Coverage of World Tragedies

Class, please follow today and over the weekend major publications' coverage of  Thursday's crash of the Malaysian Airlines jet in the Ukraine, and the conflict in the Gaza Strip, where stepped-up attacks by Israel to destroy Hamas tunnels left 28 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead. Both news stories are dominating the home pages of major news sites. 

Please compare how a major site in the U.S., such as the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN or Los Angeles Times, is covering these stories, vs. how an overseas site such as the BBC is handling them. Before Monday morning's class, please choose one of these two events to comment on, below my post. Discuss what kinds of interactives and multimedia are posted, and what kinds of text stories are added. How quickly are major details fleshed out? (For instance, do we know who shot down the plane? Why?) Are any mistakes published and later corrected?What makes these stories particularly difficult to cover? 

Three or four strong paragraphs will suffice.

Story Generation and More....

Class, don't forget: Tomorrow we're switching classrooms: We'll be meeting in room 2105 (the lab next door) from now on. It's got a little more room.

I was really encouraged today by our story generation session--and how you might make national hot-button topics relevant to your school. You had ideas to write about the impact of technology on teaching, and curriculum, and cheating -- and its effect on bullying. And to look back, six months or a year after cafeteria menus are changed to make them healthier, to see if kids are actually eating the food. (Or if they're instead picking up junk food at the nearby gas station.) And to talk to administrators about double standards in uniforms and general attire allowed for gals and guys. (Why, you wondered, is the focus on the girls' clothes? Fear of rape?) And so much more....

I'm encouraged by the good ideas generated by this group -- and hope you'll explore some of them at your school publications in the fall.

As promised, here's a link to the story package on teen athletes and concussions generated by the eight seniors and two grad students in my health reporting class last spring. I hope some of these stories will give you ideas as well: http://cnsmaryland.org/interactives/youth-concussions/