And the gold medal goes too ...

The Des Moines Register

Ever since I started doing gymnastics when I was 5 years old, I've been obsessed with the sport. USA-Gymnastics.org is one of my favorite Web sites, but I only allow myself to get on every once in a while because I'll spend hours on it, which is not good if I'm trying to get homework done. When I looked at the site on Tuesday afternoon, I was checking out the post-Olympic coverage. I'm always interested to see what Olympians do after the hubbub of the competition is over. Because four of the six women on the Olympic team were from the Midwest, I was especially interested to see how their local papers covered them.

When I went on the Des Moines Register's Web site, I was shocked. The site had some of the most extensive coverage I've seen on a gymnast, even compared to the USA gymnastics Web site. The Register had an entire page dedicated to Shawn Johnson (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=SHAWN_JOHNSON&template=landing). The page includes videos, stories, photo galleries, interactive maps, links to related sites and downloadable posters. The Register even did a story on Johnson's coach, Liang Chow, who competed on the Chinese national team when he was younger.

One of the photo galleries I browsed through had 304 photos. I only got through 112 of them before I decided I should start blogging, but some of the pictures dated back to 2003 when Johnson was 11.

I think the most interesting multimedia the site had was a break down of Johnson's routine for each event. Not only did the site give an in depth look at her routines, but it also described each apparatus and competitors to watch out for. The interactive presentation was put together extremely well because it gave a lot of information with little text. Instead the site used pictures and graphics to show readers how everything worked. This was by far the best presentation of routines and equipment that I've seen.

The way the Des Moines Register covered Johnson's routines is an example of what editors should do for other sports. This way of presenting the information has a lot of opportunities and allows the editors to be creative.

And as a random plug, some of the Olympic gymnasts, including Shawn Johnson and U of I's own Justin Spring, will be coming to Assembly Hall on Nov. 5 for the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars.

Celebrity news

When I got on CNN.com this morning, Sept. 24, I saw that one of the top stories was about Clay Aiken coming out of the closet. But the story wasn't just about him coming out of the closet, it was about Aiken coming out of the closet in People magazine. Although it was a small article, about 160 words, I couldn't believe it was on the CNN Web site, let alone one of the top 10 stories (it was number nine). Is this really news? I feel like there are more important things going on in the world.

I would have understood if the reporter did a profile of him. He did just become a father, and I think a lot of readers would be interested to see how everything goes raising a child not only as a celebrity, but as a gay celebrity. Does he still plan on singing and recording or is he going to step out of the limelight to raise his child? Is the child the reason he decided to come out of the closet? I think the reporter could definitely have done a lot more with the story.

Questioning news that is questioning bailout plan

In the Sept. 8 lecture, we discussed the new perspective of news analysis. Follis explained that news analysis sounds like opinion, but it is more objective. The idea behind it is the reporter knows so much about a topic that they can analyze the facts. However, she said the line between analysis and opinion is still blurry.

Keeping this in mind when I was reading a news analysis article on the financial crisis, I found that the blurry line between analysis and opinion can potentially be dangerous. The New York Times article called Experts See a Need for Punitive Action in Bailout was analyzing the $700 billion bailout plan. But instead of giving both sides, the reporter only gave one. He quoted many experts, both conservative, liberal, former employees of the federal government and employees of financial institutions, but they all say the plan isn't going to work. The reporter does a great job of supporting this side, but by the end of the article, I'm wondering why the federal government is even considering this plan. The reporter only includes two people that support the plan, and one is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. The other doesn't come into the story until the very end.

To me, this story seems to be an opinions piece masquerading as an analysis or even objective news. Because the story is labeled as analysis, the reader assumes the reporter will look at all sides of the story and come to a conclusion after doing so. However, this reporter only looked at one side of the story. He does a great job covering why people are questioning the bailout plan, but he answers them with one view. The lack of balance in sources leads me to believe that the reporter doesn't think the bailout plan will work.

I think a story by CNN, Stocks stumble at the close, does a much better job of explaining some of the aspects of the financial crisis. The reporter actually explains what is going on in the market and what the federal government plans to do to fix it. CNN does a great of job of being perfectly clear that all the details for the bailout plan haven't been worked out yet, so it can't be fully analyzed.

While I don't necessarily think the bailout plan will work, I think it is important that journalists report all sides of a story. The federal government thinks this plan will work for a reason, and readers should know that side as well.

Drawing the line between entertainment, news

When I got on the Internet around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, my homepage pulled up a story on a serial rapist near the University of Nevada at Reno. Considering the saftey issues U of I has had on its campus, the story caught my attention.

The story itself was good. It told all of the necessary information, including both breaking news and background details. But what caught my eye was the video. Throughout the entire video, CNN had music playing in the background. The music was the kind you would hear in the middle of an action scene during a movie or on the previews for court TV. Considering the anchor for the story, Nancy Grace, used to work on court TV, this didn't surprise me. However, the editors should have made the decision to either delete the music or play a more appropriate genre.

Linking the slaying of a student with a serial rapist is a serious topic, and it deserves a serious tone in the news coverage. Playing music in the background that you would hear in a movie diminishes the gravity of the story and makes the coverage appear like entertainment.

Media already has a problem drawing the line between news and entertainment. With shows such as "Inside Edition," "Rescue 911" and "Unsolved Mysteries," the industry struggles to define which genre certain shows belong to.

Nancy Grace has received criticism in the past when a guest on her show, Melinda Duckett, committed suicide after a confrontational interview in 2006. The story was covered by a number of big networks and papers including ABC, the Washington Post and Fox News. The Associated Press also wrote their own story about it.

If the news we're covering is going to be taken seriously, editors need to ensure that it is being covered in an appropriate manner, and that includes music.

Doing more with statistics

When I was checking CNN.com this morning, I ran across a story titled "Group wants states to raise driving age." First of all, this story caught my attention because I wanted to know what group was suggesting this idea. Not to be too picky, but I think the headline should at least say "Research group wants states to raise driving age." This headline is at least a little more specific. The copy editor also could have included the name of the group because Web sites have unlimited space.

The story goes on to explain how the research group, Institute for Highway Safety, wants to raise the driving age to 17 or 18 in all states. The story included quite a few statistics showing the number of teenage crash-related deaths in different states. Because I'm not someone that likes to read statistics in the middle of stories, I usually skip over them. However, these statistics are essential to the story because they're the reason the research group wants to raise the driving age.

I think a better, or at least quicker, way to include this information would be in a graphic. Graphics are a quick and easy way for a writer to get a lot of information across in a small space. They catch the readers' eye and pull them into the story.

In this case, a graphic would allow readers to see comparisons of crash-related deaths across states, crash-related deaths among different age groups, etc. The article stated that New Jersey issues licenses at 17. I think it would be interesting to see how their statistics compare to statistics for a similar size state that issues licenses at 16.

Simply put, the writer could have done more with that statistics in this story by making a graphic.