1. This is from Sara Morgan: A great article about the UC budget cuts and rising tuition costs. This is a great piece news-wise as the cost of a UC education is going up. But, something to consider is the cost of the UCs is still considerably less than other equivalent schools. Is the rising cost of in-state tuition a problem? Will that drive more people to private schools? Will that force the UCs to go the route of U of Oregon -- take more out of state students to balance the cost cuts?
2. Gifts are useful; give me cash: Jamie actually brought this article to my attention for the catchy lead. The subject is interesting, but it's the lead that really makes this piece stand out. What are your thoughts on this style of lead? Catchy? Misleading? Makes you want to read on? What kinds of Voice pieces could we use this for?
3. Precious & The Blind Side: This is a fabulous compare and contrast piece by NYT reviewer A.O. Scott. He looks at both films, their coinciding release dates, and the social commentary they make on African-American life. How does A.O. Scott establish his credibility? Does he succeed in making comparisons between to the two films? What topics might Voice writers be able to take on using this format?
4. A late edition after I went through Saturday's Times: Far Away From Field, N.F.L. Blog is a Player. This is a great piece on how a blogger got himself on the football map. He's done some great things -- trying to become a 24/7 football source -- but has also made some mistakes along the way. Is this the future of sporting news, die-hard fans getting enough attention to make national news? Will this eventually compete with the more standard idea of news?
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2. Gifts are useful; give me cash:
The "what-if" style lead of this article that went on to explain something so elementary as cash was very catchy. When I read it I immediately thought "Back to the future" which was effective in showing a key point of the article which was: if we think completely out of the box we might just end up back in it. We might be able to use this type of lead for any news piece that talks about up and coming technology or even changes to the school. Maybe even feature pieces that could start off with a "dream sequence" of some sort and then snap back to reality.
3. Precious & The Blind Side:
A.O Scott never mentions anything about himself, but shows his knowledge and passion with the subject by displaying the obvious research and analysis of the two films that he has done. He definitely shows how the two films are different perspectively and he uses concrete examples to do so. It was similar to the "compare and contrast with evidence" style of writing that we use in history class. We could use this style for point-counterpoint pieces such as the skiing vs. snowboarding article we just did.
I read the article about Mike Florio, the owner and creator of Pro Football Talk. Having read this blog in the past, I had some prior knowledge of Florio's work, but I had never read about the origins of the site or its grassroots success.
I think that Florio's story, in some ways, reflects the future of the 24-hour news cycle. As more and more people get on the Internet and open their minds up to new experiences, hobbies, interests, etc., they will begin to crave 24/7 coverage of whatever topics they are interested in. People like Mike Florio will be there to provide them with the information they seek, carving out a niche in the media that will allow them to be successful.
I actually hope that this begins to happen more often. As it currently stands, there are too few large corporations that own too much of a market share in our media today. It is guys like Florio who will start to chip away at the monopolies these corporations hold and really bring back integrity to an industry that has been overrun by corruption and bias. Though Florio ultimately did partner with NBC, the fact that he kept the relationship to a partnership instead of a full-on takeover is extremely important, and is representative of Florio's entrepreneurial goals. Hopefully more bloggers begin to gain success in the same way he has. More competition in any market can only benefit the consumer.
GIFTS ARE USEFUL; GIVE ME CASH:
When I first read the lead, my first thought was that the article was purely about the versatility of cash. Although it was slightly misleading, I thought it was an interesting comparison between cash and gift cards. The lead asks questions that point us to an object that we use every day. It highlights the appeal of something as simple as cash. For the voice, I think we could do an like this on say texting vs. calling or even to look at new products/technology on the market.
UC Budget Cuts:
I feel like this is a topic that I have heard so much on this topic and going into the article I was not expecting to hear anything new. However, the lead drew me in with a very tangible number. The 8% paycut was a number I could actually process. The writer did a good job of using evidence of the crisis on a personal level. Although the article did go on to mention larger numbers about the whole UC system and the California budget crisis, the focus was on specific students and faculty. So instead of learning about the economic crisis as a whole, I found some good information on UC Berkeley.
Marshall Levensohn
Gifts are useful; give me cash:
The different aspects of gift cards in the article shed light on why gift cards really aren't that useful, but yet we still commonly buy them for so many special occasions. I enjoyed how the author incorporated his family into the article to make an important point about the cards. As he pointed out that giving gift cards meant that the buyer would have some control over what the receiver would get, I also thought that buying a gift card shows thoughtfulness rather than just giving cash. He also gave great background information about the cards and how they have evolved to be much more than a mechanism to buy something. This is a great example of how technology is greatly involved in society and often preferred to what we used to use.
Pro Football Talk
I guess there really are people who eat sleep and breathe a certain hobby. Mike Florio and his blog clearly demonstrate this. From blog posts and 4:30 in the morning to keeping up to date with the entire NFL and all of its news its got to be hard work. On top of this hard work he has a real job too. I follow football closely and keeping up to date is very time consuming as there are always so many injuries or others are in the public spotlight for not demonstrating the best judgement. (Plaxico Burress, Ben Rothelisberger, Marshawn Lynch, Michael Vick, the list goes much further) Its clear that football has taken over this mans life, so much he drove 15 hours to go the Super Bowl, since he doesn't like to fly. The author clearly depicts that Mike Florio is devoted.
Gift Cards Are Useful; Give Me Cash
The lead in this article was effective because it did not tell the entire story in the first line. All too often we can read the first two or three sentences in an article and get an almost complete picture of what the article is about, so we have no need to read on. Instead, the speculation in this lead left me curious.
This article was clearly written, organized, and had the right amount of humor. With all of the statistics, this was a hard topic to make accessible to the reader. The writer accomplished this purpose by inserting himself (and his wife) into the story and voicing his own opinion.
This article also caused me to think about my own experiences with gift cards. I share with others the mentality that giving cash is crass, although I would much rather get cash than a gift card. Most of the gift cards that I get I never even use. Obviously gift cards make no sense economically for the buyer/recipient, so it must be the emotional aspect that causes people to give gift cards. Gift cards are a balance between showing that you have put thought into someone’s gift (showing that you care about that person) and giving that person something that he will like.
NFL Blog is a Player-
I definitely agree with Nish that there is a growing need for constant news, as evidenced by outlets like twitter. The problem with running a news source out of your house, like the author mentioned, is accuracy. However, with lots of mainstream sources being questioned for their accuracy, mistakes may be inevitable.
I think constant feed news sources will begin to compete with mainstream media for business, but they have major problems with profitability and driving traffic. For either type of media to be successful in the long run, they probably need to find some kind of compromise, like this blogger did with NBC.
Budget Cuts
Reading this really informed me about how desperate the situation at the UCs and especially Berkeley is. I really liked the way that the reporter let the quotes give the idea of hopelessness so that his actual writing remained rather impartial. I think it's really sad that California is dismantling such a successful institution of education, and I think it's awful that people my age won't be able to get the wonderful education that previous students were able to receive. I also think it's horrible that they are cutting so much that research programs are going to be terminated and professors are going to leave. It seems to mark an end of a great reign of education which is sad. I hope that the state of California realizes its horrible mistake and re-fund the UCs.
Precious and the Blind Side
I thought this was very interesting, and I liked the way the writer compared the two, flipping back and forth so you never got bored with one movie. I also thought his analysis was interesting. The fact that two movies from virtually opposite ends of the Hollywood Arena tend to have the same message. Since it was Op/Ed I guess it was alright that he blatantly favored Precious over The Blind Side, although the article kind of confused me because it was half review and half comparing and contrasting. Still, it was an interesting article, and having just seen The Blind Side myself, I want to see Precious to see what he was talking about. Therefore, I think the review was very effective, and it was enjoyable to read.
Gifts are useful; give me cash:
Like Neha, I feel that the "what if" style lead brings a certain element of appeal to the article. It leaves me no choice but to read the rest of the article to actually determine, well, "what if?". I think that the most attractive part of the lead is that there is a sense of uncertainty you could say, because of the broad approach to the topic of cash versus gift cards. And in addition to this the lead leaves you wondering, "suppose someone did invent something like this". Sometimes, if a lead reveals too much, the reader may become uninterested because everything they need to know about the article has already been put into the lead.
Precious and The Blind Side:
I especially liked this article after having seen The Blind Side over the weekend, but also because of the creative similarities that A.O. Scott draws from the two films, but also, some of the differences. While watching The Blind Side, I continued to wonder what exactly had happened in Michael Oher's past, but the explanation was always very vague. A.O. Scott does a good job of comparing and contrasting a film such as Precious, an independent film which could be considered much more realistic and "raw", to a film such as The Blind Side which is a much more "conventional product" built around Hollywood and the expectation that it will be "socially acceptable". For The Voice, we could compare and contrast things such as sports games or theatre productions we've had, or maybe some of the different ethnicity groups on campus.
"Gifts cards are useful; give me cash"
This lead was awesome, and I think the thing that was so great about it was how easy it was to relate to. Everybody, at some point, wishes that instead of receiving gift cards to places they will never go, they were just given cash instead. I think it's becoming increasingly important for news outlets to try and grab readers' attentions any way they can think of, and by using such a simple but relatable lead, i think the Journal does just that. I think the class, and to a larger extent the editors, should start working on our lead-writing skills. The ability to catch a reader's attention is one that is vital in today's news world.
Precious and the Blind Side:
First of all, I think that this is a wonderfully written article. Im all for bullet points and dashes in articles to give quick accesible information. Comparing two movies is often done using the bullet point format, but this article weaves the two together in a well written tightly wound piece
Second, the controversy caused by the movies is expected but necessary. Racism is real and its ever more present in today's world, and if history is an indicator, the American public does not like for its faults to be explored publicly. Just because we have an African-American president and no longer segregate water fountains does not mean that we have eliminated America's racist tendencies. Schools are no longer blatantly segregated; they are now carefully and surreptitiously segregated where anyone who questions this is delusional. America is constantly praising its own values of freedom, and do-whatever-you-want attitude, but as seen in Precious, the values it holds so dearly often cause segregation and ridicule. If anyone from a foreign country were to criticize our eating habits, we respond with our beliefs in freedom, but those who are overweight are still looked down upon in society. Overall this article not only opens the eyes of Americans, but forcefully pries their hands off of their eyes, and holds their eyelids open until they genuinely realize the truth.
Precious and the Blind Side:
First of all, I think that this is a wonderfully written article. Im all for bullet points and dashes in articles to give quick accesible information. Comparing two movies is often done using the bullet point format, but this article weaves the two together in a well written tightly wound piece
Second, the controversy caused by the movies is expected but necessary. Racism is real and its ever more present in today's world, and if history is an indicator, the American public does not like for its faults to be explored publicly. Just because we have an African-American president and no longer segregate water fountains does not mean that we have eliminated America's racist tendencies. Schools are no longer blatantly segregated; they are now carefully and surreptitiously segregated where anyone who questions this is delusional. America is constantly praising its own values of freedom, and do-whatever-you-want attitude, but as seen in Precious, the values it holds so dearly often cause segregation and ridicule. If anyone from a foreign country were to criticize our eating habits, we respond with our beliefs in freedom, but those who are overweight are still looked down upon in society. Overall this article not only opens the eyes of Americans, but forcefully pries their hands off of their eyes, and holds their eyelids open until they genuinely realize the truth.
Precious and the Blind Side:
First of all, I think that this is a wonderfully written article. Im all for bullet points and dashes in articles to give quick accesible information. Comparing two movies is often done using the bullet point format, but this article weaves the two together in a well written tightly wound piece
Second, the controversy caused by the movies is expected but necessary. Racism is real and its ever more present in today's world, and if history is an indicator, the American public does not like for its faults to be explored publicly. Just because we have an African-American president and no longer segregate water fountains does not mean that we have eliminated America's racist tendencies. Schools are no longer blatantly segregated; they are now carefully and surreptitiously segregated where anyone who questions this is delusional. America is constantly praising its own values of freedom, and do-whatever-you-want attitude, but as seen in Precious, the values it holds so dearly often cause segregation and ridicule. If anyone from a foreign country were to criticize our eating habits, we respond with our beliefs in freedom, but those who are overweight are still looked down upon in society. Overall this article not only opens the eyes of Americans, but forcefully pries their hands off of their eyes, and holds their eyelids open until they genuinely realize the truth.
CLAIRE:
Gifts are useful; give me cash:
I loved the lead in this piece because it immediately drew me into the story, like an excellent lead should. I was intrigued about the subject of the article and this "magical type of gift card". The subject of this article was cash, and normally that isn't a very interesting subject, but the way this writer opened the article and the writing style they used really created a great story. I agree with Neha in the ways we can use this style of leads in the voice. The "what-if" style is a good hook, which is important in our stories.
Precious and The Blind Side:
A.O Scott did a good job analyzing the two films, The Blind Side, and Precious. I like the way he compared and contrasted the films using different aspects such as the way they were made, Precious being an independent film, and The Blind Side being a hollywood film. In the beginning of the article I thought that Scott was unbiased and was giving a review of each of the movies, but as the article went on I noticed that he favored Precious over The Blind Side. I agree with Jen, because I was confused as to if this article was a review or op-ed. But overall I really liked the review because it gave me good insights to each of the movies and now I really want to see them.
Jamie M.
Gifts are useful: give me cash:
I really enjoyed this article because the main point resonates with me. Cash beats gift cards. My main problem with gift cards is that I either lose them or forget them. Something about having to store them away until the day that I go to the store where they're applicable proves too challenging for me. Or if I do remember to bring them, upon checkout I learn that it has expired and is now worthless. And having brought the gift card in place of the cash I would usually bring I can't make the purchase I was planning on so I go home empty handed, whereas had the gift just been cash none of this would've happened. As for the intro I really liked how it drew me in, and I can see how a similar intro could be applied to one of our stories. It would especially work for a story proposing a seemingly obvious but good idea.
2. Gift Cards are Useful,Give Me Cash:
The lead of this story was very interesting and engaging because a "what if" scenario was used. It was also funny/ironic because the writer was stating the somewhat obvious about cash vs gift cards but the majority of people didn't really realize this apparent obviousness of the use of cash. I would like to see this type of lead used in the MA voice because it would definitely draw in the reader and gets right to the point in a new and interesting way.
Precious and the Blind Side:
This article was well organized. It was super interesting comparing/contrasting an independent film and a hollywood movie. I agree with both Jen and Claire as to whether it was op-ed or a movie review. It should have been a little clearer from the beginning because, as was already mentioned, the writer seemed unbiased at the start. I compared this article to the ski vs snowboard. If the ski vs snowboard article was written by one person how it would pan out and if this article was written by two people how it would be different.
Precious and Blind Side:
A.O. Scott did a great job of comparing and contrasting the two movies throughout the whole article. I feel that his bias paragraphs at the end of the article were a little bit confusing because before that, he was doing a good job about talking about the movies, but then suddenly the bias paragraphs unexpectedly hits the reader. He does a great job of comparing an independently produced film with a hollywood produced film. Often, the writer can be biased to the hollywood produced film since there may be a lot more funding placed into it, but I feel that he "evened" out the playing field. I enjoyed how the article displayed the deeper meaning in both movies by addressing race in America. In the MA Voice we should incorporate this writers design in an opinion piece of first writing about the two things you are comparing, and then stating your opinion and your biasses at the end. It makes the article less offensive and more people will actually read the "whole" article.
Gift Cards Are Useful; Give Me Cash
This lead is engaging because it doesn't blatantly say that cash is better than gift cards, it places curiosity in the readers brain to read the article. If the author would have had a lead such as, "cash is more useful than gift cards", then the reader would loose its interest and not read the article. This uncertainty is what makes the lead so peculiar and engaging. In the MA Voice, instead of having a lead that says "Skiing is better than Snowboarding", we should incorporate a "what if" lead such as this brilliant one.
Gifts are useful; give me cash:
I think that the lead for this article, in which a hypothetical situation is created that pertains to the article, is a good idea for a lead. However, I don't think that it was best used in this article. It was a little two predictable and a little obvious because the title gave you the main idea of what the lead was "leading" to. I think that this lead style would be good for some of our Op/Ed pieces because it would be a fun way to clearly show the reader the opinion of the piece. It may also be helpful some for some of our "duller" center spreads.
Precious & Blind Side
I really likes this article because the writer seems to take a fairly unbiassed opinion and looks at all sides of the issue. I also like the style that he used to examine a part of our society by looking at two similar examples of it and how they support or do not support the argument. We could definitely do this with something from MA. Additionally, after seeing the movie precious I felt it depicted the African American population in an extremely disrespectful and harmful way. I am glad that he is saying something about it.
UC Budget Cuts
EEK! This article scared me. I think it was well written because it was primarily fact and number based which, with an extreme situation like this one, is very effective. I also think it is good that we did an article on education system for our latest newspaper and that we should do a follow up article about how it is effecting our colleges. Like a half-pager about the UC system and interviewing different students who are applying to UCs.
THAT ONE ABOVE ME IS WRITTEN BY KATIE EISEMAN
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