Review: The World of Modern Men

A few days ago I was thinking about how I haven't come across many independent news sites specifically targeted to men. I know, at least in magazines, women are typically the best target audience. But, there has to be some kind of news for guys, right? So, I Googled "modern men online magazine" and The World of Modern Men came up. And, to be honest, I was pretty unimpressed. But, I'm a woman and I felt like I shouldn't be the judge. This site is not geared towards me. So, I asked my boyfriend, a 20 year-old male who visits about four news sites at least once a day, what he thought about it:

First of all, he said he didn't like the overall design of the page. "The tabs are okay, but the overall look of it isn't that appealing to me. Features like the grey news icon doesn't look professional, it looks unfinished."

To get better acquainted with the site, he clicked on Men's Health and skimmed these articles — 5 Reasons Why You Should Start Running and Skincare: The 4 Dangers of Winter. He said he clicked on these particular articles because they pertain to his life. The only piece of information he remembered from these articles when he navigated away was a skincare tip: don't take hot showers, it dries out your skin.

After he was about 5 minutes deep into the website, he said he wasn't really that interested in it and wouldn't be coming back. Why?

"There are other sources that seem more reliable. I would rather go to Huffington Post or The New York Times. I've never heard or seen this site endorsed anywhere. I don't think he is the most reliable source and nothing shows me that the information he is writing about is credible. Typically I don't get my news from bloggers unless I have heard of them from someone I know or if the blogger is someone I know."

With my boyfriend's input, I think a huge problem with the website is home page appeal. Second, he needs to prove why he is an expert about these topics he is writing about or at least interview an expert. I didn't read any articles where he cited where he got his information from. Also, I went a little further and clicked on a few links in the articles on the page — all of the links send you to a weird search engine. I thought this was really unrelated to the story content and frustrates the reader. This also cuts down this bloggers credibility for me, because it makes me feel like he isn't trying to help the reader.

C'mon, help a guy out. Pull your news together!

Huffington Post new subject tabs

The Huffington Post recently reformatted the top of its website. It made the search feature top and center as well as condensed its subject tabs into main topics with drop-down menus. I think this is a step in the right direction for the website to be more user-friendly and less cluttered.

Website design is quickly becoming one of the most important newsroom topics. Even if media outlets are producing great news and content, if there website is messy or difficult to navigate through, users simply won't spend time there. Last week in my News Editing class, we looked at an eye-tracking study conducted by Nielsen that showed how important layout is when trying to convey a specific message through a website. The study showed how white space is a necessary part of a website so that the reader is not confused or overwhelmed when looking at the presentation of the site. To help organize important items, bullets, tight writing and subheads are important.

Also, here is a blogger that I found who gave some pretty good layout tips using the New York Times website as an example — Design O'blog

Libyan Woman Struggles to Tell Media of Her Rape

New York Times
Libyan Woman Struggles to Tell Media of Her Rape

"A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli on Saturday morning and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by members of the Qaddafi militia. After nearly an hour, she was dragged away from the hotel screaming."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/world/middleeast/27tripoli.html?_r=1&hp

Fashion Tips

Fashion blogs, fashion videos and many other forms of social media are now more popular than ever. It's a niche that will always exist because, face it, we will always have to dress ourselves and looking your best has been important for generations. Independent journalists enthusiastic about the fashion realm realize this and are sprouting up all over the internet.

Does it take extensive runway knowledge and designer clothes to be a fashion tips hit online? No. It just takes a dedication to the niche and a loyalty to your fan-base.

Check out xJOLE who I discovered today on YouTube. She's a 20-year-old girl from Toronto. She showcases her everyday outfits. She shows viewers what's in her closet and how to accessorize. She wears clothes from affordable outlets like Forever 21. And, she creates these videos without leaving her own bedroom. It's low-budget, simple, real and she gets thousands of hits! She even has a blog.

Memri TV

In class yesterday, we looked at a video on boingboing.net of Veena Malik being accused of wrong behavior by a mullah on Pakistani television. My classmates and I could easily follow along with the video because of the rolling subtitles. I was interested in who was translating these clips and did a little research on the video provider...

The video was translated by Memori TV, the Middle East Media Research Institute headquartered in Washington, D.C. They started in February 1998 "to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East." They are independent and work off of donations. They translate media to English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Hebrew.

Considering I've always been the student that was less amused and more frustrated at the thought of learning Spanish through classroom conjugations, I think what Memori TV is producing can be an excellent source for journalists looking for news translations. Plus, the content they are posting is relevant and the site serves as a good news source on it's own for people interested in international debates — like "Clashes on Facebook over Calls for Revolution in Qatar" posted earlier this month. The site has everything from a featured news blog to advocacy subject heads to learn more about topics like "Indoctrination of Children" to new projects like "Global Jihad News."

Also, to keep things interesting, Memri is working on a "Cartoon Initiative" project that's pretty entertaining.

MSNBC airs feature on 'partner'

A friend emailed me a link to this story yesterday —

"NEW YORK (AP) — MSNBC aired a feature touting a company's "incredible" steel-making process this week, two months after saying the company would be its partner on a reporting trip about the American economy.

The five-minute feature on Nucor Corp. on Wednesday's edition of "The Dylan Ratigan Show" raised questions about whether a news organization was granting positive publicity to a company in return for financial help."

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/MSNBC-airs-feature-on-company-that-was-partner-1029672.php#ixzz1G1LhTXUd

History of Journalism - reflections on Voices of Revolution

Women who change history serve as role models of why journalists should always be thinking progressively, speaking for justice and reporting the truth. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Brownell Anthony started The Revolution when they were both in their 50s, they proved that women journalists of any age have the power to change a nation — through a newspaper. Sure, they struggled with money, worked long hours and probably put their work, which often got them in trouble, before all else in their lives. But, they achieved greatness. They talked about job discrimination, sexual harassment, domestic violence and even abortion at a time when these issues were taboo. Women needed to be represented and the truth about the inequalities in America needed to be discussed. These women started the conversation.