Wednesday, October 15, 2008

New Age Journalism . . . Blogging

After five grueling minute, I found an example of an article written in typical blog post pattern. I came across an article entitled, “States with slots hurtin’.”

Immediately, I found tell tale signs that the article was written in blog form. Aside from the fact that it was located in the blog section of the webpage, the author’s name was Random Rodricks. Just then a little light bulb lit up in my mind. I was headed in the right direction.

The article was linked to his other blog works for the Baltimore Sun at the top of the page just below his picture. What caught my attention was the headline “States with slots hurtin’.” It’s a pretty “snappy” headline, I think, according to the text. His lead summarized the proposal of slots in Maryland in a single sentence. Although the article didn’t have any pertinent quotes, it contained a lot of factual information. He has two paragraphs of his opinion of the situation. At the bottom of the page, it shows that the article was posted by Dan Rodricks. Below that were comments from his readers.

You can check it out for yourself if you need to. Here is the link to his blog.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/rodricks/blog/2008/10/states_with_slots_hurtin.html

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Inverted Pyramid Method



The general idea of an article written in inverted form is that it’s presented backwards. First, the most important information is presented. Second, interesting and colorful details are added. The article ends with remaining facts that the reader might want to keep in mind.

I checked out an article on The Baltimore Sun website that is written in this form. The article is entitled GBC backs underground city Red Line plan by Michael Dresser. He starts with the most important information first. He says, “A leading business group is pushing a plan to build a light rail line between Woodlawn and East Baltimore that would include substantial tunneling to go underneath downtown and neighborhoods opposed to surface tracks.” He then added interesting details about the rejection of extra bus lines being added in that direction. He says, “It supported a 14-mile light rail plan that would run in tunnels under central Baltimore, Fells Point and Cooks Lane in West Baltimore. The proposed line would cost an estimated $1.6 billion.” He goes on to add an interview with Donald C. Fry, president of the GBC. He ended with the remaining facts by stating, “Some local transit advocates have been urging the MTA to pursue "heavy rail" similar to the existing Metro subway.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-redline0930,0,3635874.story