Governent Example

1. Milwaukee common council leaders are having continued meetings over the pricing and regulation of AT&T’s upcoming video/cable service. This is touted as a huge decision because of the potential wiring and boxes that will be installed throughout the cities, the need for regulating and complying with city standards, but, most importantly, the issue about revenue. Time Warner currently pays the city millions of dollars and would likely renegotiate their contract if, indeed, a new comparable and less costly development came in. Basically, the article is concerned with a tight city budget that is afraid that revenue would diminish if AT&T’s U-Verse cable program caused local companies to demand comparable rates. Also, city officials feel that the “boxes” installed by AT&T could be unsightly and cause traffic problems.

2. Mayor Tom Barrett seemed cautious, but focused on the budget. He also sided slightly on the side of going ahead with the project when he was quoted that local companies were just trying to scare the government with their claims about revenue. Downtown Ald. Bob Bauman introduced restrictions making it harder to prohibit the boxes from being placed. Therefore, he seemed to push for the implementation of the new cable. Local government was overall concerned about the cost and affect and seemed to be genuinely split, right now, over the issue. Local cable companies have several representatives that offer their expertise and opinions. AT&T is on one their side obviously.

3. The best part was the different view points and the in-depth explanation of the issue. I thought the article did a great job of explaining consequences for all actions that could be taken in the matter and gave a well-rounded feel for the controversy. This is something I will try to do to ensure that I have a complete, thorough account of what is going on.

4. Overall, I thought the use of quotes could have been better. There were enough of them, but I just felt they were very generically placed and did not jump out until the final quote. I think that a better, more varied use of quotes would help things flow better. I will try to utilize quotes in my article in a more efficient way then just adding them in when their hasn’t been one in a while.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=521662

I think, in regard to the Oshkosh story, I think the article about the 100-plus acres becoming a new development might make for an intersting story.