JOU Articles: week 10

Article 1: 7 Things Never to Say to Your Boss. Written by Karen Burns from US News on March 17, 2010.

I love all the little "how to make your life awesome" columns where I learn more about how to live correctly from a journalist and other "specialists". Instead of actively looking for this one, I specifically picked it because I started reading it on my own-- I would do this more often, but I didn't want to over-saturate my blog with the same type of article. I felt like the info in the story was helpful but just a little obvious for the average person. I liked how there wasn't really an outside source in this publication because the writer herself is an author of a book all about career advice. She's her own source! Also, since there weren't any specific persons to report on, there weren't any quotes either, which is okay. I really enjoyed writing reflecting on something that's just a little bit different from all the other articles I've been reading over the past few weeks.

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Article 2: Behind 'Runaways' Film, Legal Battle Simmers. Written by Hollywood Reporter from Reuters on March 19, 2010.

I was astonished to find that this article was way more informative than first glance would suggest. I figured it would just be solely about the bickering between some people about how "this chick didn't agree to have herself portrayed in a movie, blah blah blah". Instead, on top of all that, there was even a little bit of educational matter that included some of the inner-working about what is actually allowed in life-rights lawsuits, etc. I got to learn more about something that I didn't know much about before. The coverage was even and fair, getting opinions from both ladies on either side of the argument. The structure of the story was nice and easy to follow because whenever the topic changed, not only did a new paragraph start, but it had a separate smaller title to distinguish it from the rest of the article, which was nice. It even had a picture, which is not uncommon on an internet article, but welcome nevertheless.

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Article 3: Beware the Ides of March. Written by Steve Otto of The Tampa Tribune on March 19, 2010.

This had to be one of the most confusing and just plain awful pieces of professional journalism I have ever had the displeasure of reading. It hardly made any damn sense! I'm pretty sure the only piece of real information I got from this was that it was about a Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners meeting. Otto has his own opinion column, obviously, so it's not like I'm just disagreeing with his opinion-- his writing in this story is so convoluted and hard to understand! Throughout the entire article he is throwing around quotes from Shakespeare, and then comparing it to how it would be translated into something said by the debating Commissioners, or something like that. When he wasn't quoting someone else, he was using words that were WAY too advanced for the average reader and made himself sound bloated and self-important. This technique got SO old SO quickly, and half the time he would use quotes to start a paragraph, which was awful. They'd be in a sentence all their own, so the search for the explanations on these drifting quotes was tedious and frustrating. Maybe I'm a simpleton for not grasping such a "sophisticated" writing technique, but this evoked no reaction, no emotion whatsoever. It's flat-out crap unfit to line a hamster's cage.

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Article 4: Pope Does Not Mention Rebuke to Irish Bishops. Written by Frances D'Emilio of the Associated Press on March 21, 2010.

I had been loosely following this story's thread the past few weeks, and I decided to see where the story was heading since the last time I read about it. My main concern was the amount of sources. Don't get me wrong, I love a well-sourced article (it gives me reassurance of the credibility), but this is one situation where it went a little too far beyond what I think is necessary. It looked very cool and official with all of the helpful quotes and stuff, but it pulled me all over the place and made the story a tad hard to follow. Every other sentenced switched between which source was talking, and I got discouraged and my mind began to wander. Because of all this buzzing, I feel like the lead of the story got buried. I can hardly conclude for myself what the final overall opinion (for lack of a better word) is, so I can hardly conclude that this is worth reading.

Final verdict: I didn't strike gold this week, that's for sure.

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