This week's assignment for #loweclass was to compare our beat website with that of CNN.com. The sections that we were told to focus on were entertainment, technology, health, living, and travel. There are many things that I like about my Orlando Sentinel beat, but compared to CNN.com, there really is no comparison. CNN.com provides news that benefits everyone around the world, whereas Orlando Sentinel covers local news for Floridians. In order to show how much I like CNN's coverage I will be keeping score between the two sites on each of the channels.
First off the Orlando Sentinel does not even advertise their technology section. In order to find it you must search it in the searchbar. The actual page for the technology section is very boring and the layout is way too simple. You would expect to see good use of technology, especially on the technology page. There are some videos about technology products like smart phones and tablets. There is also a twitter feed that shows different Sentinel reporters tweeting about technology. Overall the page is kind of boring and lackluster.
CNN's coverage of technology is great. I love how the page is presented and all of the different topics that are covered. My favorite part is the What Matters section of the page. I think it is great because those three stories are probably the biggest stories of the day. If someone came to the technology page and wanted some quick articles to look at, those would be the best to go to. Also under the latest news section of the technology page there are different tabs for the different uses of news. There are social media, mobile, web, and gaming gadgets. Under all of these categories you can see the different technology articles that correlate to each.
Technology Channel winner: CNN
Now I was torn on the next channel, travel. I love the way that the Orlando Sentinel covers travel. It is a great topic for them to cover because of the city and the fact that it is home to Disney World. They have the Daily Disney under travel, which I go into great detail about in one of my previous blogs. I know that anyone traveling to Orlando would be well informed by looking at the Sentinel's coverage of travel. Also the fact that I love Disney World is making me a litle biased.
CNN's coverage is obviously more extensive because it does cover all of the vacation hotspots around the world. I love all of the pictures and videos that the page provides. The current airport delays section is genius. Anyone would be able to go to CNN to check for delays, which provides the site with a lot of traffic. I thought that it was a great place to put something like that. The fact that the page is broken down into hotels, eateries, etc. makes it really easy to navigate.
Travel Channel winner: Tie
Entertainment was an easy winner for me. CNN's coverage was absolutely incredible. Being the celebrity enthusiast that I am, CNN was hands down the winner for me. I throughly enjoyed all the articles and pictures of celebrities. These articles were writtern for people everyone, because most people know who the celebrities are. I also thought the Quote Board was a really nice touch.
The Orlando Sentinel's coverage of entertainment is good, for people living in Orlando. The page focused on local bands or plays. It didn't really have an sparkle to it. There were some videos, but the page was pretty plain. There also was not any coverage about celebrities or any well known people for that matter. An article about Roger Ebert's death was buried in the middle of the page, and was not even written by an Orlando Sentinel reporter.
Entertainment Channel winner: CNN
The Orlando Sentinel combined their Living channel into Life and Family. I thought the same about this page as I did the others. Good coverage for people in Orlando, but the articles were mediocre. The articles were about different programs for children and updates to malls in the area. Nothing really breaking news worthy. Again would be useful for locals in the area.
Again I liked the way that CNN broke down the Living page. I thought each topic had a lot of depth behind it. I liked the topics such as: identity & culture, love & relationships, and parents & kids. I think anyone who were to come the living page would get something out of it. It really touched a variety of people with all those different topics.
Living Channel winner: CNN
The last channel that I analyzed was the health channel. I really enjoyed the Q&A section with Experts on CNN's page. I think that is really helpful for anyone who has health questions. The Health A to Z on the side of the page has just about any category related to health that someone would want more information about. The layout of the page is really great.
The Orlando Sentinel has a decent health section. It finally has a section on the page for national health, which relates to anyone. I think the section is great and will probably have a lot of traffic, but I just wish it wasn't buried on the page. The Orlando Sentinel also offers video on their health page, which is beneficial. Overall the Sentinel did a good job covering health.
Health Channel winner: Tie
Overall I liked CNN's coverage of the above channels. I think it is a great website for anyone to go to, to get information about anything. The Orlando Sentinel is a good publication for locals. I think it provides great news, but it just doesn't affect as many people as CNN news does. I personally would go to CNN for my news, but if I lived in Orlando I am not quite sure which publication I would turn to.
First off the Orlando Sentinel does not even advertise their technology section. In order to find it you must search it in the searchbar. The actual page for the technology section is very boring and the layout is way too simple. You would expect to see good use of technology, especially on the technology page. There are some videos about technology products like smart phones and tablets. There is also a twitter feed that shows different Sentinel reporters tweeting about technology. Overall the page is kind of boring and lackluster.
CNN's coverage of technology is great. I love how the page is presented and all of the different topics that are covered. My favorite part is the What Matters section of the page. I think it is great because those three stories are probably the biggest stories of the day. If someone came to the technology page and wanted some quick articles to look at, those would be the best to go to. Also under the latest news section of the technology page there are different tabs for the different uses of news. There are social media, mobile, web, and gaming gadgets. Under all of these categories you can see the different technology articles that correlate to each.
Technology Channel winner: CNN
Now I was torn on the next channel, travel. I love the way that the Orlando Sentinel covers travel. It is a great topic for them to cover because of the city and the fact that it is home to Disney World. They have the Daily Disney under travel, which I go into great detail about in one of my previous blogs. I know that anyone traveling to Orlando would be well informed by looking at the Sentinel's coverage of travel. Also the fact that I love Disney World is making me a litle biased.
CNN's coverage is obviously more extensive because it does cover all of the vacation hotspots around the world. I love all of the pictures and videos that the page provides. The current airport delays section is genius. Anyone would be able to go to CNN to check for delays, which provides the site with a lot of traffic. I thought that it was a great place to put something like that. The fact that the page is broken down into hotels, eateries, etc. makes it really easy to navigate.
Travel Channel winner: Tie
Entertainment was an easy winner for me. CNN's coverage was absolutely incredible. Being the celebrity enthusiast that I am, CNN was hands down the winner for me. I throughly enjoyed all the articles and pictures of celebrities. These articles were writtern for people everyone, because most people know who the celebrities are. I also thought the Quote Board was a really nice touch.
The Orlando Sentinel's coverage of entertainment is good, for people living in Orlando. The page focused on local bands or plays. It didn't really have an sparkle to it. There were some videos, but the page was pretty plain. There also was not any coverage about celebrities or any well known people for that matter. An article about Roger Ebert's death was buried in the middle of the page, and was not even written by an Orlando Sentinel reporter.
Entertainment Channel winner: CNN
The Orlando Sentinel combined their Living channel into Life and Family. I thought the same about this page as I did the others. Good coverage for people in Orlando, but the articles were mediocre. The articles were about different programs for children and updates to malls in the area. Nothing really breaking news worthy. Again would be useful for locals in the area.
Again I liked the way that CNN broke down the Living page. I thought each topic had a lot of depth behind it. I liked the topics such as: identity & culture, love & relationships, and parents & kids. I think anyone who were to come the living page would get something out of it. It really touched a variety of people with all those different topics.
Living Channel winner: CNN
The last channel that I analyzed was the health channel. I really enjoyed the Q&A section with Experts on CNN's page. I think that is really helpful for anyone who has health questions. The Health A to Z on the side of the page has just about any category related to health that someone would want more information about. The layout of the page is really great.
The Orlando Sentinel has a decent health section. It finally has a section on the page for national health, which relates to anyone. I think the section is great and will probably have a lot of traffic, but I just wish it wasn't buried on the page. The Orlando Sentinel also offers video on their health page, which is beneficial. Overall the Sentinel did a good job covering health.
Health Channel winner: Tie
Overall I liked CNN's coverage of the above channels. I think it is a great website for anyone to go to, to get information about anything. The Orlando Sentinel is a good publication for locals. I think it provides great news, but it just doesn't affect as many people as CNN news does. I personally would go to CNN for my news, but if I lived in Orlando I am not quite sure which publication I would turn to.
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