JOU Articles: week 1

Article 1: 11 Foods Your Dentist Wouldn't Touch. Written by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding of Men's Health Magazine on Jan 15, 2010.

When I first started reading this article about the supposed surprisingly vast amounts of sugar in certain foods, I was a bit confused. The lead-in to the story was supposed to grab my attention and get me interested in the article. It did that, but only because I wanted to see what the heck was going on. It was definitely strange reading at first. The rest of the article was very factual, and the presentation was neat and orderly. There was no reason for me to think the sources weren't reliable, and I actually learned a few things by reading this. Technically the story isn't really "fair" because it is clearly telling you to avoid certain products based on their sugar content. The author is clearly stating alternatives to mainstream products like coke and oscar meyer. That doesn't bother me, though, because in this case it comes across as purely factual and unbiased. If I were a journalist, I might have chosen instead to present the items with more testimonies from actual people. I want to hear about cases where someone choosing these sugar-loaded foods experienced negative consequences. That would really help convince me that these things should be avoided.

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Article 2: Inventor Killed in Ohio Plane Crash Described as "Brilliant". Written by Lise Fisher of The Gainesville Sun on January 19, 2010.

This story was about a man named Donald Brown who, along with 3 others, including his wife, was killed in a plane crash. The writing in this story was particularly boring, and I felt no connection to the people involved, not even to the son who lost his parents. The main source was a friend of Brown's, who also happened to be the current Mayor of Avon. I was disappointed that again, the son was somewhat neglected. Although, he may not have been willing to give an interview, I feel that if I were writing this story I would've tried harder to get a family member to speak about the deceased. Also, why this story decided to simply focus on the achievements and quirks of only one of the passengers who died is strange to me. The other people, including Brown's wife, could be considered just as important.

Article- OK. I couldn't find the article after I had some formatting troubles on this blog. Now that it's fixed, I went to find it again and POOF. I couldn't. Sorry!
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Article 3: Reliving Horror in a Test for the Death Penalty. Written by William Glaberson of The New York Times on Jan 18, 2010.

This article was about the pending trials for the murderers who killed 3 people in Connecticut a few years ago. In a story where the sensitive issue of capital punishment is discussed, particularly the issue of the death penalty. The writing by Mr. Glaberson in this article is SO much improved from the first two I read. He was eloquent and unbiased, and yet I still felt a deep emotional connection to the persons involved. I felt immense sadness for the father who lost his wife and two daughters in one night, and at the same time I wondered what brought those two men to commit those acts and why. The story, even though it was all about whether or not these men could get the death penalty, was even-handed in the presentation of facts about some states which do not support this form of punishment. There were testimonies from those who whole-heartedly support the death of these killers, as well as comments from defense attorneys pleading their side of the issue. All in all it was a great article that flowed well and I don't think I could have written it better myself.

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Article 4: At least 600,000 Cribs Recalled After Child Death. Written by Natasha Metzler of the Associated Press on Jan 19, 2010.

This was a short article about a recall of cribs after a 6-month-old boy strangled to death. The writing was very informative and got right to the source of the issue, which I appreciated in this case. A lot of the times writers will use superfluous language to get a point across and sometimes I feel it's not needed. This simply came across as a quick "HEY" message to all parents out there who own this defective crib, and it lets people know of the dangers in owning one. The story is a little one-sided but maybe that's to be expected considering the issue. There was a ton of info on how dangerous the cribs are, and although an official statement of apology/assurance from the crib company was included, it seemed like an afterthought. If I were reporting on this story I would have tried to dig deeper into defective crib company to try and make sure this problem was being taken care of. I wouldn't have been satisfied with a simple cookie-cutter PR response. It seemed disingenuous.

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