I, again, was drawn to one of Gary Klien’s articles. This article, from what I can make sense of it, is about a murder in Dillon Beach. I was immediately drawn to the title of the article because I have spent a few summer weekends in a family friends beach house in Dillon Beach in Northern California.
For myself and the members of the surrounding Dillon Beach communities I would say this article definitely has a few news values. I think the articles news values are impact, immediacy, proximity and novelty. I would say that impact and immediacy sort of go hand in hand because if people were planning to go out to the beach this weekend they might hold of for a little bit until this storm passes. The proximity would be because Dillon Beach is close to Marin County. Lastly, I think this article has a novelty news value because it isn’t often that there are murders in the small beach communities of Northern California. I think the strengths in this article are correctly using AP style terms relating to the incident and inverted pyramid style as well as giving all of the facts about the incident. I think Klien also did a good job of giving enough detailed information about the victim and the back story. Although I think he wrote a good article I do think there are some weaknesses or things he could have done better. At first glance the article is extremely confusing. I don’t really know if there is a way to sort of dumb it down and make it less confusing, but I just found the facts hard to understand. The article was also somewhat wordy. I just think generally it could have been simplified. This article has a picture attached to it of the trailer where the man was killed. The trailer is surrounded by police tape, and definitely adds a little something to the article for me. I have driven past this beach trailer park a few times so seeing it covered with police tape is definitely odd. If I had covered this story I would really just try to simplify the facts. It’s a great article that’s very well written, but there are just so many facts it gets hard to keep them straight. http://www.marinij.com/crimebeat/ci_25419598/dillon-beach-murder-investigation-jolted-by-suicide-victim
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I chose to write again on Gary Klien. I suppose I like to write about his articles because it challenges me to see what I would do differently if I were writing the article myself. The articles I have been choosing have also helped clarify how to use AP style terms when it comes to the judicial system.
The article I chose to analyze is about a group of three suspects who were arrested in connection with a gang related attack in a shopping center. The article is written in inverted pyramid style, and goes from the most important parts of the article at the beginning to the least important parts of the article at the end. All of the AP style terms are correctly used. From this article, I can see how the words alleged, suspected and suspicion are used to make sure the article is unbiased and not incriminating. The lead uses the who, what, where, and why of the 5 w’s; the who being a woman and two teenagers, the what would be the three getting arrested, the where would be in Novato, and the why would be for an alleged gang attack. Klien used a mug shot of Tatiana Jenkins, the woman that was arrested. I think this is a good use of multimedia elements, I just am wondering why he didn’t also use the other adult’s mug shot. I suppose It’s more interesting to read about a woman in a gang than a man, but I think it would have been fair to add the mug shot of the adult man. I think the strengths are that Klien detailed all of the important facts of the incident, and post arresting. His weaknesses’ though, I think, are that at the end of the article it seems like he just sort of threw something together to end the story. I suppose it was good that he gave background information to the suspects’ criminal past, but the end just wasn’t something I enjoyed reading. I had originally wanted to switch journalists because Gary Klien had been writing short, simple and boring articles. They were mainly short recaps of events. Although I found the subjects interesting, the articles themselves were boring. I went to switch journalists to an article that seemed interesting, and it was actually written by Gary Klien!
The article is about how the FBI is going to put up electronic billboards in a few states with a picture of a man who is originally from Marin County. He is a ‘fugitive bombing suspect’ and animal rights activist who allegedly set off two bombs at two corporations who were linked to a company that performed research experiments on animals. One of the articles news values was proximity because the billboards are going to be in Marin. Another news value was novelty, I think, because it is kind of crazy that a man from Marin County is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List. I would also say that impact could be a news value because if people do see the man they will have to act on it. The article is written in correct AP style, is written in passive voice and is in inverted pyramid style. The article, finally, uses a picture. The graphic shown is a snapshot of what the billboards will look like. I think this is a perfect graphic because it exactly shows what or who people should be looking out for. I don’t think I would have done much different. I really liked how Klien went into the details of where he went to high school, and then the details about what he looks like now including his tattoos. I probably would have tried to get a direct quote from someone; maybe a former classmate, the FBI, etc. I think that would have added to the story. http://www.marinij.com/crimebeat/ci_25250178/fugitive-bombing-suspect-from-marin-county-be-featured |
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December 2017
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