Skip to main content

Hard News vs Soft News

This article, "Married Seniors Dead After Police Involved Shooting At Cobourg, Ont. Hospital,"  by Huffington Post is undoubtedly a piece of hard news. It is talking about a horrific crime that has traumatized those in the community. It gives the reader the who, what, when, where and why in a factual manner, with eye witness accounts and video interviews. This story is also one that needed to be covered quickly, and will be updated as more information about the crime is revealed.

"Netflix Canada: What's Good for November 2017?" an article also published by Huffington Post, is a perfect example of soft news. This story does not talk about any hard-hitting or pressing issues, but it does captivate the human interest side of things because who doesn't watch Netflix all of the time? The author also states their opinion on what they believe are the best movies and television shows coming to Netflix next month, with not exclusively delving in as to why they think so. This is an entertaining and quick read, making it a definite soft news piece.

This article, "How To Help Today's Perfectionist Girls Love Themselves," another article by Huffington Post, is neither hard news or soft news but somewhere in the middle.  Although it does not deal with a crime or politics, something that needs to be updated constantly or told to the public in a fact-based manner,  it does deal with the important issue of how social media is impacting our youth.  However, especially due to the title, this is primarily a human interest story, attracting the attention of young girls who may relate to this article and parents who may be worrying about their daughter's self-worth and self-esteem. It relays this information in a serious, educational tone, causing the article to be less of a soft news piece, but more in the blurred area of grey.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting with the Basics

October 1, 2017 will be marked as the largest mass shooting in U.S history, thanks to Stephen Paddock, a 64-year old Las Vegas native who killed 50 people and injured 200 others at a Jason Aldean concert, one of many scheduled to play at the Route 91 Harvest festival (at the Las Vegas strip near the Mandalay Bay hotel). The shooter open fired from a 32nd floor window, and was killed on site by police officials. "Through investigation and response, we determined there was a shooter on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay. Officers responded to that location and engaged the suspect at that location. He is dead [...]" said Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, who was one of the responding officers on scene. This article , written by Vice, did not do a very good job of informing, or even hooking, its readers. I had to find another source ( independent.co.uk ) to find out exactly where this horrific event even took place. Vice's lead gave us the most basic and what the public would cons...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Newspapers

Compared to today, there are some obvious differences between the early newspapers of the past and the modern readings we see today. Not only have the structure and design of the media changed greatly, (i.e, color, pictures, etc.), but the content has grown. Local news is more in depth, closely following the lives of interesting people and updating the community on marriages, deaths, births and events. National news has grown outside of the circle that was Great Britain, France, America and Canada, and now includes significant going-on's of countries around the world. Online news can also include videos, audio, and graphics that allow readers to view information as an experience and not just a an article on a page. Publik Occurences was forced to shut down because they were critical of the government. I am relieved that the government today does not have this power over the press, and if one were to suggest we revert back to these old ways, I would disagree. The freedom of the p...
Post a Comment
Read more