For multimedia news analysis I chose a story about a pretty unique obituary, one written for a mother of 6. Her name was Marianna Johnson-Reddick, who resided in Reno, and she was quite an abusive mother. One that abused her children so badly that they wished to shame her using her very obituary in their local news. The stories from her offspring even created state legislature for parent emancipation in Nevada. I found this article on this website for the Huffington Post, which I reached from a link from AOL.com.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/marianne-theresa-johnson-reddick-obit_n_3921058.html?1379088680&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl4|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D374881#next_slideshow. This article had had the most strength in print, video, and online capabilities. The print was the best in my opinion. Simply because the article was well written and had direct quotes from the children and the obituary it self. Something this serious is almost impossible to fully duplicate in text. Child abuse and neglect is one of those things that is different on too many levels to be either black or white for people. Some might say that spanking your child is abuse, while other people are in favor of a good beating every now and then. When is it too far? When is it just downright evil? Apparently this woman was evil. This is a quote pulled from the article about her, “Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit," the obit said. "Our greatest wish now is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.” A great amount of detail, and emotions go hand in hand with those statements made. Even though the statements where more positioned to shame child abuse more than the mother. You cant help but see the passion and the importance of their words. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a thousand words might help you see it better.
The videos themselves were ok. They were shot by Newsy, an online multi-source news site. It sums up the article giving a few extra tid-bits not in the print. The video samples two of the big quotes, including the one I have. Hearing the quotes read by someone else besides your brain might make you retain the information differently. Other than that it was basically a synopsis. Of course you couldn’t have left out the comment about having 13 cats though, it adds a slight bit of humor but still remains a serious video. On the other hand the second video near the bottom seemed to be questioning the children themselves, at one point the host saying that “they are everything except upset at the mothers death.” It was also stated that the date of death was incorrect when published in the paper. Less was said about child abuse in the second video which seemed strange. There where no pictures of the mother in either video, yet there was a picture of the son and daughter who wrote the obituary. The only other piece was a small portion of an interview with Sue Wagner a former Lieutenant Governor who ruled in the children’s case giving them the right to emancipate from the mom.
Capability wise, it was almost overwhelming. The entire right side of the site is covered in other links. There is even a “Weird News” tab that pops out with a link to a random story. The first one I got was about a European woman on a quest to mate with 100,000 men. There was also a giant box in the center with a cornucopia of slide shows, the first consisting of questionable parents and their actions to be accused as one. Then underneath are links to more videos like Nelson Mandela’s obituary. Most of the links refer to crimes and criminals and a couple of other related videos. One reason I selected this particular story was because of all the comments it had. I wanted to see the reactions of people and find out how many of the opinions were alike. Most of the comments favored the children. I found a select few that thought that even though the mother committed such acts that the children should still give the mother respect, at least in her obituary. Besides comments there was the usual array of links for Facebook and twitter and even Google plus. It was very easy to get distracted and wonder away from the original site. I even found a story about a washed up dead dragon in Spain.
If I was to change anything I would have made a better video. I know it must have been hard to get that interview with ms. Wagner, but I would have liked to see one of the children. Both videos were largely the same just with a couple of different ideas put in. I think a single strong video would have been better. I would also try and not have so much clouding the article, there were just too many other links and stories to even pay attention. The ads before the videos were also annoying, you had to watch the whole thing before even seeing it. Other than that it was a good article. It was different than your average news break of finding out who looked better in the same dress, or a Kardashian. It is a topic that is not talked about enough and more light should be brought to it. So just remember to give your mom a hug next time she makes you pancakes for breakfast.
