How Its Presented

How it’s Presented

For the last few weeks I have been studying how the New York Times presents information on its web site as well as in the print edition. In particular I have been focusing on story’s relating to the I-pod/ I-Phone after apple dropped the I-Phone price by 200 dollars. However, you sometimes need to view other sources to get the full picture, and to see how they present the information.
Speaking that I was dealing primarily in newspapers, online and print, I thought that I would continue my search there first. I visited a couple of newspaper websites and found the Los Angeles Times to have a highly effective, well structured, and informative site. I was able to easily manage my way to articles on my subject found by just going to business link and then the technology link. Another thing that amazed me was that in this section alone they had articles dating back to august 30th, this was unlike other newspaper websites, like USA today, which did not go back nearly as far.
In regards to the I-phone/I-pod story, I found that articles matched the timeline in the New York Times. I immediately found an article from September 6th when the price cut was first announced. In regards to content I found that it gave you the same information as the New York Times article with difference lying in authors writing styles. However, the New York Times article included more photographs including a photograph of Steven Jobs, Apples chief executive. The Other thing I noticed Is that the Los Angeles Times did not include links in the way that the New York Times did. Any major name or item was highlighted as a link in the New York Times article and linked you to News about that name or item.
One area the Los Angeles Times disappointed me in was that it did not seem to follow up the story in the way the New York Times did. Instead of articles about costumer reactions and editorials expressing views of what will happen to Apple’s prime product they instead carried more breaking news related to the I-pod and Apple. I guess in some ways this was probably a positive thing. One article I found incredibly interesting talked about how Apple might try to buy into Airwaves and therefore have a means of carrying I-phone service on there own and not have to count on a wireless provider like AT&T. Such a move would be huge for Apple and allow them more control of there product.
Looking for a more Business oriented article I searched Businessweek.com for information about the I-Phone price drop and any articles about Apple products. I found exactly what I was looking for with little effort. The article includes the same information about the rebate as The LA Times and the NY Times but also takes a new and interesting business approach. It asks the question of how much is the I-phone rally worth? The Business week article contained a quote from Terrence Russell on Wired's blog, Epicenter. He said that “A drop of $200 after just 66 days means that the I-Phone decreased roughly $3.03 a day in retail value between launch and yesterday's announcement.” I don’t understand how such a “HOT” item could reduce in price that quickly. I understand that Apple is getting it’s feet wet in the phone world but does this mean they should abandon there Apple Business approach?
Opening myself up to other websites allowed me to see other points of view on the subject at hand. Although not every website I tried produced results those that did gave me a deeper understanding at how content is arranged, and how coming from different angles can give you a clearer idea of the whole story. I was not going to find out about the actual I-phone worth at the New York Times, but Business week was not going to give me a Editorial opinion on the whole ordeal, In the end each source will present a slightly different view.