Jeremy Barrick
EL 200
October 9, 2006
Online News
I chose the following online news sites for their content and how it was
presented to me, I took into consideration the fact that I want to become a journalist, so
the news had to have an appeal and meaning. The first site I visited was
http://www.cnn.com, obviously it is the best way to get your news, this may seem a little
one sided, but the online paper has national news and created headlines that are easy to
follow, reporting on only the important news from around the world. The site is a bit
cluttered with advertisements and news categories ranging from US, World, Travel,
Buisness news, these are the sort of roadblocks that I want to avoid when visiting a news
site.
The second news link I chose was,http://pbs.org/newshour, this was due to my
supporting public broadcasting. The user is able to browse news by clicking a region, and
offers a page for students entitled “ News hour extra”. The site was not crowded, and easy
to navigate. It did not offer much in the way of current events; but, none the less the site
was interesting.
The third news site I visited was, http://journalists.org. The site is a bit boring,
catering to only journalists. There is a membership you need in order to become a part of
“ONA”, online news association. With a annual fee, ranging from twenty five dollars to
Barrick 2
fifty dollars, you can become a member of this elitist society and start producing online
news and attend conferences dedicated to the subject. I found the site to be a bit
prejudiced but possibly for me. If I want to be a journalist then I must meet and learn
from others who show the same interests.
The fourth online news sit I clicked on was, http://nytimes.com. Loved it, there
was no content that I despised, anything you need to know, locally or internationally, it
was in there. One of the best I love content and the http://nytimes.com offered it with
video and colorful pictures. Not as crowded as http://www.cnn.com, although there could
be a debate between the two publications as to which one is better. An entire newspaper
online, just click and go, no payment rendered, awesome!
The fifth and final paper I looked over was, http://freedomforum.org. I totally
abused this site as a journalist, protecting my right, what I can say, what I can do is very
important to me. The site offers articles of events categorized by which amendment they
fall under. I never knew such a site existed until this particular assignment or could due to
being so liberal.
The two college online editions I stumbled upon were,http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/
And http://pittnews.com. The two offered articles about news around the city and on
campus. The sites were colorful, and offered pictures to go with the stories. What I found
interesting about the Pitt paper is that it had a classified and police blotter section. A
parent has to think, what kind of area is my son/ daughter living in? An awareness
section, in my opinion. http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/ is more based on the campus, a bit
drab for somebody who does not attend the university. I chose the two to contrast one
Barrick 3
another. I would like the Setonian to be more like Pitt’s paper, full of content, pictures,
and outside reporting, what’s going on locally. The students of Seton Hill are oblivious to
the events and goings on around the city of Greensbug, those who do not have vehicles or
a way to get off campus. The audience will respond more if the online print understands
the students better and caters to them and other students on other campuses.
Leave a comment