Domino's CEO First To Go Undercover Tonight

The story is about the CEO of Domino’s Pizza, Don Meij’s appearance on the premiere episode of Channel Ten’s Undercover Boss Australia. It is contributed by the ‘Voxy News Engine’, appearing on Voxy.co.nz. The New Zealand-based news aggregator site culls its stories from “its community of bloggers”, “the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA)” and voluntary contributors.

The story begins with a background history of Meij, with a soundbite about what inspired him to start the business. It then goes into his reasons for taking part in the show, as well as his experiences going undercover among his frontline workers. He also shares that the hardest part of the whole experience was keeping his real identity a secret, and the lengths that he had to go to conceal that. The story then ends with a ‘plug-line’ for the launch episode tonight.

The story was serviceable, though it would’ve been more well-rounded if they had interviewed the TV show producer and one of the workers who interacted with Meij while he was undercover.

The main story is neatly isolated in a box with only the relevant text and images. Advertisement, ‘other news’, social networking links, and the comments are all compartmentalized in separate boxes, giving the site the most clean and tidy design aesthetic I’ve seen so far. The colour scheme of grey and a sickly-looking green don’t really appeal to me, but that’s just my personal opinion.

The main image is a simple logo of the company. It could be improved by including a portrait of Meij, or a screenshot from the show. A link to the official site could also possibly be included, though it is not necessary as that would be doing the network a favour beyond usual reporting. On the right sidebar, there is a Facebook group to ‘Like’ Voxy.co.nz. There is also a comment box near the bottom with unrestricted access to post your own opinions.

The feature I really like about this site is the social networking bookmark bar beneath the main story. The amount of compatible sites beyond the usual ‘Facebook’/’Twitter’ combo is impressive; ‘Delicious’ and ‘Digg’ are two great ‘bookmark/story-sharing’ sites that few websites take advantage of. This shows the versatility and knowledge of the site coders/creators to harness the story-promotion capabilities of the Internet.


http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/domino039s-ceo-first-go-undercover-tonight/5/67875

Eyes have it in owlish fantasy

This article is The Australian's report on the Australian-produced animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. It is written by Michael Bodey from The Australian.


The story begins with a background history of Animal Logic, the production studio, and its previous projects. It also describes the original books the movie was based on and the various voice talents in the cast. A few soundbites were taken from an interview with the film producer and co-founder of the studio, Zareh Nalbandian, with a mention of the box-office figures. Another interview subject was David Wenham, who voices one of the characters from the film. The two of them mostly quote and describe Zack Snyder, the director of the film, and while it may have been better to get a direct interview with Snyder himself, it's understandable since it's very difficult to secure an interview with him as he is busy working on another film at the moment.


The article then goes on to describe how the film is relatively dark and edgy for an animated film, how the Australian accents were no coincidence (it was to get government grants and made it easier for the actors to re-record their lines) and a brief summary of the plot, before concluding with an optimistic note on the budding Australian studio and a 'plug-line' for the film's release.


As a story, it is very successful in detailing the amount of effort and care that goes into producing a movie, and how it is difficult for startup studios such as Animal Logic to compete against stronger players in an already competitive industry. There were also unique insights into the financial funding, voice-acting and animation processes. As I've mentioned, it would be great if they had actually secured an interview with Snyder, but the two subjects were well-chosen and was more convenient for the reporter since they lived in Australia.


The site design is very clean and well-organised. Banner ads are few and non-obtrusive, and there's a Facebook 'Recommend' button at the top and various social networking 'favicons' at the bottom that allows the user to share the story. The Australian should be commended for its minimalist design.


However, it could do with greater user interactivity. The article is strangely absent of a main image, and it would be better if there was a screenshot gallery and an embedded video player for the trailers. There is also no Comments section for user feedback and opinions. It plays as a more high-class, 'top-down' approach serious journalistic site, but it sacrifices user interaction and multimedia content in the process.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/eyes-have-it-in-owlish-fantasy/story-e6frg8n6-1225931198803

Newly hotted-up Top Gear hits screens

This article is a preview report on the upcoming Top Gear Australia series. The piece appears on the Sydney Morning Herald and is written by wire service AAP.

It begins with soundbites from host Shane Jacobson, a popular Australian comedian and actor. There is also a brief background on how it used to be shown on SBS for two seasons before the Nine Network bought the rights.

The show will launch with The Ashes Special, a crossover pilot with the original UK version which pits the British hosts (Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond) against the Aussies (Jacobson, Ewen Page and Steve Pizzati).

The article then goes on to describe the various challenges that will be attempted in the episode, some of which Jacobson candidly admits is “not so much about driving skills” but “bravery and stupidity”.

Jacobson also describes the friendly rivalry between the two teams and is quick to discredit the inevitable comparisons between the two versions’ hosts. The story ends with a ‘plug-line’ for the show.

The headline is not really attention-grabbing, and I feel a more automotive-themed pun or clever wordplay can be employed. There is an intrusive Google ad for a credit card company between the headline and the main image. On the left at the top of the sidebar is an interesting feature which informs the reader if anyone else who is his/her friend on Facebook is reading the article as well, with an option to share the story on the social networking site. There is also a ‘Comment on Twitter’ and a ‘Read tweets’ hyperlinks, but the latter directs to a dead link.

The main image serves its purpose, though it would be better if there was an embedded link to a higher-resolution version. On the left of the first few paragraphs, there are ‘Related Coverage’, ‘Top Entertainment articles’ and ‘Story Tools’ links that encourage site exploration. On the right are TV reviews with star ratings, also serving the same purpose. There is a distracting bank banner ad a quarter way through the piece which interrupts the reader’s ‘eye tracking’ through the story.

After the story there are even more Google ads, followed by a ‘More Related Coverage’ box with a link to a ‘Reviews’ page and a related news story on the enigmatic test driver ‘The Stig’. Scrolling towards the bottom, a pop-up slides in from the bottom-left of the browser, before disappearing after the user keeps scrolling on or leaves it for a few seconds. The pop-up is a link to a Princess Diana film story under the heading ‘Also In Entertainment’, and again, it encourages user ‘site inertia’. The pop-up reminds me of those digital on-screen graphics we see on TV shows after commercial breaks that quietly promote or remind the viewer of upcoming shows in the programming schedule.

Overall, the story serves its purpose of putting in a good word for the show, but it would’ve been better if they had interviewed the other UK and Aussie hosts. Design-wise, SMH could do with less distracting banner ads directly placed in its piece, and should arrange them to the side so as to not break the reader’s ‘flow’. The little pop-up that appears upon scrolling to the end of the title is a clever strategy to invite the reader to explore another story on the site, and is a nice touch.


http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/newly-hottedup-top-gear-hits-screens-20100926-15s63.html

Kate Ritchie's wedding day just perfect with Stuart Webb in wedding photo

The article is about Kate Ritchie and Stuart Webb’s wedding day and photos, as reported by The Daily Telegraph and posted on news.com.au.

The article describes the closed wedding amongst family and friends on Satruday, while giving background information of the two famous personalities. There is an entire paragraph devoted to Ritchie’s bridal outfit and Webb’s gown suit. It then goes on to describe the wedding event in further detail before concluding with a soundbite from the couple and forwarding their appeal to donate to Camp Quality, a charity organization.

The story is successful because it was short and succinct. For a report on a high-profile celebrity wedding, there’s not much to write about beyond who the couple are, how did the ceremony take place, and the opinions of observers. It would’ve helped if the article had named the sources that described Ritchie as “deliriously happy.”

The online presentation is decent and functional. There are two main images that can be toggled back and forth, and another side image beside the story. There is a ‘Recommend’ button for Facebook users to share the story on the social networking site, and a ‘Retweet’ button for the same purpose, but on the microblogging site Twitter. There is a neat bullet-point summary beneath the main image, with a hyperlink to the picture gallery. It would’ve been more efficient for the user if the gallery was embedded in the main image instead of being hosted on a separate page. There is also a video ad that plays while loading the gallery page, which thankfully has the sound muted and an option to skip the ad given. However, it would be ideal if there wasn’t one in the first place as it might only annoy the reader who has to click the ‘Skip’ link.

There is an embedded video beneath the side image that is a video report from Sky News. All the necessary video controls such as pause, time slider, volume control, and full-screen mode are available. There is a ‘Related Coverage’ sidebar that is left-aligned opposite the video. The two elements squeeze the paragraph into a narrow strip, which while still legible, is a little difficult to read smoothly.

There is a comments box, as well as an entry box to post your own comments. Signing up is not necessary, and there are post options to remember your personal details and email you once the comment is published.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/kate-ritchies-wedding-day-just-perfect-with-stuart-webb-in-wedding-photo/story-e6frfmyi-1225929773717

Oprah House in Sydney as Winfrey comes to Australia

The article is The Daily Telegraph’s report about the US talkshow host Oprah Winfrey’s plan to bring her final season of her program to Australia later this year. The piece has a creative pun in the headline which grabs the reader’s attention, and it begins with a description of how many tickets are available and how they will be distributed, which is the first thing fans of her show here would be interested in.

The article then goes on to describe details of the announcement, as well as the possible Australian celebrities who will be featured. The Daily Telegraph has also obtained show plans that reveals Oprah’s travel plans for her Australin trip, as well as how the Opera House episode will be staged. The article concludes with a mention that Tourism Minister Jodi McKay is expected to make an announcement, as well as a retrospective look on Oprah’s last Australian-themed event to promote the film Australia.

The story content is effective in communicating all the details from Oprah’s announcement to the plans of her trip here. There is much quoting and paraphrasing instead of direct interviews to seek opinions, but the article has managed to cover a lot of ‘story ground’ regardless.

As an online story, it is effective to an extent. It is posted under the ‘Sydney Confidential’ gossip column, with a single main image. It would be better if there were more images posted in a looping slideshow. Under the ‘Video’ tab, there is a video report on the same story from an external news organization, but it’s understandable since the Daily Telegraph specializes in the print medium and not broadcast. Above the image is a ‘Recommend’ button for Facebook, which encourages people to share the story with others. There is also a ‘Retweet’ button that serves the same purpose on Twitter, a microblogging site. There is a ‘Related Coverage’ sidebar that is non-intrusive.

Strangely, there’s two hyperlinks, “Opinion from The Punch: A thank-you note from Tourism Australia” and “Join our Oprah Winfrey coming to Australia Facebook page” that are inserted in the middle of the main story. This is very distracting and breaks the ‘reader flow’. A better design would be to isolate it under the ‘Related Coverage’ sidebar, or at the end of the article as a follow-up.

At the bottom are the comments submitted by readers, with an unrestricted post entry box that offers to remember your details and send an email notification once the comment is published. There are relatively few ads, and the coordinated purple and blue colour scheme gives it a slick and clean aesthetic.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/oprah-house-in-sydney-as-winfrey-comes-to-australia/story-e6frewz0-1225921438029

Junior MasterChef out-rates the adult show on debut

This article is a report by The Daily Telegraph on the TV ratings success of the premiere of Junior MasterChef. The cooking reality show by Channel Ten beat its adult predecessors with 2.2 million viewers tuning in, compared to last year’s first season (1.43m), this year’s second season (1.74m) and Celebrity MasterChef (1.36m) It was also the top rating program nationally for Sunday night, beating ABC’s Midsomer Murders (1.43m), Nine’s 60 Minutes (1.15m) and Channel 7’s The X Factor (1.074m) in its 7:30 pm timeslot.

There were several well-chosen subjects who were interviewed. The Ten chief programmer David Mott heaped praise on the show for its stunning performance, while Julie Goodwin, last year’s winner came admitting tearing while watching the show. The soundbites of her three teenage sons was a welcome insight into the opinion of the audience who are in the same age group as the contestants. They were very impressed by their peers’ talent and ability to cook, and humbly joked that they couldn’t cook just as well.

It would’ve been better if they had seeked the opinion of the competing channels, especially Channel 7, whose reality show The X Factor is the closest contender in terms of genre and audience segment.

As an online story, it is very successful in incorporating the various interactive devices that can only be possible on the Internet. The main images are played as a slideshow loop, with buttons to navigate back and forth. There is an ‘Others’ tab which appears to be an online poll which has closed, and has been replaced with a ‘Survey Monkey’ ad, presumably the survey service provider. There is a ‘Recommend’ button for Facebook above the main image, and below, a link to TV Editor Holly Bryne’s blog on the same subject. The results of the online poll and a box of ‘related coverage’ links is left-aligned in a sidebar, halfway down the main story, to invite reader attention while being non-obtrusive. At the bottom is a comments box with the three most recent comments, and below that is an unrestricted post entry box where you can even decide if you want the site to remember your details and an email notification to be sent once the comment is published.

There are a few banner ads, but these are mostly arranged on a far-right column and at the very bottom of the page, so they are not really distracting. Overall, site design can be made less cluttered with the removal of the banner ads (although realistically, this is not possible since it’s a commercial tabloid news outlet), but the site really exploits the exclusive properties of the online medium to full use.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/original-masterchef-julie-goodwin-a-fan-of-new-recipe/story-e6freuy9-1225919773959

Kate Ritchie stars in COPS LAC

This article is about Channel Nine’s new police drama Cops L.A.C. by eBroadcast. It begins the piece by describing the famous Australian actress Kate Richie as heading “an all-star cast”. It then goes into a brief synopsis of the premise of the show, with the requisite adjectives and superlatives that is the characteristic of a promotional blurb.

It then lists the various characters played by well-known names, before grabbing soundbites from Jo Horsburgh, the Executive Producer of the show. The quotes from Horsburgh, in particular, are more fascinating than the marketing plug of the previous paragraphs because it offers an insight into the inspiration behind the show, namely real-life Local Area Command centres in Sydney, which is where the story is set in.

It appears that the majority of the article is a straight copy of a press release or wire service since it describes the show in praising tones, though it could be possibly written by eBroadcast itself. It is understandable that eBroadcast is a television website that usually put the shows it discusses in a favourable light, much like entertainment magazines or TV guides. In a sense, it succeeds in promoting the show to its readers, who are naturally curious to know what it’s about. While it would’ve been more ‘newsworthy’ if there had been criticisms or unfavourable observations put in, that would’ve run contrary to the spirit of TV guides and other entertainment reports in stoking enthusiasm in its readers to watch the show. Objective criticism should be reserved to the TV reviewer, who will usually feature in a separate section or as a companion article to the ‘spruik piece’.

However, it has failed in fully utilizing the online medium. There is only a single photo that does not contain an embedded link to a higher-resolution version. There is a ‘Like’ Facebook button and an unrestricted comment box, but that’s about it. User interactivity can be improved by having a still gallery which invites user-submitted screenshots, or a link to the official site.

http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/news/Kate-Ritchie-stars-in-COPS-LAC-010910.html