At first, I could not find the blogs through the navigation tools on LAtimes.com I don't know, maybe my long weekend is finally catching up with me, but I searched for probably ten minutes with no luck. I had to resort to using Google to find the LA Times blogs. Once I found the blogs, I was pretty happy with what I found. Naturally, I immediately checked out the music blog, titled Pop & Hiss. I was pretty excited by the first thing I saw. And here it is: This may not excite the average reader, but it will definitely entice an aspiring music journalist, such as myself. However, I believe that the blog itself is a great read for any fan of music. And let's be honest... who doesn't love music? From scrolling through the most recent posts of Pop & Hiss, I was able to see the great variation that is included in this blog. These posts ranged from country music news to rock concert reviews. Now, I found this to be pretty great, as well. The LA Times is on Tumblr. I have always thought that Tumblr is such a cool website, so I thought that it was really innovative to see a newspaper on Tumblr. This is a great way for the LA Times to show off some of its photography. Since I'm a little obsessed with the LA Times' photography section, Framework, I had to check out the photography blog. Although the LA Times' Tumblr uses pictures to tell stories, it doesn't quite capture emotion as well as the stunning pictures from Framework. This picture of a man during a memorial service on United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Day does just that. The LA Times has a great selection of blogs to chose from, and I wish I had the time to scour each and every one tonight. I definitely encourage everyone to check out at least a few of the blogs.
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Let me say up front that I do not follow politics. At all. My main source for political news is the satire from "Saturday Night Live" and Jimmy Fallon's monologue on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." I chose going to a basketball game last night over watching President Obama's State of the Union Address. But, from here on out, I vow to be a more well-informed citizen. So, I decided to see what the LA Times had to say about the address. The LA Times went in depth to describe Obama's address... and when I say in depth, I mean in depth. I think the article was too long for the internet. I began to read it word for word, but I found myself losing interest and began to skim. I'm sure that I am not alone. I really wish the article would have broken up the 20 or so paragraphs with a bulleted list breaking down the main points that Obama discussed. I think that it would have been much easier on the eye to see these points in a list, instead of searching for them throughout various paragraphs. That article was the first shown on the home page. But, I was glad to see that the LA Times offered plenty of other articles about the address for readers to choose. These articles were shorter and more manageable. They only focused on one topic. An article discussing Gabrielle Giffords' return to the House floor, in one of her last acts as a Congresswoman, was one of the most read articles on latimes.com last night. Overall, I found the LA Times' online coverage of the State of the Union to be satisfactory. Their highlighted article was too lengthy in my opinion, but there were plenty of other options to read. One of these great options was a video taking viewers behind the scenes of the writing of the State of the Union. I think this a great engaging and unique piece. However, I was incredibly disappointed with the LA Times tweeting during the event (or should I say, lack of). I was really hoping for live-tweeting, but all I got was links to their own articles. If you want to read colorful tweets that will entice you into following up on the address, try reading some of Vanity Fair's tweets. The morning after the address, the highlighted article on the LA Times' home page was about about Giffords' farewell to Congress. While I was touched by this story, I still was hoping for an article breaking down the points in Obama's address. Even the morning after, my opinion of the LA Times' coverage of the address stays the same: just satisfactory.
Here is a fun fact: I was born in California.
Okay. I will admit that where I was born is really not that exciting. But, I found it funny that, exactly 20 years after I was born, I am beginning a blog that will follow the most widely circulated paper in my birth state – The Los Angeles Times. For my Digital Journalism II class, I was assigned to follow the LA Times. Although I used to live in California, I never read the newspaper. I was a newborn when I lived in California, so clearly I never kept up with current events. But when I did visit the newspaper's website, I was excited by all the stories I saw. The vast selection of stories is complemented by the website's simple design. LAtimes.com makes a great use of white space, bold lines and vibrant pictures. The website almost explodes with stories on the home page. And, as an aspiring entertainment reporter, I was thrilled to find that the entertainment section of the paper has just as many options for me to explore. The stories virtually cover the entire scope of the entertainment industry. That, plus the slightly sarcastic writing style of some of the stories, will keep me coming back for more. Although the entertainment section of the website is by far my favorite, my friend Liz McGovern introduced me to what I consider to be the most stunning part of the website. Please, do yourself a favor and check out Framework. You will lose yourself in this beautiful collection that, as the website's description says, "captures the world through photography, video and multimedia." Within the first five minutes spent on the website, I can tell that this will be a fun semester. |
AuthorThis blog was created for my Journalism 1550 class at Marquette University. I am a sophomore majoring in journalism and minoring in film. Archives
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