Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/10/2010101514217930443.html

I had heard a lot about this news network in my university years, that it was really up to date and provided non bias coverage and since they are based in the Middle East (in Doha, Quatar) and the bulk of world news these days in from the Middle East, I wanted to cover one of their news stories.

 I was a little suprised, but the site was well organised, not too busy (my pet hate) and had a large amount of additional media content like videos and photo galleries. They also featured podcasts and an option to watch Al Jazeera live on your laptop or on your mobile.
 The story I chose was that of Afghan detainees who claimed they suffered abuse by the hands of the U.S soldiers at Bagram Air Base.

It was a well written story, not brief and well detailed.
" The abuse- which includes exposure to extreme temperatures, lack of adequate food and bedding and lack of natural light."
As opposed to some articles I have read in which they mention 'abuse' but without mentioning any specifics.
I know you cant believe everything you read, but their source was the man who wrote the report for the prisoners a Mr Johnothan Horowitz.
The article goes on to state that the U.S Department of Defence is looking into all allegations of abuse at the centre, so the article has gone for opinions on both sides of the story.

Canadian Commander Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/10/18/canadian-commander-pleads-guilty-murders-sexual-assaults/

Firstly I just want to point out that the foxnews.com website is extremely busy to the eye, there are advertisement and news stories all over the place and is slightly chaotic. Although it terms of additional media content, it is certainly ahead of other media outlets with lots of videos and photos.

The story focuses on Col. Russell Williams who has pleaded guilt on the counts of murdering two women, sexually assaulting two more and numerous counts for breaking and entering into womens homes and stealing their panties from girls as young as 11.

The article is a standard court reporting-style of a news story, but unlike other web based news stories it did not carry a time stamp for the exact time it was updated or uploaded on the site.

What I found a bit disconcerting was that they published his wifes name and address at the end of the article. Since nowhere in the article does it say that she aided him in his crimes, we can only assume she is also devastated and very shocked. What would be the purpose of publishing her name and place of work?

I dont know what do you guys think?

Husbands may beat their wives in UAE

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8108223/wife-beating-cannot-leave-marks-uae-court

This story from the ninemsn world news section focuses on a high court ruling in which husbands living in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) may beat their wives as long as it does not leave any physcial marks or bearings. This is in relation to Islamic law which supports the disciplining of a mans wife and family.

Firstly, to me this seems completely ludicrous, that such a ruling exists in this modern day and age. It is also allowed for children who have not yet hit puberty to be beaten by their fathers. The UAE has a large foreign population who are not of Islamic descent and it would have been nice to have some comments  or statements from the people living their who do not wish to follow these laws and what their thoughts are on the new ruling.

There was no media content for this story and I would have liked to see some sort of visual aids or photos to highlight the story , which I feel would really shock a wide range of audiences. The article featured on ninemsn did not have any related stories hyperlinks and many of their world news articles were short and brief.

I dont know, it seems as though after researching different media outlets that ninemsn was not as thorough in their world stories as some other websites.

I would have liked to see the function added, in which people are able to comment on the story. OUt of all the websites I've looked into, I discovered that reading the comments posted by the community the most interesting, particularly from worlds stories since you get a perspective on a global event from a global audience. Its also interesting to see a specific Australian response to a global event.

Drug Users get Cash

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1385612/Drug-addict-takes-'cash-for-vasectomy'

This is a story from Europe on the news site sbs.com.au, which I found rather interesting. It seems that chronic drug uses or addicts can be paid in exchange for getting sterilised in Britain. A 38 year old man was the first person to undergo this procedure and was paid $AUD 322 for it. The man has been addicted to illegal substances since the age of 11 years old.

I dont know exactly how I feel about this story, but a part of me thinks that maybe its a step in the right direction. Drug users who are constantly addicted give birth to drug addicted babies and surely this is better that an irresponsible parent giving birth to a child who is only going to have to endure a very difficult life. However there is also the flip side in which addicts may just be undergoing such a procedure to recieve the cash bonus (much like the baby bonus we had here in Australia which led to a boom in young parents who were out for just the cash).

The story did not feature a photograph of the man since he wished to remain annonymous, and did not featue any additional media content.

Readers were able to join the discussion if they signed up, which I think is a bit unnecessary since it doesn't allow people who just wish to view what the community is saying about a particular story without necessarily participating in it.

France Alert for Terrorist Threats

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11562598

This story focuses on terrorist threats to France. The Eiffel Tower has been evacuated twice in September and French authorities are on high alert. The pafe from BBC.com features a photo of military presence in France and other related stories. Unlike some other newsites it does not feature very many hyperlinks or videoss and additional media content.

The actual structure of the story is brief and then begins to speak about the Mumbai attacks, referring to how something of that style may occur in France.
"Ten gunmen attacked targets in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, killing 166 people in a three-day rampage."
I find that stories which are about a certain event which lead on to a discussion of another specific event are confusing and almost feel as though the writer did not have enough to go on for the initial story.

One feature I did like however, was that BBC.com did feature the same story on different news sites for viewers who were interested in another take on the news article. I found this is quite interesting because I would have thought this may mean less viewer traffic for BBC.com if they are allowing other sites to place their hyperlinks underneath their own stories.

BBC.com also has divided world news by geographical areas such as Latin America, Europe, Asia for a quick and easy way to read news articles from each region. Like most other web based news sites, they did have the actual time the story was updated which is always a nice touch.

Hungarian Chemical Spill.

image from sbs.com.au
This story about the chemical spill in Hungary and I find it a very concise piece, giving all the details swiftly and clearly. The headline "Hunagry's worst toxic disaster" sums up the whol article.
The page has a video directly below the lead and also features hyperlinks to other videos such as "Hunagrians fleeing the site".

The story also focuses on the destruction of the land, human casualities and government response. This story is perfect in the sense that many angles are covered and the information is specific, "'The two-metre tide of mud overturned cars, swept away possessions and has raised fears that pollution leeching from it could reach the Danube River".　
　
The story also describes what chemicals are present in the spill, which include "toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and chromium".
The page has other links to related news and world news content for those wanting to read further or more extensively for world related news articles.

Readers are also able to leave a post or a comment to generate media and world news discourse, however you cannot view any comments unless you have written and posted one yourself.
I think readers should be able to view everyones comments without necessarily leaving one themselves.
Overall I think the story was well written, accurately structured and covered different angles. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1374271/Mud-spill-'Hungary's-worst-toxic-disaster

Times Square Bomber

This story from abc.net/news focuses on the trial and sentencing of the New York Times Square would be bomber. The structure of the article is coupled with a courtroom sketch of the accused.
Unlike many other sites, it does not feature any other additional media content such as a photo gallery, hyperlinks to other realted news stories or video.

The piece is short and describes the life sentence handed down for the U.S born Pakistani man who had planned to bomb Times Square, but fortunately the bomb did not explode.
The story does incite readers emotion, particularly when it describes his comments in whic he "feels no remorse and is happy with what God" had given him.

The story does have a timer under the bold headline which reads how long ago the piece was updated, which was at the time of my viewing 4 hours and 36 m. and counting, which is a nice touch. It gives the reader confidence that the story is reuglarly updated and that we are given only the freshsest and most up to date news. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/06/3030435.htm