News Provider Review: By Caitlin Ellis

News Provider Review:By Caitlin Ellis

The Daily Telegraph
Rating – 1/5

Target Audience: The Stupid Masses of society, people looking for a bit of mindless entertainment whilst still feeling up to date on basic social gossip.

My Immediate response:

The first thing you see is an ad for ‘Daily Prizes’ and a gossip article about the Royal family on tour, there’s no confusion here that what we have is a profit churning business, not an important news providing organisation. They provide what sells, and unfortunately most of us would rather hear about the Kardashian families’ latest scandal than the important issues of the world.
Sensationalised hyped up gossip and trivial social interest topics like ‘Jessica Albas' play date ’ and 'Unhappy with your Sex life? Well here's what to do'.....oh yeah that’s ground breaking stuff guys! Really mind numbing entertainment for the bored and uneducated… sorry to any telegraph fans out there, but it’s true!! 

The Australian Institute

Rating: 1/5

Target audience: This news source is definitely aimed at an older age bracket, particularly wealthy or business people, or those interested in the financial and political climate.

My immediate response: Honestly…really BORING stuff!! None of it was appealing or caught my attention enough to read on… even the colour scheme and layout was plain and uninteresting. 

Geez what else can i say.... i had a nice nap during that review!

Then again i am a flighty young person lol, Wazzzup, like totally :)

Sydney Morning Herald

Rating: 2/5

Target audience: Aimed at people who want an entertaining read includes titles like; ‘He used his body as a weapon for us’, ‘Blood sports’ and more…

My immediate response: Very main stream news stories, quite a commercial view point uses sensationalist based phrasing of headlines to draw people in, and although there is a lot of information there is almost an over-flooding of short snippets of information that doesn't give a good indication of what the story is going to be about.

A range of entertainment articles about different topics aimed to create an interesting daily read not aimed to inform the general public of current issues around the globe, it is very locally based information. The whole rest of the world is confined to the tabs assigned for ‘National’ or ‘World’

While 'Life & Style', 'Travel' and even 'Cars' get a whole tab to themselves.

The Conversation

Rating: 5/5

Target audience: Aimed at people interested in current topics, 'intellectuals' and University students… People who want a different point of view.

My immediate response:  Topics range from economy, environment and politics to health and science, this provides a well-rounded source of information, also the writers are not all qualified journalists so the points of views and ways in which information is presented is different and interesting.

It has a simple and easy to use layout with headings that clearly outline what the articles are about , I quite enjoyed the journey of  browsing this website and actually learnt some stuff along the way.

The Global Mail

Rating: 3/5

Target audience: Generally younger people are the intended audience here, as it portrays a lot of culture and multimedia resources, and it portrays itself as a way of connecting with global issues.

My immediate response: This is aimed at a crowd that would like to think of themselves as cultured and conscientious, they want the current issues briefly laid out but with a focus on society and human interest stories. As there are articles posted such as 'The Pope will soon start Tweeting at a personal Twitter account - possibly from his iPad', this is not aimed at educating but entertaining. 

Containing a modern and funky layout with articles in the format of  video clips, and authors' twitter account links, this site has an appealing way of presenting topics.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Rating: 5/5

Target audience: Information addicts, and people who actually care about world news.

My immediate response: Very professional and formal yet still interesting with a clear and engaging layout. Easy to navigate the large amount of content available, with pictures and headings that are direct and explanatory. However because it is so factual and its content is purely news rather than entertainment it could be a bit dry and boring for some viewers.

Huffington Post

Rating: 2/5

Target audience: This is a United States News resource and as such it concentrates on current affairs associated with issues revolving around American society.

My immediate response: As American society tends to be a little self absorbed to say the least, there is practically next to information regarding anything other than the current national election in the U.S. So i ask myself... who other than Americans would read this, surprisingly a lot of people do. Perhaps they feel that America is the place where all the important things are happening, but as an Australian i feel this is completely irrelevant to my life or needs. 

The page is set out in a very traditional older newspaper style, which is still popular in the business community; without much video streaming or social networking links, . For those who read it this adds a sense of authority and trust in the name of the company.

With a massive focus on celebrities and human interest articles, it comes across like the American version of our Daily Telegraph.

Crikey

Rating: 4/5

Target audience: Australian people, particularly those who want an understanding of local social issues that will have an effect on their lives.

My immediate response: With a very similar slogan to the The Global Mail 'Independent journalism for Independent minds' the Crikeys' slogan is 'Independent media. Independent minds' this resource is aimed at people who wish to receive information from a reputable source but still want to be kept interested.
The website is clear and easy to navigate, paying particular attention to Australian related issues with topics ranging from politics to culture, its articles are quite well researched and written.
There is also a 'Tip Off' option which provides a place to have your say if you think you have information worth sharing, I think this is a brilliant way to get people passionate about the issues that effect them, by letting them talk about it.

 In Summary;

I started to question what we call 'News'. We overuse the word to the point  where anything that contains information is news, from recipes to celebrity snapshots, we have to filter the source of our information and what we consider worthy of our time and attention.