Reflecting on naked capitalism. Assignment 4

Yve Smith’s naked capitalism is not a part of Massing’s piece.

I’ve made my own conclusions about blogs and their appeal based on Yves Smith’s naked capitalism. In my original post, I’ve listed some of the subjects covered by Yve Smith, subjects that include the banking industry and the Federal Reserve. Not all people are interesting in the subject and neither are people required to understand them. Yves Smith’s blog specializes in banking industries and does not try to cover all news according to region as legacy news does. Because the audience is more concentrated, Smith has some freedom in what she writes, and she expects her readers to be able to follow without too much trouble.

From what I have seen, Smith does not have any original content, but the point of her blog was never to offer news content. Naked capitalism is a site that provides analysis to what has been going on. For example, Yves Smith would criticize the New York Times and then point out the contradictions that come from their coverage. The point of Smith’s blog was to provide analysis of the goings on and hopefully bring people closer to the truth by doing so. This is, of course, similar to editorials and is completely biased.

I almost feel as if Yves Smith’s blog is a check on legacy media. People can take in all of the news content from legacy media, and there are little for people to differentiate what is false and what is true. By analyzing news content, and hopefully revealing certain inconsistencies, this may effectively put pressure on legacy media to do quality coverage if their quality did somehow fall.

In this sense, I think blogs deserve praise. I don’t see blogs and citizen journalism to replace legacy media, but I think they can co-exist to keep the quality of news coverage high on both citizen journalism and legacy media.

Weekly Standard/Massing Assessment

In Michael Massing’s “The News About the Internet,” Michael Goldfarb is labeled as one of a “battalion of Israel defenders.” Looking at Goldfarb’s The Weekly Standard, it is a fair assessment that a lot of page time is dedicated to Israeli issues. Israel was at least partially the subject of 9 out of the 30 blog entries on the main page of the site. However, it is also a fair assessment that this subject deserves as much attention as The Weekly Standard provides.

Interestingly, one of today’s blog entries is entitled “Dropping the Pro-Israel Pretense.” It discusses how an organization called J Street, a self-described “political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement” has dropped the use of the phrase “pro-Israel” on the final day of their conference in Washington, D.C. because they did not want to run the risk of alienating students.

The blog goes on to point out that the J Street conference is presenting anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli speakers and that the Israeli ambassador to the United States refused to attend the event because of these positions that the organization has taken.

Without getting into political or religious debates, Israeli-American relations are significantly important to both nations and if it takes being labeled an “Israeli defender” to bring to light many of these problems, The Weekly Standard should accept the label with honors.

The Weekly Standard blog: http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/

ProPublica - Assignment 4

In Assignment 1, I said ProPublica is a legitimate news Web site that does original and comprehensive coverage of national issues. I still think so. ProPublica is just as legitimate as The New York Times or The Washingtojn Post. The difference is that, other than being just an online publication, ProPublica is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization. The journalists who work for ProPublica are along the lines of those who work in other respectable news publications.

Also, while ProPublica does cite stories from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press and others, it still does its own investigation, interviews and reporting in other articles. For instance, an article entitled "Energy Department Boldly Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before," it doesn't seem like the writer did much of the reporting herself. She, instead, cited reports/stories done by The Times, The Post and AP. However, in other articles, such as "Car Dealers Protected from New Consumer Protection Agency," the coverage is, I think, very much like what we can see in other legitimate news publications.

ProPublica is also doing a good job of tracking down how the stimulus funds are being spent. The Web site is continually updated when significant amount of stimulus funds have been spent, how they were spent, who received the funds and why the funds were given. The articles about this are also supported by interviews with credible sources from all sides of the issue. Like I said before, ProPublica's articles can be text-heavy because most of its coverage are comprehensive. However, it does utilize other tools such as info graphics that would make readers understand better how, for instance, the stimulus funds are being spent so far. On the main page, for instance, is an info graphic called "Stimulus Progress Bar," which is on the main page of the Web site.

Overall, I think ProPublica is living up to what it says in its "About us" section. It continues to provide full coverage of national issues, and it continues to provide well-written and well-reported investigative pieces.

The Kaus Files- Massing Praise

"The two bloggers most commonly recognized as the medium's pioneers, Mickey Kaus and Andrew Sullivan, are, remarkably, still at it," said Michael Massing.

Kaus started his blog in 1999. Massing goes on to say that, "both still use the style they helped popularize—short, sharp, conversational bursts of commentary and opinion built around links to articles, columns, documents, and other blogs."

While some may criticize Kaus, their arguments don't seem to be very valuable. Kaus does a very good job at staying pretty fair in his arguments- something that Massing noticed as well.
When I first began following Kaus for the assignment, I was shocked to hear from people that he was a liberal. Aside from him calling himself a neoliberal (which I had to search for), I wouldn't have thought he was a liberal because he just ripped Kerry and Obama in postings from a few years back. He also came down on conservatives on things like affairs, lies, and cover-ups. After discussions with my friends, we concluded that if he was criticizing Obama and officials, it was because he was criticizing them fairly on things they weren't doing or enough of. I think this approach towards his blogs is what makes him a very pioneering blogger.

Perhaps it is his journalistic experiences or education, but he writes his postings as near perfect additions to Slate. He properly cites things when most bloggers dont and adds a very intelligent analysis to them. If he is questioned, he clarifies himself. He always links additional resources and examples to back up what he is saying as well- another thing Massing praises him for.

This is a recent piece on the White House vs. Fox Network topic in which he offers advice on evaluating media.

1) Neutrality--Are they attempting to be "objective," trying to serve the "public interest" in some balanced way, or are they ideologically (or otherwise) driven in a way that inevitably colors their coverage--what topics they pick, what 'experts' they rely on, etc.

2) Independence--Whether they are biased or generally neutral, can somebody--a political party, a Mafia family, a government-- tell them what to do?

3) Accuracy--Are they committed to not telling untruths?

4) Fairness--Do they try to present all sides, even if it's only to take on an opponent's best argument (as opposed to his worst)?

5) Discipline--Do they tolerate dissenting voices within the organization--even when those voices are effective? Will they assign major stories that will cut against their interests and arguments?

6) Willingness to Suppress: You can have a commitment to accuracy, even a commitment to going out and finding and publicizing the truth for its own sake--but what happens when that commitment collides cataclysmically with your other, ideological purpose? The New York Times has a high commitment to accuracy, for example--and it's so big it almost has to be relatively tolerant of individual deviation. But would it endanger the Democrats' Senate majority by printing a series of damaging exposes of a leading Democratic Senator shortly before an election?

As long as Kaus has been running his blogs, he manages to stay accurate and relevant.

Mondoweiss Revisited

Mondoweiss, a blog about politics in the Middle East, posts mostly commentary about news and events pertaining to the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Michael Massing wrote, "With its unrelenting criticism of Israel, his site has angered even some of his fellow doves, but it has given voice to a strain of opinion that in the past had few chances of being heard." Weiss surely cuts into Israel with his postings everyday. His drive is clearly to give voice to the left side of the conflict.

According to Massing, Weiss went to Gaza and filed reports on his encounters there. Without reading that I wouldn't have known that Weiss does original reporting. Since I've been reading Mondoweiss there hasn't been any original reporting just commentary. However, this week Weiss was at the J Street Conferenece doing some original reporting.

He wrote, "Eldar described apartheid in the West Bank, and Hagai El-Ad, leader of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, said that the Supreme Court of Israel has signalled that it is going to endorse separate roads for settlers and Palestinians as a legitimate function of the Jewish state."

Weiss is thus providing an insider's view of the conflict at the conference by blogging about what he sees as newsworthy. The idea that Israel is going to create separate roads for Palestinians and Jews was appalling and probably wouldn't have been kown about this soon without Weiss's reporting.

Weiss's criticisms of Israel are important because his viewpoint isn't found in larger media networks. Weiss can break news about this issue because he follows everything going on and its personal to him as Jewish American. Weiss's passion is felt in his posts about Israel as in today's above the fold post in "Israel, we have a democracy problem," Adam Horowitz, fellow blogger of the site, broke the news that there are more Palestinians than Jews between the river and the sea. This isn't something that would be seen as newsworthy but Mondoweiss makes it relevent to the reader.

I think Weiss does a great job on covering issues relating to the Israeli and Palestinian conflict through commentary but there needs to be more original reporting from key locations and events. I think his best work is done when he provides news rather than commentary.

60 Minutes- Revisit

Since Massing did not cover "60 Minutes," I am revisiting my first article and seeing how it holds up to my current feelings on the site.

In my first assignment, I wrote that I felt as though it was a boon that the "60 Minutes" page was written by actual journalists instead of bloggers. I still feel the same way about that. Blogs can be informational and entertaining, for sure, but I'm certain the majority of people trust news from journalists more than they do bloggers. So, as such, the fact that the site hosts legitimate news articles is a good thing for internet surfers who want to know what's happening in the world.

In addition to that, though, it should be noted that the written articles are still unsuitable for the net. A lengthy, four-page article is virtually unreadable online when one considers how short people's attention spans are and the fact that it takes longer for people to read off of a computer screen than from a print paper. So, while the articles may be well written and in-depth, fewer people are reading them than if the articles were trimmed down to at least two pages. At least the videos are there as supplements.

In my first post, I also commended the website on being organized but not taking advantage of the medium. In a way, I'd like to reverse that remark now.

The home page of "60 Minutes" is fine above the scroll. It shows the top stories of the day in the center of the screen, and above that it lists tabs for access to other categories of stories. However, below the scroll it looks like everything has been thrown together. Or rather, it looks like my closet when I'm trying to clean in a hurry. Sure, everything is in a place, but that doesn't make it any less of a mess.

I believe that everything underneath the "recent segments" category should be cut out considering that they are already covered in other tabs. Or, if it is necessary to contain those stories on the front page, I believe it would be a better idea to have a list of titles off to the left hand side of the screen so that the reader can choose whether or not to look into some stories in greater detail. If this were implemented my only concern would be whether or not the screen was too busy and cause reader confusion and make them not know where to look.

And, as for me saying that the site doesn't take advantage of its medium, well, it doesn't. But I may have been too harsh the first time around. The videos are an excellent feature. Presuming the user has a decent internet connection, then watching the videos are an efficient way to learn about what's going on. But the four-page articles are a serious weak point for the site.

Emptywheel - Assignment 4

It is a bit difficult for me to truly touch on some of the things brought up by Michael Massing, as the political atmosphere as of late has not allowed Marcy Wheeler the opportunity to show of one of her true talents - live blogging. In his review, Massing writes that he really began paying attention to Wheeler after she began live blogging during the Lewis Libby trial. While I have yet to see any recent examples of this, I trust that her live blogging is much better and more thought out than anything I've seen so far. My biggest concern with Wheeler's blog is the fact that everything seems so rushed. It's as if she spends a good amount of time tracking down reliable news sources, and only minutes formulating her own opinions.

While Emptywheel lacks sophistication, Massing's appraisal of the site is pretty dead on. It is a blog, created by an educated, but not formally trained woman, who speaks to what people want to read in a non-formal, but semi-professional manner.

"(The Internet) offers a podium to Americans of all ages and backgrounds who are flush with ideas but lack the means to transmit them," Massing wrote in his review, The News About the Internet.

While I wouldn't persoanlly read her blog every day, Massing was correct in placing her on his list, as she writes about important topics such as torture, the auto bailout and politics. She is clearly a force in the main stream media, and has been quoted in The New York Times.

"I first learned of Wheeler last April, when her name appeared in a front-page article...about the release of Bush-era memos on interrogation techniques," Massing wrote. "Through a close reading of the documents, Wheeler was able to conclude that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded 183 times in one month. This revelation was quickly picked up by The Huffington Post, and soon thereafter it showed up in the Times."

In the end, I feel that Massings review is correct. Wheeler seems to take her blogging very seriously and definitely steps up on big issues. My only issue is with the day-to-day posts, which act as space fillers till a reals tory breaks and she really starts blogging.

ABC Blotter- Checking In

The ABC News Blotter was not covered in Michael Massing’s article “The News About the Internet.” Looking back at the website, I don’t think my opinion has changed since the first assignment.

The ABC Blotter homepage has exactly the same format as it did before. There is next to no content. On the first page view, the only content is headings and subheadings. There are no articles. Most of the screen is used for navigation and self-promotion. There should be much more emphasis on content, because it’s worthy content when you can find it.

The latest post on the blog, FBI: Chicago Men Planned Attack Over Danish Cartoon of Prophet, has the same problems as the homepage. There is simply not enough content for a news blog. The only content shown on my 13.3 in. screen, without having to scroll, is a heading and subheading. Over half the screen is used for navigation and advertising. The site really hasn’t changed at all over the weeks, yet I am more annoyed by its inability to feature news and not entertainment videos. These links are sometimes helpful, when they aren’t entertainment clips from The View, but when a person clicks on a link, they expect an article, not unrelated videos.

White Space and frames are still used well and the load time is still the desired 1 sec. using my broadband Internet. However, the extensive use of pictures, advertisements and video clips probably wouldn’t yield the same results on dial-up or DSL Internet. People who use these kinds of Internet would probably become too fed up waiting for the extraneous links and pictures to load to ever see any real content.

The blog definitely has its strong points, but falls short when it comes to content.

There is a large advertisement banner across the screen as well, which takes up more space than any content. I understand they have to pay for the website production somehow, but their priorities seem to be out of whack.

The second screen shot has about 50% content, but the other half of the page is used up by navigation. There are links to other stories. I think this gives the reader too many distractions. They may see a different story on the navigation bar that catches their attention and move on, before even reading any real news. There is simply too much navigation on the ABC News Blotter.

The color scheme makes the text easy to read. The standard black on white keeps it simple so readers aren’t overwhelmed by style decisions. They have the right idea about using simplistic style because it doesn’t take away from the blog’s purpose. People don’t have to drag their cursor over different color texts to figure out what is a link because all links are the standard blue color. To attract more attention, red text is sometimes used on the white background for just a coupls words, not whole blocks of text.

Checking in w/Yglesias

Matthew Yglesias is briefly mentioned in Massing’s article, “The News About the Internet.” Massing states that like Paul Kiel - a ProPublica writer and former staff at Talking Points Memo - Matthew Yglesias is “an emerging new breed of ‘hybrids,’ schooled in both the practices of print journalism and the uses of cyberspace.” And that’s it.

Massing is on point in regards to his comment about Matthew Yglesias. Yglesias is a Harvard graduate who began blogging in his college days and getting into the Web and all its uses. He was associate editor for Talking Points Memo and The Atlantic, with many contributions to The New York Times and Slate. So clearly, he has both experience with the Web and journalism.

My first impressions of Yglesias’ blog continue to hold true. He has yet to really do any original reporting, as set by traditional journalism standards. Though, he is extremely aware of the world around him and discusses – discusses – significant issues in our American government and across the globe. He raises awareness of issues that should be discussed and further investigated by journalists, and “average Joes.” Yglesias provokes thought with insightful opinions and analyses, which in turn creates a relatively large readership of persons who comment and further discuss the issue.

Lately, Yglesias seems to be blogging primarily about issues overseas (American troops, Afghanistan, Israel) and about health care reform. Of course, he blogs about many other issues – random issues – that are also important ideas to analyze and discuss.

The most recent blog on his site, McDonald’s Withdraws from Iceland, consists of a brief analysis as to why the country is losing the fast food restaurant, with appropriate links to the actual news article on BBC’s Web site.

And of course, no original reporting to be found.

Daily Kos - Assignment Four

The Daily Kos was only mentioned briefly in Michael Massing's piece and he used it as an example of websites that "helped open up entire subjects that were once off-limits to the press." From what I've seen so far, I've read a whole bunch of different (but still left-leaning) perspectives on major national issues such as the health care debate and still more pieces that serve little more than jabs against moderate democrats and the political right. But I've seen precious few pieces where new stories or subjects have been brought up. It's still mostly rehashes and commentary on other news stories or other blogs.

I have to say though that many of the posters on the Daily Kos showcase what I would consider to be a rather remarkable and prodigious ability to regurgitate old and current news articles and blog posts into articulate pieces of political commentary. A majority of posters are pros at digging up articles, referencing them, cross referencing them to other articles, and consolidating it all into witty barbs designed humiliate the target(s) of the blog post. But beyond the barbs against Faux News and people who say the darndest things, there is a lot of intelligent insight and discussions about political issues so long as one is willing to dig through the muck-racking and reader comments.

My opinion on the Daily Kos in the past month has changed slightly. When I first started reading the Daily Kos, I had once thought there was little to no original reporting being done on the site. This is not the case as it seems that Joan McCarter (mcjoan) has put out at least three pieces I've read that contained original reporting and, this one most importantly of all, an actual original interview. In the past month, this is one of the few pieces I've read where a poster did some real journalistic work and did not simply do their homework on an issue. But it's still in my firm opinion that anybody with Google at their fingertips (or even better, a Lexis Nexis account or the like) can be successful at posting at the Daily Kos.

TPM- Massing's Opinion Challenged

The Talking Points Memo (TPM) is highly praised by Michael Massing, author of "The News About the Internet". According to Massing, "Talking Points Memo is one of the most visited political sites on the web." TPM has a heavy political emphasis, and it is apparent with their articles pertaining to government issues and world affairs. I agree with Massing's praise, but I do not agree with some of his assumptions.

In Massing's article, he writes that before the TPM web site, the Internet had a large amount of right-wing influence. In 2005, the majority of the blogosphere was dominated by the right. The Drudge Report was in the lead, being the most visited site until TPM. The invention of the TPM site is influential because a political change occured. Massing notes that the liberal left pulled ahead on the web, and TPM is an example of that left influence.

I do not agree with Massing on that assumption. I see both liberal and conservative articles on the TPM web site. An example that I noticed was the recent blogs and articles about Fox News. The article on TPM LiveWire focused on a former Fox News contributor, and why she left the organization. CNN held a panel discussion where the tensions between the White House and the Fox organization were addressed. The comments at the bottom of the article revolved around the subject of Fox News and "declaring war". The bloggers did not seem thrilled with news organizations, and their support for Fox was limited.

These conversations between bloggers portray how the Internet allows for opinion and participation. The bloggers for this article seemed liberal, and that can make viewers think this site is aimed for a left-wing demographic. This assumption is what Massing believes, and at first I thought TPM had a left-wing appeal as well. However, I came to find out TPM aims for equality.

The previous Fox News example related to how liberals felt about the conservative organization. The article said that the former Fox News contributor was scared of Glenn Beck and left because he was "scary" and there was less debate pieces in the program. I did find a rebuttal story posted with Beck defending his language and organization. This article on TPM LiveWire shows the web site illustrating two sides of the story.

TPM has three components and they are TPMDC, TPMmuckraker, and TPMcafe. In my previous blogs, I have written about these sections and how they pertain to the web site. Massing wrote about these sections as well, and he labeled them by saying TPMDC covers the capital, TPMmuckraker does investigations, and TPMcafe features outside contributors. I agree with Massing that all of these sections help the web site do more than newspapers.

Massing says, "Political reporters have good sources but they tend to be professional sources, who are used to picking up the phone and giving tips to reporters." The Internet allows for more freedom, with a hyperlocal emphasis. I agree with Massing because people in the world should hear about political issues and events, even if it happens across the country. The access to this information is now readily available for people.

The information available on TPM is because of editor and publisher, Josh Marshall. The creation of TPM was because Marshall began blogging and freelancing on his own. Marshall is a reporter and he used to be the Washington editor of The American Prospect. His past experience helped him in creating a blog with a "breaking news" element. Marshall could attract advertisers, which gave him more money to hire staff and report news fast. TPM's readership grew, and the blog and comment sections increased.

This web site has remained constant, and my observations are still the same. The stories and news constantly changes, but the way in which it is reported is similar. I do, however, notice the political influence is not only the left, but also the right. For example, the TPM Twitter Rooms include Hill Democrats, Hill Republicans, Democratic Insiders, and Republican Insiders. TPM is open to opinion and does not hold a bias. So, my opinion has changed in that regard, but other than that it has remained the same.

Capital Notes - Blog Still Holds True to First Review

"Capital Notes" is not included in Massing's article, "The News About the Internet." Initially, I examined the blog and wrote that Myers had a detailed reporting style that he made easy to read by using simple sentences and short paragraphs.

I still find that true now with" Capital Notes." Myers uses original reporting using his first hand experience of working at the Capital and covering state politics. He includes some witty opinion but mostly provides unbiased reporting to allow the readers to gain further knowledge on the subject and make their own decisions. He does summarize and break down complicated issues to make them easier to understand however. Many issues that pass through the Capital can be either really boring, or difficult to understand and Myers does a good job at making it easy for the general public to follow. Readers of his blog don't have to be political junkies to understand what he is reporting.

The latest post on the blog, "When All Was Said and Done," was about the recent water issues that California was facing. It includes more of Myers' witty opinion mixed with the facts of what happened. He does a good job at making the story interesting and informative.

The State Worker - Checking in via Assignment 4

Jon Ortiz is still at it with The State Worker. Averaging about three posts per day, Ortiz and The State Worker always make me ask myself why I don't visit this site more. Many of the topics interest and even benefit me, and with my recent stop I did exactly what I did the last time - thoroughly investigate the posts that are written.

Content and display still remain the same on the site - as it should. Recent posts are still easy to find on the right-hand side of the page, and the headline for the most-recent new story is still visible initial page load screen. Comparing the site now with the critiques I made in assignment one, I see the same format being used. This format works and is easy to get familiar with. I think it is important and useful that Jon Ortiz's picture and contact info is available on every page so that if something catches your eye and you want to respond to the author directly, you can send Ortiz an e-mail.

I think this blog works because it puts out brief, yet informative news pieces, followed by a hearty follow-up or in-depth piece every three or four posts. Ortiz does a nice job of separating bulky stories and sprinkling in quicker reads that still contain relevancy with the audience. Investigation stories that are put in the Sacramento Bee are also detailed on The State Worker - check out Ortiz's latest update on $5.5 Million dollar vehicle purchase made by the state. Not only does it give readers the news, it also gives the readers a chance to read the actual document, e-mail, or press release that they are referring to so that readers can get a full taste of what's being discussed, if they should feel inclined to do so.

Content-wise, Jon Ortiz and The State Worker still succeed in delivering relevant stories in timely, readable fashion. On the one hand, I would like to see more photos and video pieces on a blog, but on the other hand, I think the lack of these two aspects lets the depth and quality of good old fashioned reporting shine through. The State Worker, I choose you.

Andrew Sullivan- Assessment Still Works

Massing points out that Sullivan and a fellow blogger helped make popular “short, sharp, conversational bursts of commentary and opinion built around links to articles, columns, documents, and other blogs.” This format is very present today at The Daily Dish, and is something that I don’t see changing very soon.

When looking at The Daily Dish for the first time, I was trying to figure out exactly where thoig guy was coming from, because he seems all over the lot with his blog. Massing’s assessment gives it a description, that when I think about it, makes all the sense in the world when I read “The Daily Dish” now. Massing describes it as his “Idiosyncratic gay-Catholic-Thatcherite-turned-libertarian-radical mind”.

This description does work for the man and his postings. Massing continues to say that this view of Mr. Sullivan’s makes for an “Original take on the world”, and I would agree whole heartedly on this. I don’t agree with some of the things said on the blog, but I must say that it does make for interesting content to both read and to think about.

It was interesting to me that Massing pointed out that Mr. Sullivan slams the journalism done by others “While doing no conventional reporting of his own.” I looked at that myself in the beginning, talking about how he really used more of his opinion more then anything especially his own reporting. I didn’t really see that as much of a problem, and it appears that massing doesn’t either.

My original view of the Daily Dish is the same, for the most part, now as it was then when I first went to the blog. The only change in my view, would be that the view is a little more informed compared to when I was looking at The Daily Dish with fresh eyes.

Joanne Jacobs - Small improvements

Unfortunately, Michael Massing only mentioned Joanne Jacobs’ blog once in his article “The Good News About the Internet.” He said that Jacobs offered a “fresh perspective on education,” but I would not necessarily agree. Jacobs is good at compiling a variety of different stories on education, but when it comes to original reporting, the site simply doesn’t have any.

I’ve seen more original commentary from Jacobs, but it’s always limited to a few sentences about her personal life. She doesn’t analyze anything she posts, so I can’t tell if her perspective is fresh. When I first critiqued Jacobs’ page, I wanted to see more of her thoughts and opinions on the articles . She could still improve on this point because revealing her voice in the posts would give them more meaning and context to the reader.

The people who comment on her page, although anonymous, usually provide witty, informed conversation. This has been a constant on her site that I enjoy. My opinion of Jacobs’ blog has improved slightly. I still think she could improve her site’s usability.

Mark Kleiman's Blog- Nothing Has Changed

Michael Massing listed Mark Kleiman’s blog “The Reality Based Community” as one of his picks for good journalistic work online. Unfortunately the only thing Massing says about it is “on drug policy, there's The Reality-Based Community, by UCLA professor Mark Kleiman.” Massing never discusses why he believes Kleiman’s blog is an example of good journalism. He merely mentions it in passing in his article “The News About the Internet."

In going back to my first post about Kleiman’s site, I see that I felt most of the blogs were very opinion-based and leaned to the left of the political scale. I also wrote that there was not much original reporting happening on the site. Unfortunately, not much has changed over the last month and some of Kleiman’s recent posts have been laughable. The most recent post, “Stay Classy, San Antonio,” isn’t even a blog or a real commentary. It’s just a picture of an ad for a business seminar and an embedded video. The goal of this post is to poke fun at the seminar’s lineup of people, which includes George W. Bush. In addition, most of the posts still relate back to reporting done by traditional media, eg. newspapers and television. However, some of the posts are commentary on fellow bloggers.

I’m not sure what Massing was referring to when he said that Kleiman’s blog discusses “drug policy.” Recently, the posts have been all over the place from the traditions of the Whigs to the energy industry. The only posts that relate to drug policy are one on medical cannabis and one a month ago that discusses some of the health care bill issues. Most of the posts are related to current events but there is not a specific focus on drug policy.

Overall my opinions of the blog have not changed from my initial viewpoint. I keep crossing my fingers that one of these posts will have some exciting new information but it’s not looking good.

Assignment 4

It's now time to revisit your assigned blog or site to see whether it lives up to Massing's praise. Go back to the Massing piece to see what he had to say about your site. Then, post a blog item here that evaluates, in your opinion, whether Massing's assessment is correct. Your post should reflect that you spent some time thinking about this, and not just an on-the-fly opinion posted on deadline.
If your assigned blog/site was not one of those reviewed by Massing, your assignment is to revisit what you had to say about the blog/site in Assignment 1. To what extent do your observations hold up? Have your opinions about the blog/site shifted?
Your blog post is due at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. Late posts receive no credit.

Mondoweiss:Content Design

Mondoweiss, a blog about politics in the Middle East, has a pleasant user experience and layout. The text of articles are short and concise creating an easy read for the user. The 12 articles on the blog are organized in rows and give a blurb about each article. After clicking on the title the user is taken to a new page with the full article. There are also a list of related articles below the article itself. 

The simple layout allows users to easily find an article and read it. The website has such short articles it's easy to scan through content. 

The website uses chunking with articles. Longer articles have bigger chunks, which can look daunting to the eye. The site has a problem of using long titles, but they do fully explain what the article is about. Philip Weiss, the site's blogger, obviously copyedits well because there aren't any misspelled words or grammatical errors that I could find. This creates a pleasant user experience.

Weiss doesn't use the inverted pyramid in articles. He usually opens up with explaining what happened, who the key characters are and then quotes another source. He then leaves commentary at the end of the article. 

Titles of pages are clear and concise and allow for quick scanning. This site has great legibility with black text against a white background and navy blue links along the right side of the home page.

The article above the fold was titled "BDS works" by Weiss, which didn't have as much opinion as the quote from Ron Ben-Yeshai's article. The article was about the solutions that need to be done to end the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Weiss wrote, "No, Israel is getting isolated on the world stage, and it’s going to start to hurt the country. Notice in this excerpt that Ben-Yeshai says part of  the answer is: We should alter our conduct." The posting didn't seem newsworthy but brought attention to Ben-Yeshai's article. It's as if Weiss let Ron Ben-Yeshai give the opinion and Weiss piggy backed on what Ben-Yeshai said. 

Emptywheel - Assignment Three

Emptywheel has a very clean, straightforward and easy-to-read design. While the design may draw readers in, the lack of original reporting and somewhat unprofessional responses continue to make it tough to take Marcy Wheeler's blog seriously.

Length - Wheeler's posts are limited to a few paragraphs, which make for an easy read. The information is also organized well, as she separates information provided from other sources from her own personal responses. Doing so makes the information a less intense, shorter read.

Scanability - Emptywheel could use some work in the scanability department. While she makes it easy to differentiate between cited material and her own remarks, (different color schemes) she doesn't make use of different fonts, styles, highlighting or bolding.

Chunking - Other than direct quotes, which are separated through the use of indenting and a different font color, much of the Emptywheel blog consists of chunking. I'm assuming Wheeler did this in order to keep the information together, although hyperlinks and other separators would be nice.

Headlines - Wheeler keeps things very straight-to-the-point, as her headlines present information about the news being offered, not so much the nature of her responses. Snarky headlines are used on occasion, but sparingly.

Copy Editing - Emptywheel is very clean, and makes good use of AP style. It's clear that Wheeler is trying to make her blog as professional as possible, though she does approach it more from an English or creative writing background, rather than a journalism background.

Inverted Pyramid - This doesn't apply to the blog, as most posts offer the news through other sources and direct quotes, and then her responses. It's set up more like a comments section than a story or article.

Page Titles - The page title remain the same, which offers consistency and makes for good, easy-to-remember branding.

Legibility - The content is legible, but a bit hard on the eyes as is uses mooted blues and browns. The text is in sans serif.

Most recent post - There isn't much to say about Wheeler's most recent post, which reads as follows:

"Harry Reid is in electoral trouble in Nevada, he has a very competent challenger looming on the GOP side and liberal and union activists will not be supporting him if he continues his failure to lead.”

I'm assuming the post was intended to quickly inform her readers of what's going on, with a more detailed post to follow. This is one example - the first I've seen - where Wheeler includes the news and her opinion in the same paragraph or sentence. Because of this, I'm guessing she was a bit pressed for time.

The Daily Dish- Content Design

Length: When it comes to Andrew Sullivan, and the posts he has on the Daily Dish, it varies from post to post when it comes to length. One post can have a lot of text, and another post can very little if any at all.

Scanning: The blog that Mr. Sullivan runs is very easy to scan. The text on his site is not too much, and there is a nice mix of text, movie, and pictures to make this blog easy on the eye. Quick and to the point are Mr. Sullivan's opinions, and in some cases his block quotes take up more of the posts then his own words, but in both cases they don't take to much time to get through.

Chunking: Sullivan does a lot of chunking in his blog, and it is sometime overbearing when it comes to the hyperlinks. In a three paragraph blurb the Daily Wrap, which was posted on October 13th, I could count 21 hyperlinks. And that is just one post! I understand that this is some wrap up, and that's great, but there is a time to say enough. Other then the abuse in the posting mentioned, Sullivan does use chunking to advance points and get people interested in what he has to say.

Headlines: The headlines on The Daily Dish, are short and to the point. The headline might not always be very clear to the reader, and may not convey what the posting is about entirely being that some are too short for my taste as a reader.

Copy Editing: From the posts that I have read on The Daily Dish, I have found that the copy editing is good, with few errors seen.

Inverted Pyramid: The inverted pyramid seems to not be a concern for Mr. Sullivan, because in most of his postings, that is when he is writing in the posting in question, he just seems to do it in free form, very conversation like.

Legibility: Good old fashion black type on a white background with common fonts for The Daily Dish. When it comes to block quotes, the white background is replaced with a gray one. In both cases, however, the blog is very legible

Page Titles: The page titles can be a little confusing at first, because the daily dish is part of the Atlantic (which is a website for a magazine). The magazine’s title and the blogs title are about the same size which adds to the confusion a little. The only way to tell that they are two different things is by title position, with the Atlantic being above The Daily Dish title. But really this looks like a banner ad for the Atlantic more than anything.

naked capitalism Content Design Assignment 3

Length of Text: Yves Smith’s blog posts are generally longer than most blogs. The long length is due Smith’s use of block quotes. Smith does not regularly explain the quotes so much of the content are simply from other sources.

Scanability: Most of Smith’s own writing consist of long paragraphs. The shorter paragraphs come from the block quotes that she often uses. Some of the shorter paragraphs come from guest posters such as George Washington. The headlines are clear and for a topic as complex as banking, Yves Smith does an adequate job. All of her quotes are in block form so there will never be confusion whether or not she is quoting or writing her own opinion.

Chunking: Smith’s use of chunking is somewhat poor. Smith uses her own writing and block quotes from other sources. The reader knows where to find the source because of the hyperlinks that accompany the block quotes. Other than that, Smith writing contain almost no sign of chunking. This does affect scanability and certainly keeps naked capitalism only adequate for scanbility rather than good.

Headlines: The headlines are clear and often easier to understand than the posts themselves. The top item for this post in naked capitalism is “New York Times: Missing in Action on Health Insurance Lobby Duplicity.” From this alone I know that the post will by about just that: New York Times and their (lack of) coverage on health insurance.

Copy editing: Yves Smith writes well. Mistakes are rare if there are any at all.

Use of the Inverted Pyramid: Yves Smith use of the inverted pyramid is not consistent. At times, she would write great ledes and the post will follow the inverted pyramid well. At other times, she would front end the post with smart comments but has little to do with the rest of the post.

Page titles: All titles are clear since they are in a dark orange color.

Legibility: The blog is very straight forward. No real special graphics other than some advertising. It is very easy to read the blog.

The top item as of this writing is “New York Times: Missing in Action on Health Insurance Lobby Duplicity.” This article is not so much an article of new content, but rather an article that recaps Yves Smith’s own opinion of the New York Times. She cites her posts with large block quotes twice, and then cites the Financial Times once to draw the comparison of the New York Times and the Financial Times in which she holds in high regard. The post does not offer anything new. Smith has an opinion on the NYTimes’ recent coverage of health insurance; she has two posts about her issues with the way NYTimes cover health insurance; she brings the posts back out and throws in a block quote from the Financial Times to validate her opinions. This is not a useful post in terms of news content as she had discussed this at least two times before.

ABC Blotter- Content Design

Page Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/prosecutor-madoff-case-forced-conflict/story?id=8792144

Website: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter

The length of the text on the blog is definitely short. It follows the rules Nielsen lays out about not bogging down the reader with lengthy-looking text and the text is even separated by a bar of pictures which makes it look even less intimidating to the reader.

It is also fairly easy to scan, though there is room for improvement. Links are highlighted with names of the main people in the article so the reader can get a feel for what is covered in the article. A quote is even set to the side, in it’s own paragraph, drawing the reader’s attention to it. I think bullet points or bold/italicized words could make the article even easier for the reader to scan.

Chunking is used effectively on the page. The story is delivered in two “chunks.” The chunks are separated by a picture bar. By delivering the information this way, readers are less overwhelmed by the information. If the reader stops reading after the first “chunk” they have still taken away the basis of the story. The second “chunk” goes into more detail and is provided for those still interested and wanting to get the entire picture.

The headline does its job very well. It tells the reader exactly what they can expect from the article and doesn’t play with words to create something meaningless. There is also a subheading, which helps the reader get even more information about the article, without having to start reading it. These helpful headlines add to the page’s ability to be scanned. I did notice the headline and sub-headline was written in title-style though, which bothered me.

The page was also well edited. I didn’t notice any minor or major errors in the copy and I think this is very important, especially for a site that wants to gain credibility in the news industry.

Because it is written as a news story, the inverted pyramid style is utilized well. The most important facts are at the top, while the facts of lesser importance are toward the bottom. This way, when the reader stops reading halfway through the article, they will have gotten the most important information out of the article.

The page titles are helpful because they specifically say what each page is about. This way, when you search for a story it will pop up with just the page that has the story on it. Naming pages based on their content and not just after the site’s name helps readers find that page in search engines. It titles exactly what is on the page, with no guessing for the reader.

The plain style of the page makes it very legible. The black text and blue links on a white background makes the page easy to read. Advertisements and pictures are boxed off with enough white space to make it obvious they aren’t part of the article.

The page still has awful screen real estate. It doesn’t make good use of its space. There is basically no content on the first frame, on my 13 in. computer screen. Real content doesn’t start until the second frame and lasts until the third frame.

The content on the page is very informative. I think the blotter is making a good name for itself and proving it is a valuable news site that can make the transition from TV and print to online

Matthew Yglesias - Content Design

As an internet user myself, I know within the first three seconds whether the Web site I log onto interests me for whatever my needs may be, or if I’ll give up and try another site. There are several factors that go into the success (and failure) of content design for Web sites, as described in Jakob Nielsen’s Designing Web Usability. The following is my analysis of content design for Matthew Yglesias’ blog:

Length of text – Yglesias keeps his blogs short and sweet, which is exactly what you are supposed to do when writing for the Web. As suggested by Nielsen, Yglesias writes about 50 percent less text than he would for a print publication. He only gives you about the first three to four paragraphs of his blog/article which gives the viewer the option to first, figure out if this blog is worth reading. If so, then then you click on the [hypertext] title of the blog that sends you off to the rest of the article. If not, then you have the pleasure to avoid scrolling down through the entire article before the next blog appears. Just as Nielsen explained, “We also know that users don’t like to scroll: one more reason to keep pages short.”

Scannability – The paragraphs tend to be between one to four sentences long each, which definitely breaks up the “Wall Street Journal look” of a long, extended article. Then again, Yglesias doesn’t write actual articles. Instead, he sticks to quick blogs that get straight to the point with hypertext linking to other Web sites and articles that he is analyzing in his blog. Overall, he has great scannability by using short paragraphs, sometimes subheads, and bulleted lists.

Chunking – In relation to the length of text and scannability, the use of chunking is obvious in Yglesias’ blogs. Each individual blog could be considered chunking of the entire site because they are all short in length, with hypertext in each linking the viewer to more detailed and outside information relative to the blog itself. Within each blog, however, he uses chunking by hypertexting several ideas throughout the paragraphs. This allows the viewer to pick and choose, quickly, what s/he “cares about.”

Headlines – Writing headlines for the Web is completely different than for print publication. As described by Nielsen, online headlines must “stand on its own and make sense when the rest of the content is unavailable.” Yglesias does a decent job of writing good online headlines. He tends to make puns and ask questions, but generally the headlines are descriptive enough about the blog itself allowing the user to understand the blog’s content by the headline alone. He also sometimes uses words like Does, Where, and What in the headline which is definitely a no bueno, according to Nielsen.

Copy editing – Yglesias does a fantastic job in copy editing. He is clearly a writer and knows his AP Style of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Job well done in this category.

Inverted pyramid – A basic journalistic writing tool is essential for online content. Yglesias tends to write a brief, one sentence comment or statement as his first paragraph, or lead. The statement relates to the article itself but does not necessarily use the inverted pyramid style of writing the most important information in the beginning, with progressively less important information to follow. He sometimes adds the important facts and hypertext at the end of his blog, after he makes his personal analysis on the topic.

Page titles – The only page title that is found on Yglesias’ Web site is – YGLESIAS – in large, all capitalized font set at left-justified. Think Progress , his affiliated site, is right-justified in smaller font. This definitely limits what users will find when using search engines to find information. His blogs are not related to his page titles, so unless they specifically search for his name or organization, then his Web site will most likely not appear. This could be good, or bad, depending on the needs and wants of the Web site.

Legibility – Yglesias does an excellent job with the legibility of his text. For each individual blog, he uses positive text – black text on a white background. The Web site background is a dark, subtle color which clearly identifies each individual blog “window.” The fonts he uses are both large and static, so even viewers with imperfect vision can easily read the text.

The last article produced by Yglesias, A Terrible Argument Against Congestion Pricing, is another example of his unoriginal journalism technique. His lead introduces the topic/idea with hypertext linking to the actual articles he is discussing, followed by a complete analysis and personal response to the proposed topic. Yes, it is informative and brings light to a topic/idea that, maybe his viewers would have otherwise missed. However, it is not traditional journalism. Yglesias is not out there gathering information, investigating, and reporting original and accurate information.

Informative and constructive? Yes.
Traditional journalism? No.

60 Minutes- How It Breaks Down

The 60 Minutes web site has its ups and downs but proves to be a generally easy site to read or scan.

Length of Text- Text length could be considered a problem for the 60 Minutes site. On the main page the paragraph describing stories are short enough for people to actually read them, but once the user gets into the story they have to face multiple pages of text. The writing is broken up into short paragraphs such as in print journalism, so it isn't a solid wall of words, but it isn't much better.

Scannability- I'd rank the 60 Minutes blog as above average when it comes to scannability. Much like the text suggests it sticks to concise text and objective language. The only knock I would put against it is that the text is sometimes clumped together. These occurrences aren't very common, though, and does not detract from the website as a whole.

Chunking- The main page of the 60 Minutes site does a good enough job on chunking. It gives a headline and brief paragraph of what the main stories are about and then gives to links, one for the video and one for the written story. However, when it comes to the written stories, there is something lacking. As Nielsen pointed out in his own story, some the of the 60 Minutes' stories are overly long and do not give clue as to what the next page could be concerning. Nielsen's example story just said "continued" whereas the 60 Minutes' story just give page numbers.

Headlines- If I were to judge 60 Minutes' headlines on the criteria listed in Nielsen's book, the website would be rated poorly. Nielsen clearly states that internet headlines should clearly explain what the article is about in terms that relate to the user, and that it should not use "cute" or "clever" headlines. Today's big stories fail both of those requirements. Most headlines are nouns without given context, such as "Afghanistan: Golf Company," and some are what could be called "cute" or "clever," such as the headline "The Birdmen." However, once the user clicks on a link to the story a new headline appears meets the criteria better.

Copy Editing- I have not yet noticed any grammatical mistakes, spelling errors or factual smudges, so 60 Minutes appears to be spot on in regards to copy editing.

Use of Inverted Pyramid- The use of the inverted pyramid is in use on the home page as well as the stories featured on the site. On the home page, the more recent and impacting stories are featured on top trailing down to the less relevant stories near the bottom. And when it comes to the written stories, they follow the inverted pyramid when it comes to the flow of facts through the story.

Page Titles- Every page title is clearly marked and indentifiable. No qualms with 60 Minutes here either.

Legibility- Legibility is a-OK with 60 Minutes, too. The site does not employ any weird fonts or text in any difficult colors. The text is typically white or light blue on a dark background, often black or a very dark gray. There has yet to be a portion of the site that isn't perfectly legible.

Today's top story is regarding the marines stationed in Afghanistan and how they are being forced to work with a new strategy. The story really focuses on how tough it is for them in Afghanistan and how dangerous Afghanistan really is right now. The story itself, while interesting and informative, isn't really anything new for the web site. They've done stories similar to this before, and it's a type of story I feel I could have read anywhere. And, again, it's four pages long which is a hefty article for anybody to read online.

Kevin Pho, Kevin MD Assignment 3

Length of Text:
On the blogs main page there were typically 3-4 paragraphs each article. But in all 4 articles you had to click the continue button to read the rest of the story, which typical took up the whole page, making it a bit long. The blog also had twelve articles on the bottom of the page, where you also had to click to read the full article. The articles were long, making it easy to skim though and not read the whole thing.

Chunking:
Kevin MD, does do chuking, his blogs are split so that it does not become one long blog.

Scanability:
All of the articles on the blog, were pretty much plain and simple. It has no colored text, or underlined words, and a plain white background. On a couple articles it has hypertext on the side, which allows you to go to the website where the article is originally from. The page is pretty much in uniformed blocks style, especially at the bottom of the page where you can find older post.

Headlines:
All of the new post headlines are questions, asking how, do and does. Using questions as headlines make it seem like they are trying to make the headline catchy. It is almost as if the articles are teasers of what is to come in the articles. But, the headlines are brief and do give a very good idea of what the post are going to be about.

Copy Editing:
The post on Kevin Pho's, blogs have very good grammar and spelling. The writers has one AP style mistake, but for the most part they seemed to follow the AP style guide.

USE OF INVERTED PYRAMID:
The blog makes good use of the inverted pyramid, they had information on authors name and date at the beginning of the blog. The post had stated its important information in the beginning and less important toward the end. They also had hyperlinks next to the articles, they took you to another page that gave more information about what you were reading.

Page Titles:
The dates were located at the top of the page, it was not difficult at all to find when the article was posted. Although it was difficult to find older post, which were located at the bottom of the page. The older post were also clumped together in a box like formation. To find even more older post was also hard, because the button to click and find it was located at the bottom of the screen in small letters.

Legibility:
The legibility of the post was nice and neat, plain and simple. Which was nice, because it makes it easy to read. The post had traditional black text and white background. The text size was regular, although it might be a little better for its readers if it was a tad size bigger, especial for its older audience. The blog was also very readable and understandable. The blog was put up to help people understand the heath care system and they try and do just that. They don't use any hard medical terms that would make it hard for the common person to understand. The order of the blogs also make it very easy to navigate, the older post are at the top of the page and their text are bigger than the older post at the bottom.

The most recent articles on Kevin MD blog, are question that have to do with health care. How health care can improve? Does your patient need another ct scan? The blog does bring up topics about health care that you don't think about everyday, and questions that newspapers probably wont find newsworthy enough to cover. They are interesting to some people, especially during this day and age when our health care is being debated about over and over again. But I dont know if its called news, or just people who want to express thier oppinion on health care.

Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard

Length of text: The length of text of each entry varies greatly depending on the contributor and subject. Sometimes the entry is brief, just a sentence or two. At other times, the entry can go on for 8-10 paragraphs.

Scanability: The site is somewhat scannable, with some instances of bolding key points and the underlining that comes from linking attributed paraphrased sentences or key words to their sources.

Chunking: The style of the blog changes by post and subject. The majority of chunking occurs when the entry contains quoted material from other sources, offset from the main text by vertical lines.

Headlines: The headlines are brief but descriptive, not too amusing or clever but informative enough to give the reader an idea of what the entry is about.

Copy editing: The site appears to be professionally edited and does not suffer from poor sentence structure or grammar.

Use of inverted pyramid: The entries on this site generally do not use an inverted pyramid. Either the entry is too brief or contains several paragraphs of quoted material.

Page titles: There aren't any specific page titles on the blog. Instead, the page displays posts for several days with a link at the bottom that takes the reader to the previous posts. The days and dates are labeled with that day's entries below it. It's a bit confusing because when you want to know when an entry was made you have to scroll up until you find the date.

Legibility: With an almost black sans-serif font and white background, the site is easy enough to read. The font size could probably be bumped up by a point or two, though I prefer the smaller size.

The most recent entry on The Weekly Standard is "When Al Qaeda Doesn’t Strike." The entry discusses the use of enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) on Al Qaeda terrorists. The EITs, including waterboarding, are attributed to the successful extraction of information from a key Al Qaeda operative from the Arabina peninsula that likely prevented several attacks on American targets.

TPM-Assignment Three

"The Talking Points Memo" (TPM) is a flagship news blog. This news blog covers information primarily pertaining to politics. The political theme seems to have been inspired by the term "Muckraker". This term is posted at the top of the blog, with a link to a section covering their lead stories. The blogs tend to cover the corruption of the government, and address these questions to the public. The readability and layout of TPM is discussed below.

Length of Text: The posts on this web site differ depending on which section the reader is viewing. The stories featured in the top news section are organized with many paragraphs, all between two to four sentences. The Editor's Blog section, is short and to the point, containing approximately one statement, involving one to two sentences. However, depending on the blog, sometimes the editor will add paragraphs to strengthen the information presented.

Scanability: The ability to examine a text systematically, and leave with a general understanding of the article is important. TPM allows the viewer to do just that, with their addition of hyperlinks, and bold and colored fonts. These hyperlinks are displayed in the color red, which allows the reader to find a related link. Once finding these links, the reader is transferred to another website with additional information. For example, the blog, "Taitz: Of Course I'm Not Gonna Pay!" includes words in red and bold fonts such as, breaking the news and his account of their interview. These hyperlinks also allow the viewer to summarize the main idea of the blog.

Chunking: The grouping of single ideas into larger blocks is uncommon for editors Marshall and Kurtz. Their blogs are usually just a single sentence, but when chunking does occur it usually takes the form of two paragraphs, with an (i.e) at the end. The chunking also is used in direct quotes, organized in a gray box. These gray boxes display a chunk of information including footnotes. I have noticed that the TPM editors like to keep their blogs short, with hyperlinks connecting to parallel stories.

Headlines: TPM's headlines are congruent to their topic. The editor's blog section tends to have headlines ranging between one to six words. Their headlines are never longer than a sentence. An example of an editor's blog title is, Christie's Thin Spread. However, the headlines covering the top news section are longer, and display in detail, the information available in the article. A top news title is, Clinton: 'No Intention' Of Relaxing Sanctions On North Korea. The headlines usually feature a video and include a still photograph of the clip. The headlines of the TPM Voices section change depending on the writer, and these titles include a sentence of their thesis.

Copy Editing: When reviewing the blog, there were no signs of grammatical errors. Many of the articles had a journalistic touch, with writers primarily being affiliated with Reuters US Online. However, I did note AP style, and some of the journalists were apart of the Associated Press.

Use of Inverted Pyramid: The inverted pyramid is heavily used in the TPM articles. The news articles all arrange their information with the substantial information first, and the less important at the bottom. The blog section includes hyperlinks, which direct me to news articles, all featuring this journalistic pyramid. Right when I read the first two paragraphs, I understood the purpose of the piece.

Page Titles: The page titles relate to the post and are not confusing to the viewer. I liked how the page titles were listed in two ways. The first being, the title of the section the reader is in. The TPM website has five sections which include the editor's blog, TPMmuckraker, TPMDC, TPMtv, and TPMcafe. Below the title of the section is the title of the article.

Legibility: The vocabulary is understandable and the articles are concise and readable. However, the placement of the advertisements are too close to the article. The placement of the lead story is reliable, because it is always at the center of the page. The headline includes a large still photograph, with a bright blue font, much bigger than the rest.

This week on TPM, the issues revolve around the Health Care Reform Bill. The lead story features updates on the voting process. The updates are organized by time, with pictures and videos involving the hearing. The lead story is of a "LIVE BLOG" with videos displaying Senator Snowe and Kerry. This headline has a link where viewers can watch the live hearing from the comfort of their own home. Click here to watch the hearing...

The Daily Kos - Assignment 3

Note to self: always write in Microsoft Word. That way, you will never lose a post ever again due to whatever post devouring demon lurks within Blogger. Curse you, you rage inducing monster. Anyways…

The Daily Kos is an easy to read blog whose numerous authors keep their postings short and sweet, just the way internet consumers love it.

Length of Text: Most postings are kept very short, typically around three to five paragraphs of no more than five sentences each. Few rarely stretch on for more than a single page screen.

Scanability: The Daily Kos takes a hit in scanability. Bullet points are reserved mainly for the Diary Rescue summaries and for extended blog postings that stretch on for multiple page screens. To really understand each post requires the reader to sift through the entire post because of often-weak headlines that don’t describe the gist of a post.

Chunking: This is where the Daily Kos excels. Although most posts are brief, featured writers tend to write summary paragraphs punctuated by hyperlinks woven into the sentences. They do a good job of keeping the in-depth and background information within the hyperlinks to keep their posts clutter free and concise. Diary writers, on the other hand, tend to write very long, very intricate and in-depth articles and tend to place more quotes from other news stories as opposed to hyperlinking them.

Headlines: The Daily Kos breaks the plain writing rule time and time again. Many authors try too hard to make their headlines cute and clever. Sometimes the sarcasm and mockery can be thick enough to cut with a knife without even touching the article yet.

Copy Editing: I haven’t seen any grammatical or spelling errors yet. There are a lot of places where language could be tightened, but most of the postings are conversational in nature. Where I’d really have to knock it is in the use of community established jargon and slang and in how the way most posts are written in a conversational manner that gives way into idioms and manners of speech that can trip up an unaccustomed reader.

Use of Inverted Pyramid: Most of the posts are too short to make use of the inverted pyramid. But for the longer analytical posts, I’d have to say many authors don’t make use of the inverted pyramid. I feel I have to read through an entire post to understand the subject.

Page Titles: There are none, unless you permalink a post which then turn the post’s headline into a page title. The only way you can find your way through the website is to pay attention to the date stamp on each post or by looking at the URL to find out how many pages you are away from the main page.

Legibility: Overall, the blog is easy on the eyes to read thanks to a clean font and concise writing. Simplicity contributes a lot to overall legibility.

The top news item is a feature I like a lot from the Daily Kos which is the Diary Rescue. Diaries are kept by regular non-featured bloggers on the Daily Kos. Those diaries which are noted throughout the day to have exceptionally strong writing, unique angles and an interesting perspective are listed on the Diary Rescue. It serves as a highlight to the rest of the Daily Kos community as to what the best postings of the day were. The Diary Rescue is easily scannable due to each diary listed in its separate bullet point along with a summary sentence.