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Tracking America's Economy Following
Sept. 11
By Rebecca Skaroff
11.13.01
The New York Times and MSNBC
I decided to track how the American economy is being
affected by the events on September 11. I realize that
this is a wider topic than possibly whether the plane
crash was a terrorist act, but I wanted to move away
from terrorism-specific stories or Afghanistan stories,
I feel that I need to broaden my horizons on this topic.
So I'll see how this goes.
Today I found a story about how General Motors is extending
it's zero percent financing that it started after September
11 as a part of the "Keep America Rolling"
plan. My print medium is The New York Times. That article
is not on the front page in The Times, but on the top
of page two, not a bad placement I think. However, this
story is short, only three columns and half a page long.
The story is depressing in The Times, discussing how
there is a boom in sales, but that it might have cut
into profits, and that other automotive companies had
to follow, but did not profit.
The same story was covered in my online pick
for this week, MSNBC. I chose that because I wasn't
impressed with the design as being serious, and wanted
to see what I thought of their news critically. This
story was covered with a very different angle, highlighting
the leaving of executive Ron Zarella of GM, who came
up with the 0% interest idea, to go to Bausch &
Lomb. Interestingly, MSNBC puts a more positive spin
on the story, noting the change that will occur in management,
not just that the plan will go on. The story is broken
up into two parts, but I find it harder to read because
it is in one long column and I loose attention more
that way that in three shorter columns. Even if it is
the same amount of words, one long column just looks
longer. MSNBC does have a box of related articles and
a picture of the guy, but doesn't use the web much more
creatively than that.
11.14.01
The New York Times and MSNBC
Today's focus is on how businesses are seeing
third quarter losses. The Times attributes this to an
aftermath of September 11. They have an article about
Cablevision losing money because people are attending
fewer sporting events and there are fewer shows at big
events such as at Madison Square Garden. This wasn't
a front page business story, but a third page. It is
connected to a story about how Office Max also has a
third quarter loss, one that was wider than expected,
and blames the attacks on September 11.
MSNBC did not cover either of these stories.
This site has similar stories about Macy's having seen
loss in the third quarter and some company Liberty House,
but I have to say that I found these articles much more
confusing than the ones in the Times. Part of why I
am doing this is because I usually skip the business
section, and seeing Oxygen.com yesterday do a business
section, I wondered what the other ones were like. So
far, MSNBC is confusing and uninteresting, and not using
the medium very creatively, no videos, no good pictures.
Maybe I picked a more boring topic, but not everything
interesting has to center on Afghanistan!
11.15.01
The New York Times and MSNBC
The Times article today was about how ABC
and CBS are thinking of sharing costs due to the cost
of covering news after September 11. Doing this would
allow both of them to fend off allying with CNN. MSNBC,
my last day of doing that site I think for now, had
an excellent special article about Congress to the rescue,
how Congress can revitalize the economy after Sept.
11. This article was much better than the previous.
There is a chart, and the possibility to click on various
topics to see how Congress has thought of dealing with
that. Again, I see no polls or very exciting pictures.
Perhaps tomorrow's online venture, another news site,
will be more interactive on this topic. The writing
in this story is much better than in the previous ones,
though, perhaps because it is a special story and was
in a bigger font and highlighted on the front page.
11.16.01
The New York Times and CNN.com
I chose to switch to CNN.com to compare that
to MSNBC. I find CNN to be more comprehensive articles
than MSNBC. There is a special section that I read today
entitled September 11, Two Month After. This section
has two main articles, one about how family and friends
of victims are facing their finances, and another about
how airlines are receiving help. The articles are broken
up with bold section titles, but involve a lot of scrolling
and don't have interactive aspects to them, no polls
or exciting charts. The articles are also not from today,
I will see tomorrow if they are updated.
11.17.01
Inside Magazine and CNN.com
Today I read a magazine that I receive at
home, Inside magazine, a Jewish monthly. Usually I wouldn't
think that it would be relevant, but the cover of the
magazine is a picture of a man hanging by clothespins,
dripping from a clothesline, in a three-piece suit.
I was intrigued. The main article in the center of the
magazine, about four pages, and continued to the back,
was basically advice on how to hold out during the bad
economy that has resulted from many things, including
a big part, September 11. It said to not panic and to
invest and use stocks responsively, and had the optimistic
view that the recession would end soon. The article
sounded much different than the business articles I
have read, probably because it is in a non-business
publication, but I enjoyed it and the drawings and photographs,
surprisingly humorous. The articles in the Two Month
After section have not been updated. Not very impressive
CNN. But I did read a good article about how stocks
are not relaying the recession that we are in after
September 11, that stocks are rising. This article has
a bar graphs and a chart, but still not any interaction
with the readers other than links.
11.18.01
The New York Times and CNN.com
Still looking at CNN.com, I had to stretch
the article a bit, not much seemed relevant. The section
Two Months After is still unchanged. Today's article
is honestly very confusing, about how the Dow Jones
Industrial average is doing well, I think. It's hard
to tell from this article. But I think that the article
is saying that the stock market is doing surprisingly
well, and attributes some of that to the fact that the
Northern Alliance is doing well in Afghanistan. The
links in the article take one back to the home page,
which is not very helpful and is misleading. Not impressive.
There is one chart tracking the NASDAQ in the past few
months. A much more understandable article appeared
in the Times today about how healthcare is in trouble
after Sept. 11. It's pretty far in, on page 11 in the
business section, but worth the hunt. It was in trouble
before, but now people are dropping elective surgeries
and hospitals are trying to recover from September 11
injuries. This article is much better, perhaps because
it is a more understandable topic, or perhaps it is
just better writing.
11.19.01
The New York Times and CNN.com
Today I read an article on CNN entitled Best
Places to Live. Apparently CNN does a ranking each year
of the best places to live, but in light of September
11, chose to highlight New York and got famous New Yorkers
to say why they like New York so much, including the
outgoing mayor. It is unclear whether this has been
on CNN for the past few days and I just didn't notice
it or whether it is new today. I clicked on it from
the business section, after scrolling down, but the
title is separated into it's own section. There are
fun things to do, like compare a salary in New York
with one in Providence, and see how far your money goes.
Very fun picture gallery with commentary. As a match
to that, my print article in the first page of the business
section says that online travel companies are doing
well despite fears of travel due to terrorism. Seems
like today the news is trying to take a positive spin
on things.
11.20.01
The Philadelphia Inquirer and BBC.com
Today I started looking at the BBC. There
is a special section "The Fallout War and Terror
- the impact on the economy - exactly my topic. It is
found in the Business section of the BBC sort of off
to the side, in the third column, in its own box. Clicking
on that bring you to a whole bunch of stories relating
to this topic, from airplane industry losses to tourism
to job searches. There are so many articles, a compilation
it seems of articles on this topic throughout the two
months. I guess I will just pick one relating to my
paper topic, if I can. Since my article from the Philadelphia
Inquirer is about how there is an increase in homelessness
in New York and other cities due to the 80,000 jobs
lost after September 11 and the economic downtown, I
will choose the article Terror Attack will hit house
prices. This article, clicked on from the main page
of The Fallout" section, says that housing prices
in the UK are sure to drop as a result of Sept. 11 and
the fallen economy. Interesting to see a BBC outlook
on house prices instead of low income housing or homelessness.
The article is quite short, with only one photo and
a quote enlarged in a box on the side. The only other
links are to other business stories.
11.21.01
The Philadelphia Inquirer and BBC.com
A very interesting article appeared on the
front page of the Inquirer today. Apparently people
began dipping into their piggy banks and spare coin
supplies as the economy turned downward, and therefore
far less new coins are being produced. Hence, the US
Mint has had to lay off hundreds of workers. This article
begins on the front page, and jumps to the business
section, but was so interesting a topic to me that I
actually would have followed it even if not for the
assignment. Today's related article in the BBC section
is that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development has predicted a sharp economic slowdown
in the major economies, such as the US and the UK. The
OECD is just another one of the organizations to predict
this, nothing new really. This article has one picture
of a sad looking man and the article is broken up into
sections with bold headings, but no links within the
articles, no charts, nothing very exciting. The links
are again just links to other business articles.
11.22.01
The Philadelphia Inquirer and BBC.com
The economy is not looking good from the perspective
of the Inquirer's business section today. My article
highlights how the insurance industry is down and in
turmoil after September 11. Insurance policies are up
for renewal December 31, but many may not get insured
if they do not get war or disaster coverage, which can
be very expensive. This article was not too long and
was a few pages in. The BBC is also a bit depressing.
An article tells investors that times ahead will be
rough. This article basically deals with stocks and
how investors should know whether to stick with their
stocks or sell. It's a little confusing. It's broken
up into sections, like the other BBC articles, which
helps a little, but there are no side attractions to
make the article more reader friendly. There are no
extra links, no graphs, just straight text. The BBC
so far is not impressing me with its use of the medium
at all. The articles are the same as print articles
- text and a picture or two.
11.23.01
The Philadelphia Inquirer and BBC.com
Today I found a very interesting article relating to
the shopping slump of the Inquirer's article, about
how Harlem is slowing down. At first I thought that
perhaps there was a neighborhood in London called Harlem,
but it's definitely talking about Sylvia's and New York
City Harlem. The article reads like a traditional news
story, interviewing many shop owners in Harlem about
how the renaissance was still in motion before Sept.
11, and some think it still has a chance, others think
it's over. A few more pictures this time, but still,
BBC, use your medium a little more!
11.24.01
The Philadelphia Inquirer and WSJ.com
Today I decided that the BBC was boring me, and that
I'm going to switch to another news site. One with hopefully
more interactive media and fun things than the BBC.
My print article is about how shoppers came out in droves
on Black Friday, which was unexpected, according to
the Philadelphia Inquirer. Since I'm doing business,
I'll start taking a look at the Wall Street Journal
Online, and see how that covers these stories. So there
is a special report called The Aftermath of Terror,
but that is only for subscribers. Hmm, might not be
staying on the WSJ for so long. In the free content
section there is a question of the day, how much shopping
do you plan on doing online. Relating to my print article.
Clicking on that brings me to a page where I can answer
this question, and then a button where I can view results
of the survey. It comes up in a bright bar graph. The
biggest answer so far out of almost 400 people is "some."
I don't know if this counts entirely as an article.
I feel like this would have been a nice supplement to
some other articles I have read about shopping, and
perhaps there are those nice articles in the subscribers
only section. Perhaps tomorrow will be another site
after all.
11.25.01
The Philadelphia Inquirer and CNN.com
Today is my last day of looking at the Philadelphia
Inquirer, which is a shame, because sometimes it is
a little more fun to read than the New York Times. A
top article in the business section is about how some
economists are saying that the economy will bounce back
without Congress's help. The article is easy to understand,
unlike many of the articles I often run into on some
of the business sections online. However, I do find
myself unlikely to make the jump in a real paper business
article, but sometimes don't notice how long an article
is online if there is no jump and all I have to do is
keep scrolling. I decided to change back to CNN because
I felt that those stories were the most in-depth, and
wanted to see how changed the sight was from when I
stopped looking. In the business section the top articles
today are about shopping. One of them is about how the
Treasury Chief O'Neill says that the weekend's shopping
statistics indicate that the economy will bounce back
from the terrorist-induced recession. The article is
good and laid out well, but no graphs, charts, etc.
Perhaps the business side of things just aren't that
exciting. I do like the money homepage that has the
page split up by categories, has pictures, and charts
and graphs on that, such as the frequent graph of the
NASDAQ numbers. But why not spice up the articles a
bit CNN?
11.26.01
The New York Times and CNN.com
Today I returned to the Times and found the
top article in the Business section about, again, shopping
after Thanksgiving. This article, unlike the one in
the Inquirer two days ago which said that shoppers came
out in droves, said that shopping on Black Friday was
down 8 percent from last year. Retailers were concerned
after September 11, and a decline was seen by the Time
as expected. On my last day of looking at CNN, one of
the top news was that officials have said that the recession
officially began in March. However, if September 11
hadn't happened, the officials said, then March's downturn
might not have been enough to be called a recession.
As my last night, I have to say that I am a little saturated
with business stories, and overall, find that business
stories in the print and online versions are much more
similar than in other mediums. The business stories
in almost all of the sites that I looked at did not
take advantage of being online. There were few to no
interactive aspects to the business sections. There
were overall designed well, but the articles themselves
were little more than print articles put online and
next to other links of similar topics.
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