'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.