By Scott McCabe
The Irish times covered the breaking news story that the HSE are implying they will be carrying out 100,000 tests a week by mid may.
To begin with the Headline The Irish Times chose is strong, it gives all the necessary details to understand the direction of this news article. The inclusion of a short video clip at the beginning of the article also shows the reality of Covid-19 as Paul Reid [Director General of the Health Service Executive ] announced that there is currently 98 people in intensive care units. I didn’t have to read realms of information to understand the article, the very first paragraph summed up all the details I was looking for as the statement was attributed and context was provided.
As we read further on in the article The Irish Times have included a large number of statistics whether it be tests completed or the number of laboratories available. To be quite honest the vast number of statistics can be confusing and overwhelming, as understanding which statistic is matched to the statement is a bit of a struggle. As much as statistics are a necessity in an article of this manner, The Irish Times could’ve removed one or two unnecessary statistics just to improve the overall clarity of the article.
After reading about Reid’s statement and vast information has been provided the article suddenly takes a different approach, the subheadings within the article such as ‘Travel not looking good’ and ‘Lockdown exit plan’ are added to the tail end of the article. A move which slightly overshadows the importance of the initial breaking news. After reading the two subheadings and their passages it is easy to forget the previous information obtained earlier on in the article. Therefore, I feel as if these two subheadings really take the spotlight off the initial breaking news story and were unnecessary.
In conclusion, the article was strong with factual information being provided, relevant quotations and powerful imagery.
ScottMcCabe2020 