InkTank

Piloting a Story

When a hole ripped in the fuselage of Southwest flight 812 on April 1, and the airline grounded 79 planes for inspection the next day, The New York Times reported on the unnerving events.

The first thing I noticed about the April 3 story was the discrepancy in the flight altitude among the different news organizations. The NYTimes reported the plane had been flying at 35,000 feet when the incident occurred. The Los Angeles Times said 34,000, and USA Today reported 36,000 feet. It is difficult to tell which news organization has the right facts in this case, but this was not the only problem between their reporting.

". . . must be satire piece, right??" I wish.

A recent article on MSNBC.com reported that Transocean Ltd. has handed out safety bonuses to its' top executives. This same company, contracts with BP, and ran the oil rig that exploded causing the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

This tragedy killed 11 workers and caused the worst marine environmental crisis in the history of the United States.

 

I will critique the coverage of the article in a moment, but due to the content of the article I can't help but agree with what one reader commented on the article.

This news article must be a satire piece, right??

I wish.

Unfortunately, this is a straightforward news articles put together by professional journalists. Overall, it's done well.

Here is how the article opens.

Balancing the budget story

I'm not a beast hater. The LA Times coverage of the GOP budget proposal begins with a W5H lede and I think it's great. Hard news stories should explain what is going on in the first paragraph.

 

"Reporting from Washington — Pressing their differences with President Obama, House Republicans will propose a 2012 federal budget Tuesday that includes an overhaul of Medicareand Medicaid and would aim to chop at least $4 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade," wrote the LA Times.

People want to know what is going on and they want to know it as fast as possible. A beast lede provides the information as quickly and simply as you can put it. The who, what, where, when, why is interesting enough to put in the first paragraph.

The writer did a good job of maintaining clarity within the story by shying away from economic jargon that often becomes confusing to the average reader. It's understandable to write using more technical terms for a niche publication, but the LA Times covers a wide range of stories.

"The plan would distribute funding to states for Medicaid, the program that provides healthcare to the poor and disabled, by block grants, rather than by formula," wrote the LA Times.

Jargon causes disinterest and frustration for readers who are looking to understand a complicated story. There are many complicated issues that are part of the budget debate and the writer does a good job of articulating the current situation with good quotes and background information.

The LA Times coverage is very similar to the story run in the Wall Street Journal. I was surprised to find how simple the story was written in the WSJ because it is a business newspaper geared towards business people who understand economic lingo. 

Though some of the quotes were taken from TV broadcast interviews, the writer attempted to talk with speaker John Boehner's office which is shown in the story.

This story has balance by showing what the Democrats want to happen with the budget and what the cuts are that GOPers want. The writer adds information about President Barack Obama's budget plan that was proposed last year and compares it to the demands of the GOP budget plan.

 

The story also included a touchy issue that is at the front of the budget debate: Medicare. It presented concerns from the left and then had quotes from House Budget Committee Chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) that explained what the GOP plan would do with Medicare.

"More for the poor, more for people who are sick, and we don't give as much to the people who are wealthy," Ryan said. "This saves Medicare."

People who read this story should leave with a good understanding of the current budget situation. It's not a simple problem and there are a lot of specific details that the writer did not have in the article, but the story does a good job of informing the masses on the current budget crisis.

 

 

Wizards Win Over Cavs

According to the Washington Post the April Fool's Day match up between the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers was suppose to be all that the day of April 1st entails, a bad joke.

But the Wizards  fought through the doubt that surrounded them as they went into last Friday's game and pulled out a historic 115-107 win against the Cavaliers.

The win was considered historic due to the fact that Jordan Crawford got his first triple double of his career, adding to John Wall's triple double earlier in the season. The Wizards became the first team in NBA history to have two rookies score a triple-double in the same season.

In comparison to the Washington Post, the Washington Times had the best coverage of the momentous win.

Baby Emerson: the newest YouTube sensation?

     Some grandparents are so proud of their grandchildren that they want the whole world to know of the child's accomplishments, even if said accomplishment means reacting excitedly when his mother blows her nose.

   This is the topic of Canadian journalist James Keller's recent piece, as the article delves into the growing controversy of possible future embarrassment for YouTube's viral video child prodigies.  

    Keller does a good job of explaining the background of the situation, even giving quotes from grandfather Dave Helwig. The quotes reveal an innocent joy in Helwig's first grandchild, and his eagerness to share this delight with anyone who would watch the 59-second video.

“After I got about 15 seconds into the video and I saw that scared look, I just immediately decided that we should be posting it,” recalls Helwig. “So many people were just delighted,” he adds, referring to the reaction on the web.

    Linking to other youthful YouTube sensations "Charlie Bit My Finger" and "David After Dentist," Keller raises the ethical question of whether or not it is appropriate to post videos of one's children on a public site. 

    Citing the newest viral video "Emerson--Mommy's Nose is Scary," Keller explains the story behind the video, which received over ten million views since its posting on March 14. The video had originally been sent by Emerson's parents to Dave Helwig, grandfather of the five-and-a-half month old baby.

"When he first saw the video of young Emerson, posted by the child's mother, the YouTube counter showed it had attracted exactly zero views. A week after Helwig posted it to sootoday.com, the online news site where he works as news director in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., that number had grown to 17,000."

       The article also mentions little Emerson's newfound fame, such as his sightings on The Today Show and Good Morning America.

"McJobs" on the Move

Doesn't everyone in America, scratch that, in the world, know what McDonald's is?

This is the question that struck me and stuck with me about a recent Chicago Tribune article titled "McDonald's faces tall order in trying to sell McJobs".

The article seemed to want to explain what McDonalds's was and why it was important.  This is great journalism in principle; however, due to the popularity of McDonald's and the fact that it employs 600,000 workers nationwide, the article seemed to work to hard to paint the immensity of the corporation.

The article reads, "the Oak Brook-based burger giant is tackling the image of a 'McJob' (not sourcing this term)."

The broader story itself is one of a giant franchise attempting to re-brand what employment with the corporation means.

Another day for innacurate pope coverage

Once again, a well-meaning reporter failed to do some basic research on religion--specifically, Catholicism--and the article suffered as a result. Even from the title of the Huffington Post article "John Paul II's Living Will," it is a sign that author Jon M. Sweeney did not do his research properly.

Pope John Paul II did not have a living will. But more on that later on. 

The troubles in this article begin with its lede:

"It is amazing how quickly the beloved Pope John Paul II seems to have faded from public memory. Six years after his death (on April 2, 2005), it is difficult to find many people talking about his life and legacy anymore."

Since a lede is supposed to tell you something about the story,  it would make sense to think that this article would discuss the lack of recent coverage about the deceased pontiff. This does not connect with the title involving a living will.

The actual innacuracies of the story's coverage begin soon after:

" [John Paul II's] official beatification is coming next. It could happen any day now."

Embarrassingly for the article's author, it was back in January that the Vatican released the date of John Paul II's beatification--which will include him being referred to as "Blessed John Paul II"--will be May 1, 2011.

After blundering in that regard, the article tries to explain how Pope John Paul II's cause for canonization is happening. Interestingly enough, it manages to stay just short of definite error when outlining the circumstances.

"Saintly miracles almost always come about as a result of prayers made to the candidate after his or her death. If a healing or some other special result happens, it is said that the candidate has interceded to God in heaven for the favorable response."

Perhaps the author did not phrase this in the most elegant way, in contrast to the National Catholic Register's excellent story on the matter. But he is not technically incorrect: he says that Catholics pray for intercession of the deceased person, as opposed to praying to him directly.

Confined or Locked?

 

                Scott Powers, a reporter for The Orlando Sentinel, was cramped inside a closet during a fundraiser for Vice President Biden.  The event was held at the Winter Park, Florida home of developer and philanthropist Alan Gisburg.  The Drudge Report offered a quickly written account of what had happened with the word “Developing...” at the bottom of the brief article.  Beneath, Drudge posted a Daily Mail link expanded on the story.  The reporter, Simon Neville, lede’s the story from a different angle, writing that an aide to the Vice President had apologized to the reporter “who was locked in a closet for hours after he was invited to cover a Florida political fundraiser because they did not want him talking with the guests.”

 

What’s interesting is the word “locked.”  If the reporter was locked inside the closet, unable to get out, then one could argue that he was being imprisoned, which would change the entire tone of the story.  

The Drudge Report used the word “confined” when first posting a report about the situation.  Drudge also uses a quote from the reporter who said, “When I’d stick my head out, they’d say, ‘Not yet.  We’ll let you know when you can come out.’” 

 If the reporter could stick his head out, he was not locked inside the closet but rather confined to it as instructed by the authorities at the fundraiser.  I found this article interesting because sometimes all it takes is one word to change an entire story.  Although locked may have sounded better and would have surely been more interesting, more questions should have been asked on the reporter's end to find out exactly what Powers circumstances were.  

The article also appealed to me becaise I find it incredibly annoying when journalists are discouraged from doing their job and are treated in a suppressive way. 

Powers agreed, saying to The Daily Mail that ‘It was frustrating and annoying that I was not given a chance to do my job fully and properly.”

The Daily Mail mentioned Florida’s state law which defines kidnapping as ‘forcibly, secretly or by threat confining, abducting or imprisoning another person against her or his will and without lawful authority.’

 Biden’s Press Secretary Elizabeth Alexander said that “This was the unfortunate mistake of an inexperienced staffer and the vice president's office has made sure it will never happen again.” 

 She said that the closet was chosen because it was in close proximity to the room where Biden was speaking and had a table and chair for the reporter to work.

Sure looks like it. 

 Although The Daily Mail’s article, which Drudge chose to put on his homepage, had reported the incident specifically and in depth, an article written by Chris Moody from The Daily Caller took the story one step further and dug up the other incidents where Biden’s staff had journalists ‘caged’ during  previous engagements.  Moody mentions a March 2010 Biden fundraiser where Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton was forced to wait an hour in what he “jokingly called a ‘cage’” guarded by the Vice President’s staff.  

 

The 'Kill Team' and the blurred line

Rolling Stone's March 27 article 'Kill Team,' written by Mark Boal, is shocking, revealing and a prime example of hard-hitting investigative journalism. Unfortunately, Rolling Stone did not see fit to let the contents of the article stand for themselves.

DC's Latest Status

The Washington Post recently reported on the latest census statistics that resulted in a remarkable change for the District. 

According to the Post, "the number of African Americans residing in the District plummeted by more than 11 percent during the past decade, with blacks on the verge of losing their majority status in the city for the first time in half a century."

The article goes on to give statistics for the population noting that the black population "dropped by more than 39,000 over the decade, down to 301,000 of the city’s 601,700." While the " non-Hispanic white population skyrocketed by more than 50,000 to 209,000 residents, almost a third higher than a decade earlier."  

No doubt this is a huge change for Washington, given its history and nickname "Chocolate City". The Post tackled the topic with great thought and sincerity.