The page is dedicated to the proposition that you shouldn't have to read the news every day to keep up with it. It always contains headlines for the previous two weeks.
The most efficient way to scan "What News?" is from the latest day's news to the earliest, that is, from top to bottom. A bold headline signifies either a brand new story or the latest development in an ongoing story. A headline in regular face always signifies a story that has had later developments -- and if you're reading downward, you've already seen those developments. An asterisk (...*) at the end of a headline indicates that this is an ongoing story. Click on the asterisk to see all the headlines pertaining to this story gathered in their own list in reverse chronological order.
I ignore the traditional categories of news based on geography or subject matter. Instead, I arrange headlines in two columns. The headlines on the left side report events or situations. Within this block I generally put deaths and natural disasters first. Under the heading "Status," headlines are of stories that report ongoing situations or announce future events. "Findings" are the special class of events consisting of the issuance of public opinion polls or formal reports from government, scientific, or nonprofit advocacy organizations.
Headlines in the righthand column are to stories that are generally about talk. I divide them into "Reaction," "Speculation" and "Background." Under "Reaction" are responses to recent events or ongoing situations. These may be reports of statements issued by named individuals or institutions, as well as comments solicited by journalists. "Speculation" stories include those in which the viewpoint of the journalist is more in the foreground, as when, for example, their sources are anonymous. "Background" stories are analysis-type articles that review events and reactions over some time period extending back more than the last day or two.
These categories necessarily have fuzzy boundaries. I usually classify on the headline alone. Therefore one like "5 soldiers killed in Iraq" goes under "Events," but "Pentagon: 5 soldiers killed in Iraq" would go under "Reaction" because it's a statement from an institution. Graphically I underscore this fuzziness by displaying the category names in a shade of gray that contrasts only slightly from the page background.
What's the point of this exercise? The mainstream media have a "news hole" of constant size. When there aren't enough actual events to report, they tend to fill the hole with utterances of authority figures and celebrities. One purpose of "What News?" is to try to undo this packaging to be able to view -- to the extent that it's possible at all through the filter of journalism -- the ebb and flow of real events.
The freedom to publish on the Web makes it possible for me to share these discoveries.
Last modified: July 15, 2011
Charles Packer mailbox@cpacker.org
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