News Media Critique

An article titled "Flying brisket whacks women amid beef at barbecue festival" was published on WHAS11's website on September 15, 2015.  Although the article did a mediocre job over-viewing an incident where a man lost his temper and threw a 200 degree slab of meat at women who was sharing a beef cooker with him at a barbecue festival, it has many violations in regards to the 7 yardsticks of journalism.  First, this article is not newsworthy.  A newsworthy article will have a long lasting effect on many people.  The only person this article effects is the injured victim and the guilty culprit.  Secondly, this article lacks explanation.  It fails to conclude what happened to the women after she was hit in the head/neck area.  It leaves the reader questioning how badly injured the victim was and if this incident was blown out of proportion.  Lastly, this article did not have local relevance.  Yes, the festival was in Kentucky, but this incident was a brawl between two people, therefore not affecting the audience or citizens reading the article.  It does not warn the audience because this specific accident is not very common and it does not teach the citizens of the community anything. This article may be a little interesting because of the oddness of the incident, but it is not worthwhile to read; therefore it is a great example to prove how some journalists over exaggerate interesting news rather than making the important news more intriguing. 

The link to this article is here