Pulled Quotes

This article is from the end of January, but I had a chance to talk about it tonight and realized the article is terrible.  First of all, this article’s name, Abortion protest at church serving as polling place angers voter is misleading at first.  The reader instantly sees abortion protest.  However, there was no protest at all, just an angry citizen.  

My grandparents attend this catholic church.  Tonight they told me that the church puts the crosses up 3 to 4 times a year, and it just so happened it was around the time of the polls and the Roe vs. Wade anniversary.  It is common knowledge that the catholic faith is strictly against abortion.  Therefore, it is not very surpising they would make this type of statement.   There is usually no protest at all and this is the first time this has happened.  They also said that polling was in the back of the church, so besides seeing the crosses from the road, people did not have to walk through them.  

This article does not have any other comments from a voter who didn’t mind, or from the church stating their purposes. The article could have asked the church if they would have allowed pro-life voters to stand on the property.  However, since the church said that it was not a political statement to sway the voters, having a heated debate on the lawn of the church would have been unnecessary.  Also, was this even news worthy?  Yes putting up so many crosses is a disruption in the status quo, but one person was angered!  There was not a huge protest or even several people angered.  It was one lady that complained.  

The article was very stretched.  I wish they would have added the tradition of putting up the crosses.  Whether people disagree or agree with the issue at hand, I believe the church should have a right to say how they felt in the issue.  The paper was  not completely one sided and did talk to election officials, which makes it a bit more acceptable.  However, the fact that only one person complained is not very newsworthy. 

What would be newsworthy is why those crosses were there or who puts them up, and then add what different people in the community think.This article was not developed enough to cover an issue like this.  It leaves the reader unaware of the actual situation at hand.

USA Today covered a story discussing the latest step towards an end of the writer’s strike that has been going on for some time now.  The Writers Guild of America agreed to propose a contract Sunday February 10, to finally end a strike that affected the entire country.  The article says that the proposed contract was met with mostly positive feelings; however, I would’ve liked to hear some of the negative reactions as well.

Reading this article, I hoped that the writer would provide some information regarding the actual contract itself, and I was pleased when some of the terms were mentioned.  Hopefully, once an agreement is met, the entirety of the contract will be released to the public.

I also enjoyed the fact that the journalist provided a time period in which the deal will be made, not surprisingly around the coming week before the Oscars.  One could speculate that this contract was presented at this time in order to secure appearances of the writers at the Oscars.  I would have liked to see more information regarding the impending jeopardization of the fall season of television though.

The Associated Press covered a story describing the passing of famous ‘Jaws’ actor Roy Scheider who died Sunday in Little Rock, Arkansas. The article illuminates his illustrious acting career, highlighting of course, his famous role as the protagonist in Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster ‘Jaws.’

Richard Dreyfuss, Scheider’s co-star, reveals stories about him during the filming–and that’s it. No other sources were interviewed. I would have liked to have seen, perhaps, some commentary from his family, relatives, or close friends. But instead the journalist stuck with the ‘Jaws’ motif and gathered his source accordingly. What about Spielberg??

The journalist also provided some interesting, but perhaps superfluous  information about the late thespians  estate in the Hamptons, which he planned to sell to Billy Joel for 18.5 million dollars. Fascinating. But couldn’t we have had more relevant facts about his career, like a more detailed synopsis of his films. A quick glimpse through the International Movie Database shows that the actor has been doing films since the mid-50’s.

Fin

I have been quite aware of the shrinking real estate market that has been taking place in the United States but I did not realize that many Americans believe the economy is heading towards deep recession. According to a USA Today article dated February 10, 2008 in a recent poll the majority of people believe recession is underway. The article goes into detail about an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that found that Sixty-one percent of the public believes the economy is now suffering through its first recession since 2001.

I thought the reporter did a decent job at going beyond just the poll results, actually getting quotes from those who were originally polled. Also adding what events might have caused Americans to have the dreary outlook of the economy that they have. The reporter made sure to include all aspects of the economy that has illustrated some concern including the slumping real estate market, employment concerns and consumers lack of consuming.

 The reporter also clarified what exactly a recession is. “By one rough rule of thumb, a recession occurs when there are two consecutive quarters — six straight months — when the economy shrinks. ” I thought that was a good fact to put in there because I was not quite sure how a recession was classified as one and I’m sure other readers might have that issue as well. She also adds that the last recession actually occurred in 2001.

Finally I wanted to comment that I believe the reporter did a thorough job especially since the entire article was written about one poll. I would like to have seen more of the actual poll. What were the questions asked, exactly? Who exactly was polled? And when were they polled? These are some questions I wish the reporter would have addressed, but overall it was a well written piece.