Evaluation of New York Times Stories

Articles that cover controversies in all areas can be found in the New York Times. For this blog post, I skimmed the tech and arts sections from the New York Times' website. I found two appealing stories that center around controversial topics. The first article I found from the arts category was, "'Carol' and 'Transparent': Women in Love, Then and Now," by Wesley Morris. From tech, I read the article, "Facebook Moves to Ban Private Gun Sales on Its Site and Instagram," by Vindu Goel and Mike Isaac.

Sun, Chad. "Todd Haynes "Carol " with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara dominates NY Film Critics Circle awards" 12/3/15 via Youtube. Attribution CC BY License.

Wesley Morris Article Evaluation:

1. The story focuses on the work of the directors, Todd Haynes ("Carol" movie) and Jill Soloway ("Transparent" tv show). Morris shows an appreciation for "Carol" and "Transparent" and what they offer through her comparison of the two. 

2. The story is more of a review than a controversy with a specific event, so it doesn't have a specific location/setting.

3.  Although there is not an exact controversial event being debated, the story centers around controversial elements. 

Both "Carol" and "Transparent" are controversial productions because they contain the theme of women's sexuality, which some people are uncomfortable about. Morris shows his support for the movie and show, while demonstrating their influence in a societal transition. He recognizes the positive impact the two productions have on society because of their portrayal of women. "Transparent" and the shows, "Girls" and "Younger," listed by Morris, all depict women the way women are in reality. 

Morris says, "None of these shows argue anything essentialist or supremacist about women. Women are just simply — yet never only simply — at the center of their own adventures." 

***(I realize the story is not the most effective for blog post 2.1's assignment, but it was provocative and interesting to me- I actually plan on researching more about "Carol" and the controversies it draws to potentially use for my project.)***

Vindu Goel and Mike Isaac Article Evaluation:

1. Facebook/Mark Zuckerberg is the protagonist in the story. Goel and Isaac write on Facebook's new ban. Facebook recently updated their prohibitions policy by banning the private, "person-to-person" sale of guns on their website and Instagram. Previously, they allowed gun sales without background checks to be carried out on their platform, and it was one of the most popular ways for people to buy. There is a huge debate in America on what to do about our gun laws; some people want them stricter, some looser. This is a step forward in the gun-safety movement, however, certain people aren't too happy about it.

2. There is no specific location for the event of Facebook banning private gun sale on their website. Although, the story covers one Colorado woman, out of many gun-safety advocates, Ms. Watts, who pushed for Facebook to stop the "unfettered access to guns" on the website. Colorado is a generally liberal state, and Ms. Watts' ideals come from a liberal perspective. In the controversy over gun laws, most liberals are in favor of strengthening them.

3. There is nothing in the story that explicitly shows two sides, it only shows supporters of Facebook's decision to end their indirect aiding of unlicensed gun transactions. However, it is clear that people who used facebook for unlicensed gun transactions will be angry about the policy. Many of these people happen to turn to facebook to sell guns privately, after Obama promised to tighten gun laws in leu of all the mass shootings. Anything enforcing stronger gun laws would have certain people disagreeing.