restaurant review
The piece “Café Europa brings a world of pleasure” reviews a popular restaurant in the Kansas City area. Cindy Hoedel writes a typical review, inserting much of her own opinion.
The piece is structured as a chronological story, as if she is just telling us how her dinner went last night. Hoedel pays close attention to her surroundings, including the décor, customers, and restaurant dog. She also details the meal, telling readers exactly what she thought. Although she loved her experience and most of the food, she is not hesitant to admit it was not all perfect. This makes the story seem unbiased.
I really enjoyed the end of her story though. Hoedel greatly compliments their waitress, detailing how “Jessica” made it a spectacular dining experience. It is comments like these that truly make a story.
I also like that Hoedel (probably per Star food-reviewing structure) puts the hours, vegetarian options, location, noise level, background music soundtrack, etc. It greatly helps with planning where to go.
The link: http://www.kansascity.com/living/food/story/1255976-p2.html
feature story
The story “To its regulars, the Piano Room is more than a bar,” by Tony Rizzo, is a marvelously-crafted feature. It revolves around the telling of stories of the people who frequent Kansas City’s Piano Bar. This is fitting, because the purpose of the piece is to emphasize the fact that everyone has a story, and that those who work at the Piano Bar recognize this. The inclusion of song lyrics give the piece a sort of musical tone, and almost a sad one. The stories are touching and the details of the atmosphere descriptive. The dialogue featured is interesting and gives the story live. Rizzo uses humor and bittersweet moments to give the story emotion. The main clue to its effectiveness, though, is the fact that now I sincerely want to visit this bar and become a part of its life.
the link: http://www.kansascity.com/782/story/1221395.html
editorial
the editorial “Trolleys promise to rev up KC nightlife” in the Star surprised me. i was expecting a lot more of the paper’s opinion to be included. the story, however, gives the facts more than anything else. in fact, the first six out of the total eight paragraphs focuses on the who, what, when, where, why, and how, complete with an interview and quotations. it is not until the seventh paragraph that the paper gives its support to the trolley plan.
i find this an effective, if surprising, method of writing an editorial. it makes me feel as though the Star knows what it is talking about, having done the research and even an interview, just like a normal news stories. it gives the editors more credibility and persuades me to support the plan as well.
column
the story “Now, more than ever, we should go local” was featured in Jeneé Osterheldt’s column. though it is not necessarily a direct opinion from Osterheldt, the piece reflects a definite stance on how we should be spending out money. the story basically revolved around two female small business owners. They tell of how they support other local businesses and how this benefits not only them, but the city as a whole as well. this is essentially the bulk of the story; the final statement of opinion comes from one of the women, telling readers to support local small businesses in the hard economic time.
though Osterheldt does not necessarily state the opinion as her own, the fact that it is in her column suggests she shares it. the topic is simple and the lesson easy to adhere to, should readers wish to. plus it reflects timeliness, because it emphasizes the need for such support during the recession.
the link: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/jenee_osterheldt/story/1251810.html
movie review
the story “‘The Proposal’ is too predictable | 2 stars” by Sharon Hoffman in the Star is a review of the film “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds presents a negative opinion. Hoffman begins the piece with an attention-getting rhetorical question that compares Bullock with Matthew McConaughey. her next paragraph introduces the film, and the third tells Hoffman’s opinion of the film in a nutshell. the next ten paragraphs explain the plot of the movie with some comments sprinkled throughout, and she finally briefly compares it to other romantic comedies, finding this film underwhelming.
this seems like a good outline for a review of a film. i occasionally find problems with Hoffman’s negative opinion, finding them a bit cruel, and i think the review somewhat gives away the ending by saying the ultimately, opposites attract. other than that, however, it is a perfectly fine review.
the link: http://www.kansascity.com/710/story/1258000.html
attention to detail
the story “Police chase car could be linked to KCK quadruple homicide,” not attributed to any single reporter, demonstrates several aspects of stories we have discussed in class. The story has an inverted pyramid style, getting more detailed as the story goes along. The lead is concise and tells the gist of the story without many details. it also displays many AP style issues and proper attributions.
perhaps the most striking part of the story to me, though, is the final paragraph. someone clearly visited the house (the scene of the crime) and paints a picture of the aftermath of a tragedy. He or she tells of the toys, cars, and barbecue grills around the house, and of a mailman who stops by. this paragraph is short, yet poignant. it provides an eerie image of a once happy home that has been destroyed. This certainly strikes an emotional chord with readers.
The link: http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1270874.html
proximity
the story “Republic Airways buys Midwest” by Randy Heaster in the Star is a perfect example of proximity. The story is about the purchase of Midwest Airlines by Republic Airways. The story, though, focuses on the fact that Midwest has been a popular airline in Kansas City. Most of the statistics beyond the basic facts at the beginning of the story are about Kansas City’s relationship with Midwest Airlines. He even mentions the reputable cookies served on every flight at the end of the story, reassuring readers that the cookies will still be served.
Heaster uses the value of proximity to spin the story to make it more important to readers. This makes it more interesting to those who may not otherwise pay much attention to airline business matters.
the link: http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/2607
Jason Whitlock’s column
i recently read Jason Whitlock’s story “Dress code — not Jazzy Jeff — is P&L District’s real problem” in the Kansas City Star and think it is a good column to look to as an example.
Jason Whitlock is a prominent sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, but this piece is about something entirely different. it focuses on his experiences in the new Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City, as well as his clash with its dress code.
the piece is a prime column example because it uses strong language in the lead and then follows with a strong, opinionated thesis statement. he even accuses the entire district of blatant, if unintended, racism.
he then outlines his evening in the Power & Light District with vivid details that paint a clear picture of his experience. he includes allusions to common cultural elements in Kansas City that readers would appreciate. throughout the piece, he uses easy-to-read language that flows well, using idioms and familiar language to make it sound like he is simply having a conversation with us. (He uses this way of writing as opposed to obeying strict grammar rules.) in the piece, Whitlock uses his experience to back up his thesis statement.
Whitlock then added quotations–or lack thereof–from pertinent sources
he concludes the piece by admitting that he understands those who favor a dress code, but he says that he believes that it is not being carried out in a effective, or fair, way.
all of these aspects make for an excellent opinion column.
inverted pyramid and AP style
in Brad Cooper’s story “New soccer complex lands national youth tournament” in the Kansas City Star, he clearly uses the inverted pyramid style ad several AP rules.
Cooper begins with a lead that simply states the topic of the story. he then explains the lead in more detail, as well as provides a bit of background information on the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship and the location of the soccer fields. he follows these details with some pertinent quotations. he ends with some facts about the history of the soccer fields. in this story, it is easy to see that Cooper moves from the most important information down to the least.
his story also conveniently provides many opportunities to see AP style at work. he uses money totals over a million dollars (“$36 million”) and dates with the month, date, and year (“July 20-25 2010″). Cooper also uses several numbers in the form of digits, and he has addresses with the full names of streets spelled out.
the link: http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1254114.html
hard news story
i read “Flash flooding traps driver in KC intersection” by Chad Day in the Kansas City Star today. it was a hard news story about a man who was stranded in his car in a flooded intersection this morning. it is a simple news story, like the one we read about the motorcycle accident. the lead is a simple sentence that relays the most essential information, and it uses delayed identification. this identification eventually turns out to be anonymous. the second paragraph has more details, especially one relating to the driver. the third paragraph then has a quotation from a nearby employee about past flooding in the area. the final two paragraph simply has more details. there is no unnecessary information, and everything in the story helps to illustrate the situation.
