About News 21
"The nation's leading journalism schools come together in this unique program to experiment with new forms of in-depth and investigative reporting."
The list of journalism schools that contribute to News 21 is very noteworthy, nine university newsrooms which include, Arizona State, Berkeley, Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, North Western, Southern California and Syracuse. Admittedly, one of my first thoughts when I viewed this site was.. pfft Ithaca College could totally contribute to this unique program. Competitiveness aside, I was impressed by how in-depth these stories really were. More than a just a profile of something or someone, each story really shows a variety of opinions, and angles; more than any other type of news outlet that I’ve noticed.
This website was impressive in more ways than one. What I liked the most was that there is such a variety of multi-media. Most of the stories on the site were primarily video pieces with voiceovers and brief written introductions, but there were also longer written stories that included pictures and captions, music for some pieces and even original cartoon visuals. Having all of these different forms of media is great for readers/viewers who have different preferences on how they’d like to access their news. This makes the site very user friendly and really draws people in.
The story that really drew me in was “How Older Americans Live.” It is an interesting topic that never really seems to be covered unless people are complaining about the costs of social security. News 21 took viewers into the homes of elderly Americans from all over the country. Showcasing people who lived on their own, or in a nursing home, or with family or some kind of assisted care. It was really interesting to learn how culture, and demographic location play a major role in where and how geriatric citizens end up living. News 21 took one topic- ‘How Older Americans Live’, and reported on it using multiple video interviews and profiles, photos, written stories and interesting general facts of information.
This particular topic was titled “Brave Old World” and focused on elderly America. Columbia University’s news team reported on this topic for News 21, and it was one of my favorite pieces on the site.
Overall this website is beautifully organized, and completely engaging. I really think I learned a lot from what I saw and read, and that is what news is all about. Although this definitely is not an outlet to turn to for breaking news, it’s nice to have somewhere to find real, accurate journalism, that wouldn’t otherwise be covered by mainstream media.
http://columbia.news21.com/2010/
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