Friday, April 08, 2005

Weekly Read-Out--A Pope Scoop, An Overly Erect Statue, Breastfeeding Tigers and a Not-So-Gay Wedding

British tabs are ruthless in being first on a story. But sometimes it's a happy accident when that happens, as one Daily Mail scribe found out when the Pope was shot in 1981.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1453353,00.html
Is that a statue or are you just glad to see me? A Dutch homage to the end of the German occupation is not what some folks have in mind.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1338901.html?menu=news.quirkies.badtaste
Sometimes, a short headline is all you need to click on the story. How about this one? "Woman breastfeeds tigers." Gotcha.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Woman-breastfeeds-tigers/2005/04/04/1112489391612.html.
I just caught up to this series the Boston Globe put out last year on one family dealing with two weddings. Getting married is stressful enough, but when one is a gay wedding at a time when there was question about whether such unions would be legal makes for a compelling tale, not to mention that the family has enough back stories for a four-part series that's worth the time.
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/bestmen/
It's also interesting to note the Globe's long note on its reporting techniques for the story, including these revealing and refreshing sentences: Unless otherwise noted in the text, all direct quotes were either heard by a reporter or confirmed by two or more parties present when the conversation took place. When someone's thoughts or feelings are described, the source is that person.

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