've ever had an incident like this with a trainer," Tompkins told CNN.
Tompkins also told CNN that Tilikum is about 12,000 pounds, twice the weight of a female orca whale. "Just because of his size alone, it would be dangerous to get in the water with him."
Police told CNN they believe the death was an accident, "While this incident remains the subject of an ongoing death investigation, there are no signs of foul play."
The death toll rose to 708 after an 8.8 magnitude shook Chile on Saturday, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet told CNN.
The quake struck before dawn Saturday, toppling thousands of houses, affecting 2 million people and dealing a serious blow to one of Latin America's most stable economies.
Striking before dawn, 1.5 million homes were destroyed or declared unsafe by the earthquake, MSNBC said government-run television reported
The earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. on Saturday, MSNBC reported that the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was felt as far away at 1,800 miles eat in Sao Paulo, Brazil and shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires.
Although the government reached an agreement with the country's major supermarkets allowing them to hand out free basic needs to those affected by the quake, Bachelet told CNN, looting is still a concern.
Tear gas and water cannons were used in some circumstances to control the looters, who have to stealing not only basic needs such as water but electronics as well, MSNBC said.
Minnesota Timberwolves Al Jefferson was arrested and booked into jail early this morning for allegedly driving drunk, according to jail records The Pioneer Press said.
Jefferson, 25, was driving while impaired about 2:15 a.m. according to Hennepin County jail records the Star Tribune said. He was released about an hour later.
Jefferson was going 56 mph in a 40-mph zone when he was initially pulled over, police told the Star Tribune.
Jefferson's vehicle drifted to left then moved to the center lane without signaling when the officer stopped the car on 394 near Dunwoody Blvd., the Star Tribune said. A field sobriety and blood test were conducted and results are pending at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
A court appearance for Jefferson is scheduled for April 23, the Pioneer Press said.
Two teens were shot Saturday night on a Metro Transit bus after six shots were fired.
About six shots were fired on the Route 22 bus when it was heading toward Humbolt, Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons told WCCO.
Ten to 12 people were also on the bus when shots were fired around 10:35 p.m., The Star Tribune said.
The two teenage victims were taken to North Memorial Hospital. They are in serious but non-life threatening condition, The Star Tribune said.
Investigators are trying to find out the cause of the shooting. They were interviewing passengers and the bus driver early Sunday morning, Gibbons told WCCO, investigators also interviewed one of the victims at the hospital but the second was not in condition to be interviewed.
Cameras in the bus are being reviewed and the bus is impounded, Gibbons told WCCO.
The two leads in the Siberian Husky story were very similar. The more updated version of the story added the element that the baby was alone when it was bit by the husky.
The main news was still summarized similarly, keeping the main points in tact such as the baby was on the bed and in the car seat when it was bitten.
The second story is simply an updated version of the first confirming more details on the story. In the first version it was unclear about whether the baby was alone or in the presence of the parents. This brought up a probable investigation on the parents of the Robert D. Hocker and if they are to blame for the baby's death. There is now an investigation surrounding who is to blame for the death.
The second-day story was not a response to a report from a competing news organization.
The Ministry of Justice in Saudi Arabia, is drafting a new law that may allow women lawyers to argue cases in court.
Currently women are not allowed to argues cases before a court but can work in government offices and in court offices. The new law would enable women to argue cases on child custody, divorce and other family-related issues, the Saudi Gazette said.
The Minister of Justice, Sheik Mohammed al-Issa, told CBS. The bill is in response to the Saudi king's "plan to develop the justice system and will be issued in a few days.
A draft law for the establishment of reconciliation offices in courts would be submitted to the King for approval in order to speed up the litigation process and lighten the burden of judges, Al-Issa told the Saudi Gazette.
Two men were arrested, Sunday, for what authorities believed to be a series of intentional church fires in Texas.
Daniel George McAllister, 21, of Van, and Jason Robert Bourque, 19, of Lindale are being held on $10 million bond in the Smith County jail, CBS said.
Authorities believe ten Texas church fires were intentionally set since Jan. 1, leading agents of the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to think one or a group of serial arsonists caused the fires, FOX said.
Injuries have not been reported, CBS said.
The last two fires occurred on Feb. 8 with an hour and three miles of each other in a rural area near Tyler, about 90 miles east of Dallas, FOX said.
The first of the series began Jan. 1, about 30 miles southwest of Tyler followed by four fires in five days with three in or near Tyler and fourth in Temple, FOX said.
The FBI is investigating a Pennsylvania school district after allegations arose that a school official secretly monitored a student at home through a webcam Saturday.
An official told CNN the FBI became involved when a family filed a lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District, located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Robbins' family, MSNBC said, is accusing the school of turning on, their son, Blake's webcam while the computer was in his home, allegedly violating wiretap laws and his right to privacy.
In the suit filed Wednesday, Blake Robbins was informed that the school thought he was "engaged in improper behavior in his home," citing a photograph "embedded" in his school-issued laptop MSNBC said.
A school official described Blake Robbins in his room and mistook a piece of candy for a pill, he told KYW-TV on Friday said MSNBC.
The district only used the tracking devices in a laptop if it was reported lost, stolen or missing, a spokesman for the Lower Merion School District told CNN.
The suit does not identify if the laptop had been reported stolen, MSNBC said.
A spokesman for the school district reports the school is happy with the laptop program and the chance to provide students who don't have computers at home with one. But said schools must establish the rules of the program, CNN said.
Three teenage girls were hit and killed by a freight train while on a trestle bridge Saturday night in Melbourne Fla.
The three girls and a fourth boy were in Melbourne's downtown area when they decided to cross the trestle around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, MSNBC said.
The boy saw had already crossed the trestle and saw the southbound Florida East Coast Railway train heading their way. The boy warned the girls yet none made it to safety in time, NBC affiliate WESH said.
No one on board the train was hurt and the train was not damaged. Little evidence of the tragedy remained, MSNBC said.
The victims names have not been released, said WESH.
Next to the trestle is another old, rusted track and it is not apparent why the teens did not use that one to jump to, MSNBC said.
John Vallee, 54, who lives near the trestle, heard the tragedy and thought a blanket was under the train when he realized it was a person."It's going to be hard for me to get to sleep," Vallee told Florida Today. "I can't get it out of my mind," Vallee told MSNBC.
An 11-year-old infant was killed Thursday by a Siberian husky in a home near Independence.
Emergency crews were called to the family's home at 12:28 p.m. and worked for 40 minutes trying to revive Robert D. Hocker. He was pronounced dead at 1:06 p.m., the Pioneer Press said.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined Robert Hocker, "died of head injuries suffered in [a] canine attack," in the ongoing investigation, the Star Tribune said.
Daniel James Hocker, 48, and Laura Lynn Dvorak, 33 lived in the lakeside home where Robert was killed, the Star Tribune said.
State records show that Daniel Hocker has had previous run-ins with police such as domestic assault and other infractions, the Pioneer Press said.
Police say they are documenting the scene and the facts and determine if there will be any charges, the Pioneer Press said.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty took fourth place closely behind Sarah Palin in a straw poll of potential Republican candidates Saturday during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul won 31 percent of the vote, followed by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 22 percent. Palin, came in third place, with 7 percent, and Pawlenty, in fourth, won 6 percent, the Star Tribune said.
Of the more than 10,000 attendees, 2,400 voted said the Star Tribune. Students made up 48 percent of those who voted, the Star Tribune said.
Romney's speech offered only standing room, whereas the ballroom was half-filled when Pawlenty spoke, the Pioneer Press said.
Pawlenty wanted to prove himself a possible challenger to other possible Republican candidates. "I'm still not well known nationally and won't register on most polls. ... The familiarity with me is low, much less the support level," he told the Star Tribune.
Pawlenty focused on conservative pep talk and criticism of President Barack Obama, said the Pioneer Press.
"Mr. President, no more apology tours and no more giving Miranda rights to terrorists in our country," Pawlenty said, and "If government spending were an Olympic sport, he would be a repeat gold medalist," the Pioneer Press said.
Many Republicans are considering or in the works of announcing a presidential bid for the 2012 election, yet no one has confirmed, the Star Tribune said.
The CNN reporter summarized the information in the article by giving background information first on Amy Bishop Anderson's record then proceeded to follow up the with the current charges held against her.
The reporter definitely summarized the important elements although I would argue that they could have been summarized in a better chronological order. It seemed to be in a confusing place before getting to the current proceedings.
The reporter ordered information through authorities and past police reports and records. Given there is an extensive past criminal history with Anderson, extensive research had to have been made in order to connect the facts.
I believe it was effective the way the information was summarized. As said before there seemed to be no easy way to report all the information without having the reader a little confused because there was such a long criminal history with Anderson. I think the report did the best possible job in summarizing given the circumstances. So much information has to be taken in and it proved difficult to decide what information to present first to make it easy for the reader to understand.
A biology professor charged with killing three faculty members at the University of Alabama in Huntsville fatally shot her brother more than 23 years ago, but she and her mother claimed the shooting was accidental, according to documents released Sunday reports CNN.
MSNBC said in March 1993, Amy Bishop Anderson and her husband were questioned when a bomb-laden package was delivered to a Harvard professor and doctor at Boston's Children's Hospital, the Globe reported.
This weekend Anderson may face the death penalty after she was charged with capital murder for Friday's on-campus shooting deaths of her colleagues, says CNN.
Anderson who was 19 when she fatally shot her brother, Seth, on December 6, 1986, in Braintree, Massachusetts, according to a Massachusetts State Police report released Sunday. She was never charged in that shooting.
An Israeli man was charged Sunday for multiple counts of sexual assault, rape, sodomy, and enslavement.
Goel Ratzon who had at least 37 children with 23 wives according to authorities had lived in a compound after three women living with him complained about mistreatment which was passed on to the Tel Aviv police said ABC News.
Ratzon allegedly raped and committed sodomy with two of his daughters, and sexually assaulted another. CNN also reports Ratzon is charged with rape, assault and sodomy of four other girls.
CNN says all the name's of the childern are derivatives of Ratzon's and each wife tattooed Ratzon's name and picture on their arms according to the court papers.
Court papers also say Ratzons enticed women and won "complete control of their lives, desires, thoughts, emotions and actions," by claiming he held powers to heal and curse, said CNN.
The official indictment date is unannounced.
The trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed continues to be an issue for the Obama Administration as it remains unclear where to try Mohammed and whether he should face military or civilian justice Vice President Biden said Sunday stated MSNBC.
Biden believes political circumstances changed in relation to recent political figures such as the election of U.S. Senator Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts and statements by New York City Mayor Michael Blomberg said FOX News.
"So that's the only reason why the president is taking it under consideration. We have no doubt that the best, most effective legal way to put this guy behind bars for the longest time and get the most information with the most certainty is in an Article 3 court," Biden told FOX News.
Talk about trying Mohammed in New York has caused turmoil for politicians, FOX News said, and some Repulbicans and Democrats say that terrorists must be as enemy combatants through miltary commission.
"Putting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, in the middle of New York City in civilian court criminalizes the war. And if he's not an enemy combatant worthy of military trial, who would be? asked Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C to FOX News.
A further political retreat from Attorney General Eric Holder announcement would be made, "that Mohammed and the four other Sept. 11 suspects now held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be tried in federal court in New York," said MSNBC.
A St. Paul teen was arrested for allegedly shooting his father Saturday.
Anthony Gaither, 45-year-old, tried to return home when 18-year-old Amaris Gaither fired several shots at his father police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell told the Star Tribune.
The younger Gaither was arrested a few blocks away without incident police told KSTP.
Police found Anthony Gaither outside the family's duplex at 1165 Bush Av. with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at St. Regions Hospital in St. Paul said KSTP.
According to records Anthony Gaither had a record for domestic assault and violation of no-contact orders, yet none of the domestic cases involved his son, Schnell told the Star Tribune.
The motives for the shooting are still unknown and the investigation is ongoing. The case is expected to be presented Tuesday to the Ramsey County attorney's office Schnell told KSTP.
A Minnesota nurse, the first of 300 Minnesota RN's went to Haiti Sunday to help.
Barbara Waren-Bloms works for North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale.
Warren-Bloms who was chosen first for her ICU and trauma experience is excited to help, "Nurses just have it in their DNA. They all want to be there, they all want to help. And I found that even people who aren't nurses, everybody would have loved this opportunity to go," Warren-Blooms told WCCO.
Julie Pearce, a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association is also going to Haiti says Workday Minnesota.
Pearce, 29-years-old, who is also ecstatic told Workday Minnestoa, "It's the most radical decision that I have ever done in my life."
Nurses from across the country signed up to head to Haiti. Minnesotans make up 300 or the 12,000 nurses that volunteered to help, says FOX 9 News.
In CNN's story concerning the explosion of the power plant contained many attributions.
CNN attributes information to the mayor, local officials, the Deputy Fire Marshal, hospital officials, and three local residents.
The attributions are clearly scattered throughout the story providing for diversity in the story. The first three-fourths of the story attributes to officials such as the mayor and the Fire Marshal and the last fourth of the story ends with quotes from local residents.
It became apparent that CNN received some of the information from a press conference as when I was reading other stories they had very similar quotes and information attributing to the same people. The reporter did not use records to attribute the story simply people.
The reporter uses a medley of ways to introduce the information. In the first part of the story the reporter attributes at the end. Then the reporter attributes in the beginning of the paragraphs when talking to hospital officials. When the reporter attributed to the local residents the attributions were in the middle of the paragraph.
I did not find the use of the different styles of attributions confusing. When reading the story I felt as though it made the style more interesting and it flowed when reading.
Five people were killed and 12 injured after a power plant in Connecticut exploded Sunday.
Workers of O&G Industries in Middletown Conn. were purging natural gas lines when the explosion occurred.
The deputy fire marshal in Middletown Al Santosetefano, said 50 construction workers were in the section of the power plant when the building exploded and is unsure as to what was the cause reports MSNBC.
One seriously injured person was taken to Hartford Hospital, two people were released and eight others were being treated for injuries consistent with explosions MSNBC states.
The blast of the explosion was felt 20 miles away by residents reports CNN.
A resident, Peter Moore, who lives about 10 miles away told CNN, "It felt like the house was shaking."
Santostefano told CNN it took a while for emergency crews to get into the plant after the explosion due to the plant being on fire. This is the first time a major incident has occurred since the plant was built a few years ago Santostefano stated.
A former Minneapolis police officer was indicted for a bank robbery in Apple Valley Wednesday.
Timothy Edward Carson, a former SWAT team member, is now charges with one count of armed bank robbery and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence reports the Star Tribune.
The 28-year-old and has a minimum of seven years in prison for possessing a firearm and could face up to 25 years on a robbery charge Pioneer Press reports.
Carson was previously charged last month for crimes in south Minneapolis on five counts of first-degree aggravated robbery in Hennepin County District Court.
The indictment on Wednesday allows the case to move forward.
A 37-year-old Maryland women told her former high school friends she was recently diagnosed with stage-four stomach cancer.
Leon was accused of theft and conspiracy. A judge set Leon's bail at $25,000 last week, and is no longer jailed according to FOX News.
Leon began using Facebook in 2008 to 'update' her friends on her conditions, frequently asking them to donate money and to help fulfill her dying wishes reports ABC News.
In one e-mail to a another cancer patient Leone wrote, "Last year, I was laid up in a hospital bed at home for months because of complications from surgery. I had a nurse come out three times a week and friends over twice a [day] to change packing and bandages," reports ABC.
Friends of Leon became suspicious over several months when a friend offered to write a check to Leon's doctor instead of a check to 'cash.' ABC also states suspicion also rose when Leon's hair was gone overnight instead of losing it slowly in clumps.
ABC reports in an interview with WJZ-TV in Baltimore last week Leon admitted to lying, "I've been pretending to be sick for over three and a half years," Leone said.
A 19-year-old New Zealander auctioned her virginity to pay for college.
The girl who called herself "Unigirl," accepted the highest bidder who offered her an access of about $NZ45,000 which translates into about $32,000 in the U.S reported MSNBC
She posted her advertisement on the Web Site, www.indeed.co.nz, where it received over 30,000 views and more than 1,200 bids.
In New Zealand this type of soliciting is not illegal national police spokesman Jon Neilson told FOX, although it he views it as potentially unsafe.
"There are definitely issues of personal safety in using chatrooms, social dating networks and other internet sites that can be used to arrange meetings between strangers," Neilson told FOX.
If an advertisement is legal and not offensive, Ross MacKenzie proprietor of the Web site told Waitkato Times reports FOX, "it was OK."
