Sep
7
News Critique #2
September 7, 2011 | | 1 Comment
Top Stories From My Hometown
Types of news stories:
Impact, human interest, timeliness, proximity, bizarre, conflict, prominence, and currency
After discussing today in class about the 8 different kinds of news stories, I decided to look up St. Paul Pioneer Press’s top ten news stories of the day. I decided to type out the headlines and try to categorize them to the best of my ability.
- Rookie Christian Ponder to start as the Vikings’ No. 2 QB (human interest)
- Hit-run victim’s family files wrongful death lawsuit against Joe Senser, wife (impact)
- Distant replay, 296 yards; Adrian Peterson recalls his record-setting 2007 game against San Diego (human interest)
- 42 units damaged, but no one injured, in two-alarm fire at St. Paul apartment complex (impact)
- UW-River Falls professor charged with sexually assaulting teen in Hudson theater (conflict/impact)
- Worker at Wisconsin veterans cemetery accused of using grounds as private dump (conflict)
- Starring Minnesota. Filmed somewhere else (human interest)
- Adrian Peterson’s record game: What they said (human interest)
- Baby found floating in Mississippi River in Winona County (impact/bizarre)
- Who’s on first for Twins? Not Justin Morneau for the rest of the season (human interest)
4 of these news stories were about MN sports, 2 were events that took place in WI, and the rest of them seemed like important news to me. I understand that sports are a major part of human interest, but I do not feel like that should be the top story. I was also confused as to why two of the stories were about events that occurred in Wisconsin. I understand that the border is not too far away, but when I searched for top stories I clicked on Local Saint Paul Top Stories…
Comments
1 Comment so far
Don’t forget proximity, Sarah. The hit and run story and the fire story are likely more important because they happened in St. Paul than because they have great impact.
Vikings players, especially those in skills positions, have prominence. Anything Ponder and Peterson do now, and for the rest of their lives, will be news.
Don’t know what to say about the Wisconsin stories, or the focus on sports. Could just be a nod to who the readers are.
An addition I’m considering to this assignment is to add a link of your own. Where would you “point” someone who wanted additional insight into this story?