pigeon mail

writing about race in America

pigeonmail — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:37:10 +0000

In terms of structure, this article was a good feature article. It wove a good story. In terms of content and building a persuasive piece, it lacked solid evidence. However, I do not deny that there is a correlation between race and employment. This article brings up racial issues that America should be reminded of every so often.

The first section of the article, which described how two Black men were changing their resumes, was not supported by any solid evidence. The two men were merely changing their resumes because they think that companies respond better to more “White” or mainstream names. The article does not later describe how their resume alterations then changed the number of interviews or job offers that they received.

In America, I prefer to give a nod to all the other races, genders, and classes that America contains. It is impossible to separate race from these other factors. Maybe these Black men were being discriminated against because they were men. And, let’s not forget that within our Black race category that there can be discrimination between African Americans, Jamaicans, Haitians, etc.

google and japan

pigeonmail — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:15:11 +0000

I really liked how this article looked at how Google needs to change itself to be marketable to Japan. This article seemed relatively unbiased in its depiction of the American Google’s POV on Japan. It did not say that Google was better than Japan’s Yahoo. The article acknowledged that non-U.S. companies can be successful in the U.S. This is a topic that is not covered much of the time in U.S. newspaper.

oh dear

pigeonmail — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:14:57 +0000

This article updates us well on the current ridiculous situation with the breach in White House security by Michaele and Tareq Salahi. The first half of the article focused on how the Salahis want a large sum of money from the TV network that wants their story. It focused on supporting the lead. The second half of the story focused on giving background information about the Salahis and their enormous debts. The story flowed well but would have been more cohesive if all the information focused on supporting the lead statement. The reporter could have expanded the article with more statements from various TV stations.

black friday sales

pigeonmail — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:34:58 +0000

For this feature article, I thought that the beginning was very catchy and well done. I might have been nice to do the paragraphs by time (e.g. 8:30) for the whole article to really capture this year’s Black Friday. That would have made a great read.

I liked how they focused on the recession’s affect on Black Friday because that is what is pertinent to today’s public.

black friday prep

pigeonmail — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:44:38 +0000

This article is a typical summary of what Black Friday is all about. However, that does not make for a good news article. There is little that is fresh or exciting about this article’s topic. There is no new angle or information related to Black Friday that this article wishes to impart.

The only info in the article that could have be blown up into a full news article was the fact that this year there might not be as many Christmas sales this year because of limited stock. It would have been interesting to hear about how this Black Friday is affected by the recession.

teacher tenure decisions in nyc

pigeonmail — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:20:33 +0000

Well, this article is for the most part structurally well-written. The lead captures all that the article describes. It is unfortunate that the reporter allowed the city and other officials who all believed the same thing to have a clear voice in this article. Where are the voices of teachers? Where are the voices of parents? Where are the voices of students? This article never lets the opposing sides fully voice dissent. Or maybe some teacher agree with the mayor’s opinion that student academic performance should be used in tenure decisions. The most obvious opinion missing is one saying that teachers aren’t the single factor determining student’s performance. There are numerous societal issues that influence students’ performance in school.

airplane flights

pigeonmail — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:26:52 +0000

I wonder how the reporter got the idea for taking this angle on thanksgiving flights. It’s interesting. In a nutshell, the article talks about how the economic recession–>people taking longer Thanksgiving vacations to avoid high plane ticket prices–>less traffic for the airplanes–>lower chance of general holiday congestion–>better airline services.

I liked the large range of people that this article quoted.

walmart vs. amazon.com

pigeonmail — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:06:32 +0000

This article is a nicely written feature article. I was a bit confused at the beginning because I didn’t understand the Ali and Frasier comment but the rest of the first sentence I understood. I think reporters need to cater to all ages and not just a certain class and age range. I wonder what the age range and class range of readers is.

Anyways, this feature article did exactly what a feature article is supposed to do. It begins with a nice catchy beginning describing the situation and then throughout the rest of the article describes who, what, where, why, when and how in a way that best tells the story.

The quotes were from good sources. This was a great topic choice for most readers. I’m assuming most people have either gone to a Wal-Mart and/or visited Amazon.com.

Obama

pigeonmail — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:37:38 +0000

I thought that this article‘s tone was very different from what I’ve read so far. It took a very hands-off tone and method to analyzing Obama and Afghanistan policy. Though this article presents a seemingly unbiased description of Obama’s situation, by being so hands-off, the article gives Obama the benefit of the doubt. It implies for readers that Obama’s current indecision is not necessarily a horrible thing. For some, it is.

more on the UC situation

pigeonmail — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:18:30 +0000

I see from this article that the local papers do go into more depth by focusing on all the University of California campuses rather than just UC Berkley or UCLA. That’s pretty different than the NY Times perspective. All 10 campuses have tuition hikes. Sheesh.

I think it’s highly interesting that this article focused on the role of protests. It used the protests to work in the student opinions. This article has a clearer bias than the NY Times article I wrote about in my previous posting. By focusing on the protests, it takes a stance with the protesters. It amplifies the voices of the protesters regardless of the opposing quotes. That’s okay. Opinion should not be totally squashed in news articles. It’s impossible.