The Australian’s missed opportunity on Cardinal Pell’s story

The Australian gave us an update on the case of Cardinal Pell on their website, but there are some missed opportunities to make the story more well-rounded.

 

On the 14th of March this year, reporters from The Australian gave us an update on the case of Cardinal Pell on their website, suggesting his 6-year imprisonment might just be his “death sentence”. I believe there are some missed opportunities to make the story more well-rounded.

 

The news article contains almost 1000 words, which can be considered as medium length for a digital news piece, and yet only this picture on top of the page.

 

A sketch of George Pell in court yesterday.

 

It would more visually engaging for the readers if the text is broken up with relevant photos, especially when one narrative is transitioning to another. For example, when the article is describing how Chief Judge Kidd accused Pell of his venomous behaviours, there should be a picture to enhance the emotional impact. In this way, the textual and emotional transition to the mention of how the churches are losing people’s trust will be smoother.

 

The sacristy where Pell committed his crimes, provided to the jury during trial.

 

Moreover, links are provided in the bottom of the article where readers can go to elaborated stories on this topic. However, I think these links should be embedded in the text as these stories are mentioned briefly in the text itself. In my opinion, providing readers easy and instant methods to know more about the whole story is very important in this era of digital media.

 

About Derek Chi 4 Articles
Master Student | Magazine Editor | Digital Media Executive | Let's have fun on Twitter @derek_boo

1 Comment

  1. Good point about the related stories links Derek, and nice use of the precede to summarise your argument. Given photographs are not allowed in court (hence the sketch at the top of the page), you would have to be careful of what images you chose to use in such a story, so as not to prejudice the court’s decision.

    News stories are shorter than 500 words. You have chosen a news feature, called a news wrap which gives an overview of, and background to brief news detail. You have also linked to a paywalled Australian article – so be aware that you need to add [paywall] to you link phrase. Next time try to use keywords any link phrases.

    On your web writing technique, make sure your keyword tags are separated by commas, not by hashtags, which aren’t used in this WordPress theme. Try also not to use bold text phrases, which can be confused with links. Your feature image requires a caption and copyright details, as well as alt text.

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