'Romantic novelists rank cleanliness over hunkiness'

Picture and news link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/aug/25/romantic-novelists-rank-cleanliness-over-hunkiness?INTCMP=SRCH

This is a very interesting blog post written by a journalist of the Guardian. The author quoted some statistics of two surveys which show that it turns out cleanliness is one of the overriding factors that women want on their Mr. Dreaming. However the interesting part here is that this standard may not be suitable to apply to the describing sentences about Mr. Dreaming in romance novels. The author then, suggests that may be there is a difference between what makes a life time partner and what makes a good fantasy in romance novels.

From my point of view I think this article works well because of its relevance to the human interest. Audiences especially women readers will easily attracted by such kind of topic since it seems most of them are very enthusiastic about having pictures in their heart about Mr. Right and if they can find the one in the near future. On the other hand, some of them are addict to reading romance novel. The perfect one in these novels is one of the factors that help romance novel sells.

Not to mention that there is a surprise for the result of the survey. According to the survey of romantic novelists “the most important traits in a man are loyalty (91% picked this as essential in their perfect man), honesty (89%) and personal hygiene (88%). Height and good looks only garnered 60% apiece”. The surprise here is that personal hygiene is far more important than height and good looks. Also the survey suggests that participants actually “put wealth and social standing low on the list of important qualities in a man”. However, according to my personal observation, in China, females are highly value wealth and social standing when it comes to their Mr. Dreaming.

This article works also because the topic it described can lead its readers to discuss deeply about what helps romance novel sell and what kind of man makes a good life partner in real life.

‘Steve Jobs authorised biography tops bestseller list on pre-orders’

Picture and news link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/07/steve-jobs-biography-rushed-out

After the death of English singer Amy Winehouse, Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, becomes another spotlight in media’s reporting after he passed away. Different kinds of reporting such as about his achievement on computer technology innovation, his former speech in Stanford University, the reason which result in his death and even the Apple product itself, are all become popular topics among the public. That is why it’s no wonder when the authors of The Guardian’s book column decided to write some book news articles about Steve Jobs. Since this kind of topic now can easily catch the attention of the audiences.

This article, named ‘Steve Jobs authorised biography tops bestseller list on pre-orders’, is start with quote one words of Steve Jobs “I wanted my kids to know me” and then shows the fact that his biography now tops the Amazon bestseller list on pre-orders. This is an effective start since it generalized the central idea of the whole article. That is: Steve Job’s biography is quite popular now and this article contains information about how Jobs think about his biography. The leading sentence is followed by details about the release date of biography. The following paragraphs introduced the author of the biography of Steve Jobs and Jobs’s own attitude toward this book. The news article is ended by some interesting quotes from Amazon book describers.

I think this news article works well because of its relevance to the current popular topic and the way it represents the news. It also introduced the author of this book, in this article it mentioned that the author who writes the biography for Jobs is the one who’s written articles and books for Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. This works well because the public is always interested in news about prominence. The end is humorous quotes from two book describers. Their words show their great respect for Steve Jobs. This is a good way to show the author’s respect for Jobs since in a news article the author cannot show he/her own opinion toward certain thing, it is a good way of “show” rather than “tell”.  

‘Reading to children losing out to TV and dinner’

News link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/18/booktrust.survey.reading.to.children?INTCMP=SRCH
According to a recent report of The Guardian, a survey of Booktrust indicates that parents in nowadays spend much less time on reading to their children daily. Children, at the same time, spend lots of time on watching TV, DVD or surfing on the internet.

This article has a very effective start. Like most of the news article, this article starts with a short, conclusive sentence so that audience can acquire the essential idea of the whole article at the first glance.

It is followed by the details of the survey which includes related statistics. For instance the second graph shows among 1,500 parents, only one in three parents are reading to their kids daily. The average four to five-year-old spends double time on watching TV weekly when compared with doing reading. The average 11 to 12-year-old spend 8 and a half in front of the television per week. The advantage of doing so is that statistics can support the author’s idea to make the news article more persuasive. Also these statistics can help audience form a specific idea about how less time parents spend on reading to their kids. Furthermore, if audience still feel interested in this topic after seen the first sentence of the article, he or she can moving on to get more details.

To generate topic and discussion about the survey, the author then incites several reasons for such situation for parents. That is—busy life, fatigue and having to cook dinner. The author then quote a message from the director of Booktrust to suggest that even though parents now have a more stressful life, they can still squeeze enough time to read for their kids since early education is quite important.

To me, this news article is more like a promotion article for the charity organization Booktrust since the statistics and quotes in this article are all from it. However the angle and way of writing can alert the public about children’s education and even our own life style.

‘Children’s books today aren’t wild enough, says Maurice Sendak’

Picture and news from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/19/childrens-books-not-wild-maurice-sendak?INTCMP=SRCH

Most people believe that anything about children should be safe, innocent and kind. Parents are therefore trying hard to create a friendly and nice environment for their kids. The same situation happened in kids’ book industry. Stories in such kind of books are always describing the world around us as a friendly, safe one even though in the reality world this is not always true. That’s why the audience would feel surprised to see the news article ‘Children’s books today aren’t wild enough, says Maurice Sendak’ written by Alison Flood of the Guardian.

The topic of this news article is not as hitting as those relate to breaking news. However it does hooked me in because of the fresh and conflicted idea. That is—children’s book should reflect the way our world truly is rather than a fairy friendly one. This article is very good because it can lead the public to think and discuss about the right education for the kids. Also, it can help Maurice Sendak to sell his children’s book series.

From my point of view, I think this news article is more like an article which aims to promote Sendak’s new book. Since the only news in this article is about Sendak’s opinion towards children’s book. And quotes in this article are all from Sendak. However the way Allison Flood adopts to promote is quite good. If she is just describing how good the author’s book is then the news article would become boring. Instead, she finds a newsworthy angle about Sendak’s work and then writes a news article. The advantage of doing so is on the one hand, she promotes the new book and on the other hand, this angle can make the public think about the topic of children’s education deeply.

'Outcry over Hamlet novel casting old king as gay paedophile'

Pictures and news link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/08/outcry-hamlet-novel-gay-paedophile?INTCMP=SRCH

Hamlet novel is one of the classics and that’s why I felt so surprised when I saw the news title ‘Outcry over Hamlet novel casting old king as gay paedophile’ on the website of the Guardian. The news itself is about a small American publisher were criticized by its audience because of publishing a version of Hamlet novel which described the Old King Hamlet as a homosexual person. Even though a small publisher and the criticism from its audience is not a big topic, however, as I mentioned before since Hamlet novel is one of the classics and it has been familiar with most of the people around the world, then this news could be count as newsworthy because of its prominence and human interest value.

The goal of news is to inform, educate and make the public discuss. From this aspect, this piece of news is quite successful because it informs audiences about different version of a classic work and also leads the discussion of the public. That is: should we bring our bias into art work such as classic books appreciation? The author of this news piece represents a conflicted view between a different version of a classic novel and its audience. The thing is, if this new version has nothing to do with gay staff, would it become more acceptable by the public? Also, is this thing itself a discrimination toward homosexual group? In one word, this news works well because of its implication on our society.

Even though the goal of this news piece is to educate and lead a discussion among the public, it adopts an interesting, relaxing form. What the news article concentrate is the discrimination toward homosexual group however instead of long tedious discussion it connect this topic with the Old King Hamlet. Audiences would feel surprising and intriguing and thus they will read this piece of news from the start till end.

'9/11 children's colouring book angers US Muslims'

Pictures and news link: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8630417638156893104




This is another news article written by Allison Flood from the Guardian. The title of this news article is ‘9/11 children’s colouring books angers US Muslims’. It’s a very good title since it can hook the audience and keep them reading this article. Since, according to the public, colouring books for children are very innocent thing, how it could angers US Muslims? This is exact the reason for why I decide to keep reading.

The news article itself is not such grabbing as news articles about disaster, war, crime, etc. However, I think this news article is also very interesting because of the conflicted factor in it. Firstly the two subjects in this article is children’s colouring book, and the other is US Muslims who feel ‘disgusting’ about this book because of the misleading and maybe discrimination content in it. Secondly, Allison Flood presents two conflicted view toward the content of this book. This is a balanced structure which could show unbiased opinion and also because of the two conflict view toward a single issue, the audience would feel interesting. After exam the factors of this article I consider this news article as a human interest article.

Allison Flood is very skilful at writing good news article about books and new media publishing. If she’s just describing the content of these books and try to promote these books to the audience then her news article would be very boring. However, in her news article she relates a certain book to a recent news topic and then brings a totally new angle to the audience. So each time I read her news article I feel totally obsessed about the new idea she brings to us and also feel that I have the interest to read the books she described in her article.

'Murakami off reading lists in New Jersey"

Picture and news link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/25/murakami-norwegain-wood-banned-new-jersey

 

According to a recent news article of the Guardian, Haruki Miurakami's Norwegian Wood has been removed from the reading list of Williamstown High School in New Jersey. The reason for this is that many parents complain that the homosexual description in this book would have negative effects on their children.

The author of this news article, Allison Floods, introduced the situation and then extended the topic from a reading list issue to a discussion about proper education for teenagers. From my point of view this is a very good news article because of its idea about education, balanced points of view and also news value.

The author of this news article extends the single topic of reading list issue to a broad discussion about what is the appropriate education for teenagers. To me this is a very smart idea since in this way, the author can represents a fact to the audience and at the same time leads the public to discuss deeper about a certain social issue. The news article then, linked three topics (reading, homosexuality and education) together and made a meaningful discussion.

In this news article the author adopted a balanced structure. She represents different ideas toward the issue. For example, some parents hold the opinion that Norwegian Wood should be removed from reading list because of its homosexual description; While some educators think that student should exposed to challenge and diverse reading so that they can understand how to make their own judgement and learn to respect other people’s opinion; Opinions about homosexual discrimination are also represents in this article. This kind of balanced structure is very good for news article since it shows conflicts and also written in an unbiased way.

Lastly, this news article has good news value because of the prominence of Norwegian Wood and also its relevance with people’s life (homosexual people’s right and education).

James Patterson: best-paid writer this year

Picture and news link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/18/publishing-jkrowling?INTCMP=SRCH



This is a news story of the Guardian about the world’s best-paid writer this year. The name of it is ‘James Patterson brand makes him world’s best-paid writer’. To me, this news article works well because of the angle and news value lie in it.

The content of the news story can trigger audience’s curiosity and make them keep reading. As you can see it, this article is written according to a recent report of Forbes magazine. This report is about which writer earned the most around the world this year. In fact, the author of the news article doesn’t have the need to do any extra work to dig truth or clarify opinion like she did in other current news article. The Forbes magazine’s report itself has enough news value since the public is always interested in something extreme like “the most” “the richest” “the biggest” etc. Also this report involves prominences such as James Patterson, JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. Therefore here I consider this news article as human interest article which involves prominence people.

The structure of this news article works well according to its news values. Since James Patterson is listed as the best-paid writer on Forbes magazine’s report, the audience would sure want to know the detail information about him such as how much he earned, which book of him earned the most and also why he can make such a fortune when compared with his peers. Except the above, the audience may also care about questions like other writers listed in the report especially these prominent ones such as Harry Porter’s author JK Rowling and author of Twilight Stephenie Meyer. Therefore according to the public interests, the author of this news story uses the first two paragraphs to give out some details about James Patterson. And then talk about the works of other famous writers who are also listed on the report.

In one word, this news article works well because of the news value and way of organizing.



Apple face lawsuit over e-book price

Picture and News link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/11/apple-ebook-price-fixing-penguin-macmillan

This is a news story from the Guardian’s website. It’s about the price competition of e-book between Amazon and Apple. To me, this is a well-written news article which has clear structure and high news value.

The author adopted a balanced structure to represent two opposed stands. In this lawsuit, the main plaintiffs are consumers of e-book and the accused are Apple, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. To show the news in a fair way, the author adopted a balanced structure to represent each side’s idea to the audience. This is a good idea since balanced structure can show audience news in an unbiased way. Also, it can display the conflict and drama elements in a single issue. Therefore, audience will feel more interesting in reading this news piece.

Another success for this article is that it addresses the news value of the whole lawsuit. The lawsuit is actually between consumers of e-book and five major companies include Apple, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. The author finds the newsworthy aspects about the lawsuit and then arranges the information according to their priorities.

The title of the news story is “Apple and major publishers face lawsuit over e-book ‘price fixing’”. This is very smart idea since Apple is the most famous one among these companies. Also when famous one has something to do with lawsuit, it adds to the news value. Furthermore, e-book’s pricing is definitely concerned closely with audience’s daily life. Thus in one word, the title is a great hook.

Instead of focusing on the argument between consumers and e-book publishers, the author relates the lawsuit to ‘Amazon's consumer-friendly $9.99 rate’. Related the lawsuit to Amazon can help audience understand how this lawsuit affects their daily life. And in some extent, the author extends the single lawsuit topic to general e-book pricing regulation.

In one word, I think this news story works very well because of the clear, effective structure and news value it represents.

Mao's Great Famine won Samuel Johnson prize

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/06/samuel-johnson-prize-mao?INTCMP=SRCH

When I see the title "Samuel Johnson prize won by 'hugely important' study of Mao” on the Guardian’s web page, I decide to see what it says. It’s a feature news article which aims to promote good books to the audience. I’d like to read about it since it can be interesting to learn what foreigners’ understanding about China. Also as a Chinese I do want to know what the ‘hugely important’ study is.

This article is quite astonishing and intriguing. The lead says this book is about “how Mao’s Great Leap Forward led to the deaths of 45 million people”. When I see the “deaths of 45 million people” the author is definitely hook me in. It’s very smart for the author that putting the most eye-catching information in the lead since audience will have no choice but to keep on reading because of strong curiosity. In the second paragraph the author gives more details about what she says in the lead. Since it is a feature article, the author quoted the words of two main interviewees. Both of them are the judges of Samuel Johnson prize. Words of the two judges are all compliments. This help to address the fact that this book won Samuel Johnson prize and is definitely worth to read. The left paragraphs are information of this book’s author and his competitor’s work in this prize. Finally the conclusion is also a strong part, which is actually a re-address of the core of the whole article: Samuel Johnson prize winner and his book.

From my point of view, this article is a very successful feature article if its goal is to sell the book to the audience. After read it I do want to purchase this book.  Because on the one hand I’m curious about the death of 45 million people, one the other hand this book won prize. And this is exactly what the feature article trying to tell me. However, if this article’s goal is to present news to audience I think it is kind bias. Even though the author didn’t put her own opinion in her article, the way she represents the information can only lead audience think negatively about situation in China. Since, if you noticed, the author only provided positive opinion of her interviewees toward the book, and the left is about the ugly history of Mao’s tyranny. News should be unbiased and thus quote different view toward a single topic should be helpful.

Anyway this is a great feature article because of the structure, technics it represents.