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

Congo War Rapes.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/congo.rapes.un/index.html#fbid=LkzELLmXzDz&wom=false



This article, which was found on cnn.com, details the systematic rapes of hundreds of women in Congo by militants from Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The story opens with just a very large video shot in Congo, for viewer to see the situation for themselves.






Regarding the actual format of the page, I found it very interesting that cnn.com had options to switch to other languages which were Spanish and Arabic. I do not think any Australian news sites have done this, despite a large population of people from Asian and Middle Eastern descent. One the right side, there is a small column dedicated to story highlights, for people not waiting to read the entire article, and yet still get the general gist of the story.






The story, also features an angle, which was how much did the U.N know about these attacks, implying that they may have been prevented.


But on Tuesday, the United Nations acknowledged that it first learned of a report of rape on July 30, nearly two weeks earlier than it had previously said.






The comments also were interesting, with people remarking how this is what “muslims do” despite the report not anywhere mentioning the religious identity of the rapists.






• edzspace


The Koran teaches that muslim women must be raped before their executed to defile them so they can't go to heaven.


The posts did not mention much of the women’s plight, but focused mainly on which religion the militants would have been. The comments are very interesting, because most people see the news article as objective, yet many people perceive them so differently, that it’s hard to imagine we are all reading the same article. I did not realize the importance of religious identity when talking about such events, but it seems that in today’s social landscape, and the fact I have chosen world news to analyze, this religious construct is very important to readers and commenter’s.

Iranian Womans Stoning Suspended

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7908065/iran-womans-stoning-suspended-after-global-outcry/

This news article details the account of the ongoing story of a woman who committed adultery and was sentenced to death by stoning. The lead is concise and compresses despite the story, being repeated and updated several times, and includes all recent developments. This particular story has been viewed all over the world, and Iran has received international criticism on their laws.




The story has a quote from a ministry official, commenting that “The verdict regarding the extramarital affairs has stopped and it's being reviewed,". By using quotes from officials in Iran, the story is given credibility from both the Western media, and Iranian government.



The format of the page is similar to the other yahoo news link, which is good as it provides the time the story was published, 4.45am and a video of a online news story. However there are not still photographs which you would generally view on a newspaper style format.



The story, which the headline, lead and first few paragraphs suggest, is about the woman who is being stoned. Yet largely, the second chunk of the story begins to talk about Iran’s nuclear position on an international level and its relations with Brazil, Turkey and the United States.



Both Brazil and Turkey have worked diplomatically to try to solve the impasse over the nuclear program which Iran says is entirely peaceful but which the United States and European countries suspect is aimed at making a bomb.



What I found even more interesting was the comments left behind by Australians, who all condemned this act but at the same time, there was little sympathy for the woman. Furthermore, many left behind comments regarding the refugees who arrive here on boat, or ‘boat people’ as they are referred to.



One blogger anonymously writes,

no wonder they are arriving here by the boat load. Perhaps they need education rather than military help?.... I will end by saying 'Please Explain"?



and,



in Aus they walk around in sandals and rag like they live in a desert. when you can use deodorant and wear normal clothes the only reason you don't is ur backward!



I was surprised at the level of anger this story brought out from the Australian public, a story which I thought would incite sympathy, not anger.

World News. Tourists Die in Hostage Situation.

image from reuters.com



This news story, featured on news.com.au., is a successful hard news world story, due to its multifaceted nature. Immediately when one clicks on the story, the readers can see a large photo slideshow with three photos depicting the event. The story even featured a video of parts of the incident, thus the story is comprised of pictures, print and video.


The story is hard news, and the lead is a strong one, with everything important being said in the first line, “A HOSTAGE situation ended in tragedy last night after a disgruntled policeman stormed a tourist bus and opened fire on passengers”. However, the print story does not mention straight away, WHERE this occurred, which is one of the first principles of a news story, WHAT, WHERE,HOW, AND WHEN. It is not until the third paragraph, the story mentions that, “The toll was also confirmed by the secretary general of the Philippine National Red Cross, Gwendolyn Pang”, that the reader realises where in the world this incident took place.

 The print story includes quotes from the gunman who went on the rampage, "I can see a lot of SWAT (special weapons and tactics police) coming in. I know they will kill me. They should all leave because anytime I will do the same here."


The page also allows people to comment on the story, which provides an open discussion into the event.


Dave of Brisbane Posted at 9:00 AM Today


How utterly tragic. In circumstances like this, the Police should shoot the criminal as soon as they get the chance. To have lost 8 innocent lives because of this selfish lunatic is just so sad.


This allows people all over the world to come together and discuss what happened, and to communicate with each other.


Overall this story was successful due to its layout and multifaceted nature, despite some confusion with where the event took place in the print story, all these factors together made it a strong piece.