The news article I have examined is from BBC World News Online, “The Dark Side of South Korean Pop Music” published on 15th June 2011.
The word choice of the article headline could be improved to one that would assist in the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and one that is less ambiguous and generate more interest from an International audience (Rohumaa & Bradshaw. 2011:37). Another point for improvement is the font size and presentation of the headline that loses focal point from the distractions of the surrounding advertisements.
Further improvements could be centered on downsizing the advertisements to be smaller and less distracting from the main news article.
Better use of spacing to avoid ‘chunks’ to help the reader easily read the information to focus on the main points of the article whilst they scroll through (Dorner. 2002:57). A ‘Key Points’ bullet-point section could help to downsize the mass of text (Dorner. 2002:72), such as:
- What is K-Pop?
- What are ‘Slave Contracts’?
Improved sub-headings to better gauge the content and lead the readers through the article, such as “information-carrying” words for SEO (Rohumaa & Bradshaw. 2011:36). Changes to font colour/size/Bolding/Italicisation would allow headings to be distinguishable from the main text.
The addition of tags/categories could offer easy online search ability for readers to find similar and related stories (Rohumaa & Bradshaw. 2011:36,38). The inclusion of a comments section could also assist in user engagement.
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[Hannah Rae Ramos, SID: 312068735. Word count: 235]
References:
- Dorner , J. (2002). ‘Good Web Writing’. In: Writing for the Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Rohumaa, L. and Bradshaw, P. (2011) ‘Writing for the Web’. In: The Online Journalism Handbook: Skills to Survive and Thrive in the Digital Age. Routledge.
StoryTeller 
There are some interesting point of view about the news. For the font of the headline and the sub-head, I would agree with. The similar typeface of headline and advertisement indeed would divert attention of readers from the main information of the stories. In my own opinion, I would like know more about the analysis about journalistic writing of this news services. Hope this could be helpful for your comparative analysis.
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I like the way you sectioned your article in three parts by inserting three photos. I agree with your first comment that pointed out the issue of ads, but it seems like a common issue among all the media nowadays.
In general, you provided very good suggestion on ‘Key point’ and sub-headings, it’s also very clearly referenced and well-tagged.
However, I would’ve prefer it mere if you add a brief summary of the news article in the beginning or at the end of your texts.
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