Mira Lowe, CNN Digital's senior features editor, will be paying a visit to Professor Herbert Lowe's digital journalism class on Wednesday, April 10. In preparation for her visit, each student in the class has looked at their respective beat and compared their coverage to that of CNN's entertainment, living, travel, technology, and health sections.
Unlike the CNN's website, the Salt Lake Tribune does not have all of those sections as headlining themes on their subject bar. Entertainment is the only separate category, while health and travel fall under lifestyle and technology is categorized under the money section.
Starting off with the entertainment sections, I was hooked once I clicked on the CNN page. From looking at the paparazzi snaps of celebrities for a few minutes to exploring headlines, the site captivates your attention. there is a great balance of words and photos on the front page. I especially like the Marquee Blog under the entertainment news headlines. It lays out the news and then feeds you perspective from the experts. I'm a fan of the quotes, photo galleries, and the iReport interviews. Six videos on the front page are six more than the Salt Lake Tribune offers.
The Salt Lake Tribune's entertainment page is laid out graphically like the other sections of the site. There is nothing keeping you there from switching over to another section of the site. This makes me appreciate the laid back feel of CNN more with polls, ads, pictures, and headlines. Some may think it is cramped, but it works to their advantage.
Setting up cable, company news, and energy projects are just a few of the words that stick out when I visit the Salt Lake Tribune's technology page and I yawned afterwards. Meanwhile, Roger Ebert, bananas, Facebook, and post-it-notes are dominating the CNN page. I like that approach to technology a lot better, because you have topics that appeal to audiences that may not always follow what's going on within a company. Also, there were few to no photos present on the Tribune's section.
The Tribune's health section falls under the lifestyle category and focuses on local happenings around Utah that pertain to the audience's health. The CNN page has a much broader scope with general musings and findings. If you wanted to look for a more specific topic on the CNN site, living well, mental health, and conditions as tabs for more articles. Again, there are no photos on the Tribune's website and article headlines just clog the page.
The Tribune's life section is just a hub where the site brings in the tops stories from other sections. Oddly enough, it has not been updates in a while. The last time I checked the site, an article about Mormons and beards was headlining on the front page and the now that article is at the top if the lifestyle section. You can't fool me, Salt Lake Tribune. The life section of the CNN page has more articles, but I'm left wondering how an article gets categorized there. I could see why Salt Lake or any of the other sites have a living news page.
Lastly, traveling is one of my favorite things to do, so I looked forward to reading the CNN article on the most fun airports. Had it been published earlier, I would have taken more time to explore the San Francisco airport just a week ago. The daily photos of nature in other countries is captivating since it is photos like the one of Huayna Picchu that make people want to visit these places. Of course, the article on Seattle's pot tourism was something I read, because its extraordinary and not a common piece to run across.
If there were photos on the Salt Lake Tribune's travel page, they would be able to compete with CNN. The site goes beyond Salt Lake City and Utah and gives insight into California and Washington D.C. and Colorado. The latest article on the site covers Big Sur and was published on April 5. Before that pieces on NASA and Disney, which are still on the carousel, were printed in late March. More content would be great.
I think it goes without saying that if I needed a fix of information for any of those categories, I would go to CNN before the Salt Lake Tribune.
Unlike the CNN's website, the Salt Lake Tribune does not have all of those sections as headlining themes on their subject bar. Entertainment is the only separate category, while health and travel fall under lifestyle and technology is categorized under the money section.
Starting off with the entertainment sections, I was hooked once I clicked on the CNN page. From looking at the paparazzi snaps of celebrities for a few minutes to exploring headlines, the site captivates your attention. there is a great balance of words and photos on the front page. I especially like the Marquee Blog under the entertainment news headlines. It lays out the news and then feeds you perspective from the experts. I'm a fan of the quotes, photo galleries, and the iReport interviews. Six videos on the front page are six more than the Salt Lake Tribune offers.
The Salt Lake Tribune's entertainment page is laid out graphically like the other sections of the site. There is nothing keeping you there from switching over to another section of the site. This makes me appreciate the laid back feel of CNN more with polls, ads, pictures, and headlines. Some may think it is cramped, but it works to their advantage.
Setting up cable, company news, and energy projects are just a few of the words that stick out when I visit the Salt Lake Tribune's technology page and I yawned afterwards. Meanwhile, Roger Ebert, bananas, Facebook, and post-it-notes are dominating the CNN page. I like that approach to technology a lot better, because you have topics that appeal to audiences that may not always follow what's going on within a company. Also, there were few to no photos present on the Tribune's section.
The Tribune's health section falls under the lifestyle category and focuses on local happenings around Utah that pertain to the audience's health. The CNN page has a much broader scope with general musings and findings. If you wanted to look for a more specific topic on the CNN site, living well, mental health, and conditions as tabs for more articles. Again, there are no photos on the Tribune's website and article headlines just clog the page.
The Tribune's life section is just a hub where the site brings in the tops stories from other sections. Oddly enough, it has not been updates in a while. The last time I checked the site, an article about Mormons and beards was headlining on the front page and the now that article is at the top if the lifestyle section. You can't fool me, Salt Lake Tribune. The life section of the CNN page has more articles, but I'm left wondering how an article gets categorized there. I could see why Salt Lake or any of the other sites have a living news page.
Lastly, traveling is one of my favorite things to do, so I looked forward to reading the CNN article on the most fun airports. Had it been published earlier, I would have taken more time to explore the San Francisco airport just a week ago. The daily photos of nature in other countries is captivating since it is photos like the one of Huayna Picchu that make people want to visit these places. Of course, the article on Seattle's pot tourism was something I read, because its extraordinary and not a common piece to run across.
If there were photos on the Salt Lake Tribune's travel page, they would be able to compete with CNN. The site goes beyond Salt Lake City and Utah and gives insight into California and Washington D.C. and Colorado. The latest article on the site covers Big Sur and was published on April 5. Before that pieces on NASA and Disney, which are still on the carousel, were printed in late March. More content would be great.
I think it goes without saying that if I needed a fix of information for any of those categories, I would go to CNN before the Salt Lake Tribune.