On September 11, 2016 at 11:36 AM, WDRB posted a story about a Louisville women competing to be the worst baker in America. http://www.wdrb.com/story/33067235/louisville-woman-competing-to-become-worst-baker-in-america
There were several reasons why this story struck me as an example of bad journalism. First of all, it didn't seem like something people would benefit from learning about in any way and was not top news story material. Sure, people may find it interesting to learn about how Samantha Brown burns her food when she bakes, but it is irrelevant and not important, two traits of bad journalism.
Instead of making the important interesting, this story made the interesting seem important by using phrases like, "She never would've thought it'd earn her national honors" and "It's a once in a lifetime experience that she still has trouble believing happened ". This may be a big deal to her, but we are talking about national honors for being an awful baker, not winning the Olympics or becoming the president. I also felt that this article violates the Inclusive element because it blows the story out of proportion, as well as the yardstick of local relevance, because it doesn't really effect the audience. This article is not the slightest bit newsworthy and I found it a waste of the five minutes I spent reading it.
Also, this story is not very well written. The only quotes in the article are from Samantha Brown, the contestant in Worst Bakers in America and I found the writing choppy and bland. Only a very niche audience would find this article entertaining and relative to their daily lives. With all of the controversy going on in our world today, especially on September 11, a day of remembrance for our country, I'm sure WDRB could've found a better article to occupy the top story section of the news.
Good critique!
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