MichelleTantlinger

While this site is less crowded, it is also less informative on the front page. As you scroll down you don't get any more information than the headline. To an outsider, this means nothing to me. If I am perusing a news site on the Internet I would like at least a sentence or two after the headline to decide if I want to read the article. The pictures at the top of the page are also a nice touch.

If you have time, read This. Truly entertaining.

While this site is less crowded, it is also less informative on the front page. As you scroll down you don't get any more information than the headline. To an outsider, this means nothing to me. If I am perusing a news site on the Internet I would like at least a sentence or two after the headline to decide if I want to read the article. The pictures at the top of the page are also a nice touch.

If you have time, read This. Truly entertaining.

I actually really liked the website. Like Jessie said, the site is updated daily. The media page is easy to read and has a very nice layout, very professional. The FlyByBlog section was great as well because it was a one place stop to get into the minds of the average Harvard student.  

My biggest complaint is that it is overcrowded. I think if you were a student there it would probably be more user-friendly because you would be looking for a specific story. But to the passer-by, the section headings are too small and they tend to just disappear on the page.    

I plan to include the school website's link because that is where the Warner study is published.

LVSD website- The report is listed under the District Feasibility Study. That way, people are welcome to read findings in the article in their original context.

I would also like to link to pages of school districts that have merged successfully as well as to a site where things aren't going as planned (maybe Blairsville and Saltsburg).

After reading an investigative report people should walk away knowing something new. And hopefully they will be inspired to do their own research, or write to the paper requesting another article written on the subject matter!  

The New York Times is one of the "gadgets" on my igoogle homepage so I get a lot of exposure to their website. Often times one of the news links is actually a link to a video. Today, on their site the first thing you see is a slideshow of President Obama's meeting in China. I love viewing news online for the fact that there are many different types of media on one news site. Although you also get big, colorful, moving ads on the side, something you wouldn't find on the front page of a print newspaper. Which begs me to ask the question, do sales increase for the ads found on the front page of a news site? Today it was an ad for Cadillac. Which I think represents the demographics for those who read the NY Times online.

So overall, the videos and the pictures definitely add to the view-ability of the NY Times online. Not only is it more appealing to a technological generation it's very convenient for those who don't have time to watch the nightly news on TV. The important pieces of video are right online and you aren't stuck watching a "filler" story about Mrs. Mumford's cat stuck in a tree.

Coverage:

Here are my entries:

Tracking A News Story: A Fire Hall Catches Fire

Depth:

 Tracking A News Story: A Fire Hall Catches Fire - I continued to update this story.

Interaction/Discussion:

 A few of my blogs have comments posted on them including:

Timeliness:

 My blogs were on time for this round.

Xenoblogging:

I was rather proud of myself for making connections outside of class when I stumbled upon this bit of sweetness! SpongeBob And The News

"Get reporters and photographers -- and editors -- regularly out of the office and into minority communities for orientation and education. The fact is that most white journalists, as other white professionals, are likely to live in predominately white neighborhoods and are likely to be unfamiliar with predominately minority neighborhoods and communities or what is going on in them (Haiman 46)."

First of all, after reading the section on Haiman I most wanted to comment on the section about diversity. But I had to jump back to our class website to make sure other people were talking about diversity too (Thanks Josie). And it is because I am uncomfortable with the topic. I've grown up in a fairly tolerant world but I have never thought that "tolerant" is enough. One day I would like each race to view the other as nothing more than another human being with different cultural beliefs. And I would like to see an across the board understanding of everyone's cultural beliefs so that it will only be embraced, not discriminated against. BUT we aren't there yet.

I'm glad Haiman addresses this issue and I think it is done well. I chose the above quote because I think, in general, that news is too often blood, guts and mayhem. And if we THINK Hispanics are causing the crime rate to go up, we report on the Hispanic crimes. But if there is a special celebration of Cinco DeMayo, we don't cover it. But we do cover the St. Patrick's Day parade. Why is one holiday more "coverable" than the other? I understand that it depends if something is newsworthy or not, but do we let our prejudices CREATE something newsworthy about one cultural celebration and not the other?

I do think that by doing what Haiman states above will allow for a larger understanding of the many different cultures merged together in America.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/06/fort-hood-shooter-alive

I accessed this through the BBC news site. Upon reflection, it isn't a well written article.  

"While most journalism schools require students to take about 75% of their courses in the liberal arts and sciences, faculty advisers often fail to help students make the connection between a rigorous liberal arts emphasis and the knowledge required to cover complex news topics with authority."

I thought this was very interesting because I (we) attend a Liberal Arts university. I really enjoy seeing Liberal Arts degrees and classes appreciated. Many people don't understand the analytical/deep thinking goes on during these classes. Students are asked to put aside their own biases to learn about another time period or another culture or religion.

So yay! Journalism majors who get that liberal arts core. They are ahead of their peers who only have an English degree because they know what their own biases are and they know how to work around them to learn and report.