In Iraq, The Day After

When first beginning to read this article it is hard to understand what it will actually be about. referring to things that most people associate happy feelings with, such as christmas decorations and music, and smiling. It doesn’t really give you a good idea of what the article is going to be about. This article is not meant to be a happy article but by reading the first paragraph you would believe it is. The next two to three paragraphs are about how the war that has been occurring over the past five years and how it is beginning to simmer down, with clam days and rarely the noise of a gun-shots. It talks about the excitement and relief the people in the area are feeling and he gets quotes from many or the merchants and other people. All of his sources include statements from people living in the area, merchants, and people who have been witnessing this terror for the past five years. To me part of the most heart wrenching moments in the story is when he reads the diary from the 13-year-old girl, who is now older. This was the only document that I noted and I think it was very impactful moment on the reader. 

I think this article is extremely well written with very little bias. I believe the writer was trying his hardest to tell a true story one where he disregards his own feelings. A lot of the story is about what has been happening, what is happening and what he is seeing. He writes a lot about what he is physically seeing along with what he is seeing from the people who live in the area. I do think this article deserves a Pulitzer Prize because it is so well written and the author himself went into the midst of the action to retrieve a well written, truthful story.

Thank you

-Amanda Bellisari

Washington Post Pulitzer Story

1. Reading the first part of this story it seems that it would be difficult to understand the whole story.
2. The lead is talking about a town that was once full of gun fire is now much more calm and seems to have order.
3. The lead leaves out the fact that the country is still very crippled in many ways.
4. These paragraphs explained more in detail about why the place that was mentioned in the first paragraph is much more calm now than it used to be.
5. This story seemed to bring up past events that had happened. Throughout the story many of the events that were explained occurred in 2003.
6. The attributed parts of this story came from the people that live there and their experiences.
7. These are the people that live there and have seen the events unfold first hand.
8. In this article the reporter relied on a wide range of different sources.
9. It seemed that the only item that was related to a document was the diary entry from the 13 year old Iraqi girl.
10. There was no significant data that was used in this story.
11. The diary entry gives readers a sense of what the people in Iraq think about the current situation. It made the story a little more credible.

–Ryan Clase

In Iraq, the Day After

1. The lead paragraph of the story does not summarize the main point. It gives an insight as to what’s to come, but once you read the end of the story, the beginning does not make sense.
2. The lead paragraph includes visuals to show why some people may think it is now peaceful in Iraq, but it is not at all what the story is about.
3. The first paragraph does not include the negatives of Iraq, which is what the whole story is about. Although it may seem peaceful it is not and the first paragraph only shows the positives.
4. The second and third paragraphs relate to the first because it breaks down the facts of why people who do not live there see it as peaceful.
5. Yes, the story gives a lot of before and after examples of Iraqi people’s lives and the cities they live in.
6. The information at the end of the story, which includes personal experiences with the past appearance of Iraq and the present appearance of Iraq are very attributed to this story. They give really good insight as to why the people of Iraq still feel unsafe and why they feel that sometimes quiet is a sign of bad things to come. The real life quotes from Iraqi people make the story what it is.
7. All of the human sources used in this story are people that currently live in Iraq and have been there throughout the war and the soldiers that are stationed there.
8. The reporter uses a wide range of sources. Including a young child, US soldiers, and Iraqi adults that have seen Iraq through good times and bad.
9. There were pictures that some Iraq teenagers took when they were near park benches and swings. The reporter also uses words directly from the pages of a thirteen year-old girl’s diary who was experiencing the war firsthand.
10. There was no specific data used in the story only dates referring back to the war, but no specific details or statistics.
11. The teenage boys pictures and young girl’s diary gives very good insight as to exactly how the people living in Iraq really feel. It gives a sense of credibility to the story’s main point which is that most Iraqi people still do not feel safe even after the war has ended.

–Brittany Masterson

Opinion VS Reporting

It is very easy to distinguish Opinion writing with Reporting, the two styles are nothing alike. Opinion writing does not hold back anything, when reading this type of piece you will be in the journalists head knowing exactly what they think and how they feel on a situation. When it comes to Reporting this type of writing try’s its best to stick to strictly factual information not telling you what side of the spectrum they stand on. I chose two articles that dealt with politics because the difference between the types of writing is clear.
The opinion article I chose centered the whole story on why democrats are wrong and need to stop blaming others for their failures. The journalist claims that Democrats are using the blame game to gain more votes and that is not going to work and it’s not very smart in their “opinion.” This article is backed up by quotes however these quotes are used to defend his viewpoint. The Reporting article I chose was also about America’s health care, in this article it was strictly news. No opinion was inserted from the journalist unless it was through a quote from another individual. This story was based on facts numbers and quotes not a personal opinion.
Opinion:http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20101020/cm_rcp/democrats_it039s_not_me_it039s_you

Reporting:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101022/ap_on_bi_ge/us_ap_poll_health_care

-Amanda Bellisari

Jackson Labs Coming to Naples, FL

Opinion Article: Why I Support Jackson Labs Coming to Collier County

News Report: Jackson Labs Officials in Naples Next Week

These two articles are on the same topic about the Jackson Lab, but they have many differences as one reads through them. The purpose of why these article were written have different reasons. In the first article the writing is all based on the opinion of why this lab should be built in Naples, Florida. One can tell this just by looking at the title, Why I Support the Jackson Labs. In the second article one can tell that the article is based on information and facts about the Jackson lab and the reader can make their own decision after reading which is a give away to any factual article.

The next difference between these articles is how the information is displayed. In the first article the writer is talking about all of her experiences with the Jackson Lab corporation. An important fact that she mentioned was that the lab in Maine has pumped 220 million dollars in the community especially during times when they really needed the extra money to keep the community afloat. On the other hand the second article’s information is more focused on what they do and how they go about doing their research.

Lastly, the the second article can be separated by the first because of all the raw information that was given throughout the article. I really focused on our situation in Naples, Florida. It talked about the process of events that were going to happen in the very new future and also what would happen if the decision was made to build a new Jackson Lab. This is unlike the first article because the writer in the first article really made you know how they felt about the situation.

–Ryan Clase

Arizona Immigration Law

New York Times Opinion: Why Arizona Drew a Line

New York Times Reporting: Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration

The two above articles are two very different stories but are about the same law, but what makes these two writing styles complete opposites? The purpose of the opinion article is to opine which is to provide a meaning for others while the other article’s purpose is to inform which is to lay out the facts and let the reader determine the meaning. In the opinion article you can clearly see the purpose in some of the paragraph titles such as “It is unfair to demand that aliens carry their documents with them,” and “‘Reasonable suspicion’ is a meaningless term that will permit police misconduct.” The second article gives strictly facts and tells the reader exactly what is going on an example is, “The law…would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.”

A second difference in these two genres is the use of facts and sources. The opinion column doesn’t use any sources or facts but simply states what they feel. On the other hand the second article uses a variety of quotes directly from President Obama’s speech at the Rose Garden. These quotes not only show credibility but give readers an insight to what the people in office think about this law. The opinion article is merely for entertainment.

A third difference is the symbols that each news provider uses to convey their messages. The opinion article uses a political cartoon at the beginning of the story that shows the negativity towards the law. The second article uses political words and definitions to portray facts. They also used a link that shows you the legal form of the bill that was passed, which is a great way to fully inform readers of what is going on.

If  a reader wants the full story of what is going on around them and wants to be informed of the story, an unbiased news report is the one to read, an opinion article may be entertaining but it doesn’t give you the full feel of what is going on.

–Brittany Masterson

A) I think that the stories definitely emphasize the same information. All of the facts that are mentioned are basic and nothing too bizarre.

B) The Wall Street Journal swayed their story to the more liberal side of the spectrum. They make an assumption that Whitman is closer to the liberal side than the conservative side when it comes to immigration laws by saying “Ms. Whitman has toed the moderate to left-of-center line on immigration.” Both emphasize a lot on the immigration laws claiming that Whitman wants to be careful on to step on Latins toes because they are the fastest growing voters of the time. Wall Street Journal stayed basically neutral when it came to bashing Ms. Whitman or Jerry Brown where as the New York Times mentioned that “this could be a last minute trick.”

C) I don’t think their are fused opinions with the actual journalist but I do think opinions have been fused from sources that were used in both stories.

-Amanda Bellisari

Wall Street Journal Vs. The Caucus (Whitman Articles)

1. In general, the two articles are relaying the same information. The Caucus and the Wall Street Journal both describe Whitman’s situation, just in two different manners.

2. I think The Caucus has a little more opinion in their article that sheds light on Whitman blaming an incident on her opponent. The Wall Street Journal had a more neutral approach in their article.

3. The Caucus did have a few opinions in their article and it helped lend a hand to show the negative side of Whitman. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal had more facts which helped it stay a little more neutral on the issue.

-Elias Mikhalides

The Whitman Story

1. After reading both of these stories about Ms. Whitman it seemed that the articles had the same basic information throughout the writting.

2. The Wall Street Journal was very nutral with all of the information they covered in the Whitman story. On the other hand, the New York Times wrote in thier information that Ms. Whitman said this was a last minute trick by her opponent attorney general Jerry Brown. This seemed as if the writer of this artical was trying to make her look bad.

3. The opinion that I picked out of the articlas also came from the same statement in the New York Times. Saying that this incident was a last minute dirty trick I feel is a complete oppinion from the writer Adam Nagourney.

–Ryan Clase

Meg Whitman’s Illegal Housekeeper

1. Both the Wall Street Journal and The Caucus emphasize the same information but they portray it in different ways. For example WSJ emphasizes Meg Whitman’s case in a very nuetral tone while The Caucus emphasizes Whitman more negatively.

2. WSJ is pretty neutral, they talk about the political point of view of this story and the emphasis the Latino group has on the elections. The Caucus slants more negative towards Whitman, they state that she is blaming the accusation on her opponent Jerry Brown. For example in The Caucus they state, “And Ms. Whitman- decrying the episode as a last-minute dirty trick orchestrated by her opponent, Jerry Brown, the attorney general…”

3. The WSJ doesn’t infuse any opinions, they state only facts and quotes about what is happeneing, they also provide facts about how the Latino culture is “the fastest growing voters bloc…” They use this to show how Whitman has a majority of the Latino votes and this could now potentially ruin her chances. The Caucus does infuse some opinions, especially where they talked about Whitman blaming the accusations on Jerry Brown, her opposing candidate.

–Brittany Masterson