Journal One

The first article I'd like to comment on is from the Baltimore Sun, the regional newspaper I will be following most closely all semester. It is titled, "Visitor estimates show flat summer season for Ocean City". This article sparked my interest because it is relevant to my life, as I live and work in Ocean City during the summer, and the amount of tourists directly affects my job. What I noticed after reading this very brief article was the lack of quotes. It provided the necessary information (amount of tourists on popular weekends, specific events) in a very concise manner. However, I feel that there could be a more personal side to the story, and that the lack of quotes or input from local business owners, etc. stripped away the important part of this story - the amount of visitors directly correlates with people's lives. The only quote mentioned was from Ocean City's communication manager, Donna Abbott, and I feel that her brief quote showed only one view on the decrease in crowds in Ocean City. This story also was not written in the inverted pyramid style, as it had a sort of limp lede, only touching on what was about to be said in the article. After reading this article, I searched for even more localized news to see if there were any other articles commenting on the tourism issue in Ocean City. The most related articles I could find from both the Ocean City Today and Ocean City Dispatch focused more on Hurricane Irene and the effects of the Hurricane rather than its effect on tourism.

The second article I chose to focus on came from The Guardian and is titled, "Plane from Pakistan to UK forced to land after bomb threat". It sparked my interest because of the very near ten-year anniversary of 9/11. I was surprised to see that the bomb threat involved planes from outside of the country, not traveling anywhere near the United States. Much like the first article I mentioned, this article was written very concisely, providing exact numbers and times for the emergency landing. This article really cemented the importance of facts for me - it seems that important news stories all require concise factual statements. What put me off about this article was the fact that it seemed to build suspense for something that may not be of any worry. Although I understand that information may not yet be available to the author, the journalist left out the fact that everyone was okay, and that no bomb was found. It seemed almost to be stirring a bit of a scare, with the chosen quotes and the information that was incorporated. I still had many questions after reading the article, and I feel that some of them could've definitely been answered but may have been chosen not to. While I understand the importance of being cautious and proactive with bomb threats, especially so close to the anniversary of something so momentous, I'm not sure if the journalist handled to story as well as they could. It seemed very much to have a negative air, rather than one of security.