September 2010 Archives

The story that I chose to analysis this week was the CNN article announcing the donation that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg would be giving to the Newark Public School district.

I chose this article because CNN is known for having its article full of other sources and CNN formats well-organized articles. In this article, the reporter did not cite any other newscasts. The reporter found multiple people to attribute in his article.

The article's attributions are scattered all throughout the article. By having the attributions mapped out correctly, the flow of the article is amazing. It's so easy to read. The attributions are from multiple people including multiple CEOs and Zuckerberg himself.

I find that having attributions in an article, it allows the article to have certain legitimacy and makes the story effective.

Several inches of rain amounted in flooding conditions in Southern Minnesota Thursday.

In some areas, a foot of rain fell. The Minnesota River flooded over in multiple areas, the Pioneer Press reports.

Interstate 35 had to be closed due to massive flooding in Owatonna, KARE 11 news reports. Several other highway closings caused school and work closings around the area.

Governor Tim Pawlenty has said that he wants to visit the communities that the flooding occurred in and state aid would be implied in the near future, the Star Tribune reports.

Target announced that the corporation plans to open smaller versions of the store in urban areas on Friday in Minneapolis.

Target Corp. called for a media conference at Target Field in Minneapolis to reveal the details to the plan, the Star Tribune reports.

The first store of its kind will be opened in Seattle next year. The square footage of the store will be approximately 90,000.

Target's executive vice president for property development, John Griffith, said that opening one of the urban area stores in the Twin Cities area is a goal, the Pioneer Press reports.

Barack Obama said in an exclusive interview that the Iran's president's speech was both "hurtful" and "offensive."

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got to speak to the United Nations Thursday and said that the terrorist attacks in 2001 were to blame on the United States, BBC reports.

Obama told the BBC that he was shocked with the words that the Iranian president said and that is was not right to say his words in the Manhattan borough, which is only a few miles away from ground zero.

Ahmadinejad spoke to the UN just minutes after Barack Obama left, CNN reports. Obama delivered a speech to the General Assembly.

The founder of Facebook announced on TV Friday that he is donating money to improve public schooling in Newark, New Jersey.

During an appearance on Oprah, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told the public that he is donating $100 million dollars, CNN reports.

Zuckerberg says that the governor of New Jersey and the mayor of Newark are focusing together to improve the education system, the Associated Press reports.

CNN reports that the founder of Facebook will be creating a program called Startup: Education and will be donating the money over a five-year plan.

University of Minnesota wide receiver Troy Stoudermire was suspended indefinitely Wednesday.

Head coach of the Golden Gophers, Tim Brewster, stated that the wide receiver was suspended for conduct that is detrimental to the team, the Associated Press reports.

Brewster did not provide specifics to the suspension, ESPN reports.

ESPN also reported that later in the day, Troy Stoudermire wrote on his Facebook that he planned to drop out and transfer schools.

Troy Stoudermire is not only known for his receiving, but also his returning. He is the Golden Gopher record holder in return yards in his tenure at the program, according to the Associated Press. Stoudermire sits less than 200 yards from breaking the Big Ten record in return yards, which was set by former Michigan State receiver Derrick Mason.

Analysis: Leads
By Cody Steger

When the reporter doesn't have a lot of information to work with when creating the article, it is very important to let the information out to the public step by step. A story done by the Star Tribune is a great example of a strong lead.

The article was informing the public of a death of a local pedestrian. A car hit her early morning Sunday but that information by itself is all a reporter needs to create a lead that both hooks and informs the reader. As you continue through the article, the reader gets the specifics and the article is short and to the point.

The news elements that were used in the lead were the who, the what, and the where. A lead needs all three of these in order to be successful. Each of the w's need to broad enough in order to keep the specifics ready for upcoming paragraphs.

One item in the lead that might not be needed was where the woman who died was from. It could be used as an additional paragraph later in the article.

Shooting at German Hospital
By Cody Steger

An armed woman walked in a hospital Sunday and killed one person.

The police quickly arrived at the scene and shot and murdered the culprit after she attempted to shot at a police officer, the BBC reports.

The location of the crime occurred in Loerrach, which is a town near both the Swiss and the French borders of Southern Germany. The police believe there is a connection between the shooting at the hospital and an explosion at a nearby building.

Originally the police were cued to the scene after reports of a woman running to the hospital after the explosion at the nearby building, CNN reports.

BBC later reports that the police officer that was shot at is critically wounded and is in stable condition.

Man Shot and Killed in Minneapolis
By Cody Steger

A young man was shot to death Friday as he was found on the sidewalk midday.

This is the first homicide in five weeks in the city, the Associated Press reports.

The Associated Press continued by stating he homicide count a year ago at this time was 14 and the count for the city of Minneapolis this year is already at 34.

The Minneapolis Police Department is investigating who shot and how he got onto the sidewalk.

Commander Mike Martin of the police department stated that a car is involved in the shooting but it is unclear how, the Star Tribune reports.

The police continued with its investigation throughout the weekend and no arrests have been made yet.

Tropical Storm Becomes Hurricane
By Cody Steger

Hurricane Karl is the latest tropical storm to threaten the Gulf Coast as the US National Hurricane Center classifies Karl as a hurricane.

The NHC projects the hurricane to hit the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the BBC reports.

This hurricane is classified as a Category 3 storm, the Associated Press reports.

The area of which the hurricane should hit have been dealing with flooding and heavy rain over the past few weeks, the Associated Press added.

BBC reports that floods in the region have killed 25 people this month alone. Eighty thousand people have reported damage to their houses as well during this month.

Edilberto Peralta, the civil defense director of Tecolutla, told the Associated Press that the city is prepared to make drastic measures.

The Timberwolves Have a Plan
By Cody Steger

The General Manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves took out a full-page ad in the Star Tribune addresses the fans of the state of the team.

In the sports section of the Monday issue, GM David Kahn expressed his plans for the upcoming season for the Timberwolves, an Associated Press article reports.

The words in the address were shocking because he admitted that Minnesota is not likely to content in the upcoming basketball season, an article in the Star Tribune reports.

The Pioneer Press explained that Kahn would be active in both the trade and free agency market to better his team. He even had a paragraph explaining each move that occurred during the offseason.

Chief Marketing officer of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Ted Johnson, told the Associated Press that this ad was an attempt to help the relationship between the franchise and the fans.

I-35W Memorial Announced
By Cody Steger

The Minneapolis Mayor unveiled the new design for the memorial of the bridge collapse of Interstate 35W.
A beam for each victim involved in the collapse will be the centerfold of the memorial, the Minnesota Daily reports. A flowing water wall is also in the new design.
Originally, the Gold Medal Park was going to be the location for the memorial but Mayor R.T. Rybak revealed the location to be on the other side of the West River Parkway, the Pioneer Press reports.
R.T. Rybak told the Pioneer Press that it was important to have the memorial because Minnesota should never forget what occurred.
The water wall will have inscribed the 145 survivors and the entire memorial will be lit blue at night to coincide the new bridge, the Star Tribune explained.