Paper Three: The New Local News
I distributed the instructions for paper #3 in class today, but it is linked here as well.
Please paste your papers into the comments of this post.
Don’t forget to come to class on May 6th prepared to present your findings for five minutes!
The two news Web sites I chose to compare were the Chicago Tribune and the Chi-Town Daily News. I chose these two because I feel, as a lifelong resident of the community; it would be easiest for me to relate to these two.
The Chicago Tribune focuses more or less on the city and just a little of the suburbs. This makes sense to me since it appears to be a “city” paper and not a general Chicagoland area newspaper. With Chicago being one of the top three cities in the country, this newspaper stands out in the minds of many as being the main Chicago paper. The editorial approach appears to sync with that notion. The articles are driven to focus on the major players and events of the city.
The Chi-Town Daily News is similar because it focuses on the city but it appears to cover the suburbs even less. The editorial content appears to be much more community driven versus looking at the city on a whole. It also appears to provide stories the Tribune is less likely to cover.
The first innovative feature I noticed on the Chicago Tribune’s Web site was their traffic map. I believe this can be very helpful to those who live in the suburbs and drive to the city for work every morning. Instead of watching the news, they can just hop online and see a detailed map of what traffic is looking like.
Another innovative feature I noticed was their social media toolbox. They have a box on the bottom of the left side of the page, which has their profile/page on Web sites such as Digg, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more. I also thought the live weather map was innovative.
The Chi-Town Daily News had a few standout innovative features. The most visible is their photo gallery on the front page. The next would be their simple toolbar at the top of the page. The final innovative feature would be their content itself by seeming to target the stories the Tribune might skip over.
The first thing I think could be improved for the Tribune is the layout. It may be to clean for some readers. Another thing I think could be improved would be the content tool bar. It appears to blend into the side of the page. If it were moved to the top, it would stand out more and be more visually pleasing. The final thing I would improve would be to move the “World News” and “Local News” headline sections up above the feature stories paired with pictures.
For the Chi-Town Daily News, I think they could improve their Web site by garnering more ads to gain more revenue. They could also make their neighborhood map smaller and could have their “About Us” section on a separate page.
As I said before, I can see someone interacting with the Tribune Web site on a daily basis by checking the traffic but they could also be checking stories involving their industry or community as well as the weather. I think that this would be because it is such a popular paper, and if someone has a few moments to check their computer versus looking at a newspaper by being able to search for specific information that directly affects them.
I could see someone interacting with the Chi-Town Daily News in a similar way. They could read stories about things the Tribune missed. Also, they could research new shows or art events to help them plan their evening or a day off from work.
When I put the two Web sites side by side the visual differences are obvious. The Chi-Town Daily News has far less advertising. It also has a toolbar that makes finding certain stories much easier. However, the Tribune has the live traffic map, which could draw the attention of many to it.
As far as content goes, I guess the simplest way of looking at it is that the Tribune looks at the big picture while the Chi-Town Daily News looks at the pieces. The Daily News gives the stories that might have been cut from the Tribune a space to breathe and be seen.
All in all, I would say both, the traditional paper and startup in this case could learn a lot from each other. The startups may have a more visually pleasing look but they need ad revenue to get on the same wavelength as the major papers. However, I would say conversely, the major papers should look at revamping their content to catch some of the readers the might usually miss.
Sarah Bonkowski
May 3, 2009 at 10:34 pm
For my third and final paper, on new local news, I wanted to do two publications that were unfamiliar to me. I wanted to go into this paper without knowing any information of either publication. After scanning the paper, I picked an organization/startup news site that was foreign to my eyes, Newark Star-Ledger and the New Jersey Patch.
Starting with the Newark Star-Ledger, the website leads off with the caption, “The Star-Ledger News, and a red sub caption, “Local NJ politics, crime & Statehouse coverage from The Star-Ledger.” Now, this website targets local Newark residents who want local news. What about people who don’t live in Newark? Do they not even bother looking or reading The Star-Ledger?
The overall format of this publication is very similar to the New York Times. Even The Star-Ledger font is similar, if not identical. There is not much color, or graphics provided, however, they do have the weather for Newark, NJ available next to the lead story. There are many innovative aspects about this publication. For starters, the slugs for the lead stories are bold and underlined in blue, making it pretty hard to miss – the eye is drawn to this. Another innovative aspect about The Star-Ledger is the thumbnail labeled with each section at the very top. It is organized to the point where it is easy to find what one might be looking for. The third and final innovative aspect is the search engine at the top. When in a hurry, one can quickly type in a keyword, and boom it pops up within .1 seconds.
There is more than one area that could be improved on the Star-Ledger site. For instance, the way they publish their news stories. They are all one after another, making the page three times as long as it needs to be. They could easily put the articles in sections by the date it was published or by the contributing reporter. Secondly, they could add some more graphics to spice up the overall layout; even dabbling with new fonts, colors, etc. could be beneficial. Lastly, the ads overtake the overall layout of the site. For example, the flashing VIP Honda sign is overkill.
On a daily basis, I imagine one would just go on this site for local news. Other than that, you can find the weather as well as national/worldwide news at a more popular publication such as CNN. However, this website is convenient and very organized, and why not kill two birds with one stone by getting your weather, local news and nation/worldwide all on one site. It would be easy to search for local news on your phone while on the train, etc. Plus, its domain name is short, sweet and simple.
The New Jersey Patch was very confusing at first. After realizing that it is broken up into communities, all was well. I reviewed all three of the community patches in New Jersey that were available: SouthOrange, Maplewood and Millburn. All are extremely similar in layout, as well as colors, graphics, etc. One of the first things noticed on this site was at the very top, it has the name of the editor, as well as a picture, and the time that they last twittered on twitter. This editorial approach really made this website personal, whereas The Star-Ledger didn’t provide much information about their editor or reporters.
There are many innovative things about this site. For instance, on the side next to the “Top Spot,” is a Google map with many green quotation bubbles scattered throughout. At the very top of the Google map, there are labels that read “Everything,” “Police & Fire,” and lastly “Events.” As one clicks on the green bubbles, a brief breaking news slug is revealed, along with the address. This is extremely beneficial to this site, because seeing where the breaking news and events are taking place makes things a whole lot easier. Secondly, under each section, whether it is news, announcements, etc, there is a green square that reads, “Send us a news tip.” This makes the reader feel more connected to the site. Lastly, having the latest photos at the very top of the site is an innovative approach. By doing this, I wanted to look at the photos, which led me to read the articles, wanting to know the story behind the photo.
However, there are many areas that could be improved on this site. For starters, on patch.com, it doesn’t say where the communities are located. This could possible lead to frustration. They need to put somewhere that these communities are in New Jersey. Secondly, having nation/world news available would only benefit this site, instead of having to look at another publication for that genre of news. Lastly, they can improve on the overall layout of the site. Instead of having all the tabs at the top and having to drag down to the section one wants to read, why not organize the articles so they are easier to get to. However, when you click on “News” and then “Business” you are brought to the business section that allows you to browse by month and/or contributor. This was extremely helpful.
I imagine that one would go to this website if looking for community based news. This site focuses more on each community in the city rather than the general overall local news. If I lived in the SouthOrange community, I would come to this website on a daily basis knowing that the news I would be looking for will be provided.
Overall, each site is unique and different. The Star-Ledger’s layout is more traditional and has that boring affect to the eye. Whereas, the SouthOrange Patch site provides many unusual graphics like the Google Map. However, each site has their strengths and weaknesses. Each can learn from one another. The Star-Ledger can become more personal with their readers like the SouthOrange does by taking Newark residents’ thoughts and tips into consideration. Also, the Newark Star-Leger could organize their articles similarly to the SouthOrange (By contributor, date, month, etc). As for the SouthOrange Patch, they could learn from the traditional Newark Star-Ledger by really providing news worthy articles on a more professional layout. All in all, each site was different and strong in a unique way.
Kendra Callari
May 4, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Mariela Quintuna
Intro to Journ
May 5, 2009
Dan Sinker
I was given the chance to look at two different newspapers and see how they overlap or don’t. So I chose to do the Chicago Tribune and the Chi Town Daily News. I am familiar with the Tribune, but not with the Chi Town Daily News. I first went to check out the Chi Town website and saw that the articles that they have talk less about what is really going on with the government, economy, war, and all that stuff that seems like a re-run to me every time I read or see the news. The first innovative thing is that in that website, it talks about some of the political news, but also about housing, education, and health. It is about local residents and their issues. The website is similar to the newspaper Hoy which talks about the real people struggling with their lives due to deportation, bad neighborhoods, programs for kids, and all that. The second innovation about this site is that it is well organized because it has a gallery on the main page and then on the bottom it has a map of neighborhood reports. It also has a list of events that would be happening in the week. The third innovation is that compared to the Chicago Tribune, this would be a paper that would have stories that are written short for the website and that it will get to the point. Sometimes when I would want to read a story from the Tribune website, it is so long. It looks like a long passage that makes me want to stop reading.
Now, I am going to compare the Chi Town Daily with the Chicago Tribune and the truth is that with the Chicago Tribune, it is just filled with all that government and political stuff. I guess that the Tribune has to focus on the city and that is all right, but how about the local residents living in Chicago like around 26th street or right around the corner of a little convenience store. All the big news is always reported from the high places of downtown or the rich side of the suburbs. It is like the Tribune doesn’t even care about the real people with the real problems. I am not saying that the Tribune is not a bad paper, but I think that the company could have worked on getting the news from people that have real stories to tell. I mean, maybe the tribune mentions about how illegal immigrants are struggling, but maybe one small paragraph hidden on a corner of a page. When I look at the Tribune site, I just have that boredom of reading and seeing the same old thing. The economy is bad or what will the former governor do next? We need to focus more on people who are dealing with bad things in their life rather from a silly former governor who is just looking for a spotlight.
All that just is the same and from having a look from the Tribune, I can say that both of the papers are different and that they overlap each other. I think that if someone reaction when interacting with the site on daily basis will have that habit to always logging on the computer and getting the news from the internet. Both of the sites are obviously different and it seems like the Chi Town Daily has less advertisements, while the Tribune has a ton of them. To conclude this discussion, I can say that the Chi Town Daily would have my vote if it ever came to be a contest for the best newspaper.
Mariela Quintuna
May 5, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Being that I am from Chicago, I decided that I would find it most interesting to do my paper on the two Chicago newspapers, The Chicago Tribune and Chi Town Daily News. Obviously both of these papers cover Chicago, but Chi Town Daily News seems to be more localized than The Tribune. Right there at the top of the Chi Town Daily News main page, there’s a “Neighborhoods” link, which when clocked, takes you to another pages with all the neighborhoods in Chicago listed in alphabetical order. The Tribune, on the other hand, does not have this option.
At first look, Chi Town Daily News is kind of laid-out to look like an actual newspaper. It has a little sample of some of the top stories, just a taste of what you’re going to get if you continue browsing the website. It’s a simple layout with very few ads (actually, there aren’t any ads on the main page – and there’s only a few on each of the other pages on the site), whereas the Tribune, being the Tribune I guess, as a whole mess of ads on the main page, and all other pages. In my opinion, the Tribune’s web page looks more like some generic website than a news site. The Tribune’s site does have a nice little menu running down the left side with all these other drop-down menus that will take you everywhere you need to go on the site. They are both equally easy to navigate.
The editorial approach to Chi Town Daily News seems to be focused on a more small-scale basis, focusing more on the individual neighborhoods in Chicago. While, on the other hand, the Tribune’s editorial approach seems to focus more on the city of Chicago as a whole. The Tribune has more breaking-news kinds of stories and Chi Town Daily appears to cover more or the stories that the Tribune does not – or will not – cover. Thinking about it in this way, these two sites kind of compliment each other.
One of the truly innovative things I think Chi Town Daily is doing is focusing on the individual neighborhoods. By doing this, it gives Chicago residents’ easy access to what’s going on around where they live. It’s all right there, instead of having to sift through the Tribune looking for it – if they Tribune is evening covering it. Another innovating thing is the “Blog Farm” column on the front page, as well as the “Events” column directly below it. These two features, I think, give the site a more local feel.
Some of the innovating things over at the Tribune site are: the “Chicago Breaking News Center” right at the top of the page, which is a constantly flashing cycle of seven “breaking” news stories. As it is cycling through the seven, underneath the article’s title is the time at which it was posted. Also I think the weather report link, also at the top of the page, is a handy feature (Chi Tow Daily doesn’t seem to have a Weather feature).
I think both of these sites could be useful for everyday interaction, for different reasons. I think people would go to the Tribune’s site on a daily basis to get traffic and weather reports, and to see what the bigger news stories are. And I think Chi Town Daily could be accessed daily for the more localized stories, to see what events might be happening in your neighborhood, as so on.
I think that the traditional news organizations (the Chicago Tribune) should take note of what some of the smaller startups (Chi Town Daily News) with their local news coverage. Having an individual neighborhood section makes the site more relatable to the general population. And I also think that there is much the startups can learn from the traditional organizations. On the Tribune’s site there are sections to get news from around the nation/world, and I didn’t see any of that on Chi Town Daily’s site. If they had that section on Chi Town Daily, as well as a weather report, people wouldn’t even need to visit the Tribune’s site. They could get all the news they need and want right there on one web site.
Daniel Vlasaty
May 5, 2009 at 7:39 pm
The two sites I decided to compare with each other were the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland North websites.
I chose these websites due to California being a large market for journalism and the fact California news usually makes it to the main stream media.
I will first talk about the strength and weaknesses of each site. I had each site on different tabs on my internet browser and the first response when I did quick viewing at first was the San Francisco Chronicle’s web page stood out the most. I felt it stood out the most due to the cover site was flashier and had more going on with it. The San Francisco Chronicle was very organized and user friendly. When the page first opens, they have numerous links to numerous categories (ex: news, sports, business, etc.). The Chronicle had numerous pictures throughout the front page and offers a variety of news reports. The Oakland North however was more generic. The page color is pretty much three colors; silver, black, and white. I could tell that the budget was obviously bleak due to the less advancement page set up. The Oakland North had some links as the header but was irrelevant to a standard user (ex: about, contact, map, etc.) Another thing I noticed between the two sites is that the San Francisco Chronicle covers numerous news headlines from local to nationwide. The Oakland North was different because they were only covering headlines in the Oakland Region. However this could also be strength for the Oakland North. A lot of Oakland residents may visit this site frequently due to locals will know they will not have to do a long search to find local news. With that said, looking at the San Francisco Chronicle, they had no link to send the viewer to an area that covered the San Francisco area; this could be a turn off.
Both San Francisco and Oakland are located in the Bay Area of California. San Francisco has always been considered the upbeat trendy city that is a major tourist attraction. Oakland is more of a blue collar industrial city that is known for their pollution caused by their factories. They are very close to each other and only have a bridge separating them from each other.
I felt the editorial approach for the San Francisco Chronicle was to have the site have rows of themes. If you view the page, the first four headlines have to deal with California. When you scroll down more, the site seems to focus on pop culture and readers opinions. When you view the Oakland North, the editorial was obviously aiming for local emotional appeal. The headlines were about the economy, immigration, and numerous key issues. I got the feeling that the editor wants to make this site to appear as a “neighborhood watch” paper.
The San Francisco Chronicle had numerous innovative strategies to their page. The first one that caught my eye was how they promote their viewers to comment on their stories and give feedback. Another innovative approach was how they already had categories on the top of the page, however when you scroll down there are similar headlines to get the viewers lured in. The last innovative approach they had was on the top of the website they links that read “home delivery” and “subscription”. I find that very effect to get more buys and they are making it very user friendly. The Oakland North’s innovative idea was just keeping it local. Usually cities will promote state and nationwide news, this site mainly stuck with local news. Another innovative idea the Oakland North had was a “you tube” like video on the front page for viewers to view right away. The last innovative approach the Oakland North had was a functional scrolling neighborhood news update. I felt that was effective for viewers trying to find local information on their neighborhood.
I feel the San Francisco Chronicle can focus on three things: promoting local news, larger pictures, and a more interactive site. The Oakland North could also focus on more of an interactive site, among promoting a section to display statewide/nationwide news, and the last would obviously make their site more up to date.
I feel people would view more towards the San Francisco site due to its news content and being a flashier user friendly site. The Oakland North will have a lot of local viewers viewing their site.
I think the start ups can learn a lot from the bigger outlets. The startups can learn what works in regards to website setup and look. The bigger companies could also learn how the start ups focus on more of an emotional approach.
Chris Ross
May 5, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Amber Looney
5/2/2009
Journalism
I chose the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Voice of San Diego. I was looking through the San Diego Tribune website and I noticed that unlike the Voice of San Diego which is an independent nonprofit organization, it is very dependent on the Union Tribune. They discuss stories mostly about the major news topics going on within the U.S. today, as opposed to the Voice of San Diego which mostly covers news that is located within the state of California itself, and then side stories about U.S. issues.They both cover mainly the same stories, which I thought was interesting because they are both set up very different from one another. They have many different articles right on the main page. There are over 27+ articles mentioned just on the front page. With the Voice of Sna Diego there are only about half as many mentioned. Three innovative things about the San Diego Union-Tribune are they have ads for car companies flashing all over different parts of each page, they have chat rooms set up so you can discuss issues with people all over the world about what is currently in their news, and third, they have ads where you can sign up for their mobile breaking news alerts. Three innotative things with the Voice of San Diego are not as many different links for one subject (ex. the swine flu.) Another is they have pictures of convicts in the news posted with large pictures directly on their front page, one in which isnt even mentioned in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and last they have animated pictures of people instead of actual photos for some of their stories, which I believe draws little attention to the actual story itself.
A few areas in the San Diego Union-Tribune that I think could use some work would be to not clutter their page so much, the blinking car ads are overpowering and distracting. Also, there is too much literature on their main page itself and it looks like it would be too overwhelming to read the actual wholoe story. Last I think that they have too many links to side stories such as “most emailed” which is a link to the people who email the site the most about a certain story, which I believe is completely unnecessary. With the Voice of San Diego, the page is actually too bland. There isnt much that makes the website look exciting and it seems like no one really is interested in making the website stand out. I also thought that the choice of their main headline story was poor. It wasnt really interesting when I read it and there wasnt that much good information within the story to catch the reader. Lastly with this website I thought that they could use much more picture usage. Not to clutter the page but to catch people’s attention a little bit more. There really isnt much color to the page just navy blue lettering on a white bland background, nothing special.
The San Diego Union-Tribune seems like it would get a lot of readers only because it is packed full of information updated on a daily bases, it kind of reminds me of CNN or another website that is popular within the U.S. On the other hand the Voice of San Diego really doesnt seem like it would get many readers because it doesnt target mainstream stories very well, nothing about Obama, or anything huge in the news at the moment.
Overall I would have to point out that they could both learn a lot from one another. They could learn to use their sources a little bit better, as well as make their main pages, which is what the reader initially sees either a little more interesting or a little less crammed all into one section.
Paper 3: the local news
May 5, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Chi Town Daily vs. The Chicago Tribune
As far as the home pages go, Chi Town Daily appears to be more innovative in this respect. Overall, the layout is easier to navigate through, and it contains useful features that the Chicago Tribune does not. There’s a photo gallery of sites from Chicago, and right beneath it is a neighborhood report, which is particularly interesting. If you want to know the most recent news about a neighborhood in Chicago, all you have to do is click this section and find it. This is something that the Trib doesn’t offer, probably because they don’t have volunteer neighborhood journalists. Chi Town Daily also displays news feeds from the Chicago Tribune, WBEX, and the Sun-Times. As a result, they are redirecting traffic to these sites.
The Tribune, however, had more sections of news to choose from on their website. People might prefer the Trib because it does supply its reader with a wider variety of information than Chi Town Daily does (probably because of their staff size), although that “neighborhoods” section of Chi Town Daily is really alluring. Moreover, the Trib has a “Chicago Traffic” box similar to Chi Town Daily’s neighborhood box, which is also innovative in its own respect. Moreover, the Trib also has a “Chicago Breaking News” box at the top of its page which proves to be useful.
Oddly enough, the Trib seemed to have more advertisements than Chi Town Daily. My assumption, then, is that Chi Town Daily must purely run off of the donations that they receive. I feel like the Trib really needs to reevaluate the layout of their home page because it looks like an unorganized mess. Nothing really jumps out at you. The stories that they choose to lead with are a bit suspect as well; today, the story that immediately draws your eye is one about a woman jumping into the lake to save her dog. Is this really that important?
For some reason it’s easier to pick on the Trib instead of Chi Town Daily; I’m grasping for negative aspects. I suppose that Chi Town Daily is lacking in the photography department—most articles don’t seem to have any pictures. I don’t mind not having a lot of pictures, but most people are visual creatures and like to have visuals along with their articles. Chi Town Daily also lacks the streaming videos of news reports that the Trib offers. And, of course, they can’t cover nearly the same amount of news that the Trib can.
Basically, people probably go to Chi Town Daily for neighborhood news, and then go to the Trib for MORE news, like the international news that Chi Town Daily doesn’t offer.
Jessica Colabufo
May 5, 2009 at 10:04 pm
WBEZ*
Jessica Colabufo
May 5, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I decided to look at the Newark Star Ledger News and the New Jersey Patch because when I was younger I was always fond of New Jersey for their music scene and the influential bands it produced; also, this past weekend they had the Bamboozle so I figured I’d find an exciting review about that.
Both are based in New Jersey but Patch has a homepage with three links that can be clicked which then focuses on a certain community. From what I see they don’t overlap that much, Star Ledger is much broader and covers the whole city while Patch only covers a certain part of the city. Patch covers some of the bigger news stories that affect everyone in their news section, with links that direct the reader to another website such as the Star Ledger. Star Ledger does let the option open of looking at smaller local news with the links at the top of the page. Patch is very much focused on the community and the participation of locals with links that allow people to share something with others and with the editor. However, Star Ledger also allows people to add content on the site; over to the side you can upload photos and videos and there’s also a forum for people to discuss a variety of topics in the news.
The layout for the Star Ledger is relatively easy to navigate. It has a blog-like layout making it easy to read the stories in a summary and spot the ones of interest which then have the link to a full story. There are more ads on this site than there are on the Patch sites. Patch has a good, clean layout also making it easy to read stories. They also have the links at the top that will guide people to restaurants and events in their area, with full reviews about both. The front page is divided into the four sections and at the top of each they have a link where people can submit some announcement or a news tip.
With the internet being such a big part of everyone’s life it’s becoming easier for people to partake in the news with the information they know or announcements that they want others to know. It’s clear that both sites, particularly Patch, looks towards the public to get information. Considering Patch is a startup site they’re being as innovative as they can to get all this news for people. I found it interesting though the innovation of the Star Ledger with their forum; you don’t see much of that on newspaper sites. This will attract more readers who will visit the site on a daily basis and contribute to the forum and share their thoughts with others, not only are they providing the news but they’re providing a place for people to get “together” in a sense and discuss. The Patch also has something similar; people can actually join the site and comment on stories. I also noticed that the editor uses a twitter where he puts out notices for readers; in this case he’s looking for someone who can write about theatre. I find this really innovative but it also makes me wonder if just anyone can do this and no sort of degree is a necessity. I guess I find it more interesting because I still have an interest for journalism but it’s switching because I like writing but I like writing what I know and I’m starting to conclude that I’d rather just do freelance journalism and contribute to websites and magazines. Not only does this open opportunity for the website but also for people.
Alex Sequenz
May 5, 2009 at 11:27 pm
For this assignment I selected the Minn Post and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I selected these organizations because I wanted to get a sense of how the news is reported in another Midwestern state. Although, I have visited St. Paul, Minnesota a couple of times I’m relativity unfamiliar with major events that occur in that state. I’m aware of Al Franklen and his Senate seat battles but not much else. I was curious as to what these websites offer and what would run as their main story. So much goes on in and around Chicago, especially as politicians are concerned. I was interested in finding out what kinds of scandals happen in Minnesota. I also wanted to, for a moment, venture outside the realm of the local Chicago events and explore the what would it be like if I lived in this state. If I lived in Minnesota the kind of news and information I would like to read about.
The first site I visited was the Minn Post and the first tab I went to was the “about” section. I was interested on the mission statement, as a visitor to their websites I wanted to understand the values of the organization. Their first sentence caught my attention, the Minn Post is an nonprofit publication. This meant a lot to me because I knew that the site will not be bombarded with ads. Real news will be displayed even flaunted and integrity will not be compromised in order to make a buck. The more I continued to read, the more I was impressed at the high level of commitment they offer readers. I also realized that many of the employee’s are former employee’s of the Star Tribune. Which I found interesting because they probably left the Star for different reasons but I like to think that they joined the Minn Post to be apart of the anti-Star Tribune organization. I went back to the home page and read their slogan “A thoughtful approach to news.” I got the impression that local opinion and events are in intricate part in the vitality of this organization. Upon further inspection of the home page I found the MinnPost Highlights. I had fun going through the different tabs which includes a simple way to connect to YouTube, facebook and Twitter. I realize that everybody has a Twitter and Facebook page but I think it solidifies the importance of these social networking sites and how news organizations try to connect to everybody. My only problems with this site were some of the articles and posts were not current. I also noticed that their was no entertainment section on the website. Although, I enjoyed reading the articles I would also want to read about celebrity news. Overall I liked the simplicity of the site and easy to use tabs and links. I think that some stories and topics should be updated at least on a weekly basis.
The second site I visited was the Star Tribune and again went straight for the about section. Which was not so easy to locate but I found it under the help tab on the home page. Their mission statement included a mini review of the first amendment and the organization’s commitment to the community. After reading the mission statement I felt disconnected with the publication. I felt this way because I immediately got the impression that this publication was more interested in giving the reader mass information. There are so many sub-tabs its almost impossible to remember what you read because there is just so much information. It’s pretty easy to get distracted and lost in the different articles. I had to write down the sections I wanted to go back to and read. The website neatly organizes the sub-tabs into sections and gives the reader a lot of useful information. The website also updated their information on the home page. The section I enjoyed was the Lifestyle tab. The Lifestyle tab is filled with interesting topics and articles. I spent most of my time browsing this section. My grips with this site are the ads, the cluster of information on the home page and the links to Twitter and facebook were difficult to locate. I felt overwhelmed with the way the news is presented. I liked the way the tabs have the sub-tabs. The information was well organized.
The Minn Post site can’t even compare to the Star Tribune because the content is not at the level of the Star. Visually, I thought the Minn Post site was plain and the Star was overwhelming. I’m not sure which one I prefer. If I had to pick one, I would pick the Minn Post because it didn’t give me a headache like the Star did. The Star offers so many articles, topics and video that even comparing them is not fair. What the Minn Post offers that the Star does not is the local and personal touch. The Minn Post doesn’t bombard the reader with so many ads and promotions. Rather the Minn Post offers a simple and user friendly way to finding out what is going on in Minnesota. I think that large publications like, the Star Tribune, in a sense lose a bit of that close knit community because their focus is on profit and what they think is relevant. What I think smaller publications like, the Minn Post can learn from the larger organizations are adding sections that are popular and incorporating them onto their site.
Crissy
May 5, 2009 at 11:30 pm
San Diego Tribune
vs.
Voice of San Diego
We all may be adults in America trying to make a name for ourselves in this crazy profession we call journalism. We know what’s best because we’ve gone through the basic training, and education, and we KNOW what the reader wants right? Wrong! Today many of the “traditional” news organizations can learn from the smaller startups organizations. I decided to show the strengths and weaknesses between The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Voice of San Diego. I Initially didn’t find anything wrong between the two websites, but as I explored the news sites more thoroughly I found an abundant amount of pros and cons.
The San Diego Tribune the more “traditional” news website wasn’t very appealing at first glance. Readers don’ t only look for news sites to just tell the news. It seemed like the San Diego Tribune was so jammed packed with news, that it barley had room to fit pictures. The San Diego Tribune offers readers the typical online news site experience. The site doesn’t have a WOW factor; its convenient for your local news and weather coverage. The San Diego Tribune however offers news topics across the board; ranging from local news, to world news, health, education and politics. The Entertainment section truly gives readers a run for their money. This section is filled with up-to-date concert schedules, local art galleries, movies reviews, you name it. Its nice that the San Diego Tribune keeps most of their advertisements to the right side of the screen. Personally I don’t enjoy having to look at ads that go in a circular rotation around the web page.
The Voice of San Diego right off the bat engages the readers with their bold title. This non traditional online news site has a more lightweight layout; allowing the reader to breath, free from the back to back news. The Voice of San Diego covers news stories, but not to such a wide extent as The San Diego Tribune offerers. This site covers more general news topics such as; public safety, the environment, government and economics. The titles and graphics of news stories are bold and enticing. While exploring the education section I saw a article on a school reopening after a Swine Flu scare. The image by title made me feel the article even more. The graphic imitated a piece of paper with the words school in between the lines, there was also a graduation hat hanging from the S in school. The graphic as a whole brought me into the article, and I feel many news readers want to be brought into these articles they read. However everything that goes up must come down, and there were a few weaknesses I found in the site. Even though their topics were more general its a good idea to have a variety of news articles readers are able to choose from. While visiting Voice of San Diego you see the big bold title their logo in front, however right under the title there’s a sentence stating” We depend on your donations join us today” This could turn readers off, because they may have not had the chance to explore the website to see if they would want to make a donation; this could possibly be stated at the end of news articles.
The more traditional news organizations such as the San Diego Tribune can learn a lot from the startup sites by exploring the idea that “less is more”. Less ads and more news. Have more interesting topics on the main page that would draw more potential readers in to further continue to read beyond the home page. And newly beginning sites can learn from the veteran sites that you shouldn’t list anywhere that donations are needed to run the site. It might deter people from wanting to return because they might feel obligated to donate. People turn to online news media so they don’t have to pay for newspapers on an everyday basis. Although you wouldn’t have to donate everyday, who really wants to spend money to read an FREE ONLINE source news media.
Jeanae Payne
May 6, 2009 at 12:36 am
Paper 3
For this assignment, I chose to do the San Diego Union- tribune, and the voice of San Diego. I chose this particular news source because I wanted to see how a west coast paper was ran compared to a midwest one. I never have been to San Diego(let alone California) so I think what is in their news might be different from whats in ours. When I first opened up the San Diego Union-Tribune page, the first thing I saw was Chairman Ben Bernake and how optimistic he is about the end of the recession, and he feels the economy will start to re-grow again soon, and as I kept looking I noticed that the San Diego paper is more about world issues(and they also talk about local news in CA) but the Voice of San Diego(which is a non profit organization) seems to only cover news in that are or just CA in general. They both have similar articles, but in the San Diego paper there are just more and only about half of what they have on the voice of San Diego paper.
Some innovative things I noticed for the San Diego, was there was alot of ads popping up on the page like car ads, walk for hope, checking your credit status and etc, and there was also Nominate your San Deigo favorites and sign up for mobile breaking news alerts. As for innovative things for the voice of San Diego, they have alot of cartoon charaters on their different ads, video of how churche’s are reacting to the swine flu, and there is a tally of how many peole are on members of the Voice of San Diego. Neither of the papers strike me for something that I would like to read. In my opinion, they both could use more..pizzaz-if you will. Like something that would grab my attention more but if I had to pick one of the two, it would probably be with the Voice of San Diego. Also, I think that the San Diego Tribune is to cluttterd on it’s front page. There are so many articles you could click on, that you kind of get drowned in it all. I think they both need more work. Dont make everything so crammed together San Diego tribune, and I think their editors need to approach stories differently. I forgot who it was, but on a previous assignment, when they went to interview teenage mothers at a local Chicago public high school(and why the drop-out rate was so high), and you heard the baby crying and the way the reporter described the young mom, her room with celebrtiy posters everywhere, and her baby..you felt like you were actually there with the reporter as she was giving her interview. That caught my attention,and made me want to know more, but these papers..not so much. Another GREAT newspaper website is STLtoday.com- I think you would enjoy it. I sure do =)
Erica Elleby
May 6, 2009 at 3:24 am
Audrey Crusoe
May 4, 2009
Paper 3:The New Local News
The news websites I decided to compare for my final paper is the Newark Star Ledger and The New Jersey Patch. I am glade I chose to compare these 2- websites because one of them brought back a lot of old memories; being that I grew up in Trenton N.J., and some parts of Newark N.J.
The Ledger was the more traditional online news site of the two. It was formatted much like the Chicago Tribune. The Ledger’s web layout has more of a serious tone to it. The color scheme is white, blue, and black. Aside from the colorful blinking advertisements, the page doesn’t really pop. The Patch website on the other hand, was fun with bright friendly colors. Visiting this news site gave me a very homely and safe feeling about South Orange, Maplewood and Millburn, New Jersey even though I have never heard of those places before. With bubble font and bright orange highlights: Patch is extremely different from The Newark Star Ledger.
On the other hand, one innovative resource I liked about the Ledger site was the search engine sponsored by Google. Using this application, I traveled deep into Trenton N.J., where I wasn’t surprised to see the high school in which I spent my freshmen year was now worse than I remembered. I read up on articles that told stories of: persist problems with fearful student and parents, which caused an increase in already decreasing attendance rates, teens being arrested for vandalizing school property and even a case of a missing teenaged girl who attended Trenton Public High (west campus). One innovating thing about the Patch was the fact that each of the editors tweet the online news sites, as I saw one editor Adam Bulger, post a tweet about jobs for writers with Patch.
Another innovating thing about the Ledger is how easy it is to virtually travel from one county to the next with just a click of a button. Eleven counties in Newark are available via Ledger’s site; each headlining there own top stories. I found this to be innovative because residents of these counties are given options: the option to only read the news provided about the county in which they live or maybe their neighbors county, also our very own Chicago Tribune site doesn’t have this rewarding perk, instead reports are done by regions.
Another innovative thing about the Patch is the tone of the site’s web layout. As soon as I clicked one of the links provided for the neighborhoods, I knew that this news site cater to a small and happy community. The South Orange Patch and the Maplewood Patch headlining stories were both the same, about a new health bar and grill that would open in Maplewood. This lets me know the townships are not very far apart. The Millburn patch headlines were different and it was also the first report on crime that I saw. This led me to believe that Millburn was the farther of the two communities.
The last innovating thing I found to be true about the Ledger, is the way the news site not only gives viewers options as to which county they would like to be informed on but also options to read smaller-neighboring news publications, like the Trenton Times: a newspaper I am some what familiar with. Smaller publications, like the Trenton Times; take you into neighborhoods within Trenton N.J., which is good for the people of Trenton and even people who maybe looking to move to the city. The last innovative thing I found out about the patch is the way the editors promote natives of the different communities to give input or post events and announcement on the news site. This is good for natives as it lets their voices be heard.
Although I enjoyed exploring the Newark Star Ledger ‘s website, as well as the N.J. Patch, there are a few changes I think could be made. For one, the format for the home page on the Ledger’s website should be condensed; I found it to be very cluttered with information. Perhaps they should create smaller sections with links inside of them.
A second unattractive flaw I noticed about Ledger was how it didn’t give me as a visitor a safe felling about the counties. 8 out or 11 of the counties website’s headlining stories were that of vicious crimes and murder. In my opinion this a major flaw because to some one whose is visiting the site maybe with hopes of moving to one of the counties, would probably be turned off and frightened by the city’s crime rate. I think the editor should ‘lay off’ some of the crime articles as top stories (save them for the news or give them secondary positions on the sites format) and incorporate more ‘Upbeat’ articles. Other then the 2 –flaws I just stated I really enjoyed the site.
Visiting the New Jersey Patch, did really notice anything that need to be changed. The News website seem to cater to all three small communities and the residents of each small communities seem to be comfortable and satisfied with the site as I witness from discussion boards.
I could imagine people interacting with these 2- websites on a daily bases. The Ledger; because it caters to a wide range of Newark residents, also it reports the current events and issues. The Patch because it caters to a smaller audience, but is equally important. It was a pleasure exploring both of the news sites.
Audrey Crusoe
May 6, 2009 at 6:38 am
Out of curiosity of a novel news website, I focused on Minnesota’s MinnPost and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Star-Tribune. My mother’s brother and family live in the Minneapolis area and I have visited many times. Therefore, the two websites were an obvious choice!
Both websites feature national and world news. The MinnPost has its lens focused on the region and state of Minnesota, while, surprisingly, the Star-Tribune does not involve this subdivision. The Star-Tribune targets the cardinal directions of the local area, as well as each of the ‘Twin Cities’ individually.
The MinnPost terms itself, “A thoughtful approach to news.” It also appears to be quite realistic. The website has underlying themes involving crime, politics, individual stories and discussion. It is, of course, Minnesota-centric. While many newspapers or websites let tell us the trends, it takes a step back and relies on the most important aspects. The Star-Tribune has a good cross-section of content similar to a regular newspaper. This is comprehensive. For example, the Lifestyle heading has thirteen specifically embedded sections. Each major heading is enriched by subsets encouraging reader interaction, including; ‘Blogs’, ‘Widgets’, ‘Your Photos’ and ‘Your Voices.’
The Star-Tribune is more aesthetically pleasing than the MinnPost, and somewhat relaxed. It reminds me of a website for a medical complex or hospital. The backgrounds intermesh with a transparent robin’s egg blue and white, and significant article titles are denoted in an opaque of both. This invokes a pleasing sense of unity. The Star-Tribune’s title, in black, is offset, and set in a sans-serif typeface like the majority of the website. Sans-serif type is proven to be harder on the eyes, as they find it more difficult to read. However, the embedded articles are set in the traditional, journalistic Times New Roman. Upon scrolling, I notice several focal pictures along the left, in addition to many smaller images and advertisements.
After viewing the Star-Tribune, the first word that comes to mind when seeing the MinnPost is ‘hard’. This website is not as fancy as the first, with static images and no background focus. It reads straight down, while the Star-Tribune’s varietal layout is reminiscent of an actual newspaper. Advertisements bolster the sides of the pages. This website involves a variety of typefaces. The theme colors, which highlight the title on the top, are somewhat unsettling in their contrast. It is a combination of maroon and khaki- which almost appears green. It also reminds me of the outdoors and camping equipment. Nonetheless, it is effective, and the entire presentation is successful. The non-standard color combination helps to bring an individualism and identity to the website- without appearing unprofessional.
Where innovation is concerned, the MinnPost has a ‘feed’-like column along each topical page which small posts from the website’s major contributors. I noticed an amusing illustration in the Health/Science section. Under a heading titled, “Scenes from the New Economy”, a real drawing was highlighting a story regarding the wealth of willing medical testing volunteers in the current economy. The custom picture drew my attention to the story and instigated my reading it. Similarly, as I went more in-depth in each section, I noticed that nearly every article was offset by a relevant and vibrant photograph.
As previously mentioned, the Star-Tribune has immersed itself in its medium- the Internet. It even contains a section devoted to news graphics. These mostly video graphics visually illustrate the progress of a crime, explain figures and pinpoint the H1N1/Swine Influenza cases occurring in Minnesota. Another observation- there is even an area for coupons!
The Star-Tribune would benefit from a focus on state and regional news. It could also benefit from not condensing the news into a single drop-down header, but instead creating a tab for each region. This would ensure the reader is aware of the scope of the site’s coverage. The average reader would appreciate a focal ‘Top Stories’ and ‘Breaking News’ section on the home page. The MinnPost could gain from less advertising on their home page. While the purpose is understood, these overwhelm. It also needs to condense and embed some of the themed feeds. They are scrambled and rather dizzying. It would be enhanced with the use of a few more well-shot photographs to ground the main page.
I would imagine one would interact with either website daily just as they would every morning with a local paper. These online papers exemplify the local news, and local print newspapers are dying. The advantage of the online format is the ability to instantaneously update and be updated. The innovation of the Internet also enables the readers to interact with the news, via comments and blog posts. The forthcoming of opinion may create a deeper interest in the news subjects, and this could become a regular habit.
Traditional news organizations could learn to be more in-depth from the smaller Internet start-ups. They are trying to cover the scope of a newspaper, and in turn they lose an investigative edge. The mass amount of multi-media opportunities is sure to bring excellent first-hand content. Yet, the traditional organizations would be bettered by simplifying the visual content and exploratory opportunities, as these can be overwhelming. However, these can also benefit the range of a large audience, both in demographical age and interest. The start-ups could also stand to streamline their themes and pages, to appear more cohesive. The smaller website’s natural orientation toward opinion stimulates the reader to take an active and consistent role in their news. The start-ups should definitely indicate a particular area for the stories with most importance.
Overall, both websites were extremely effective. I learned of many options unavailable to Michigan and Southwestern Michigan’s news websites. Perhaps someday each tiny neighborhood in America will have its own blog and news feed!
Alexandra Laman
May 6, 2009 at 7:02 am
At first glance I could see the difference between the two websites. The first thing that gave away the differences in the two websites was the web design and layout of each web page. A similarity that they both shared was that they were both very plain. Another similarity that they both shared was the fact that they both have pictures of the area that they cover at the top of the web page. On the San Francisco Chronicle web page they have a picture of the San Francisco Bridge and on the Oakland North web page they have a picture of business. The difference in these two pictures is that the picture at the top of the Oakland North web page also links to their special report, while on the other hand the picture at the top of the San Francisco Chronicle is just for looks.
Also the San Francisco Chronicle website was way more detailed with a lot more tabs. Also it was broken down into many subsections and even within those subsections there were more subsections. As far as which geographic region each website covered it seemed as if the Oakland North website only covered the immediate area. This website did not have as many tabs which was the one thing that kept the two websites from overlapping in a lot of areas. While the San Francisco Chronicle covered the entire bay area and they even covered the world news.
Three things that are innovative about the San Francisco Chronicle website is its ability to cover many different news stories in and out of the region. On the other hand, the Oakland North website did not cover as many different areas and did not have as many stories or sub-stories but they went into depth about most of the stories posted on their website, which tells me as a reader, that they have the ability to go into depth because the content is not covering such a large area. Another thing I though was innovative about the Oakland North website was that it was more personalized for its readers the subjects that they covered were very informative and answered the question “what’s going on in my neighborhood “ and this question was answered very well. I also liked how most of the stories on the Oakland North web page were very positive. They mostly dealt with community involvement one thing that I thought was interesting was they had a story that was written from the youths perspective.
Some things that each site could have learned from each other is that the San Francisco Chronicle could try to personalize their stories on their website a little bit more. Even though they are trying to attract a broader audience they might be more effective if they put up stories that people can relate to from time to time. Also another thing they could learn from Oakland North is that every story does not have to have a negative slant or message. It is okay to be positive in your news gathering people like to hear happy stories also. Some things that the Oakland North could learn from the San Francisco Chronicle is that they need to expand their area a little more. Not to say that they should cover as wide of an area as the Chronicle because then they would stop serving their audience but they should sprinkle in some international stories here and there.
In conclusion, with both of these websites I believe that people will be well informed because when one lacks in one subject the other picks up the slack. They are both very informative websites and I see the difference in the need for them both.
Sherri Williams
May 6, 2009 at 7:27 am
Kevin Napolitan
Introduction to Journalism
Mr. Sinkler
6 May, 2009
The Seattle Times and West Seattle Blog
I had compared the Seattle Times and the Western Seattle Blog. I found many assumable, and some rather surprising outcomes from my results. By taking analyzing these news publications, I have learned a lot about each of them through how they approach and practice journalism.
The coverage for both the Times and Western Blog came to no surprise. A common, yet necessary feature of a major US city news source is the coverage of the city and it’s surrounding areas. The Seattle Times did just this in covering the Seattle and surrounding area. The website had a very clear and visible link to their Local section, unlike many websites that bury them under headlines or amongst the roaming advertisement space. I was glad to see they found it important enough to host on their top links. And the title sticks to the description of the content coverage in the Western Seattle Blog. Unlike some local news websites, there was no coverage to be seen outside of the western Seattle area.
I found both publications’ editorial approach appropriate for the particular way in which they delivered the news. With the characteristics each publication holds, each news does a good job appealing to the audience they are trying to reach. I found the editorial approach to the Seattle Times to be more broad and general, with their coverage of all the popular interests in news coverage, including local and state-wide news, sports, weather, etc. Or rather the precise emphasis to one audience in the Western Seattle Blog is able to properly serve the western Seattle community is able to be covered as well as it is.
I have never found myself to be a fan of local news websites for one reason or another. Usually for reasons of finding little, or no convenience in using their website rather than saving time and picking up their paper. Although after visiting the Seattle Times website, my opinion on this had changed. On the other side, I was able to find no innovation or area of the website that enhanced any part of my experience visiting their blog. One of the innovated features on the Seattle Times website was the time display above their articles. The time at which the article was posted is put above each article link on the homepage in a noticeable red font. I enjoyed this because one thing that is important to me is to know I am receiving the news articles that are most recent amongst all of the articles available to me.
I found the opposite results when I reviewed areas of improvement for both websites. I found it rather easy to come across needs of improvement for the West Seattle Blog , rather than pointing at minor details I’d found in the Seattle Times. One of these small details included the spacing of the images and texts boxes. The designers could have spared a few centimeters to give for space between them. My second and last area for improvement I was able to find was the length of the website. I love that the homepage lists all of the section.
For the West Seattle Blog, my main complaint was the tone of the majority of stories posted on the website. Although crime is important news to inform the the community, there are other, brighter toned subjects to report on. My second improvement would be their placement of advertisement. For being a local website who is supporting their local advertisers, they do a good job of doing it by placing the ads all at the bottom-right-hand section of the page. I find it would make more sense to integrate the local business’ better, since this is a local publication. My final improvement would be their organization. Although I do understand the concept and style of a blog, I do not believe a news website is most successful in a blog format. I did not like having to scroll down a page to pick and chose my news.
I would think that any user of either website would use them for very similar reasons. This would be that they are there to consume the news of the area covered in the websites they have chosen to view. I find both of these websites to be very informative and practical for the average person looking to catch up on the news.
The websites and the news covered give me a sense of classic, basic, yet informative news, nothing outstanding or out of the ordinary. Both offer fast, easy ways to consume the information they want, in a way they want for their lifestyle. Like the theme of the news website, I find both websites to be of simple and classic designs. Nothing is fancy, you have your basic layout of text and photos.
The major difference in these two websites is how I categorize their content. The Seattle Times reports reports the news. Although it is considered news, I do not find the particular content in the West Seattle Blog to be news, rather than what I consider just information of what has been happening in a community.
I believe as both startups and traditional news organizations take on commercial journalism, both can learn from each other as they develop their websites to efficiently and effectively report then ews to their audience. I think that smaller start ups are able to remind the traditional news corporations of their roots in journalism, possibly influencing them for new, fresh ideas. Also the traditional news organizations would be able to be a guide for the start up companies on learning the ropes of journalism.
Kevin
May 6, 2009 at 9:08 am
Sonianne Lozada
Intro to Journalism
The New Local News
May 6, 2009
Since I am a Chicago native I decided to steer out of my comfort zone and look into other news organization that I was not familiar with. I chose the Seattle Times and the West Seattle blog. It was interesting to actually study the sites for bit. I saw how different it was from the Chicago Sun-Times or the Chicago Tribune. What I mean by this is the environment of Seattle is totally different from that of Chicago. Yes Seattle is a city; however, there are lots of rural areas that surround Seattle including many areas that just are filled with nothing but nature. So you would not be surprised to find a story about a Native American tribe in the Newspaper. That is something that I have never seen in the Times or Tribune of Chicago.
Each site I visited had its own authenticity to it. Making it very difficult to decide which one was better than the other. When it came to information and detail the Seattle Times site nailed it. They had so much that you could read and look at. It was as if I had the actual paper in front of me. The West Seattle blog also had lots of things but not like the Seattle Times. The West Seattle blog seemed to be a more informative site. It appeared to be a site that you go to, to strictly read. It did not have too much visual presentation to work with. Nonetheless, when it came to the visual presentation of the Seattle Times’ entertainment column it also lacked the photos and color. This entertainment column seemed to be very plain. All I saw was words and more words. The only photos or color in this part of the Seattle Times was the ads that the page displayed.
When it came to the geographic region of each site I saw that the Seattle Times covered most of the state according to a map they supplied on the site. This map showed all the stories that each reporter covered for the Times and in which area it was covered. While the West Seattle blog only covers stories in the West Seattle area. Everything they talk about and even advertise in their site comes from the West Seattle area.
Each site has an interesting Editorial approach the West Seattle blog of course has lots of opinionated writing. While observing their site I realized they seem to write about many different things. Their concentration has no limits. They write about sports, politics, local issues and many other random topics. While on the other hand the Seattle Times had lots of political and social issues in their editorial section. I can see a person that likes to read about random topics and also likes to read about other people’s perspective on things would really like the West Seattle blog. Also if they like to know only about local news this would be a good site for them to look into. The Seattle Times is of course more broad if you are a reader that likes selection and visual presentation this site is great because there is so much to read and look at on a local and national level as well.
Something that each site can learn from the other is that simplicity is easier for people to understand. The Seattle Times could be a bit more spread out so that it does not seem so cluttered. Nonetheless, the West Seattle blog should be more appealing to its readers. I for one am drawn to visual presentation so if your visuals are great than I will be interested in the article as well.
Sonianne Lozada
May 6, 2009 at 9:21 am
The Tribune’s website focuses a lot more on the news and breaking stories within the city and not on the suburban areas. I like that feature because I live in the city and I’m not interested in what happens in the suburbs. The Tribune has pretty accurate and current events and I am satisfied to know that the website is updated on a daily basis. The pictures on this website aren’t the best but I am somewhat compelled to look at them out of curiosity.
The Chi-Town Daily News website is a very eye-catching website. I think it is very well put together and the designer knows how to get the public’s attention. It is easy to surf and has a lot of links to the pictures and articles you choose. If I lived in the suburbs the Chi-Town Daily News website would be my first choice.
I am a working student and the traffic is my first order of business and the Tribune did it for me. They have real-time traffic features and this is very convenient for the working adult or any person trying to find a quicker route to their destination. The Chi-Town Daily didn’t provide me with traffic and that’s a thumb’s down from me.
Another big plus for the Tribune site is that they offer weather reports and projected weather for the week. I like that because I can better prepare and expect the type of weather which may be headed my way. The Chi-Town Daily news does not off this feature.
I could use the Chi-Town Daily News website if I planned to move to a specific suburb on the outside of the city. That is a great feature of the Chi-Town Daily.
Overall, I am not a frequent web surfer and these sites do not appeal to me at all. But they are helpful in their own special ways for providing information to the people who live in the city and those who live in the suburbs.
I believe these two sites could better help each other if they were linked to each other. I think only then they could provide what the public completely wants and suffice for their weak points.
Gerald Maze
May 15, 2009 at 10:25 am