A River Prone to Flooding, and Misunderstanding

Verdict: Craigslist killer planned to murder

National:

Obama Sets New Afghan Strategy

After holding tight to GM’s helm, CEO Wagoner forced out as part of government turnaround plan

World:

China Vies to Be World’s Leader in Electric Cars

Living just a few hours from Fargo, the Red River flooding has been a big deal.  I was talking to a friend of mine who goes to NDSU and they’ve been out of school for 3 weeks due to flooding.   This particular article is focusing on the river beginning to recede.   Like most NY Times articles, the lead didn’t exactly follow the formats that we’ve talked about in class.  It was more of an attention-grabber.  I tried to pay close attention to attributions and sourcing and took note of a variety of different sources and types of attribution.  Some were clearly on the record and attributed to a person whereas some were not entirely on the record and rather for attribution or background, such as ‘scientists’.  There was also a lot of information that Kirk Johnson most likely didn’t know off the top of his head.  He was able to use a lot of gathered information as background.

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National: Coast Guard suspends search for NFL players, friend: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/03/florida.missing.boaters/index.html?iref=newssearch

Steep Market Drops Highlight Despair Over Rescue Efforts: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/business/worldbusiness/03markets.html?th&emc=th

State/Local:  2 teens shot at Southdale Mall: http://www.startribune.com/local/west/40458982.html?elr=KArksUUUU

Gambling to finance a stadium for the Vikings?: http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/40795377.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU

I really enjoyed following the news this week in order to be able to pull stories from the entire week for my blog.  The story that was developing this week and I became somewhat obsessed with was about the 4 men missing after a fishing trip in the Gulf.  Because the story was continually developing all week, the story where that announced the Coast Guard had called off its search became almost the end.  Both the headline and the lead of the story let the reader know exactly what was up.  It transitioned immediately into a quote from one of the missing men’s fathers, saying that they aren’t giving up hope.  By the end of the story, it was virtually the same thing that I’d been reading all week.   I’m sure that the writer did this because if a person had been keeping up with the story, they wouldn’t need to keep reading the same information they already knew.  The who, what, when, where, why and how were all answered clearly and as far as news goes I didn’t have any questions after this.  The quotes chosen added to the story and were powerful.  Details were given, but nothing that made the story purple.  I thought it was a well-written piece of news that informed me and kept my attention while doing so.

Taliban Accepts Pakistan Cease-Fire http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/world/asia/25pstan.html?th&emc=th

National:

1.  Obama Vows, ‘We Will Rebuild’ and ‘Recover’ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/us/politics/25obama.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

2. Citing Cost, States Consider End to Death Penalty http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/us/25death.html?th&emc=th

Local:

1.  Snowplow kills pedestrian in Minneapolis http://www.startribune.com/local/40404267.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUs

2.  Seven RNC lawsuits filed against police http://www.startribune.com/40399992.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

The national story entitled ‘Obama Vows, ‘We Will Rebuild’ and ‘Recover” was what I found to be one of th emost significant stories this week.  His address to congress has been anticipated for weeks with millions wondering what he would have to say about our economic state today.  The lead seemed long to me, and I realized how true it is that readers have short attention span.  STill, because I’m aware of how much this story affects me I continued to read.  The story was long and I had trouble focusing to the end, but because I watched the entire address I enjoyed seeing how a professional journalist talked about it.  This was more of a story telling type of story. Obviously not a feature like we’re talking about in class right now, and still straight news but with more details put into it.

National:

1.“$275 Billion Plan Seeks to Address Housing Crisis” – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/business/19housing.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1235104281-sXoPqRv+fp97zzTfi3MsKQ

2.  “Ellison is moved by damage in Gaza” – http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/house/39851042.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Local:

1. “Minn. House bill urges tighter rules for guardians” http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/39758497.html?elr=KArksUUUU

2.  “Judges shoot down Coleman request on excluded ballots” – http://www.twincities.com/ci_11735544?nclick_check=1

The international story about the Swiss bank had a lead that grabbed my attention immediately.  The first sentence didn’t give much information but following was a nutgraph which gave some of the most relevant information to the story.  The quote came a bit later and said that this pretty much puts an end to Swiss banking as we know it.  I think that that was a great quote to use because it gave the impact of the story.  I think that the inverted pyramid was definitely used well because the beginning really interested me but as I neared the end I found that I had lost interest and was almost confused by what the story was talking about.  This is obviously a story where the writer is assumed to be a credible source and trusted by many.  The average person can’t talk to bank officials in Switzerland.  This story was extremely informative and I”m interested to see what happens in the days to come.

National: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020303935.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05health.html?_r=1&ref=politics

Minnesota/Local: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S776536.shtml?cat=1

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s774649.shtml?cat

The article about Obama signing a children’s health insurance bill into law has been one of the biggest stories this week.  Just two weeks into his Presidency, Obama is already holding true to promises he made to the United States.  It was clear that the reporter, Robert Pear,  researched lots of background information and conducted interviews in order to hear from other people.  He found people such as a California Democratic Representative to give him information in order to help his credibility.  He made sure to talk to people who don’t quite agree with the new law so that the story remained unbiased.  All of these elements showed how thorough of a reporter he is and help to qualify the story as news.