The Columbian's feature story was on a Spanish basketball player, Rudy Fernandez, signing with the Blazers for next season.
1. Why should I care? You might care if you are a Blazer fan and many people in this area are as well.
2. What impact will he have on the community? He may draw more Latin/Hispanic kids into the game of basketball and increase the sport's participation in Portland/Vancouver/Salem.
3. Will he be any good? It looks like it. He's considered to be the best player in Europe.
4. What will this mean for the Blazers next year? It means they will most likely make the playoffs, and maybe give the Lakers a run for their money.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Blog 6-Oregon Moms
I feel like the story "Oregon Moms" was soft news simply because in the end, It's up to a mother how she wants to give birth. Obviously, in certain circumstances, a C-Section might have to be performed, or birth given a certain way, but the majority of the time, the parent gets to choose. I felt it was soft news because it was long and there were a lot of interviews, and it jumped around to a bunch of different perspectives. If it was hard news, it would have been a lot more focused, and stayed more in the center. I think the author of this story feels the pressure women are put under to give birth naturally is ridiculous, and she wanted to point out that viewpoint by using some people as extreme examples. I feel that she thinks mothers should give birth in the way they are most comfortable doing so.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Blog 5-Election Media
I noticed that this week, there were a lot more commercials regarding the presidential race because of the Oregon primaries.
Clinton and Obama are both hitting the airwaves pretty hard, and I noticed a lot of McCain commercials too. Also, a lot of news stories are being done, with some focusing on Obama in Corvallis, and how his brother-in-law coaches basketball there, etc.
Hilary seems to be getting less media coverage, but it's still present. I was semi-shocked to see a McCain commercial talking about his environmental policies, and borderline acknowledging climate change. The ad suggested he's going to be a "green president."
Obama's commercials talked mostly about fuel economy and a middle class tax cut. Clinton is saying something about "Together we can get this country on track," but I don't recall any stances on issues. The Oregon Primaries seem to be kicking politics into high gear around here.
Clinton and Obama are both hitting the airwaves pretty hard, and I noticed a lot of McCain commercials too. Also, a lot of news stories are being done, with some focusing on Obama in Corvallis, and how his brother-in-law coaches basketball there, etc.
Hilary seems to be getting less media coverage, but it's still present. I was semi-shocked to see a McCain commercial talking about his environmental policies, and borderline acknowledging climate change. The ad suggested he's going to be a "green president."
Obama's commercials talked mostly about fuel economy and a middle class tax cut. Clinton is saying something about "Together we can get this country on track," but I don't recall any stances on issues. The Oregon Primaries seem to be kicking politics into high gear around here.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Blog 3-NPR Quotes
I listened to an NPR story from the archives online. It was taken from Friday, May 2nd's "Morning Edition." The title was "Pakistan holds peace talks with tribal leaders."
In this piece, quotes were used to used to show both sides of the story. The reporter quoted a tribal leader on his position on the matter, and a pair of local (Pakistani) political experts was quoted to provide a reasonable third-party perspective to the listener.
The quote from the tribal leader wasn't exceptionally elaborate, it was more of an opinion. The political analysts gave elaborate, thoughtful quotes. Another political leader, from the other side of the conflict was simply quoted as saying "They need to back off" regarding the U.S.'s possible involvement.
The quotes were used to get the listener caught up on what was going on if they didn't already know. They weren't especially descriptive, but a couple were well spoken, and well thought out.
In this piece, quotes were used to used to show both sides of the story. The reporter quoted a tribal leader on his position on the matter, and a pair of local (Pakistani) political experts was quoted to provide a reasonable third-party perspective to the listener.
The quote from the tribal leader wasn't exceptionally elaborate, it was more of an opinion. The political analysts gave elaborate, thoughtful quotes. Another political leader, from the other side of the conflict was simply quoted as saying "They need to back off" regarding the U.S.'s possible involvement.
The quotes were used to get the listener caught up on what was going on if they didn't already know. They weren't especially descriptive, but a couple were well spoken, and well thought out.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Blog 2-Good Leads, Bad Leads
In Thursday, April 17th's Columbian, I looked through the A section in search of both a good and a bad lead.
I found a good lead on page A3, in a story titled "Shiites fought in two areas of Iraq". The lead reads: "Clashes with Shiite militiamen flared in two cities Wednesday as a U.S. drone fired two missiles in Basra and U.S. backed Iraqi troops battled in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum." This is a good hard-news lead because it goes straight to the point. While it's a bit long, it's not wordy, and there's no way to shorten it without sacrificing valuable information. I liked the fact that it gives the reader Who, What, When, and Where. The Why is covered in the article's body text, as well. This lead immediately sets the scene and does so effectively.
In a story on the front page titled "Plug to be pulled on chinook season", the lead reads: "The hottest spring chinook salmon angling in the lower Columbia River in decades comes to a close Monday to avoid exceeding the sport-fishing allocation." This is a poor lead due to the fact that it's very wordy, and uses a lot of fishing jargon that many people don't recognize or understand. I had to read it 4 times before I figured out what the writer was actually saying, and if someone set it in front of me and told me to tell them what was happening, or why the season was ending, I would have a difficult time telling them. The lead was simply not very concise, and I'm sure it didn't make a lot of sense to a large portion of the Columbian's readership.
I found a good lead on page A3, in a story titled "Shiites fought in two areas of Iraq". The lead reads: "Clashes with Shiite militiamen flared in two cities Wednesday as a U.S. drone fired two missiles in Basra and U.S. backed Iraqi troops battled in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum." This is a good hard-news lead because it goes straight to the point. While it's a bit long, it's not wordy, and there's no way to shorten it without sacrificing valuable information. I liked the fact that it gives the reader Who, What, When, and Where. The Why is covered in the article's body text, as well. This lead immediately sets the scene and does so effectively.
In a story on the front page titled "Plug to be pulled on chinook season", the lead reads: "The hottest spring chinook salmon angling in the lower Columbia River in decades comes to a close Monday to avoid exceeding the sport-fishing allocation." This is a poor lead due to the fact that it's very wordy, and uses a lot of fishing jargon that many people don't recognize or understand. I had to read it 4 times before I figured out what the writer was actually saying, and if someone set it in front of me and told me to tell them what was happening, or why the season was ending, I would have a difficult time telling them. The lead was simply not very concise, and I'm sure it didn't make a lot of sense to a large portion of the Columbian's readership.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Blog 1-Newsworthy Story
In Sunday's Columbian (April 13), the front page of the Clark County section, Section C had a story with the headline "Suspect in bank robbery arrested". This caught my eye because bank robberies don't seem to occur too often in the area.
Reading on, it turned out that on Friday afternoon, a man robbed an Umpqua Bank branch in Hazel Dell. He handed the teller a note and ran out with the cash, and managed to make his getaway safely. However, an anonymous tip led police to his apartment less than 3 blocks away, where he was arrested. Police identified him based on a photo taken by a bank camera.
The story became really interesting to me in the next paragraph, as it turned out that the bank robber was an old coworker of mine at Salmon Creek Fred Meyer named Alex Bonesteel. He seemed like a cool, laid back person, so I was really surprised to see his name associated with a bank robbery.
Some of the qualities of news covered in this story were Timeliness, Proximity, and Issues in the community. The story was timely because it happened on Friday and the suspect was taken into custody on Saturday, with a court date set for Monday. The bank robbery happened in Clark County, making it in close proximity to the Columbian's readership. Also, crime is an issue in every community, and seeing as robbing a bank falls under the "Crime" category, the bank robbery is a community issue.
Reading on, it turned out that on Friday afternoon, a man robbed an Umpqua Bank branch in Hazel Dell. He handed the teller a note and ran out with the cash, and managed to make his getaway safely. However, an anonymous tip led police to his apartment less than 3 blocks away, where he was arrested. Police identified him based on a photo taken by a bank camera.
The story became really interesting to me in the next paragraph, as it turned out that the bank robber was an old coworker of mine at Salmon Creek Fred Meyer named Alex Bonesteel. He seemed like a cool, laid back person, so I was really surprised to see his name associated with a bank robbery.
Some of the qualities of news covered in this story were Timeliness, Proximity, and Issues in the community. The story was timely because it happened on Friday and the suspect was taken into custody on Saturday, with a court date set for Monday. The bank robbery happened in Clark County, making it in close proximity to the Columbian's readership. Also, crime is an issue in every community, and seeing as robbing a bank falls under the "Crime" category, the bank robbery is a community issue.
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