Writing the News Articles

Protesters stand in middle of road for hours, refuse to move until changes are made

This past Friday, over 400 people crowded the only road allowing entrance into the small city of Craigscliff. At first it was unclear as to why they were standing there and refusing to move, but it was quickly discovered when they started to chant "We need a new road". 

Craigscliff, bordered by the ocean on one side and high hills on the other, is a rather rural city with geography that doesn't allow for many roads to be made safely and practically. However, protesters had become fed up with the condition of the single entrance to the city. 

"It's in pretty terrible condition," said Susan Jones, one of the many protesters at the scene. "There are so many bumps and cracks that I'm nervous to drive on it in the daytime, let alone at night, and it turns through the hills so much I get carsick." 

The city's mayor, John Sanders, says that efforts to repair the road have been made many times. 

"We've worked on the road quite a bit," he stated. "It's in such a difficult location that it isn't easy to make it perfect." Despite this fact, Sanders vowed that new efforts to either repair the existing road or make a new one altogether will begin immediately, to the delight of the people.

"I have family who live in the next town over," said Timothy Anderson, one of the first people to start the protest. "I don't want them to have to worry about going off the road because of the condition it's in. I'm glad that they're going to take this issue seriously." 

Funding for the road has already been started, and construction is set to begin in coming weeks. 

Starting with the Basics

Samsung stops making Galaxy Note 7s as more ignite

This article is geared mainly towards past users of these particular cell phones, or to anyone interested in this issue, which involves the Samsung Galaxy Note 7s to catch on fire due to a potential battery problem. This is a fairly recent issue, with the company saying they were going to completely stop the production of the phones in the recent weeks. The article mentions authorities in the United States and South Korea investigating why the replacement phones sent out are also catching fire.

The lead of this article manages to catch the reader's attention, but it could have been done in a better way. It is understandable, though, because the length of the article itself doesn't really allow for a bigger and better lead than the one already provided. It manages to cover the basics of the entire article, and also covers most of the five w's.

"The South Korean company said in a regulatory filing that it decided to stop manufacturing Note 7s for the sake of consumer safety." This quote is a part of the article, but it could have been more effective if there was an actual quote from the regulatory filing instead of a sentence saying that that was said by the company, simply because I feel that readers are more likely to believe something that appears in a direct quote instead of something that is a part of the article itself.

In this article, the most important information was told first, but this may just be due to the length of the article itself. There isn't much else to tell about the issue, other than maybe providing updates on the issue as it develops. The most important information about cellphones catching on fire is that cellphones are catching on fire. It's dangerous, catches people's attention, and is the biggest point in this issue, so the article manages to include the most important information first.

As with most of the article, the ending is well done, but it could have been done better. In my opinion, the article just ends abruptly, without any sort of conclusion, but I guess that's the style of writing in a news article. There isn't a lot of "fluff" in the ending, which is good by news article standards, but personally, I like to have a bit of a conclusion instead of an article suddenly stopping.


In virtual and augmented realities, computers adapt to humans

This article is different from the first in that it doesn't catch every reader's attention. For those interested in technology, they would most definitely read this article, while those who aren't as enthusiastic about developments in technology may not be so quick to read. The article discusses how both virtual reality and augmented reality allow people to connect to technology, and also lets technology connect to people. The article doesn't pinpoint a specific time, but rather how technology has adapted in recent years, and more recent developments such as the Ubisoft experience Eagle Flight.

This article, compared to the previous one, is quite longer, but the lead does not necessarily state the five w's, mainly because this topic does not pertain to a specific "who", or "when", or "where". The lead of this article, despite this, captures the reader's attention and makes them want to read more.

"'It's absolutely fascinating that we can create worlds that adapt to our moods', says Loc Dao, the chief digital officer for the National Film Board, widely recognized as being an international leader in VR." This quote, as you could probably guess, was said by Loc Dao, and this enriches the article for the reader because yes, it is very fascinating that the kind of technology exists to create a world that can adapt to the moods of humans. Unlike the previous article, the use of direct quotes in this article give the reader more information.

Because of the kind of article this is, most of the information could be considered "important", so whatever is told first is considered important. This kind of topic is so broad that it's a bit difficult to break it down into "important" and "not important", so the lead does have some of the important information first.

The ending of this article, much like the rest of it, is well-written and satisfies the reader. It is clear that the article is over, instead of it suddenly ending and leaving the reader confused. In my opinion, the entire article has a nice balance of facts and "fluff", and it is about a topic that I find very interesting, and I'm sure that other people find it interesting as well.

First Newspapers

There are some obvious differences between the historical papers and the modern papers today. One of those differences is how the papers are published, in terms of one being published solely in print, while the other can be published either in print or online. Another difference between the two is the audience that could potentially be reached. The early newspapers could only reach the people living in the general vicinity of where the paper would be published, and maybe in a few other areas surrounding there. Newspapers today, especially ones online, can reach a much wider audience. Newspapers that branch out into different social medias and use those to put news out as well as through the paper and a website open the doors to reaching many more people than they would if they simply kept to the printed newspaper. Now I'm not saying that physical newspapers are below digital ones in any way; I'm simply stating that one is able to reach a much larger audience than the other.

I don't think that the government should have control over what gets published simply because so many different things get published today that it would take a much longer time to go through everything and decide what should be allowed to stay published and what should be banned. With so many different online news websites, it would take a lot more work to try to contact one of those large companies and try to get one specific article taken down. Even if this was accomplished, there is a very slim chance that absolutely no one has already seen the article. There wouldn't really be any point in trying to take it down at that point, because it was already seen by people. Trying to get something that was printed banned is almost as impossible. Assuming that the government gets wind of it after it has been published, there are most likely other copies besides the one the government would see. If my knowledge of printing companies is correct, they make thousands and thousands of copies, depending on the demand for whatever is being published. This means that if the article or newspaper in question is published, let's say, country-wide, there are so many copies of it out there that destroying or obtaining every last copy would be impossible. Even in history, when newspapers were banned, at least one copy usually manages to survive. It's been happening for years, and it would no doubt happen again if the government somehow managed to make a law banning some sort of newspaper.

As I said above, the main reason why I think the government is prevented from closing down newspapers and other forms of media is because it would take such a long time to make any headway. Back in the days of the first newspapers, there weren't that many being printed, or at least not as much as there are today. This made it easier to keep track of who was publishing what, who said what about something, and how many people were reading it. Now, there are so many local and provincial newspapers that it would be very difficult to try to keep up to date with each and every one. Of course, it could probably be done, but definitely not by one person. I also think that, once again, the size of the audience reached would be so large in some cases that it probably wouldn't be worth it to try to get something taken down or removed. In some extreme cases, a story about the government trying to remove a story about the government may arise, and then it would be right back to the beginning.

I was actually a little surprised to learn that the first newspaper to be published in Canada was in Halifax, mainly because I consider the maritime provinces to be the ones that everyone forgets about. Compared to Quebec or Ontario or even the provinces to the west, we're extremely tiny, and nothing huge ever really happens here, or at least that's what I think. I expected the first newspaper to be published in one of those provinces, not in Halifax. I do think that it's cool that the first newspaper was published in Halifax rather than in one of the bigger cities, and I'm sure people who live there are proud that their home was the first to introduce the printed newspaper into Canada.