Accidents

I found a lot of problems with the Gomez article. The victims of the accident were not identified: they were only named as boy and girl (yes it is true that the boy's name was not released, but the girl could have been identified). While the article did name the time, location, and driver, it failed to mention anything about the parents (i.e. where were they when the accident happened, why weren't they watching thier kids, what was their reaction, etc.). There are also no eye witness accounts: there is only one quote from a Highway Poatrl spokesman. A good news story is supposed to have at least 3 sources. The article was was too short and under-informative.

The other article that I chose to read was titled "Indiana Family Says Police Didn't Look for Teens After Car Accident; Pair Later Found Dead". This article was well-written. Not only did it include nearly all of the essentails from the accident story checklist, but included the proper number of souces, including the parents of the dead. accident stories draw people in by emotions: the quotes from the heart broken parents draw the reader in. The Gomez article had no quotes from people on what they thought of the accident. That article was kind of numbing and banal because there was nothing on the page that made the reader feel. The only thing that should have been mentioned is what the two boys were doing when their car veered off the road: were they drinking or speeding? is another vehicle at fault? where were the boys going to?