Week 4 Bolg Post - Paramedics deliver baby zoomer generation

By Amy Corderoy. Published on The Sydney Morning Herald Website (Health) on August 3rd 2011.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/paramedics-deliver-baby-zoomer-generation-20110802-1i9y9.html

 

The article is a colour news story, including a descriptive first two paragraphs which reveals a true life event followed by factual information about unplanned home births. The exemplar story is woven throughout the article to add further human interest value. The story is also timely as the around 200 phone calls have been made to request paramedic assistance to potentially deliver babies since the 18th of July until today. The story is primarily aimed at family readers, in particular mothers. The use of the real life story adds to the impact of the article and enhances the relevance to the ‘parent audience’ who may have encountered such a predicament.

 

The story is also of concern to those who work in the health field. Such information regarding this increasing trend may prove beneficial to them. There were only two sources interviewed, including a paramedic and a spokesperson from the Australian College of Midwives. I believe the article could have been improved by conducting an interview with a senior paramedic to draw further information about the sort of midwife training they undertake, and perhaps also the inclusion of a quote of a personal experience.

The article includes statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Report. I though this added to the credibility of the story and gave appropriate backup to the theme of the article. The article finished with a description of symptoms of giving birth. This was appropriately added to the end of the article; following the funnel design of article writing – being the less important/relevant content. The picture taken is very appealing, showing a mother and her two children happily lying on cushions together. One of the children is the baby which is featured throughout the story, helping to further convey meaning and substance to the story.

Week 3 Blog Post - Pathologists urge earlier tests for prostate cancer

http://www.elliottmidnews.com.au/news/lifestyle/style/wellbeing/pathologists-urge-earlier-tests-for-prostate-cancer/2245056.aspx

The article entitled; Pathologists urge earlier tests for prostate cancer from the Sydney Morning Herald August 2nd by Amy Corderoy outlines the debate for and against a prostate specific antigen test and digital rectal examination for men 40 years and over. The hard news story is well balanced with no bias and includes an appropriate amount of ‘conflict’ from both sides of the argument; including opinions from five experts in the field of prostate health and public health who either agree or disagree with the prostate tests.

News values include, proximity as the story is relative to Australians and human interest regarding the wellbeing of a family man. The story includes a punchy and catchy beginning paragraph incorporating the; who, when, where and why’s of the story. In a more contextual sense, the Sydney Morning Herald has published six online articles regarding prostate cancer this year and seems to value the issues appropriateness to Australians as it is the most common cancer in Australian for men, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. Also September is International Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, so there is additional value of timeliness for the publication of this article.

The visual photo used is extremely affective and is cleverly used to evoke an emotional reaction from readers. The visual of the father and his two sons laughing relates to a family demographic as well as those concerned for the welfare of others. I believe that the story used too much scientific terminology as well as medical termed acronyms, for example “PSA”. Also, a quote from the Professor of Public Health at Bond University states; “most people that get it [prostate cancer] don’t die from it.” However statistics on the Cancer Council website states otherwise. This conjures up credibility issues in regards to the source used. The article cleverly ties together a hard news story and a human interest story of a real life prostate cancer survivor. This is a clever way of attracting attention to the issue, and delivers the story in a way that the public can relate to. Overall I found it an interesting and educational story.