terri schiavo

I looked at the Chicago Tribune for my article.

1. How would you describe the central controversy here?
The Central Controversy is on who should be able to decide on whether the tube should be in or out of her. A judge, the parents, legislation and so on and so forth.

2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
The parents want to keep her alive, because their christian and believe in the right to live. While her husband believes that she wanted to die if she was in a circumstance like this.

3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
The state legislation already made a ruling and the federal government won't touch it. The Bush Administration wants it to be one way, but they can't take away the power of the state's decision, it would make them look like they were unimportant in decisionmaking.


4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
It brought out some of the political issues, not necessarily too complex. They brought up issues on, the federal judge not granting the parents' wishes, and an injunction was needed if it was to be brought to the federal courts. It talked about people rallying in front of the hospital. It also talked about the president wishing the court would have made a different decision.

5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
I thought there could have been more complexity in the article. They could have talked about what republicans thought, democrats thought.
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5.
They could have talked about what republicans thought (if they all thought the same way or different), and what the democrats thought. They also could have explained why the federal government really can't interfere.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
I like how they got a quote from what the mother said in the court house and got the different opinion about where people stood on the judge's decision. They also made it easy for people to understand what was going on, in case they never heard of the case before.
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
I didn't like how they didn't contact a lot of their sources for quotes, instead they got it off Good Morning America or reports. Contacting them would have made the article better. They could have gotten a lot more information.