My first question was for the survey participants to indicate their preferred online news outlet, the top three preferred news outlets are: 1st place is CNN, 2nd place is northcountrynow.com, and 3rd place goes to Fox news.
For the majority of this summary I will focus on the results of all questions based on the entire field of preferred news outlet responses, and then I will take a brief look at the top 3 results. The remaining other preferred news outlets are Yahoo, Google, MSN which all three placed 4th and the remaining are Bing, Newzjunky, The Onion, and WWNY TV 7.
This first section of the result summary is questions based on the surveyed takers preferred outlet.
1) Do you feel that online opinion polls influence the decision of which news stories your preferred news outlet report? 44% said yes and 56% felt they do not.
2) Do you feel that all of the facts for each news story are fully presented by your preferred news outlet? 26% said yes and 74% felt they do not.
74% is a large percentage of people that feel they are not getting all of the facts from their news outlet. Does that really make you question what is going on?
3) Overall, are you satisfied with the content and quality of the news covered by your preferred online news outlet? 59% said yes and 41% felt they do not.
This next section is questions based on any online news outlet. Any being the key word of these questions:
1) Do you feel that any online news outlets neglect to report news stories that they feel are not important? 85% said yes and 15% felt they do not.
2) Do you feel that any major online news outlets have an agenda other than reporting the total news coverage? An overwhelming 93% said yes and only 7% felt they do not. This was the highest yes results of all of the questions that I asked.
3) Do you feel that any specific news outlets manipulate the news content to support their agenda? I.e. retouch photos for example. 89% said yes and 11% felt they did not. This was the 2nd highest yes results of all of the questions.
This last section is based on the survey takers’ perception of all online news outlets:
1) Do you feel that the facts that all online news sources report are completely objective in the news that they report? 15% said yes and an overwhelming 85% of takers felt they do not.
2) Do you feel that the facts that are presented are presented fairly and without bias? 30% said yes and 70% felt they were not.
This previous section of questions results are the most important to the purpose of this assignment, they are specific to the perceptions of objectivity in all online news outlets. The question that I asked about all online news sources being completely objective in the news that they report revealed an astonishing answer, 85% of online news consumers believed all outlets are not objective. With the majority of the people I surveyed believing that all outlets are not completely objective, it really makes you wonder if these internet users even trust their preferred online news outlet and why do they still look to online news to get their news.
Based on the answer of the objectivity question another astonishing answer was collected from the question about the facts being presented are presented fairly and without bias. With the majority of the surveyed participants; 70% believing that online news is not presented fairly and the facts are bias in their reporting.
That answer reinforces the mystery about why do these people surveyed still look online to get their news. I also believe that the results of this question are closely correlated to the question about any online news outlet having an agenda when they report the news that they report and the result being 93% of surveyed participants agree that there is an agenda.
Based on the result of the agenda question and considering that 89% of the participants believe that the supporting evidence of a story is manipulated to support their agenda. Why do these people surveyed still believe the news they consume?
Overall, I’m pleased with the results of all of these questions. I thought it was a neat experience; it was cool to just see what people think about online news, especially the answers to the questions about the users preferred news outlet.
With the majority of the summary complete I want to just indicate some facts about what the participants believe about their preferred online news outlets. Let’s look at the top three of these outlets that the surveyed people prefer: CNN, Northcountrynow.com, and Fox News. Let’s learn some interesting facts about these top three. You can make your own conclusions.
The interesting facts from the CNN patrons are: 71% of CNN fans believe that online opinion polls do influence the news that they are offered from CNN. 86% of CNN users believe that they are not receiving all of the facts of each news story from CNN. Only 57% of CNN users are overall satisfied with the content and quality of the news they receive.
Northcountynow.com facts: 83% of northcountynow.com fans believe that the news they are offered from northcountynow.com is influenced by opinion polls. 67% of northcountynow.com users believe that they are not receiving all of the facts of each news story. 83% of northcountynow.com users are overall satisfied with the content and quality of the news they receive. This percentage of satisfied patrons by their preferred online news outlet is the highest percentage of all of the top three.
Finally, Fox News facts: 50% of users of Fox news online believe that the news stories they are offered is influenced by opinion polls. The majority of Fox news fans surveyed about their overall satisfaction with the content and quality of the news they receive is 75%. The final fact: 100% of those Fox news fans believe that they are receiving all of the facts of each news story they receive from Fox news.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Comparison of the news sites.
My 4 online news sites are http://www.foxnews.com/, http://northcountrynow.com/, http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/, http://www.abc.net.au/news/offbeat/.
I can compare these sites based on many levels. I’m going to focus on their ease of use, the frequency of updating their sites, and the multimedia content of each site on their first page.
Gretawire.com the blog and foxnews.com are almost identical (they are provided by the same company Fox News.) These two sites have all the same top banners and link tabs on both. All of the headlines/titles for the stories are links; all the images in the stories are links as well. On foxnews.com every featured headline story has accompanying links below and at the side bars of the hook paragraph to link to more information about other stories with similar subject matter as the featured story.
On northcountrynow.com the entire page is set up like a newspaper, only there are interactive elements included. All the ads on the page are links to the companies specific WebPages. The body of the page is immensely filled with hyperlinks. The entire left edge of the page are lists of links to the basic parts of any newspaper: Classifieds, News (which is redundant because it contains links to the other parts of the website that you can find in the main body of the page), Your Views, Recreation and Entertainment, Local Websites, Hometown Photos, Explore Northern NY, and About NCNow. The interesting part of these link categories on the left side is they break down into more specific links, for example under News there are the following more specific links: (NCNow News, Local Obituaries, Engagements, Weddings, Anniversaries, Weather, Local Business, News Links, Sports Links, NC This Week.) A unique difference between all of the other pages and NCN.com is on this page the headlines of the stories are not links themselves, there are links under every headline that says where the news was found; for example the link of a headline of a story from Watertown Daily Times goes directly to watertowndailytimes.com. In the body of the page are titled sections with even further links; these sections include New Today, NCNow Survey, Local Sports, Opinion, Featured Blogs and Forums, Obituaries & Services, Recently Added Videos, and Recently Added Websites.
Finally, my specialty news site is the ABC News – Offbeat. Although it does not actually say what ABC represents I think it is hosted from the Australian Broadcast Channel. So anyway this is the simplest site for ease of use. Like foxnews.com and gretawire.com, this site has top banners and link tabs. The only other links on the page are the titles of the news story, and the related tags listed in a line under the hook sentences of each story. So if you see a headline you like, click it to read the story or if you are further interested in the subject you can click on the listed tags.
Gretawire.com, foxnews.com and northcountrynow.com are the most frequently updated news sites of the four. ABC – Offbeat is least frequently updated because it is more difficult to find new strange news stories so often. Gretwire.com is the next least frequently updated because this is a blog and it is not concerned with updating breaking news. But, the reason it is more frequently updated than ABC – Offbeat is all of the new threads that are being created all day long. The foxnews.com and northcountrynow.com sites are the most frequently updated because these sites focus on breaking news.
The multimedia content on the first pages of these websites differ greatly. The Fox News site contains streaming video and images. All of the images and the videos are clickable links. On gretawire.com most of the multimedia content is in the form of videos, but also the limited number of still images on the page are clickable links. On northcountrynow.com there is limited multimedia content, the content on this page are in the form of still images as well as all of these images are clickable links. On ABC News – Offbeat there is no multimedia content on this page at all.
I can compare these sites based on many levels. I’m going to focus on their ease of use, the frequency of updating their sites, and the multimedia content of each site on their first page.
Gretawire.com the blog and foxnews.com are almost identical (they are provided by the same company Fox News.) These two sites have all the same top banners and link tabs on both. All of the headlines/titles for the stories are links; all the images in the stories are links as well. On foxnews.com every featured headline story has accompanying links below and at the side bars of the hook paragraph to link to more information about other stories with similar subject matter as the featured story.
On northcountrynow.com the entire page is set up like a newspaper, only there are interactive elements included. All the ads on the page are links to the companies specific WebPages. The body of the page is immensely filled with hyperlinks. The entire left edge of the page are lists of links to the basic parts of any newspaper: Classifieds, News (which is redundant because it contains links to the other parts of the website that you can find in the main body of the page), Your Views, Recreation and Entertainment, Local Websites, Hometown Photos, Explore Northern NY, and About NCNow. The interesting part of these link categories on the left side is they break down into more specific links, for example under News there are the following more specific links: (NCNow News, Local Obituaries, Engagements, Weddings, Anniversaries, Weather, Local Business, News Links, Sports Links, NC This Week.) A unique difference between all of the other pages and NCN.com is on this page the headlines of the stories are not links themselves, there are links under every headline that says where the news was found; for example the link of a headline of a story from Watertown Daily Times goes directly to watertowndailytimes.com. In the body of the page are titled sections with even further links; these sections include New Today, NCNow Survey, Local Sports, Opinion, Featured Blogs and Forums, Obituaries & Services, Recently Added Videos, and Recently Added Websites.
Finally, my specialty news site is the ABC News – Offbeat. Although it does not actually say what ABC represents I think it is hosted from the Australian Broadcast Channel. So anyway this is the simplest site for ease of use. Like foxnews.com and gretawire.com, this site has top banners and link tabs. The only other links on the page are the titles of the news story, and the related tags listed in a line under the hook sentences of each story. So if you see a headline you like, click it to read the story or if you are further interested in the subject you can click on the listed tags.
Gretawire.com, foxnews.com and northcountrynow.com are the most frequently updated news sites of the four. ABC – Offbeat is least frequently updated because it is more difficult to find new strange news stories so often. Gretwire.com is the next least frequently updated because this is a blog and it is not concerned with updating breaking news. But, the reason it is more frequently updated than ABC – Offbeat is all of the new threads that are being created all day long. The foxnews.com and northcountrynow.com sites are the most frequently updated because these sites focus on breaking news.
The multimedia content on the first pages of these websites differ greatly. The Fox News site contains streaming video and images. All of the images and the videos are clickable links. On gretawire.com most of the multimedia content is in the form of videos, but also the limited number of still images on the page are clickable links. On northcountrynow.com there is limited multimedia content, the content on this page are in the form of still images as well as all of these images are clickable links. On ABC News – Offbeat there is no multimedia content on this page at all.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
My News Story.
Swing Your Hips
CANTON - The 'Hoop Revolution' celebration was Friday’s featured event at Canton’s Summer Festival at The Canton Farmer's Market. Long time Hula Hoop enthusiast, Valerie M. White with her collection of hand crafted hoops and her friend DJ Double Dutch (Jody Tosti) were the duo that created 'Hoop Revolution' at the park. Ms. White was invited by the market manager to come and “hoop” at the festival. Ms. White was more than happy to go but she needed some music to hoop to.
“I asked my friend Jody who is DJ Double Dutch if she would come and she would bring some tunes, cause I like her music it’s fun to hoop to!,” Ms. White said. “She came and set this up and we kind of decided to do it together."
Ms. White commented, “I think it’s a really good exercise and it’s a really good outlet and I like seeing other people do it, I think that’s why I do it.” “To see kids get up and see people moving around and see people who tell me they haven’t hula hooped in twenty years and they don’t think they can do it, and they pick one up and they’re able to do it. It makes them smile and they enjoy the music, so that’s what it’s all about.”
The event was a success. It was a warm and beautifully sunny Friday afternoon in Canton with pop music filling the air, one dozen Hula Hoops swinging, and a good size crowd of participants. These are the perfect ingredients for a ‘Hoop Revolution.’
Sam McBroom, self titled “guy who likes to hoop” was hooping around the event. This is not his first hooping experience. Mr. McBroom works with Ms. White at the library and he has been to other events where Ms. White hula hoops.
“I caught Val doing it at the Madrid Bluegrass Festival,” Mr. McBroom said. “We were both out there she brought the hoops along. She’s been doing it forever; I started doing it and had a blast.” He continued, “She was at Potsdam Summer fest, and I’m with a medieval group and I was actually hula hooping in my armor.” “It’s a chance to get out, have some fun and get some good exercise, just a good time.”
For one younger participant this was her first hula hooping extravaganza. Zoie M.T. Flynn, of Massena, was at the park and she wanted to try it out. Ms. Flynn said, “I went to see everyone hula hoop, and have a great time there… and I got to try it out and I had a great time.”
For one younger participant this was her first hula hooping extravaganza. Zoie M.T. Flynn, of Massena, was at the park and she wanted to try it out. Ms. Flynn said, “I went to see everyone hula hoop, and have a great time there… and I got to try it out and I had a great time.”
TRYING IT OUT - Zoie M.T. Flynn, of Massena, left, Valerie M. White, 'Hoop Revolution' creator, center background, and Sam McBroom, Hula Hoop instructor, right. Friday, July 23, 2010
Fireworks in the burg. Seaway festival
Well I finally got the work from week 2 out of the way it is time to go get entertained by fireworks for the third time this summer. I love summer and I love fireworks! So I'm outta here... hope to see you there!
-Late.
-Late.
Comparing news coverage
I've been trying to find a good story to write about but every time I get the newspaper the news is always a day late and the rest of the entire media out there has moved on to the "new" news. So anyway I have yesterdays paper and I'm going to focus on the oil leak in the Gulf.
The newspaper is The Ogdensburg Journal and it is dated Thursday, July 22, 2010. The front page has a side bar about the oil spill. It is titled Oil May Leak Again. The lead is about the tropical storm that was moving into the Gulf from Florida. The author of the story tries to hook the reader by saying a tropical rainstorm threatened to shut down the sealing of the well. The story then goes on to the results of what would happen if the area in the Gulf would have to be evacuated. If they leave the area above the cap, they will lose some data that they have been monitoring since BP placed the cap on it a week ago. There is no way to monitor the pressure and the sea floor for cracks from the shore. So The biggest shock to me about this news is it says: "If storms keep them from seeing the cap and getting those readings -- for up to four days, Allen said -- BP could reopen the well to avoid missing signs that it is buckling." Can you believe that?
So I went to my preferred online news outlet and they do not mention anything about the storm threatening the effort. On the homepage of the site is the headline is about politics. Conservative, Liberal Bloggers Hold Rival Conferences in Sin City. So, I searched around the site and the only news I could locate about the oil spill is the headline: Rig Worker: Fire Alarm System on Gulf Rig Disabled Before Oil Spill. To my surprise there was no news about the storm in the Gulf.
Next, I went to the TV and tuned in to my favorite news channel and I barely caught just a quick blurb about something like the storm in the Gulf is moving away from the leak sight. Nothing else. That is why I said "something like." It was so quick that I didn't even have time to absorb the information. All I saw was a graphic that showed the storm drifting north.
My summary about this comparison is: the most coverage about this specific story was in the newspaper. Which is not really too surprising because the news in it is a day old already. The strength of the paper is it is more in depth about the storm and some of the issues with it. The weakness is it is old news by the time the readers get it.
The website: After I think about it I'm not too surprised that the news of the storm was not really there. The news on the internet gets updated so soon and so often that the storm is really old news. So, the strength of the online news is it is always up to the minute with breaking news. The weakness: If someone like myself was trying to learn more about the storm in the Gulf on this website it would be a very cumbersome activity, not worth the effort. I'll just stick to the newspaper then!
The TV: It is just about the same as the online news, even faster. After researching the news for this assignment, I was pleased to even see a blurb about the storm on TV. The strength is it is even more current with breaking news taking up the entire broadcast. So, old news such as this storm in the Gulf is ancient news on TV when Lindsay Lohan is the breaking news. The strength is also the weakness, if you did not see the news about the storm in the Gulf when it was breaking news on TV then the odds are you will not see anything about the storm at all... unless it is a blurb.
The newspaper is The Ogdensburg Journal and it is dated Thursday, July 22, 2010. The front page has a side bar about the oil spill. It is titled Oil May Leak Again. The lead is about the tropical storm that was moving into the Gulf from Florida. The author of the story tries to hook the reader by saying a tropical rainstorm threatened to shut down the sealing of the well. The story then goes on to the results of what would happen if the area in the Gulf would have to be evacuated. If they leave the area above the cap, they will lose some data that they have been monitoring since BP placed the cap on it a week ago. There is no way to monitor the pressure and the sea floor for cracks from the shore. So The biggest shock to me about this news is it says: "If storms keep them from seeing the cap and getting those readings -- for up to four days, Allen said -- BP could reopen the well to avoid missing signs that it is buckling." Can you believe that?
So I went to my preferred online news outlet and they do not mention anything about the storm threatening the effort. On the homepage of the site is the headline is about politics. Conservative, Liberal Bloggers Hold Rival Conferences in Sin City. So, I searched around the site and the only news I could locate about the oil spill is the headline: Rig Worker: Fire Alarm System on Gulf Rig Disabled Before Oil Spill. To my surprise there was no news about the storm in the Gulf.
Next, I went to the TV and tuned in to my favorite news channel and I barely caught just a quick blurb about something like the storm in the Gulf is moving away from the leak sight. Nothing else. That is why I said "something like." It was so quick that I didn't even have time to absorb the information. All I saw was a graphic that showed the storm drifting north.
My summary about this comparison is: the most coverage about this specific story was in the newspaper. Which is not really too surprising because the news in it is a day old already. The strength of the paper is it is more in depth about the storm and some of the issues with it. The weakness is it is old news by the time the readers get it.
The website: After I think about it I'm not too surprised that the news of the storm was not really there. The news on the internet gets updated so soon and so often that the storm is really old news. So, the strength of the online news is it is always up to the minute with breaking news. The weakness: If someone like myself was trying to learn more about the storm in the Gulf on this website it would be a very cumbersome activity, not worth the effort. I'll just stick to the newspaper then!
The TV: It is just about the same as the online news, even faster. After researching the news for this assignment, I was pleased to even see a blurb about the storm on TV. The strength is it is even more current with breaking news taking up the entire broadcast. So, old news such as this storm in the Gulf is ancient news on TV when Lindsay Lohan is the breaking news. The strength is also the weakness, if you did not see the news about the storm in the Gulf when it was breaking news on TV then the odds are you will not see anything about the storm at all... unless it is a blurb.
Blogging
This is my first real blog entry I guess. I've never wanted to do one because I always thought, "why would anyone want to read what I think about. I never cared to read about anyone else's thoughts."
So I kind of have been holding back. But I better get my ass in gear and make up for my lost time in this class.
So I kind of have been holding back. But I better get my ass in gear and make up for my lost time in this class.
My online news survey
Hey I finally got my survey done. I think I came up with some good questions. Check it out.
Click here to take survey
Click here to take survey
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