Newstrust

As a Newstrust newbie, I was actually a bit nervous to submit and rate stories. Maybe it was because of all the talk of being rated yourself by others. Self-consciousness is never a good ingredient in journalism, however, so I got over it and visited BBC's website to find some interesting stories involving the global economy.

The first story I found was on the fine wine industry. The story said that wine prices are declining because demand is going down and people are purchasing less expensive wine to protect their wallets. I gave it a 4.2. Side note, not 20 minutes after I submitted the story, someone else reviewed it. I think Newstrust is awesome in that it seems to create its own community by allowing everyone to review each other's submitted stories.

The second story I submitted was on the bee industry. Go figure bees are actually a really important part to the European economy. But according to this story, Europe is concerned. I gave it a 3.4, and I didn't like the fact that it didn't really have any sources, never mind quotes. But I did find the story interesting and informative, which is why it's scored higher, and it did include some enlightening statistics.

The third story I found was on crude oil prices sinking below $50 dollars a barrel for the first time since May 2005. As a driver, and traveller in general, the story caught my eye (and made me a little bitter that for the first time since I could drive I don't have a car.) It did include a quote, and a graph to illustrate its point, but other than that it wasn't very well sourced. I gave it a 3.4 as well.

Obviously I'm a little nicer than my fellow graduate students, but I think that's because I'm new to reviewing. Give me time as a member of the Newstrust community, and I'll be just as critical and dogged as everyone else. I think Newstrust is a great place to learn how to edit pieces. Although it's a relatively general reviewing tool, the different areas it asks members to review are the same areas editors look at in the pieces they are working on. To make itself even better in this aspect, I think Newstrust could go even further in depth with its review questions.

Although originally nervous about doing this, I enjoyed the experience, and plan on frequenting the site from now on.