The Times 2/16-2/19

Monday:
One of the first articles that caught my eye was the one on the first page about librarians needing to be computer-literate as well. Since I work at the UNH library, this seemed especially relevant. This means that many stories you write might be relevant and interesting to some people while being boring or irrelevant to others.
Another article interested me because it involved a writer. This article was about Mr. Xu, a writer who was stabbed in Beijing. This story also had a clever title, as it did a play on words with the place, Reading, Beijing, and the subject of the story, a writer.
This issue also had a bunch of articles about what the Obama administration is doing. This is important because a lot of people are going to be wondering what he is up to now that he is president.

Tuesday:
I think one article that does a really good job making international news relevant to Americans started off in the title: “From a Pakistan Valley, Taliban Threats Are Heard in New York.” This is a good example of how it is possible to take big, important, international news and tell it on a smaller, local scale so that people will be interested. The story followed a man from New York who was kidnapped by the Taliban while visiting family in Pakistan.
Another article that mixes both international and more local news is the article about Obama and the Czech Republic. This article talks about how the Czechs want Obama to visit their country and argue that he should be interested in small countries as well as the larger, wealthier countries. While this one does not involve a local person, involving President Obama makes it a more important story to Americans. Also, it involves themes that appeal to many Americans, such as smaller countries trying to get out of the influence of a larger country, and just the theme of an underdog in general. I think this makes it more appealing to many readers.

Wednesday:
Several articles were interesting today. The article on the first page about auto companies looking for more money caught my eye. This article shows how the falling economy could affect many people, not just those in the auto industry. The reason it caught my attention is because it mentioned Saturns among brands of cars that G.M. might phase out. Since I currently drive a Saturn, I think it’s too bad that they are going to phase them out.
Another article that I thought was very relevant to college students was the one about do-it-yourself medical care. This article talked about young people who can’t afford insurance and so just try to treat themselves. This could lead to interesting stories about UNH students and health insurance. Also, it reminded me of one of my friends who couldn’t afford health insurance during the year she took off between high school and college as she was no longer covered by her parents and the normal plans were too expensive as she tried to save money for school.
Finally, an article that caught my eye because of my interest in law was the one about the second trial for the men accused of planning to blow up flights in London. That piqued my interest because it’s a story about a trial and because it seemed to violate the laws of double-jeopardy (which I realize do not need to be followed in London, but it’s still interesting). It turns out the jury did not actually reach a ruling in the first trial, which may allow a second trial, even in the US. I’m not sure.

Thursday:
One article that caught my eye today was the one about the Pakistani reporter who was killed when covering a peace march. This caught my eye because it was about a reporter, and I wanted to find out more about what happened. However, when I read the article, it didn’t actually tell too much about what happened to the reporter. It told a lot about what has been going on in Pakistan, but didn’t give the details of the reporter’s death until towards the end of the story.
Some of the stories I found interesting included the one about the mane in Palestine accused of spying for Israel, the one about the farmers trying to protect themselves from the rebel army in Africa, and the one about mortgages. The first two just interested me because of the subjects, but the story about mortgages was good because it did a good job of using both interviews and research, which we had talked about in class.