'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.

'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.

'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.



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.