Well the end of the semester is already upon us, which means this is the last beat blog post for #loweclass. I have enjoyed covering a beat website for the semester. This is the first time that I have ever done something like this, and I can say that I have learned a lot. The Orlando Sentinel had some strengths and weaknesses when it came to their site. Overall I came to the conclusion that it is a great publication to come to for local news, not national news.

Some strengths were the video gallery, the photo galleries, The Daily Disney, and the travel page. Although not all of these had original Sentinel content on them, they did display good content. Some of the content was taken from the AP, Chicago Tribune, or CBS. All of strengths were good sources for any local Floridian. My favorite out of the above would have to be the Daily Disney component of the Sentinel. I thought it was a great idea and it is extremely useful for anyone that visits Disney World, which is a lot of people.

The Sentinel could have benefitted from a different layout. All of the pages were plain white, with only colored text. The pages are in need of some serious color. There also could have been more interactive features on the website, like how CNN has a twitterfeed on the side of their page. The Sentinel is definitely lacking in the technology department.

Overall the Sentinel is a good news source for locals. They publish necessary content for their readers, although not always original content. If you are looking to find out the score of the Orlando Magic game or good hotels around Disney World, the Sentinel is your place.

Although the Orlando Sentinel did not have all original coverage of the Boston bombings, it did have a lot of coverage. Most of the videos and photo galleries displayed on the homepage of the site involved content related to the bombings. I think that it is great that the Sentinel offered so much coverage, because eventhough it wasn't a local tragedy, it still is a major newsworthy event.

The Sentinel didn't really seem to do anything different from other publications. They used a lot of their material from the Boston Globe, AP, and Reuters. I realize that the bombings didn't occur anywhere near Orlando, but the Sentinel should have had at least one original article.

The Sentinel did at least have a story, from another news source, on their homepage throughout the week. This was helpful for people who do strictly get their news from the Sentinel. When you clicked on that homepage story, along the side of it was all other related stories. There were also photo galleries and videos on the other side of the page.

I do think in a situation like this that the Sentinel should let the bigger publications cover the story. Since there were so many twists and turns with the events that happened between Monday and Friday, I think it was better that the Sentinel didn't publish anything. They could have easily gotten their facts wrong and readers would not trust their reporting.

So clearly the Sentinel didn't originally cover the bombings, they did provide enough information for people on their site. If I did just go to the Sentinel for news about the bombings, which would not be my first choice, I would still understand what was going on. The Sentinel did a good job of pulling from other sites to cover the bombings.

Mira Lowe, the senior features editor of CNN, visited #loweclass this past Wednesday. She really showed passion for what she was doing and it was great to see someone be so successful in an area of work that I am interested in as well. Lowe talked about our blog post assignment from last week, good blogging techniques, packaging at CNN, and social media. She really showed us the ins and outs of CNN.com and I was thrilled to learn about it through the eyes of the editor.

Before she started going in depth about the CNN website, she explained some terminology that CNN uses. She explained that the homepage is like the front door of a house, you can basically get anywhere on the website from the homepage. The stories on the homepage are categorized into T stories and C stories. T stories are top stories and C stories are centerpiece stories like videos and such. The word sections is used interchangably with verticals and channels.

Lowe believes that CNN digital still needs some more work and that she is continually tweaking it. One of the problems is that the archive section is a little hard to maneuver. She says that once it falls off of the page that is very hard to find again. The entertainment section and technology section are two sections that do very well for CNN. She also let the class know that the website is very male dominated, which came as a surprise to the whole class.

CNN has three main blogs:This Just In blog, the Marquee blog and the Belief blog. The This Just In blog covers quick breaking news with live blogging, they do not live tweet. The Marquee blog covers entertainment news while the Belief blog focuses on faith and sprituality. There are other blogs on the website but they can come and go with interests.

Other features on the website that Lowe went through were the iReport page, the photo page, and one story that really touched her. The iReport page is where anybody can submit a story to CNN on just about anything. An editor can amend it and then approve it before posting it on CNN. I think that this is a really great opportunity for anyone to cover news and contribute to the news world.Lowe showed the class the photo page. She believes that photos are always going to be important and should always be included in a story. 

While Lowe was deciding on jobs, she saw that CNN did a story about a boy who was dying from cancer. She thought the piece was great and that the story made her choose CNN. She showed the story to the class and it was incredible. Overall Mira Lowe's visit was incredibly helpful. I loved how she shared an insider's perspective to the news room, let alone one of the biggest news rooms in the world. Definitely made me realize that I want to be working in a news room.

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.

More than 150 people attended a sermon on a lawn, before jumping into Lake Cane. Families and swimmers attended the sermon, which was led by Southwest Church Pastor Tom Welch. The families and swimmers attended the sermon at sunrise and after swimming in the lake, there was a breakfast provided by Dr. Lucky Meisenheimer.

This is an annual event that has taken place the last three years. Many who attended were returnees from the previous years, but there were also a lot of first timers. Some swimmers donated money to the oldest swimmer who is 82 years old and suffering from pancreatic cancer.

I thought this was a great article and a really cool way to spend Easter. I have heard of people doing spirtual swims on Easter, but I haven't heard of a group of people attending a sermon beforehand.
 
The Orlando Sentinel also features a blog on their website that discusses religion. It is entitled the The Religion World, which features different religious aspects from all around the Orlando area. There is only one reporter who writes for the blog, but he provides insight for all different religions. There is also a list of religions on the right side of the blog that take you to different religious blogs.

I was surprised to find all the religious related articles that I found on the Orlando Sentinel. The main story on the homepage was of course basketball related, about how the Gators lost to Michigan and did not advance to the Final Four. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with the Orlando Sentinel's coverage of religion and faith.

While searching through the Orlando Sentinel pages, I found a great discovery. The Orlando Sentinel has a separate website dedicated to all things Disney. This was one of the best discoveries I have ever made, since I am a huge fan of Disney and especially Disney theme parks. The Daily Disney informs readers about updates/changes to theme parks, dining experiences, hotel deals, and any Disney related events happening. There are five beat writers that make up the Daily Disney.

Not only does the Daily Disney provide locals and tourists with information, but it also has tons of photos and videos to make the news even more enjoyable. Some of the videos show previews of rides or parades happening. The Daily Disney also covers news that is happening around the theme parks. One of the recent stories is about updating the Downtown Disney area and even renaming it to Disney Springs.  I know that this is website is not hard hitting news, but it informative and enjoyable to read. People who are avid theme park goers will definitely enjoy.

I thought that this separate website is great addition to the Orlando Sentinel. Orlando is known as the home of Disney World, so this website is right on the money. There is even a tab for Disney World's new FantasyLand which recently opened in Magic Kingdom. The Daily Disney produced a video of the soft opening of FantasyLand by using a time-lapse effect. This is great video to attract guests to the theme parks.

Overall I thought this is fantastic idea and angry that it took me so long to find. I think that the Orlando Sentinel should advertise it more on its homepage. In order to find the Daily Disney on the Sentinel's homepage, you have to go to the tourist tab on the top, then click on Daily Disney. I think that it should have its own tab on the Sentinel homepage.
 

The Orlando Sentinel has an average selection of video use in their news coverage. A lot of the video coverage is of local news, events, or tourist attractions. Was I expecting spectacular video use from the Orlando Sentinel? No, but I was pleased with the variety of videos.

On the homepage of the Orlando Sentinel, there is a column of top videos on the left hand side. These videos are compiled of breaking news stories. Some of the videos are from the Orlando Sentinel and others feature video from the Associated Press.

At the top of the Orlando Sentinel homepage is a tab for videos and it takes you to the video gallery. All of the videos in the gallery are split into two main categories: top videos or featured videos. The top videos are the same ones from the homepage. The featured videos are split into categories such as: Trayvon Martin shooting, sports videos, entertainment, crime, business, and etc. All of the videos in each of those categories has a video that is done by the Orlando Sentinel. None of the videos have a text story that goes along. There is just a couple sentence blurb about the video.

The Orlando Sentinel uses video in a local of event coverage. They cover entertainment events, sports events, and also tourist events. I like this because readers can actually see what is going on, instead of just reading about it. The videos add a lot of context to the events. One of my favorite categories under the featured videos was the tourism/theme parks one. I think that using video for a topic like that is extremely useful and easy to look at.

I think that the video gallery would be stronger if there were stories attached to each video. I think having both gives the story a more well-rounded feel to it. I like the variety of videos that the Orlando Sentinel had. I wish that they would cover more breaking news pieces with video coverage.

The Orlando Sentinel's article on Hugo Chavez's health was very well written. Chavez, Venezuela's President, has been dealing with a lot of health issues lately. He underwent his fourth surgery for cancer in December and is now undergoing a second round of chemotherapy to control the disease. According to recent reports by Vice President Nicolas Maduro who said that this set of treatments are going to be 'difficult' for Chavez, Chavez still remains in a 'good state of mind.'

I thought that the article was very well written and provided accurate information. I also liked that the Orlando Sentinel did a story about Chavez's health, because they covered something that was international news. Many Florida citizens are of Hispanic descent, so I am sure that this article was informative for them. The article also stated that Chavez is on a respirator after his December surgery, because he was having difficulty breathing on his own. 

There have been articles written about Chavez that are saying that he should step down because he is not capable of leading the country anymore. There have also been articles reporting that Chavez had died and that his family didn't want to inform the public. 

The Orlando Sentinel made the article easy to read and provided background information on Chavez's health. The design of the article was also like a traditional article, with a picture at the top. The article focused on Chavez's health and didn't go off topic. It also had a good quote from the Vice President of Venezuela on the situation. The Orlando Sentinel produced a newsworthy piece.

A mountaineer, father, amputee, and fighter are words that describe Aron Ralston. Ralston was involved in 2003 in an accident involving a boulder trapping his hand. He was stuck inbetween two canyons and his right hand was pinned against the wall of the canyon. He was trapped for six days, more specifically 127 hours, before cutting off his own arm (from the forearm down). His story made headlines all over the country, inspired his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and the film 127 Hours which was nominated for six Oscars. This past Thursday Ralston spoke at Marquette and truly electrified the crowd. The event was part of the Speaker Series which is sponsored by Marquette Student Government. The event will be one that I will never forget.

The event started off by showing the trailer of the movie 127 Hours, which James Franco stars as Aron Ralston. Ralston was warmly welcomed from a almost full Varsity Theater crowd. Ralston started off by saying that most people knew him as the guy who cut his own arm off, but what people didn't know was that he was the guy smiling when he cut his arm off. Ralston took  the crowd through the day's events leading up to the incident.

He went into details about what he was thinking when his arm got stuck and he didn't hold back anything. He told his story with confidence and emotion. My roommate described the event as "an emotional rollercoaster." Ralston was a fantastic public speaker. He demonstrated what he was doing when he was trying to get free from the bolder and he even managed to intertwine humor into his story. Ralston said, "My medical training up to that point was watching a couple of episodes of ER." He didn't know medically what he was doing, but he did know that medical help was at least eight to ten hours away.

After this whole incident happened, Ralston said that the bolder did really help him decide what was important in life. Ralston believed that once he freed himself from the boulder, that he stepped out of his grave and into his life again. He even went as far as saying 'thank you' to the boulder.

Ralston still continues to climb mountains and even goes white water rafting. He has a son named Leo with his ex-wife. Ralston even helped design his prosthetic arm, which has different attachments, to help him with climbing. He makes sure that he lives every day to the fullest. Ralston closed the event by saying, "We are not just here to enrich our own lives, but to enrich the lives of others." His speech was truly inspiring and one that will resonant for a while.

Being the movie enthusiast that I am, the Oscars are like Christmas morning for me. I love watching all the stars in their gorgeous gowns and sophisticated tuxedos. Having the room filled with all of those actors is like Disney World. Some people think that the Oscars are boring and way too long to watch. I am glued to the television two hours beforehand watching the red carpet action. This years Oscars were no different. I loved every minute of it.

The Orlando Sentinel actually had really good coverage of the award show. The day before the show, there was a photo gallery of all the nominees. It was toward the bottom of the homepage. The day of the Oscars there was a tab on the top of the homepage entitled "Oscar Swag" which talked about all the items that the actors are given. Actors are given an insane amount of free merchandise just for attending the award show. The Orlando Sentinel focused its attention on the Daytona 500 and Jimmie Johnson on Saturday.

During the red carpet portion of the evening, the Orlando Sentinel was broadcasting it live through DailyMotionUSA. I thought this coverage was great for people who couldn't watch it on television. The red carpet portion started about an hour and a half before the show, which was good compared to other news stations. I know E news began their coverage of the red carpet at noon.

I definitely didn't think that the Orlando Sentinel would be original in their coverage. They proved me wrong, because they had an article was that constantly being updated throughout the show, with winners. After the show, they also had a photo gallery of red carpet moments and best and worst moments photo gallery as well. The homepage main story after the show was about the Oscars. I thought all of the coverage was great. As usual the Oscars were entertaining to watch, and I can't wait until next year. Cheers to all the winners of the evening