Jeanine O'Neal

When I said that The New York Times's website need to be easier to read and that The Harvard Crimson was layed out nicely and drew your attention in I hadn't noticed the wonderfully layed out website for The Cavalier Daily. 

Just as I had been saying all along, a news website needs to have an interesting picture that is part of a subcategory title (line Home, Sports, Living).  It needs to have a top stories section and be easy to navigate. 

The only problem I find with this site is that the words and sections have ALOT of white space in between them.  It makes the site look unprofessional.  Also, there are not enough pictures.

Finally, where are the videos?  And that search bar is way to hard to find!

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When I said that The New York Times's website need to be easier to read, this is the kind of news website I had in mind: The Harvard Crimson. 

The only problem with this website is that the news almost strictly about Harvard.  Therefore, I have no real need to read the articles unless I'm doing a study on gender issues or an article about the value of online classes.

This website, though, is structured cleanly.  There are several relevant and captivating pictures that draw you into the article.  You look at the pictures and say: Oh!  What's that?  The one probem I have with this website is that it doesn't really have articles seperated according to topic (home, sports).  They do have a box on the right that has Tags.  That's something at the least. 

But, since it is a college newspaper, they probably are more concerned about campus happenings than including all the sub heading of what the general public might be interested in.  As we all know, Harvard isn't too concerned about the general public (said with their noses in the air).

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Online News Criticism By Me (to be updated).

Here is a neat little video for you about the differences between Recycling and throwing your waste in the trash.  It's called Beyond the Barrel. 

1. The difference between recycling and trash (based on what I gleaned from the videos) is that one goes to a recycling plant while the other goes to a landfill.
2. The videos faile dint hat they only showed a trash and recycling truck picked up recepticles off the street.  The only way to tell which video was which was in the color of the recepticles (recycling is blue). 
3. It didn't encourage me to recycle at all (even though I already am trying).
4. Basically, it missed the point.

If you really want to get into recycling, check out Recycle City.  It's sooo cute and interactive!  Bound to turn your kid into a recycling wizard!

 

Also, I'm planning a recycling project on campus for February 2, 2009.  Bring your newspapers to Maura Solarium this day and help save the planet and provide bedding for a cute little animal!  Check my Facebook event page or the Paper for Pets blog page for updates.

 

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Usually I get really frustrated when websites required me to click a link to learn more about what I'm looking up. 

Take for instance Wikipedia.  When I search "reformation," a list comes up with several different refernces to reformation.  If I click on "Protestant Reformation" I get an article so full of linkable text that I'm overwhelmed, especially when looking up this word for the first time.  I don't know what information is pertinent to know about "reformation" and so I do not know what links to click on.  Because there are sooo many that one could not reasonably be expected to click throught them all.  If I click on one link, it will lead me to a page with even more links.  It's a never ending cycle.

On a newspaper website, links should be kept minimal and straight to the point. 

Take for instance wired.com's "Where the Botched Children’s Book Adaptations Are."  The website lists several titles of children's books that were turned into movies.  The title itself is the link to the movies homepage.  If you already know what movie the article is talking about, then you don't need to click on the link.  See!  It's straight and to the point.

  

I will be collecting used newspapers for animal shelters. Many local shelters shred newspaper and use it for bedding.

When: February 2, 2010

Time: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: Maura Solarium @ Seton Hill Univeristy in Greenburg, PA

Description:

Bring a stack of newspapers to the designated location on February 2, 2010.  That's it! Just drop them off and you will be helping hundreds of pets at local shelters!

If you wish to help out further, here are some ways you can do that:

1. I will need people to help get the word out. So invite all your friends to come to this page and watch for updates.

2. Save up a big stack of newspapers and bring them to the event.

3. Volunteer to help out at the event. All this would entail is standing at the collection site and thanking people for bringing their newspapers.

This is my Honors Capstone project, and will not actually take place until the Spring 2010 semester.

So leave a comment and let me know how you can help. I want to make this event worthwhile, not just for the project's sake, but for all the cute little animals we will be helping!

BAD News Website: The New York Times

When I visited The New York Times website, the first thing I did was scroll down the page, saw a jumble of words, got a headache, and exited out of the window.

Maybe it's just me, but the page seemed to have no organization to it.  And WAY TOO MANY WORDS! 

• Everything was packed in so tight on that front page that I didn't know where to start in looking for an interesting news story. 
• The category labels (such as fine dining and sports) were smalls and lighter in color than the rest of the text.  That was absolutely no help!  I couldn't find the section of articles that suited my interests (home/living and opinion).
• The list of headlines at the end had soooo many scrunched up columns that I got a reverberating headache just looking at the mess.
• Where was the organization!!??!!

GOOD News Website: The Tribune Review

The Tribune Review website uses video and pictures to convey a news story and draw interest.  It doesn't boggle the eyes and make you want to scream trying to find an interesting news story.  By clicking through the pictures or browsing the recent news feed, you can find up to date news.  Also, you can search a topic that interests you and limit it by relevance, most recent, and related news stories.  This site works!

 

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After reading Greta Carroll's blog entry, "Finally, Someone Admits Objectivity is Impossible!," I felt compelled to respond in my own blog. 

First, I really liked Greta's blog because I agree with her 100%.  Objectivity is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE! 

The example Greta gave where she said people would find bias if she wrote "John, haunted by his past" was an excellent example.  She said they might be moved to pity John because of your word choice.  That's true, you might be more compelled to sympathize with him.  But what if he was a mass murderer!!??  Just through words alone Greta made this mass murdering John look feeble and worth your pity. 

Also, with that example, someone could tear it apart and say Greta believes in ghosts.  She thinks the past can really come back and "haunt" you.  Greta aligns with Buddhist beliefs because she believes in Karma (the past coming back to bite you).  While none of this may be true, people will inevitably pick apart what a journalist says just to find some fault.

That is the true problem when it comes to whether or not a reporter is being "objective": people will pick apart everything you say just to find bias or faults.  There is no way of escaping this, no matter how conciously you try to eliminate bias statements from your writing.

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Investigative reporting would have to be the scarriest job as a journalist.  Not only are you going out there (sometimes undercover) and digging up the dirt on people who would rather keep it swept under the rug, but you also have to avoid lawsuits because you defemated the character of someone. 

According to the News Manual, defamation lawsuits "should not be a problem if you do your job properly by taking care over how you gather information, how you check that it is true and how you write accurately, sticking to facts." 

I don't think this is as easy as the News Manual would have you think.  Take for instance Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife Maria Shriver:

Maria Shriver has been all over the news for using a cell phone while driving.  Apparently, her husband (Schwarzenegger) passed a law that banned the use of cell phones while driving.  So, not only was she breaking the law, but she was breaking her husband's law.  According to CNN.com, Shriver was not cited for breaking the law even though "the California Highway Patrol had issued tickets for about 150,000 cell phone infractions" according to Chris Cochran, spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety as quoted at CNN.com.

Now, does this put Schwarzenegger in a bad light? Yeah, it does.  He should have enforced the law for his wife also.  Does it put her in a bad light?  You betcha!

Just the simple fact that she was not fined makes her case even worse.  Yes, she did commit the act (fact) and its her fault it happened in the first place, but just by telling readers that she was not fined (fact) makes her look even worse.  Though, I don't think a defemation case would go over so well if she chose to sue news reporters.  Afterall, she was breaking the law in the first place.

I think another place where we saw reporters defaming a politician is in the case of Sarah Palin:  

I think you know where I am going with this.  It is my opinion that she lost McCain the election because the media made her come across as an uneducated nit-wit, unfit to be our Vice President.  Now, I do not say that she is a nit-wit, I never met her.  The media portrayed her that way.  If I was Sarah Palin, I would take what was left of my campaign money or the $1 million I got from my book deal and would sue all the major news networks (and SNL) for defamation of character.  I think she would have a very strong case there.

 

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More on Investigative Reporting and Defamation of Character 

This is my FOURTH portfolio for Dr. Jerz's News Writing class at Seton Hill Univeristy.

Click here to see how we use blogging to enhance our learning outside the classroom.

Coverage/Depth

WANTED for Defamation: Invesitgative Reporters:$50 a head- In this blog I look at the problems of defemation of character in investigative journalism.  I pulled in two case (Sarah Palin and Maria Shriver) in which I felt the news portrayed these people in a negative light.

Discussion/Interaction

Objectivity Is Impossible: A Response to Greta Carroll's Blog- I'm responding to Greta Carroll's blog entry "Finally, Someone Admits Objectivity is Impossible!"  Alot of people found her blog helpful and I wanted to add a few points to the discussion.  

Timeliness

Xenoblogging

Random Other

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Dr. Jerz's News Writing Webpage

• News Writing vs. Blogging: Round 1
• News Writing vs. Blogging: Round 2
• News Writing vs. Blogging: Round 3

Seton Hill University Website

This is the THIRD PORTFOLIO of blog entries I have written for Dr. Jerz's News Writing class at Seton Hill University.

Click here to find out how blogging helps extend learning outside the classroom. 

Robert J. Haiman Blog Series

All the blogs (except for the Christina Korbe blog) in this portfolio are from the Robert J. Haiman Blog Series.  For my News Writing class, we are reading Haiman's online book, Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists.  We then write blog entries discussing certain sections from the book. 

By clicking the Robert J, Haiman link above, you can see the blog entries I wrote that pertain to his book.  Also, there are links so you can find what other students have to say about his book. 

Below, I have listed the blog entries in the designated categories.   

Coverage/Depth/Xenoblogging

For this portfolio, all of my blog entries had some level of depth and coverage.  I especially tried to relate what we were learning in class to actual news stories.  By writing about news my classmates were familiar with, I hoped that they would have a better understanding of the topics we were discussing.

 

In Defense of Christina Korbe: Editorial Writing- The topic of discussion for this blog entry was the purpose of editorials.  Rather than discussing what editorials are and what they should/not do, I showed where editorial writers failed to give an individual a voice.  That individual would be Christina Korbe (the woman convicted of killing Special Agent Sam Hicks).  I break down key points of argument from her case and how editorial writers could have used that information to give this woman a voice when noone else would.

Incompetence or Following the Rules?- Here I list the problem readers have with newspapers: They do not attribute their sources.  Then I give solutions to the problem.  One solution I came up with is writing the attributions the way magazines do.  Or, newspapers could make one page of attributions for readers to reference.

Invasion of Privacy- Like the Christina Korbe blog on editorials, here I took a real life news story and showed how news writers failed to cover it in an ethical manner.  The case I discuss was the murder of Caylee Anthony. Caset, Caylee's mother, was arrested for her murder.  Casey's parents, George and Condy were relentlessly hounded by reporters and civilians who destroyed their property, got in their faces, and called them baby-killers.  Obviously, the reporters crossed the line of ethics and good reporting.

Interaction/Discussion

The Oops! Section- While this blog wasn't my most indepth or lengthy, it did receive alot of attention outside the blogging realm.  Basically, I discuss why newspapers wouldn't want to create a section to acknowledge their mistakes (the oops! section).  The reasons would seem obvious, but many people voiced their own opinions on the issue to me after I wrote this blog.  This blog was also part of the Haiman Blog Entry Series.

Timeliness

All of my blog entries for this portfolio were submitted on time.  Incompetence or Following the Rules? was submitted two days in advance.

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News Writing vs. Blogging: Round 1

News Writing vs. Bloggin: Round 2

Dr. Jerz's News Writing Webpage

Seton Hill Univeristy