week8

Gary Li Sotha Sok

The article we chose to analyze is featured in the Toronto Star under the title of "Dying 6 year-old girl leaves love notes behind".

The article is centered around a young Caucasian female and written by a middle-aged Caucasian female. We feel it focuses on the standard stereotypical "picture perfect" family and that it overemphasizes their tragedy even though issues like this occur all around the world.
 * Is there a lack of diversity?**

We believe the similarities between the reporter and the young girl allows the reporter to understand the situation in a sympathetic motherly aspect. This relationship creates a more personal connection between the reporter and the young girl, inducing a stronger heartfelt reaction from the readers to the rest of the story.
 * From whose point of view is the news reported?**

Stereotypes do skew coverage as the issues affecting this stereotypical Caucasian family and the death of their daughter makes it seem as if this death is much more important than other minorities. The level of coverage that is received for this story is questionable as it is featured alongside political and world issues.  The media reflects the image of one person to another based on different aspects of a group. In the article "Dying 6-year-old girl leaves love notes behind", sympathy and heartfelt is shown through the cute image of the little Caucasian girl, with the description and content of the story containing joyous memories and a very cute choice of words. In the article "Senior found, teen still missing" however, the mood changes from the prior to a darker, more uncaring point of view. An image of an African-America n highschool teenager is depicted in a poor, dark theme. The picture contains a watermark on it, suggesting that the family is unable to provide a better image of the girl. The close-up of the photograph shows an unpleasant side to the missing girl, and the description of her is "black girl, five-foot-five, 180 pounds", much like that of a criminal description.
 * Do stereotypes skew coverage?**
 * Are there double standards?**

The underlying image of the strength of the little girl is subtly stated through one of the quotes, "Elena was only 5 years old when doctors diagnosed pediatric brain cancer. They said she had 4 1/2 months to live. But she made it to almost nine months." With that said, the readers will no doubt hold an even more sympathetic sense of sadness towards to little girl as she is shown to be a very stronger fighter in the midst of her condition.  The article follows a common theme of using words that are associated with cute children. By using words such as "nook and crannies, scraps of paper, stumble upon, little hug, small body, small moments and many more similar" the article is able to play into the audience's sympathetic side. Since most readers have a soft spot for children, it is easy for the writer to take advantage of this through loaded language.
 * What are the unchallenged assumptions?**
 * Is the language loaded?**

**Is there a lack of context?**

There is definately a lack of context, where the reporter only states that the little girl had passed away with pediatric brain cancer, but makes no attempt to show the reader just how serious this illness is, or what this type of brain cancer does to a person (in terms of problems in movability, disabilities, pain).


 * Do the headlines and stories match?**

The headline of the article and the actual story itself matches only to an extent. The title begins with "Dying 6-year-old", but as the reader will quickly find out, the little girl had in fact passed away two years prior. The title also states that the little girl left love notes behind, but none of these notes were shown in the article, only briefly stated at the beginning of the introduction. Sent at 6:40 PM on Thursday


 * Are stories on important issues featured prominently?**

This story is shown prominently on the front page of the Toronto Star website as a symbol of life and importance. The article being on the front page stresses the public opinion's need for something inspirational in the current times of hardship.


 * Decide as a pair whether you consider this specific news article objective. Explain why or why not.**

By analyzing the article through the use of the FAIR's FAQ, we were able to determine that the article is subjective in nature. The article failed to use accurate objective methods in many of the categories provided by the FAQ. Objectivity in news reporting is fair ethical reporting that does not use methods that skew ideals and beliefs. This is apparent when the article failed to address key areas that included stereotypes and diversity.



Gordon, Andrea. "Dying 6-year-old girl leaves love notes behind." The Toronto Star. TOPS, 5 Nov. 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. <[|http://www.pare ntcentral.ca/pa rent/newsfeatur es/article/7213 90--dying-6-yea r-old-girl-leav es-love-notes-b ehind]>. Stewart, John. "Senior found, teen still missing." Mississauga News. Metroland, 5 Nov. 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. <[|http://www.miss issauga.com/new s/local/article /160309--senior -found-teen-sti ll-missing]>.
 * Works Cited**