Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Terrific or Trashy

Who says it better?
For the purposes of this weekly task I will do an individual analysis of each site, giving it a star rating with the highest number referring to the best site. I am finding this rather hard, because I think the majority of journalism is propaganda. Designed to persuade the masses to agree with somebodies personal agenda or views... I don't like being manipulated... I wont say ALL journalists are like that, but every body has an opinion and it is extremely difficult to keep said opinions out of our writings and don't forget the media industry is a  BUSINESS it serves to suit its own purposes and needs.
1 STAR

Is it effective?

This site was BORING...

Who is the audience?

This site is aimed at the educated citizens that have an interest in the statistics of our environment and government.

My opinion?
The first thing I noticed on this site was the constantly moving rss feed bar, I found it very distracting and the speed of it was way to quick. I didn't like this site at all, yes it seemed very informative... But what good is information if I'm to busy sleeping to read it? I spent less time on this site then any other, So no "not effective"... Yes the information is there but the interest isn't, it seems so formal and ridged.


2 STARS
Is it effective?

No not for me...

Who is the audience?

I think this site is designed for young to middle aged people. I think it's also aimed at middle class citizens, those who have a basic education. Those that want to stay aware of whats going on, but don't have enough motivation or time to investigate the articles any further.

My opinion?
I don't like this site, it made me frustrated and it felt like they where "dumbing" things down. I don't believe that the top rated articles are the most important news stories of the day either. I found this site to confusing, with a clutter of stories all over the place it seemed like there is no order to anything. The short excerpts from the top stories seemed like something out of a trash mag not a news paper. I was unimpressed...

3 STARS
Is it effective?
   
This site is below the middle for me... Is it effective?  yes and no... I liked a couple of the articles especially in the weird section, but I found that quite a few of there articles don't seem to be very news worthy, on one page they have an article on the tsunami threat and one on a cricket stars refusal to sell baby photos... Hmmmmm

Who is the audience?

This site is aimed at the average business class Joe, middle aged and with a middle class education.

My opinion?

This site is trying to do to much, there is so much to look at all different categories and styles. Normally this would be good, but in this case its just over whelming. Like the Sydney Morning Herald this site feels like it has no order to it. This site also seems confused about whether or not it's a gossip mag or NEWS paper site... with the different levels of reporting that are displayed.

4 STARS
The Huffington Post:

Is it effective?

Not for me..

Who is the audience?

This site, I think is aimed at slightly younger crowd then the others, because there is considerably more pictures.

My opinion?

I love the photo gallery idea at the top, the writing underneath is a bit confusing though. The articles are a bit long still and a lot of the quick read links jump to school related sites i.e. 10 of the ugliest collages. This site needs to be cleaned a bit before it goes up the list.
5 STARS
The Global Mail:

Is it effective?

Yeah I guess...

Who is the audience?

People that are interested in what's happening around the world are targeted by this site, I'm guessing middle age with a average to high level of education.

My opinion?

The articles on this site seemed a bit long winded it isn't recommended for people with a short attention span like me... They are interesting and informative but really long, every article is set out the same and there is barely any variety. Also this site seems very judgmental it seemed like all the articles were either one way or another, no middle ground. I won't be spending my spare time reading this site...


6 STARS

Is it effective?

Yes and No... Yes because a lot of the articles are good and no because again it seems really cluttered up.

Who is the audience?

I think this site is aimed at the more tech savvy people out there, the side links and some of the stories are aimed at people the jump around the web with ease.

My opinion?
I like the idea for the layout at the bottom, the categories are split up rather differently then the rest of the sites so it was a nice change. This site has a lot of advertising to and social media connections/ads, I think its is trying to fit to much in.


7 STARS 
ABC:

Is it effective?

Yes... This site was well planned out, organised and full of reliable unbiased information.

Who is the audience?

This site has a range of fields aimed at all different people, it has intelligent pieces that are well written and easily understandable.

My opinion?

I really liked this site it was easy to navigate and the majority of the articles were very interesting.


8 STARS
The Conversation:
Is it effective?

Yes...

Who is the audience?

This site is aimed at people from teens to the elderly with a middle to high education level, This site encourages those readers to investigate issues by posing the articles as question style pieces, especially the matters of the mind section.

My opinion?
I enjoyed this site, because the range of articles was huge. The articles where interesting and informative. I found it very effective, the simplicity of this site made it easy to navigate through and I found the headlines eye catching, with out seeming to over the top and they where relevant to the stories. The only problem I had with this site was that the excerpts seemed to be cut to short, not giving enough information on the article.
 The Conversation said it best...
There is a large variety of media outlets out there... you just have to find the ones you like and never base an opinion solely on one article, newspaper, website or source because that one angle could be wrong. When I play a claw machine I look at the toys from all the available angles to get the full picture, that is how the news should be interpreted. 
There is 3 sides to the truth yours, theirs and what really happened...


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