Students in America lacking education

This article on the rankings of students in america and their educational level compared to other countries was really interesting to me. Who would have thought that america was the one who would be ranked 14th, behind Korea, Japan, and China. I can see how this would be taking into consideration their strict dicipline schedule and their devotion to education. I love that they have links in the story that are relevant and also a video that adds to the impact. I hope america does something about this, because i believe that we really need to put more of an emphasis on education and make it more of a priority.

Youtube Love letters

Are they serious with this story? I guess it kinda catches your attention, but this isn't news. I don't get how a story about how he made a youtube video for his girlfriend is in the news. It has links and the actual youtube clip available to just click and play if you want to watch it, which i did find helpful, but it just seems like a dumb news story. This guy made a youtube video so his girlfriend would find it "organically." It suprised me that this story made the news.

Haiti

On msnbc.com this web video is very impactful because it's about the cholera outbreak in Haiti but the reporter is actually in Port a prince and so the viewer can see exactly what's going on and how serious it is. I liked how when they first heard about the story they put something small together to get the word out, but as the information sufaced the story was told in more depth and had more footage so they added to it. I really like how the reporter used the visual aspects to tell the story. It was easy to access and when it was done i had the option of adding it to twitter, facebook, or other convergence outlets. The story tapped into the emotions by showing two children about to die so you felt connected to the story in some way.

Concussion in Kids

This article in USA Today isn't the strongest news story, but i really liked how they layed it out and presented it on the page. The story is about doctors who recently came out saying that athletic trainers should be present at each game and practice to protect the children and assess them right when they get hurt. I don't like how they kept sayting that they know this isn't possible but it would be a good goal. Why would you publish this is USA Today if you're not going to do anything about it. I did like however, how on the side of the story it defines what a concussion is and the side effects. Also, it had links at the bottom of stories that would be related to it. I really enjoyed it.

Cell Phone Danger

This article on the Times website was appealing to me because i have heard so much controversy around it. The article was about cell phones transmitting radio waves that are harmful to the body. I didn't know this but every cell phone has a warning not to put it close to the body, and you should have a holster so it's not close to the skin. This worries me a little! The thing i really liked about this webpage and the article was that each paragraph was broken up into subheads, and under each paragraph was a link to whatever they were talking about. If he gave an example of the i-phones warnings, there was a link to see exactly what it was. This is great because it makes the reporter more credible in my eyes if he can back up what he's writing about and has proven facts that he can show. I really liked how at the top of the article i could see how many people commented on facebook and twitter so i know how popular the story is. It's very well organized.

Forced Abortions?!

This story really tugged on my emotional heart strings. I read the original article about forced abortions in china on newser.com, but then there was a seperate link to this womans personal story. The poor thing was forced to have an abortion as they would call it, but the most disturbing thing is that she was 8 months pregnant at the time. To me, that's not abortion that's killing an innocent baby who's fully developed. The mother had no option to keep the baby because of their one child policy, and the fact that the website posted a video so the reader could actually see her and her husbands reaction was truly heartbreaking. This link was very beneficial because the reader not only gets the personal aspect of the story, but there are other links, pictures and video clips that make it very interactive. I like how the site is set up. It's very easy to navigate.

A Day In the Life of a Reporter