Pulled Quotes

The recent USA Today article “Wet and wild: That’s the spirit of this year’s Jazz Fest” did everything but portray the spirit of the event. Jazz Fest, a two-week music festival in New Orleans, has been a tradition in the Big Easy for decades, but audiences wouldn’t know that from reading the article. The writer starts the article with an anecdotal lead about the “ghost of Katrina,” a move many find very cliche. I mean, we’ve all heard about Katrina and we all know that New Orleans suffered greatly, but most people now that the city is once again thriving. After the lead the article turns into a weather report with the writer’s account of the rainy start to this years event. Finally, in the third paragraph of the article, the writer got into the music, the whole point of Jazz Fest. Descriptions about the audience enjoying the music in their ponchos were followed by more details about the rain and finally, by bullet points highlighting a select number of the artists performing this year. 

I was really excited when I saw this article because of my knowledge of the famous event. But I was sadly disappointed after reading it. For a reader who knows something about Jazz Fest (me) the article was successful in highlighting some performers, but failed to mention anything about who else was there during the first week and would be there during the second week. And for a reader who knows nothing about Jazz Fest, the article failed to describe any details about the event, such as when it started, what actually goes on and other vital details. After reading the article, I found myself asking many questions that were never addressed. The article would have been much more successful had it focused less on the weather and more on the nature of the eclectic event. 

A recent Associated Press article in the Seatlle Times told the story of a man who was denied a liver transplant due to his marijuana use, which was approved by his doctor to help him face symptoms of hepatitus C.

I think that this article was going for a human interest appeal.  There’s a picture of a withered old man, hooked up to tubes and wires in his hospital bed, that appears right next to the story.  It’s a sad picture, and evoked sadness in me, the reader. 

However, the emotional appeal wasn’t enough to keep me from wondering about the holes in the story.  Why was he denied the transplant- was it for ethical reasons, or because marijuana use has some kind of physical effect on people that is not conducive to a major organ transplant surgery?  The article never reaveals the answer to this question, which I think is inexcusable on the author’s part. 

Further, the man is reported as having been turned down from numerous hospitals and nursing homes due to his marijuana use, which, again, was approved by his doctor.  Again, why?  Am I the only one who thinks that it’s not an unreasonable for a health facility which doesn’t provide marijuana to deny a patient who is obviously relying on it?

And finally, the article states that he was arrested in December for cultivating marijuana in his home.  Again, more questions arise- was he sent to prison?  How did he obtain a prescription for it if he was arrested for growing it?  And did his status as a felon have any sway in where he stood on the organ donor waiting list, or was that a detail that was brushed under the rug as well?

The Associated Press released an article by Justin Pope yesterday that highlighted some of the pitfalls and redeeming qualities of course evaluations at the collegiate level.  Pope did a great job of finding reliable sources to speak to- professors, teaching advocates, and researchers- but fails to leave out a major demographic for this piece: students. 

Some of the highlights of this article are towards the end, when Pope discusses some of the facts that influence how students evaluate their professor.  Things like attractiveness, gender, grading patterns, and the availability of chocolate in the classroom tend to influence how well or poorly received an educator’s valiant efforts towards the eradication of stupidity are received. 

However, I can’t help but wonder why he left out such an important group of people when he decided who to interview.  Researchers can say all they want, but students are the ones who fill out those evaluations- so why weren’t any of them spoken to?  He asserts that some students don’t really think about these evaluations as much as they ought to, but I think that in asserting that belief, he’s undermining the students who really do see the value of their thoughts. 

This piece sort of works as a feature about Kristi Upson-Saia, but again, I’m not quite sure about his choice of focus subjects.  She’s an assistant professor at Occidental College, and she claims that these evals “can be devastating.”  My only questions, though, are (a) why haven’t I ever heard of Occidental College, and (b) why didn’t he focus on someone with a higher rank than an assistant professor? 

I was disappointed by the end of this piece.  I feel like there wasn’t enough thought given to his subject matter, nor was there enough variety in his research. 

Well, maybe they didn’t really leak- but the fact is, there’s ten hours of John Lennon video that has suddenly appeared, creating a legal battle in the process.  In a recent article from USAToday, Denise Lavoie of the Associated Press reported about how the video, which was recorded February 8-10, 1970, is being fought over between Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow, and World Wide Video, LLC.  Both claim to have bought the rights for the video, though no decision has been made yet over who really will have those rights legally enforced.  As far as Lavoie’s writing style goes, I was a little confused as I was reading; the lede gives the impression that the piece will be a feature about Ono’s struggle to legally keep the tapes, or something along those sentimental lines.  However, she switches back into some kind of inverted pyramid structure, though I’m not sure how she decided upon the importance of certain details when she was writing.  If the article is about the fact that a lawsuit has been filed, then she should have put the details regarding each sides’ purchase of the rights earlier, rather than towards the end of the piece.

Yesterday afternoon I was writing a journal for my mass communications class. The assignment was something like “choose a media-related story and study it.” Thanks for the specifics! Not. 

Anyway, I Google-newsed “media” and stumbled upon this article, which discusses the findings of a poll of Indians and their feelings about media.

According to the article, “As many as 52 per cent of those polled in India said it was important to have freedom of the media, and an equal number said that people should have the right to read whatever is on the web.”

While 52% is more than half, it was exremely surprising to me that there were still 48% of polled people who didn’t think freedom of the media was important, and who didn’t think they should have the right to read everything on the Internet.

Furthermore, “56% said that people in India should have the right to read publications from other countries, including those that could be considered enemies.”

Quite honestly, why wouldn’t 100% of people want to know what their enemies are up to?

I thought this was an interesting article because it showed such a high contrast between India and the United States. Though it doesn’t really go along with any of the major news values, the story was concise and had a strong lead.

For several weeks now people have been discussing the gradual decline of our economy and according to USA today Home Depot and Disney Stores are really facing the consequences. In the article “Disney to Shutter 98 Stores; Home Depot closing 15.” it is obvious that these stores have not been doing so well.

However, the article fails to state the exact loses of each store. Disney, which is known for its high priced merchandise and over advertised goods and services is finally facing the biggest burn, having to close 98 stores. The article does not state specifically where these stores are or if they are only in the U.S or abroad leaves little indication as to how many malls will soon have other stores opening in their place. Home Depot, which is also a large name store has reportedly had to close 15 of its stores which is a significant amount less than Disney. The reason for this sudden loss is somewhat unclear as the article does not state how much the two stores have lost. 

The other interesting part to this story is that Home Deport still plans to open 36 new stores in the next year but no where does it state where they will get the money for this. The only other question that seems left unanswered is what will happen to the many employees that work for these companies? Are they out looking for new jobs? I guess we will have to assume for ourselves. One thing is clear, be sure to stock up on Disney merchandise and your hammer and nails now because who knows if these stores might go out of business for good.