Foxnews.com Review: On the Ball or Not?

Here is our groups' review of foxnews.com:

What is your first impression of the site? Think of the “3 second rule.” (pg 31)

• Looks busy – text all over the place, maybe not enough visuals
• When you scroll down, it encourages scanning because the font is small and makes you not want to look up close in detail
• Most of the featured articles are of entertainment, not necessarily news events happening in the grand scheme of things

How does this site establish credibility? How does it establish trust? Or does it? (pg 28-29)

            Authentic voice?

            Genuine?

            Transparency?

• Hard to decipher authenticity because it’s a very well-known news station source,
• Certain articles does not feel genuine, doesn’t have reporters name
• One or two sentences per paragraph which encourages reading

What is the general writing style?

            Biased?

            Objective?

• Generally pretty objective

Does the writer IDENTIFY with his or her readers, or not? How (or why not)?

• Author doesn’t really put their two cents into what they are writing, mostly just stating facts

Does the writing style get to the point?

• Yes, short and concise

How is it arranged? Is it arranged in reverse pyramid style?

• Not really, pyramid just goes from big headline to everything else in around the same

Is content shaped for scanning? How is the content layered? (p 32)

• Yes because they’re all written in short concise paragraphs that make it easy to read, not overwhelming
• First few sentences and headline pretty much already sums up the gist of the entire article
• Starts with categories, which brings you to dozens of more articles within that category which you can then click on

Is the tone or rhythm of the site consistent throughout?

• It stays pretty consistent in regards to tone because they are all spewing out facts and not really giving opinions, staying objective.

How does the site use headlines?

• First article has a big headline that is in all capitalized font
• Supported by a picture which gives us good information on what the article is about
• First line is all capitalized and using very little words, with a supporting sentence underneath which I think attracts peoples attention to the article

  

How does it use links? Effectively or not?

• When you click on a certain article, on the right hand side it’ll give you a list of more links to videos but they are not always relevant to the article which could be a drawback
• It can be effective in the sense that, for example when we clicked on the pizza article link, on the right hand side it’ll give you a list of other articles within the Lifestyle category which makes it easier to navigate if you are only looking for articles in Lifestyle.

How is multimedia used? Is it distracting? How is it displayed on the site? Does the multimedia tell the same story as the text, or a different side of the story?

• Not exactly distracting because it doesn’t pop up unless you actually intentionally click on it
• It doesn’t always really give us a different side of the story, it seems like it follows the article, doesn’t really add anything different

How does the site “package” stories? (pg 36)

• Doesn’t always show additional information relative to the article, only shows how many people shared it on Facebook or Twitter
• However, certain articles will have additional links to other sources

How are graphics used?

            Too cluttered?

            Are the graphics consistent through out the site, and consistent to the brand?

            Do they encourage or discourage use, and how?

• Each article has its own picture
• Pretty effective in the way that they structured it on the page, having it right under each of the article’s headlines
• Graphics are quite consistent

Can each page stand on it’s own?

• Yes, every page is pretty much formatted the same way which is very helpful and makes it look and feel organized

How is the navigation? Do you get lost? Do you always know where you are? How (or why not)?

• Navigation is good, links (Home, Lifestyle, Video, News) on every page that allows you to return or navigate to other sections on the website you want to go which is effective and useful

How does the site incorporate/interact with its audience? How does it embody the social aspect of the internet (or does it)?

• Gives audience a wide range of news, including events and things happening in the entertainment industry, not just politics and science and things like that.

Here is a few screenshots of the whole foxnews.com website:

 

Do you think we are right? Anything else you can spot?