Week 1:
While this story is short, I found it rather eye-opening. Stetson Bennett, a fifth-year football player at the University of Georgia, changed one key aspect of his life in order to better his football career. He switched his smartphone, which took up endless hours of his day, for a flip phone. Stetson wanted to rid of all distractions in order to have all focus on football and school, and it’s paying off. This really opened my eyes as a college student who is consistently on my phone. It showed me that if I really wanted to cut all distractions and switch out my phone, it is possible and does show results. I feel this story can be relatable for all students, especially student-athletes. This short story is relatable, including quotes from Stetson and fellow teammates, which makes it seem more personal. Its length is also a valuable quality because while this story isn’t one that can be told in a novel, it is easily readable and keeps the reader engaged.
This news story covers an incident at a local elementary school involving a teacher being discriminative towards the LGBT+ and Jewish communities. A student created an art piece stating that “Gay is OK”. The school’s vice principal demanded the painting be removed and continued to compare it to swastikas. The student, teacher, and family released a list of demands including the resignation of the vice-principal. While this story is still unraveling, there will be more to follow. I appreciate how this paper explores local news stories and not just campus-related topics. It shows appreciation for the community and opens the paper’s audience beyond the campus. Including quotes and very specific details of the event really add to the quality of this story. It also includes other resources you could follow the story on like the school district’s Youtube and an organization called AthensPRIDE.
Week 2:
The first thing I noticed about this piece is it is very informative and specific. The title clearly states what the article is about and jumps right into facts and statistics. This piece is about salary increases at UGA. While this may seem positive, not all employee salaries are being increased. Mostly president, deans, and higher administration. Caitlin Farmer, the journalist for this piece, did a great job getting specific information and quotes for added perspective. She broke down how the university was going about this change. She goes on to explain that the pay increase is caused by labor shortages. The ending of this piece is great. Emotional, but strong and still informative. She gives the perspective of an employee who is struggling with her small paychecks. She collects food stamps through a grant, which she has almost used up. She has a family. The point of this piece is to make people realize that while pay increases are great, they are when not everyone is getting them. Especially those who deserve them the most.
This story is interesting. It seems to be more like a section of the paper because we are given two stories in one article. The first story is a short informative piece about bullets found in UGA’s dining commons. I honestly don’t have much to say about this part. It was short and straight to the point. The second piece was a little longer as it included quotes from the incident. This story was about 2 intoxicated university students causing a commotion in one of the residence halls. This piece gave a short but detailed rundown of the situation. Quotes from the students and the housing employee who was present helped emphasize the piece. I really like the setup of this article. Easily readable and you get two stories in one!
Week 3:
This article is different from any others I’ve read so far and that is why I picked it. It is a feature article listing events going on throughout the week on and off-campus. This article is perfect for students and faculty at the school to keep up with campus events, but it is also perfect for anyone in the Athens community looking for something to do. The former for this article is easy to read and understand. Details of the who, what, where, when, and why are included for each event. My only critique for this page is to have more detail. Some descriptions of the events were a little vague and might appeal to more people if they were given more details.
This article and nice opinion piece about technology in the classroom. The main topic of the article is whether computers are more distracting or useful for the class. A teaching assistant(TA) and a professor were interviewed for the article. This article was filled with great quotes and was set up perfectly to present both sides of the argument. I like the concluding paragraph of this article. It, in short, says that this debate will forever continue alongside technology’s evolution. They also emphasize the importance COVID plays in this debate. Great quotes, relatable topic to UGA students and staff, and frankly anyone who is in any level of schooling currently, and consideration of other effects to this debate make this a strong article
Week 4:
This article is about a performance by UGA’s dance department. This cultural feature piece dives behind the scenes of this performance. The director of the performance and a few dance majors/minors who are in the performance gave quotes. A deep discussion of what this piece means to the director, the dancers, and the UGA community. This wasn’t just an article about some recital on campus. This performance is a turning point for the director, who is the only person of color in the department, and it is a turning point for UGA, a mainly white community. This article was inspiring and informative and was a good read.
In the most straightforward way of saying it, this is the worst article I’ve seen so far. It is a very short feature piece about a local donut shop. The writer reviews different types of donuts from this shop. It is just a very short and simple article. I just expected a little bit more. It also appears there may have been some sort of formatting issue on the website because the font size was way smaller than any other article I have read so far. It just seems rushed and not worked on.
Week 5:
This article was a little more political than the articles I’ve read previously. Students at UGA held a rally in support of peace for Ukraine. The Red and Black did a good job of getting quotes and supporting evidence for this peace. They spoke with several students who all had varying opinions and stories. They collected information about previous and future events. I also really like the picture they chose for this piece. The student holding a sign in Ukrainian sends a powerful message and pairs with the article perfectly. I also really liked the quote they used to conclude this article. It really ties the whole piece together in simple yet powerful words.
This was an alert message from the university about a bomb threat on campus. It was short and straightforward. Not much to say about this piece as it is not really a complete article. I do like how they ended the article, telling readers they can return to the website for updates. I also noticed that similar articles are linked on the side of this one, even the article updating the situation. This is a good tacket to keep the story going and for readers to keep navigating the site and reading more stories.
Week 6:
This article was interesting to read. It never really crossed my mind that a sports coach could be fired for the team not winning enough. Not a lot of quotes in this article, but one strong quote from the university’s AD. One critique I have is to perhaps, maybe in parentheses, say what AD stands for because some people may not know what it stands for. This article was filled with lots of statistics for the basketball team that are all relevant pieces of evidence for this topic. The end of the article is short and to the point, almost reflecting the urgency of this open position.
This article is a feature piece about hotels near the UGA campus. This is relevant for students and families as it is relevant information in case of a visit. It is also relevant to anyone traveling to the Athens area as these are just hotels, anyone can stay. This is actually a bit from a special publication from the Red and Black’s spring 2022 Visitor’s Guide. The descriptions for each hotel are short but give a good enough description to look into it further. They build a mini experience of what each hotel is like.
Week 7:
UGA was funded $5 million for Parkison’s research. This short article does a good job of giving as much information as available to them. A good definition of Parkinson’s disease was given. Who, what, where, and why about the money is all given. A long quote from a future researcher describes what kind of research they want and why. Similar to before, a podcast was linked to the side of this article discusses Parkinson’s. I feel another interview would have been nice, maybe another researcher or someone more involved in the process.
This story was one of the most interesting ones I’ve read. A former UGA wide receiver was identified as a suspect and later arrested for murder. This article jumped right into the details of this case. The suspect played on the football team in 2017 and 2018. This article is relevant to anyone in the UGA community, especially football-related folks, anyone connected to this case, etc. This article featured quotes from the Sherriff and a direct photo link to the Facebook post of the suspect’s arrest. The article ends by stating that the investigation is still ongoing and to report any information to the sheriff. I also noticed a sort of note at the end of this article. The Red and Black had posted a version with a spelling error and stated so and that it was changed and that they apologize.
Week 8:
This is a feature article about a group of parents who pass out cookies and advice to UGA students. A great picture is featured at the top and is perfect for this piece. The Red and Black interviewed members of this group and asked why they do what they do. Specific information like the 5 W’s was easily answered throughout the article. There is a link in the article to the group’s Instagram page. the article even discusses the future plans of this group. Overall this article was great. Easy to read, lots of information, and very relatable to the UGA community.
This is the second time I’ve reviewed an article from the weekly UGAPD Blotter articles. This features two altercations that took place on campus over the past week or so. This article has lots of detail and answers the 5 W’s, to an extent. No specific names are given, most likely for protection reasons. This article seems to be more for entertainment rather than alerting. These incidents happened over the past week. It is like the Red and Black picks the most interesting altercation and features them in the Blotter.
Week 9:
This article summarizes the results of the NCAA Auburn Regionals for the UGA Gymnastics team. This article gives all the stats necessary for this summary. I think getting another quote from someone on the team, maybe a senior because it was the last meet, would make this piece stronger and add some emotion to it. I like how they list the other team’s scores for another perspective of what happened. Similar to before, lots of other gymnastic articles from the Red and Black appeared to the left of the article.
This article is about the Athen-Clark County Police Cheif’s retirement. The former chief and current interim chief was interviewed for this article and gave good quotes about the police department and what they want to see in the next chief. The article does a good job of making sure readers know certain details, for example, they mention the survey and mention when it ends and what they’re asking. They go to speak on the hiring process which I thought was a good addition. I have also noticed that some, not all, articles have an audio version you can listen to as you read along. I feel it makes the site more accessible.
Week 10:
This article is about the famous Oscars slap between Chris Rock and Will Smith. For this article, several students were interviewed about the altercation. The Red and Black did a good job of picking students in various majors, ages, etc. And all the students had varying opinions which I liked a lot. It made you think about how others may have understood the situation. My only issue with this article is the formatting. I’m thinking it may be the size of my computer screen that makes it look weird but some lines are aligned well and some pictures kick-off to the side. May just be a technical difficulty. Other than the article had good quotes and a strong introduction.
I chose this article because I like the concept behind it. A weekly round-up of the best stories in case you missed them throughout the week. It allows readers to come back and see what happened this week. It is relevant to all audiences as it features summaries of all kinds of stories. This article also has an audio version available. One suggestion I would make is maybe adding more pictures, one for each article. I might give more context and might be used as a recognition technique. People recognize the photo and are enticed to keep reading. Overall a fairly simple article, but I like the concept.
