We'll start by looking at page 17 in Tim Harrower's "Inside Reporting." Read his list of "what makes a story interesting to its readers" ... and we'll discuss how the editors of a metro daily, a community weekly and a college campus paper would answer that question.
Then we'll see how selected stories linked to the Google news page stack up against Harrower's list. If you don't have your book with you, don't despair. You can find a dozen virtually identical lists on the Web. http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11178/171/newsvals.htm">One I especially like is by journalism prof Ken Blake of Middle Tennessee State University.
A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.
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About Me
- Pete
- Springfield (Ill.), United States
- I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.
19 comments:
It has very little impact on the readers of the New York Times because it is on the other side of the world.
The caption of the picture says it happened Monday, which is today.
The Proximity doesn'e effect people in the U.S. This happened in China.
No one well known was involved.
An entire hotel complex burned down, which doesn't happen every day.
Timiliness- 9 out of 10
Conflict- 0 out of 10
Prominence- 0 out of 10
Proximity- it's not close to us.. so 0 out of 10
Impact- it's not effecting us.. but could of had major impact 3 out of 10
Currency- some may not know but the Chinese New Year Celebration just happened.. 4 out of 10
Weirdness- it's not weird!
Amie
Travis Harmony
02/09/2009
IMPACT: Yes it has impact because it is life threatening. and a disaster.
IMMEDIACY: Yes it is just happened, earlier today.
PROXIMITY: Not close, in China.
PROMINENCE: No, only architectural.
NOVELTY: Nothing out of the ordinary for a building fire.
CONFLICT: Was helped built by the Chinese Communists.
EMOTIONS: Sad and excited because its a fire, and because it is currently happening.
Jeff Adams
Impact- not too close to home as it is in China, possibly to tourists
Immediacy- happened recently, it is immediate news
Prox- way EAst of these parts
Prom- not so, maybe a 6. a famous architect who is more of a mid-major than household name and hotels payed for by communist china
novelty- a tad yes, similar to death star explosion(a far stretch?)
conflict- no clash here, but definitly problems caused by debris and the effect it will have on jobs
emotions- id be pretty damn upset if my new expensive hotel went into flames.... but this story makes me laugh because the picture has a local man smiling... just bizarre i guess.
The visual is the most astounding and interesting part of this story. As a photographer, job one at a fire is to shoot flames. This image, with on-lookers in the foreground is attention grabbing.
The timeliness of this article is obvious. The event just recently happened.
Proximity and impact aren't present here, at least not for the average Springfield resident. The event occured in China and probably won't affect their lives.
The prominence of this story is unique. Instead of dealing with a prominent public person, it deals with a famous building. This building was one of China's showcase new pieces of architecture for the 2008 Olympic games. It was supposed to be a symbol of their superiority and it's burning down, which also speaks to the event's novelty.
I think the story does matter, its just very important to many people in the United States. Anytime something catches fire, and there are people at risk the story matters. b)the story ddid recently happen, so i falls under immediacy.
c)the proximity is notr anywhere close, since it is in China.
d)there is no novelty or conflict. e) The emotions of this story could make people feel sad, and perhaps angry.
In the U.S., this story doesn't have much of an impact on the readers. In Beijing however it probably effects them greatly. The story deffinetly has immediacy because it happened today. This story is half way around the world to most people so it has no proximity. The only prominence this story has is the fact is was built by Rem Koolhaas and is a part of a television headquarters. Its a novelty only because it has pictures that many people will stop to look at. The conflict is only that the building is on fire and a lot of things will be put on hold in Beijing until its fixed. This story evokes emotions of concern and fear especially when you look at the pictures because even by the one photo its hard to imagine people who were in the building got out alive.
I think that the fire would impact many people. Just because it happened in China, doesn't mean it won't affect us.
Immediacy-This just happened recently. So it would be immediate.
Proximity- It happened in China, so its not really close the us.
Prominence- No well known figure or celebrity were involved in this.
Novelty- Anytime there is a fire, its big news.
Conflict- the hotel wont open on time.
Emotions- it makes alot of people sad and upset.
impact: doesnt really affect readers pocketbooks
immediacy: happened monday in Beijing
proximity: Beijing, China
prominence: it was a new years celebration gone bad
novelity: new years celebration that ended in a building on fire
conflict: really no conflict
emotions: might make readers sad or unsure of how it happened
impact- people in the U.S. will show an emotional response to this story and the picture; for those in China, their impact would be effected differently .
timeliness- this happend at 8:25 PM last night
Prominence- It was a large structure in china as opposed to a small office or house.
Proximity- located oversea's, it has no great impact to us.
Conflict- the structure was under-construction, and the police had to shut down part of a major highway.
Weirdness- The fact that the hotel was under construction is some what odd. It is not very often that a building under-construction burns down.
Currency- the owner of the building just lost alot of money because of the costs that were lost in the period of time that it was supposed to open, to the time it will actually open now
Impact: The impact is HUGE on those who live in or near Beijing. As for us here in Springfield, it's more likely to be a very short story in the middle of the newspaper.
Immediacy: I'd say it's pretty quick. Today is Monday (although it's probably getting closer to Tuesday there).
Proximity: This story is clearly thousands of miles away. Not very close to here.
Prominence: No. It involves a large, well-known city though, so I suppose that could kind of fall into the prominence category.
Novelty: The fact that the fire started in a building that had yet to be opened because of fireworks was kind of interesting. Not outrageous or unheard of by any means, but definitely worth reading about. A lot of people could learn from this incident.
Conflict: There wasn't a conflict of power, but there was a conflict of future decision making. Will they rebuild the building?
Emotion: I would say a mixture of all three. Happy, because nobody was hurt. Sad, because something that took so long to build and accomplish was burnt down before it was even open to the public, and angry because they kept the fireworks going after the fire started. Seriously, did they not realize that fireworks would only fuel the fire?
-Gina C.
Impact: The story has some impact but not a lot. It is a fire, which makes it exciting but it does not directly affect most of those reading the story.
Immediacy: The story has a great deal of immediacy because it happened today. Actually because of the time difference, it hasn’t even happened yet in the states.
Proximity: There is virtually no proximity to this story whatsoever. It could only have happened further away if it had happened on the moon.
Prominence: The story has no prominence either, but attempts to create some by referencing the Olympics.
Novelty: I suppose fires have a bit of novelty to them seeing as how they aren’t something that happen every day and aren’t especially common
Conflict: Like natural disaster stories, this one doesn’t have any immediate conflict, but there is likely to be conflict in the stories that follow.
Emotions: There is emotional value to the story because fires are emotional, people could have been injured and a brand new building was destroyed.
Impact- It affects the people of china, not really us here
Timeless- it did happen 2 day, well 7:45 p.m. ther dont know what time here
Prominence- not really, a large building important to them hasnt opened yet and no injuries reported yet either
Conflict- Nope has more impact
Proximity- nope dont see any
Weirdness- Cant believe so they dont have an answer of to how it started but maybe later we will find out.
Currency- it does with all the fires in australia and terriost all over, it does, but none of them are realated togeather rite now!!!!
Impact: The story has a great impact on people that live or are planning to visit Beijing. Most specifically those people that work at the hotel and those that were planning on staying at the hotel anytime in the near future.
Immediacy: The hotel fire has just happened on today, so it is about as current as you can get.
Proximity: For those of us that live in the US this story is not close to us. But for those that live in Beijing the fire hits close to home.
Prominence: Since the hotel was built for the Olympics the story holds more prominence than it would if it were some run down hotel or an unknown hotel.
Novelty: This is actually a relatively common story, buildings catch on fire all the time, the only difference is that this is an Olympic era hotel.
Conflict: The only conflict here is the battle between the fire and the firefighters.
Emotions: Emotions are going to be running pretty high now because they are loosing a luxury hotel built for the Olympics, but it also housed a cultural center. So many people are going to be up set about this.
Trevor McGrath
Impact: The people in the city and the hotle will be effected, alos the hotle manager will lose some money, and maybe the vacation spot might be hurting a little after too.
Timeliness:8:25 lastnight
Prominence: It was a new headquarters so a lot of people might have known it was being built, and a nice new building.
Proximity: Not a very big article, not so important in America, but back in Beijing it would be a big story.
Conflict: Kind of a conflit, just a fire. But police had to shut down a major high way.
Weirdness: Not to wried, fires happen regular, but it is weird that it was under construction and the fire started, maybe someone working started it?
Currency: The people were probably talking about the building being built, but not that there was going to be a fire.
Impact: major fire in Beijing, impacted people at the time it happened.
Timiliness: is happenening/happened within the last few hours.
Prominence: Happened to a major showcase building for the olympic-era
Proximity: happened over seas, China
Weirdness: Took place on the last day of the chinese new year.
Currency: Had a recorded voice on radio informing residents of the fire.
Conflict: Burned before even opening. Billions of dollars wasted.
Impact: Not everything Google news has, has impact all people, but usually it has impact on at least certain people.
Timeliness: Everything on Google is timely. It updates regually and constantly and even old stories will get new angles or information.
Prominence: Obama is big news lately, and while other politicians are important too, they lack face/name value more.
Proximity: China isn't close, and neither are a lot of big stories that happen... now that the old Gov is gone, Springfield won't make news after Obama leaves for awhile.
Conflict: If there isn't conflict, there's almost no reason for the news to cover it.
Weirdness: Doesn't usually hit top spots, but on slow weeks it'll show up on Google news.
Currency: Is a big one for most newspapers and Google news a like. Talk about it while its important and milk it for all its worth.
Impact: The story does have impact because of the lives lost and the damage done.
Immediacy: The fires just happened and they are still going on.
Proximity: Since the fires are happening in Australia, there is not real proximity. except for those in or near Australia.
Prominence: This story does not involve any well know people, the Prime Minister of Australia has spoken about the fires, but he is not directly involved.
Novelty: Since the fires are said to be the worst and deadliest in Australian history, there in novelty involved.
Conflict: There does not appear to be any conflict involved in the story. There is suspected arson, however.
Emotion: The story actually involved a great deal of emotion, considering the amount of lives lost, it is very sad.
Impact: There is not much impact here because it happened so far away.
Immediacy: The article was published not too long after the incident occured.
Proximity: Not close to us- it happened on the other side of the world.
Prominence: Nobody of power or fame was mentioned in the article. Just the building.
Conflict: No major conflict. No one person can be blamed. It was a tragedy.
Emotions: I was a little sad when I read the article because there was nothing anybody could do to save the building or anything inside of it.
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