The Raw story is a website (www.therawstory.com) that I have visited daily since 2005 when I heard a radio interview with one of the editors. The Raw story is an online based publication and delivers up to date news stories from around the world and from their own small writing staff.
In the ‘about us’ section of their webpage, Raw Story claims that it is “an alternative news nexus” a statement that I wholly agree with. Raw Story’s layout is basically just a front page, much like a newspaper. Generally, there is only one picture above the featured story. There are of course many elements similar to a typical daily paper, such as sections for science, business, technology, international and politics. However, Raw Story also features what they consider the top headlines from the blogosphere.
In their mission statement, they claim that their goal “is to unearth and spotlight stories underplayed by the popular press.” This may in fact be too true. As Raw Story is one of my primary news outlets, their dedication to the underplayed story sometimes gets the best of them. I know from experience that their commitment to underplayed stories sometimes causes them to forget the really big story. I have found that checking Raw Story daily will fill you with news you may have otherwise missed, however I found that often I was the last to know about a truly big story.
Raw Story has enjoyed rapid growth since its founding in 2004. Today, Raw Story has grown so much that they now even have a White House codependent. Not only that, there correspondent has continued to be one of the more aggressive the in the White House News Core. This demonstrates Raw Story’s commitment to hard, factual news. Unlike many blogs and smaller online news outlets, Raw Story does not sensationalize its news. No phony, misleading headline, just the facts.
However, Raw Story does have relationships with Bloggers and keeps a link list of what they feel to be some of the better blogs under the heading ‘blog role.’
On the whole, Raw Story is a left leaning publication, however, they are not afraid to publish what some may consider conservative news. Often, when Raw Story runs a story, there are links to how various other news sources are covering the story. This keeps Raw Story honest and adds to their values of being a ‘alternative news nexus.”
I recommend Raw Story to all those who love news!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Huffington Post
Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffinton Post, a news and blog cite that since its creation has become one of the internets more respected and linked/cited blog pages. Huffington was recognized in 2005 by Time magazine as one of the world’s most influential people. Additionally, Huffington is also a co-host of the radio program “Left, Right and Center” representing “the fourth dimension of political time and space, the independent-progressive blogosphere.”
Huffington’s blog is highly intelligent and is not for the armature follower of political news and opinion. Her Blog entries combine her personal opinion and the facts of the topic. Huffington’s knowledge the facts and figures of a given topic are far beyond the typical reader. However, Huffington does attempt to make the news as accessible to the reader as possible. One way Huffington does this is by embedding many links within each entrie that allow the reader to skip around and read what she is basing her argument on. In example, if she cites or mentions a report on government earmarks, then the word earmark will take you to the report and/or other relevant information.
Arianna Huffington makes her blog entries comprehensive, but it is no mystery that Huffington injects her political insight and opinion into several aspects of an issue. A careful writer/editor and fantastic orator, Huffington, while contentious on many levels, rarely leaves herself open to attack. However, huffington has made transition from identifying more with the right to becoming a left leaning centrist.
The Website ‘Huffingtonpost.com’ is a news and blog publication. The cite features top news stories as well as blogs pages for each of the publication contributors. The website is packed full with links. From top name publications like Newsweek and The Washington Post, to online news cites and columnist blogs and opinion pages. The Huffington post wants and needs their readers to have access to the appropriate background information.
The Huffington Post recognizes its place in the news world. In addition to providing links to news organizations that may appear ‘more creditable’ The Huffington Post has a 23/6 section (a play on 24/7) Where the publication reports “Some of the News, Most of the Time.” This section of the publication solidifies the Huffington Post as a sideline contributor to the news, but by no means an authority.
Huffington’s blogosphere is in many ways a cross between ‘real’ news and contentious ‘blog’ news. The Blog maintains the rules/standards/ethics and morals of journalism, while being obligated to follow none of them. To further distance herself from the ‘typical’ news outlets, Huffington adds a purposefully apparent dash of humor to the whole publication. This hold true to the many contributing writers of The Huffington Post
A clear focus of the webpage is the forums provided by The Huffington Post. Every article, opinion, poll, statistic and picture has a place where comments can be left and read. The Huffington Post has a moderate turnover rate of stories, but generally each story receives about 200 posted comments before it is replaced. This is a testament to the vastness of the online community that The Huffington Post supports.
Advertising on the website is extremely limited. Generally there is one advertisement on the ‘front/home’ page for the publication. After that advertising is restricted to the margins.
Arianna Huffington’s blog lives in an interesting cross section of political news reporting. While she has her facts straight, she lacks total credibility as a journalist. While all the typical requirements are met by Arianna and the staff of the Huffington Post, their place in the news world as a ‘fourth party’ of sorts limits their influence and credibility. However, this does not diminish the importance of The Huffington post and the void in the news world that it fills.
Huffington’s blog is highly intelligent and is not for the armature follower of political news and opinion. Her Blog entries combine her personal opinion and the facts of the topic. Huffington’s knowledge the facts and figures of a given topic are far beyond the typical reader. However, Huffington does attempt to make the news as accessible to the reader as possible. One way Huffington does this is by embedding many links within each entrie that allow the reader to skip around and read what she is basing her argument on. In example, if she cites or mentions a report on government earmarks, then the word earmark will take you to the report and/or other relevant information.
Arianna Huffington makes her blog entries comprehensive, but it is no mystery that Huffington injects her political insight and opinion into several aspects of an issue. A careful writer/editor and fantastic orator, Huffington, while contentious on many levels, rarely leaves herself open to attack. However, huffington has made transition from identifying more with the right to becoming a left leaning centrist.
The Website ‘Huffingtonpost.com’ is a news and blog publication. The cite features top news stories as well as blogs pages for each of the publication contributors. The website is packed full with links. From top name publications like Newsweek and The Washington Post, to online news cites and columnist blogs and opinion pages. The Huffington post wants and needs their readers to have access to the appropriate background information.
The Huffington Post recognizes its place in the news world. In addition to providing links to news organizations that may appear ‘more creditable’ The Huffington Post has a 23/6 section (a play on 24/7) Where the publication reports “Some of the News, Most of the Time.” This section of the publication solidifies the Huffington Post as a sideline contributor to the news, but by no means an authority.
Huffington’s blogosphere is in many ways a cross between ‘real’ news and contentious ‘blog’ news. The Blog maintains the rules/standards/ethics and morals of journalism, while being obligated to follow none of them. To further distance herself from the ‘typical’ news outlets, Huffington adds a purposefully apparent dash of humor to the whole publication. This hold true to the many contributing writers of The Huffington Post
A clear focus of the webpage is the forums provided by The Huffington Post. Every article, opinion, poll, statistic and picture has a place where comments can be left and read. The Huffington Post has a moderate turnover rate of stories, but generally each story receives about 200 posted comments before it is replaced. This is a testament to the vastness of the online community that The Huffington Post supports.
Advertising on the website is extremely limited. Generally there is one advertisement on the ‘front/home’ page for the publication. After that advertising is restricted to the margins.
Arianna Huffington’s blog lives in an interesting cross section of political news reporting. While she has her facts straight, she lacks total credibility as a journalist. While all the typical requirements are met by Arianna and the staff of the Huffington Post, their place in the news world as a ‘fourth party’ of sorts limits their influence and credibility. However, this does not diminish the importance of The Huffington post and the void in the news world that it fills.
The Week
The cover of the week has 2 sub headings; the one above the title reads “all you need to know about everything that matters.” The other reads “the best of the U.S. and international media.” The Week is a weekly news publication. Formatted much like typical daily news paper, it has a news and opinion section, a business section, arts, consumer and of course, space for the weeks top stories.
However, The Week distinguishes itself from other news publication in a variety of ways. Inline with the bold statements of the cover and according to their website (www.theweekdaily.com), The Week claims to compile the “most intriguing stories and the most thoughtful commentary—left, right, and everything in between.” The publication’s commitment to “covering the entire political waterfront” is just one of the core elements of The Week that makes it stand out from other news publication.
Rather than having a large writing staff, The Week employs a staff of editors who “scour hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and Web sites (U.S. and foreign)” The goal is to assemble each week’s best articles into one compact publication. As such, The Week draws upon many sources; that each issue must dedicate a quarter to a half of a page in order to cite each source.
The average issue of The Week is 44 pages long. The goal of the publisher is to create a publication that people will read cover to cover (a point that is highlighted on the ‘advertise in The Week’ section of their web page) and do so in 90 minutes.
The Week claims to have a “common-sense style” and “easy-access blurbs and insets to accompany the in-depth pieces.” The Week believes that “nothing gets more ink than it warrants; no story is too small.” While the only way to describe their target audience is as educated and news savvy, The Week understands the need to keep it interesting. That is why 50% of the publication focuses on reporting the ‘news-big’ issues while the other 50% focuses on arts, leisure and business, though they admit that things often overlap.
But it is the overlap that make the week so interesting for me. The Week attempts to (and in my opinion succeeds) paint a complete picture of the news. As a reader you read about many issues that affect a common outcome. The Week puts all the information out there, but leaves it to the reader to connect the dots. To see how business and technology and politics all affect one another is the real genius of The Week.
In addition to articles, The Week also provides a fair amount of interesting, fun and relevant tid-bits of information. Graph, charts, funny and interesting news stories, celebrity gossip and polls fill the borders of the publication. These quick facts often lead the reader to larger and relevant article.
The Week also provides music, movie, stage and television reviews. There are also consumer product reviews and a real estate section that’s complies the ‘best properties on the market’ from around the U.S.
Advertising in The Week is kept to a minimum. Only 6 full page ads are allowed in the publication each week. The ads tend to be for HBO television shows, oil companies spouting their ‘green image’ and a lot of advertising for airlines.
The Week has a modest, simple but effective online presence. The Week’s website has many of their top and in-depth stories available to any user, but much of their content is restricted to subscribers. There is a form for feedback to staff, but no conversational forum.
The Week is owned by British entrepreneur Felix Dennis. Dennis’ media holdings include The Week, Auto Express, Stuff, Computer Shopper, Blender and Evo, Dennis Publishing is also the owner of Maxim. In addition to a lifelong involvement in media, Dennis is a renowned poet, writer and philanthropist, as well as holding the title of 65th most wealthy Brit.
For any one who tries to keep up with the happenings of the world, The Week is a must read. If you pick up any random issue and read one page, you will learn something about the news; if you read the whole thing you will understand the news. The Week is for the serious student of news and the casual reader. If can be left on the coffee table to entertain guests or cited in an essay. The Week is a versatile and intelligent news publication.
Basicaly everyone should read the week!
However, The Week distinguishes itself from other news publication in a variety of ways. Inline with the bold statements of the cover and according to their website (www.theweekdaily.com), The Week claims to compile the “most intriguing stories and the most thoughtful commentary—left, right, and everything in between.” The publication’s commitment to “covering the entire political waterfront” is just one of the core elements of The Week that makes it stand out from other news publication.
Rather than having a large writing staff, The Week employs a staff of editors who “scour hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and Web sites (U.S. and foreign)” The goal is to assemble each week’s best articles into one compact publication. As such, The Week draws upon many sources; that each issue must dedicate a quarter to a half of a page in order to cite each source.
The average issue of The Week is 44 pages long. The goal of the publisher is to create a publication that people will read cover to cover (a point that is highlighted on the ‘advertise in The Week’ section of their web page) and do so in 90 minutes.
The Week claims to have a “common-sense style” and “easy-access blurbs and insets to accompany the in-depth pieces.” The Week believes that “nothing gets more ink than it warrants; no story is too small.” While the only way to describe their target audience is as educated and news savvy, The Week understands the need to keep it interesting. That is why 50% of the publication focuses on reporting the ‘news-big’ issues while the other 50% focuses on arts, leisure and business, though they admit that things often overlap.
But it is the overlap that make the week so interesting for me. The Week attempts to (and in my opinion succeeds) paint a complete picture of the news. As a reader you read about many issues that affect a common outcome. The Week puts all the information out there, but leaves it to the reader to connect the dots. To see how business and technology and politics all affect one another is the real genius of The Week.
In addition to articles, The Week also provides a fair amount of interesting, fun and relevant tid-bits of information. Graph, charts, funny and interesting news stories, celebrity gossip and polls fill the borders of the publication. These quick facts often lead the reader to larger and relevant article.
The Week also provides music, movie, stage and television reviews. There are also consumer product reviews and a real estate section that’s complies the ‘best properties on the market’ from around the U.S.
Advertising in The Week is kept to a minimum. Only 6 full page ads are allowed in the publication each week. The ads tend to be for HBO television shows, oil companies spouting their ‘green image’ and a lot of advertising for airlines.
The Week has a modest, simple but effective online presence. The Week’s website has many of their top and in-depth stories available to any user, but much of their content is restricted to subscribers. There is a form for feedback to staff, but no conversational forum.
The Week is owned by British entrepreneur Felix Dennis. Dennis’ media holdings include The Week, Auto Express, Stuff, Computer Shopper, Blender and Evo, Dennis Publishing is also the owner of Maxim. In addition to a lifelong involvement in media, Dennis is a renowned poet, writer and philanthropist, as well as holding the title of 65th most wealthy Brit.
For any one who tries to keep up with the happenings of the world, The Week is a must read. If you pick up any random issue and read one page, you will learn something about the news; if you read the whole thing you will understand the news. The Week is for the serious student of news and the casual reader. If can be left on the coffee table to entertain guests or cited in an essay. The Week is a versatile and intelligent news publication.
Basicaly everyone should read the week!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Its a Funky advert party!!!!
The only thing that these two ads are missing is the ticking clock from 24. Why are the Democrats attacking each other on national security??? I thought they were working for 'united Democratic party.' Is this fear mongering the type of campaigning that we, as Americans, have all come to expect and hence have accepted?. Correct me if I am wrong, but are these not the same tired tactics that have plagued American politics since 9/11?
I concede that security is an important issue and should be addressed and investigated during the campaign process, however, it should be addressed appropriately. A 30 second political advertisement, aired during 'American Idol' is not enough time nor is it the right medium to convey such a focused political message. Save the T.V. time to express your 'values' or highlight your credentials, not put doubt and fear into voters.
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