At least 48 people died when a the boat they were traveling in sank. BBC and CNN have very different information about the deaths and the reason for the sinking ship. BBC said it was because the ship was over crowded and CCN said it was because of bad weather. Each of their figures were different for how many people were on the ship at the time and how many died. Both sites did say that there were six survivors that are being treated.
Colorado police are investigating two deadly shootings at Christian religious facilities about 65 miles apart and 12 hours. The Star Tribune featured a story from the Associated Press which provided the most important details. Including quotes from the police chief and the governor. | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sen. Craig of Idaho was 4 or is it 5 new allegations from men saying that they had sex or that the Senator made inappropriate movements to them. USA Today reported 5 men (one not releasing his name) and CNN reported four men. Both stories brought up sen. Craig's arrest last June due to a sex "sting" at the Minneapolis airport. The senator proclaims that he is not gay or bisexual.
Redskins' football player, Taylor was shot early Monday morning. Police received a call shortly after 1:45 a.m. when Taylor's girlfriend called. She said he had been shot in the lower part of his body. It is still unknown if he was shot more than once and his current condition. USA Today did a story about the event. I thought it was interesting because the first part of the story was all information about the shooting. The two other parts of the story was less important information like how the team is doing this season and how Taylor has a knee injury. Therefore if the reader was not interested they could have stopped reading and still had the most important information. But those intested in sports could read on for information they found interesting.
CNN had information about the story as well, but it linked the reader to a Sports Illustrated story, which ended up being the Associated Press's story. The story in inverted pyramid style was similar to the USA Today story. Both articles told of Taylor's violent record. Although the story from CNN had information from his teammates support and how Taylor is now more mature because he just became a father for the first time. Personally, I liked how USA Today did the story. Although it had plenty of personal information, I thought CNN went a little too far with personal information.
There were 7,722 recorded hate crimes in the United States this year up from 7,163 recorded incidents in 2005.
CNN covered the story from the Associated Press. The article used numbers but also talked a lot about how certain instances were not included which could sway the results. They also focused on some hate crimes that occured in a Louissiana highschool and past lynchings. I thought that the article was well supported and interesting.
USA Today covered a similar story but used a lot of numbers. Just about every sentence contained percentages in the beginning of the article which made it hard to follow. But having so many percentages for different groups of people or types of crimes made it confusing. Towards the end of the article I though it cleared some things up, but I believe many people would have lost interest by that time.
Overall, I thought that the CNN article used numbers in a better way.
58,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel spilled into the San Fransisco Bay last Wednesday. The spill caused the death of sea birds and the closing of over 2 dozen piers and beaches. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency. Nearly 20,000 gallons of oily liquid were recovered and 770 workers are helping with the cleanup. The story on CNN had a story from the Associated Press. USA Today had coverage from the Associated Press as well although they were different stories. Both of the stories were similar in content except USA Today had information about the type of sea birds affected by the spill.
Virginia Mokgobo, a dormatory matron at Oprah Winfreys school for girls in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa was charged with abuse when 15 girls reported her. She posted bail and is waiting the trial. Up to 7 girls at the school were abused by her. CNN and BBC covered the story and are very simliar. CNN had a lot more quotes from Winfrey herself but it seemed a little overdone. I thought BBC's article was the better coverage of the two. It was informative with good quotes but wasn't too long or overdone.
The Pioneer Press had a news article by the Associated Press covering the story of the 5 crew members aboard a flight from Washington who became sick. They were hospitalized complaining about flu-like symptoms. Passengers and the crewmembers both complained about a bothersome odor. The Associated Press's article was not as detailed as the article from The Boston Channel but the Boston article was slightly confusing. They released information from the hospital that the crewmembers had elevated carbon monoxide levels. Both articles were very short but informative.
Thirteen students from University of South Carolina were staying at a beach house at Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. The house went up in flames at around 7 a.m. 7 of the 13 died and the other 6 were hospitalized. The cause is still under investigation. CNN covered the story and well as < a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-28-ncbeachfire_N.htm">USA Today. Both of the stories were hard news and used the inverted pyramid style of news reporting. I'm sure the a follow-up story will come because so much information is missing. The 7 that died have not been named yet. The students were sorority women from Delta Delta Delta and fraternity men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and were visiting the area for the weekend.
Seven counties in California have been declared as in a state of emergency by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. One person died in the fire, four fire fighters were injured and 13 civilians. The residents of Ramona had to evecuate their town and many homes in Malibu have been destroyed. The fire became out of control due to dry, hot conditions and very fast winds.
CNN covered the story in a timely yet informative way. I thought their story was balanced and well put together. USA Today covered the story as well. However, I thought the story was way too long and I was bored towards the end. It was informative but in other cases I would have stopped reading the story before it was over.
The rapper T.I. was arrested for trying to acquire machine guns with silencers. He gave his bodyguard $12,000 to buy these guns without licenses. The bodyguard was taken into questioning when an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives pretended to sell them to him. The bodyguard decided to comply with the police and turned T.I. in just hours before the BET Hip Hop Music Awards where he was up for nine awards. He later won two of the nine. He was also supposed to perform two songs but was unable. The police searched his home and car and found many more machine guns with silencers. USA Today covered the story with way too much detail and I struggled to finish reading to the end. CNN covered the story and gave just the right amount of information without losing my interest. They also had better sources like T.I.'s lawyer and others.
A 20-year-old off-duty deputy kills three highschool students and three recent highschool graduates in Cradon, Wisconsin. There were seven people having a pizza and movie night when the Forest County deputy sheriff started shooting. The one surviver was injured and is currently hospitalized in Marshfield. The shooter, Tyler Peterson was killed by another, on-duty sheriff. The on-duty sheriff had minor injuries. One of the sources for both the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune, Jenny Stahl, the mother of one of the victims said that the motive could be a jealous boyfriend.
The Start Tribune and the Pioneer Press had many of the same sources who were mostly real people, human sources. They were the neighbor who heard the gun shot, one victims mother, and a highschool student who knew the shooter from a class.
They both also had authority figure sources such as two officers and the mayor.
The two articles were almost identical, they used the same exact quotes and sources and placed the information in the same order.
George Clonney was riding his motorcycle into New Jersey with his friend Sarah Larson when they collided with a car. The car was making a right hand turn but was signaling left so Clooney went into the right lane according to the BBC article. Their motorcycle was clipped by the car when it made an abrupt turn. Clooney suffered a broken rib and some scratches and Larson suffered a broken foot. USA Today covered the story as well but did not have all of the same details as the BBC article. USA Today was not sure whether or not the car used a signal at all.
Simpson, the famous NFL star was arrested Sunday for robbing a Las Vegas hotel room filled with his sports memorabilia. He could be put in prison for 30 years depending on his sentence. He and a few other men were invovled some of the men were armed with guns. Polise are undure at this point whether or not Simpson specifically had a gun on him at the time of the robbery. Simpson said that the items were his and he was just getting them back. The Pioneer Press had a pretty thorough story http://www.twincities.com/national/ci_6913462 as well as the Star Tribune http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1425985.html
Both articles also pointed out that Simpson is held without bail.
Researcher Lawrence Frank, from the University of British Columbia did a study in Atlanta to find if people living in areas without sidewalks are also obese. He found that those who lived in those areas are more likely to be obese than those in a more walking friendly environment. Frank is publishing his findings in Social Science & Medicine and his study followed 1,432 people during 2001 and 2002. The article focused mostly on Frank and his findings, but also brought in a personal story of a man who had lived in both types of environments, and a professor from another university. It seemed pretty unbiased although there wasn't a countering arguement.
http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1409290.html
http://www.sightline.org/research/cascadia_scorecard/res_pubs/cs2006/health-sprawl-resources