svangjour3101

The Informant

I looked at the four-part piece done by the Star Tribune about the corruption in the Minneapolis Police Department. The reporter most likely used CAR when analyzing numbers. For example, in the second part, it says that Lt. Lee Edwards was being paid by Taylor Trump, and says that the total has been $5,000 over the years. Trump probably didn't memorize that number and give it to the reporter. The reporter probably had to input numbers in spreadsheets or organize his notes into a time line so that he could put together an estimate. The reporter not only needed to know how to use spreadsheets, but he had to know how to use basic computer tools like internet search engines or the data libraries within the Star Tribune so that he could collect information to analyze.

Posted by vangx570 at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AP IMPACT: Citizens held as illegal immigrants

This article talks about how citizens of the United States, especially those of the Hispanic population, are held as illegal immigrants and ultimately deported, despite their citizenship. It address the issue of racial profiling and hostility towards a specific group of people, since that is one of the main reasons why Hispanics are targeted. It presents racial profiling as a problem in government that should be solved, and the kicker clearly demonstrates how the reporters feel about the issue. Even if the person had been born on U.S. soil, if he or she is not good at speaking English, he or she is not believed to be a citizen, and the person is then suspected of being an illegal immigrant. This story used multiple things to convey information, including data and statistics, quotes and the stories of multiple people who have been affected by this. They also attribute the information they found, linking some to documents obtained by the Freedom of Information Act.

I find it surprising that government officials would be hostile towards Hispanics and extremely skeptical of their citizenship, even if their computers and files state explicitly that the person is a citizen. I also find it surprising that some immigration centers will mislead those people into signing documents that would get them deported if they have a right to be in the country.

Posted by vangx570 at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obesity Boosts Gum Disease Risk

The article uses numbers in multiple ways, citing percentages, quoting exact quantities and even explaining the calculations of particular ratios in the problem. At first glance, the numbers seem very overwhelming, but they are use effectively to prove the point of the researchers. If they were not present, there would be little data to support the correlation between obesity and gum disease. The numbers were part of a study conducted by Monik Jimenez. The reporter who wrote the article most likely had to crunch numbers in order to draw conclusions, or was involved with some math process in order to understand the numbers presented by the study.

Posted by vangx570 at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Giovanni Parisi, Boxing Champion, Dies at 41

This obituary is very short and does not follow the standard obituary that was given in class. The lead is a standard obituary lead, but it does not list family members, his place and date of birth, or any other information that would have told his life story. This obituary reminds me of the short obituaries that were printed after 9/11, because it concentrates on one aspect of his life rather than telling anything else. It is different from a resume because it doesn't list everything about his life. It only lists what he was most known for; boxing. It does not seem like any family members were contacted, if he had any, because the only sources used were an interview on a television show by another boxer and the official who confirmed his cause of death.

Posted by vangx570 at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The article about President Obama overturning Bush's limitations on funding for stem-cell research was an advance. The angle of the story was the fact that Obama is overturning a policy of the previous administration, and the article discusses what stem-cell research is and how different organizations feel about it. The reporter made this article more than merely a listing by discussing the potential conflict. The source for the news was a White House offical who was not named. It also includes opinions from people like the president of the Family Research Council and other government officials, and background information on the subject, like what Obama said during his campaign about stem-cell research and what he would do when he became president.

Posted by vangx570 at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Facebook Article | FB Press Release + Article

The article talks about the press conference held by Facebook to address people's concern about the new Terms of Usage. The article took the aspects of the press release that were most important to tell readers and Facebook users and placed that first. Also added into the article was background information on the issue, as well as past issues in Facebook. All of the information contributes to the article and what would have led the people at Facebook to decide to ask users what they feel about changes in policies.

Though the press release was written like a regular article, it was not merely placed into the website. The information in the press release was compressed to something short and understandable for readers. The reporter used quotes to support points made by the press release and Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg. They also used quotes by other people who are related to Facebook or issues surrounding Facebook, like the Privacy International director.

Posted by vangx570 at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the article about the man who stabbed and decapitated his wife, the articles I looked at before writing were all published at different times and had different angles. The initial article would most likely be the New York Times article, which contained basic information about the case. The Yahoo! News article took the subject a step further and talked about how the public reacted when others suggested the slaying had motives from the Muslim faith. The Buffalo News article went beyond Yahoo! News and spoke of how the couple had problems at home that often involved the police, which supports the argument of the killing being an "honor killing."

Each of these stories use a different angle to let the public learn about possible motives behind the killing. Because they were published at different times, they became in-depth articles about the issue and were written to help explain the situation the couple was in. In-depth articles are used not only to explain the issues at hand, but also to increase readership, and because the three sources used different angles, they were most likely competing for audiences.

Posted by vangx570 at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Plane that crashed near Buffalo was on autopilot

In the Associated Press' article about the reasons that led to the crash of Continental Flight 3407, the reporter uses the fact block formula taught in class. Because this story has had wide media coverage in the past few days, the most recent news is stated first. This is effective because readers who know about the crash do not want to be reading the same thing over and over again. The article is quite long, but it has been updated multiple times with new information. The oldest news is at the bottom, and whenever there is information that needs to be clarified (like terms or specific, more complex details that pertain to the topic) it is done so in a short and clear manner, usually in the rest of the paragraph.

If this article was written on news that just happened yesterday, the order it is written in would not make sense. Because the general information on this news topic has been in the media for a few days, the reporter expects the reader to either know the background information or read the whole article.

Posted by vangx570 at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Somalian pirates release Ukrainian arms ship

In the Guardian’s article about the release of the Ukrainian arms ship off the coast of Somalia, all of the newest information is attributed. The list of sources includes officials from the Ukraine (along with a statement made from them), an anonymous negotiator, and an official from a group monitoring piracy in Somalia.

All the attributed information does not come in the form of quotes. Instead, most of it is paraphrased and dispersed through the first part of the article, which contains the newest and most important information. This is most effective in telling the news of the event and keeping opinions out of the article. The attribution is placed where it would create the least amount of confusion for a reader, which is at the beginning for the paraphrased paragraphs.

Posted by vangx570 at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If pandemic hits Minnesota, who would be treated first?

The Star Tribune’s article about the possible influenza pandemic has a lead that is written like a feature article, even though it is a news story. It takes three paragraphs in order to establish a full lead, stating rhetorical questions to engage readers. It tells what the article is about (the preliminary report and the flu pandemic), who released the report, who will be affected by it, and where people will be affected. Though the lead is a little specific, the details are there in order to catch the interest of readers. Instead of merely reporting about the release of the report, the article focuses mainly on what a possible future will be if a pandemic does occur. The ethical issues that surround the distribution of limited medical supplies are a large part of the focus, and by mentioning that problem and including specific types of people in the lead the reporter is able to hint at what he or she will be writing about later. The newsworthiness of the release of the report is also not as high as bringing the issue of distribution to public knowledge, so including the issue in the lead in a way to interest readers is important.

Posted by vangx570 at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)