A Look Back at Obama Stories

The results are in. There was a tie for the highest quality news story on Obama as you chose them. They were:

• Debunking the Reagen Myth, an opinion piece from the New York Times
• Abroad, fresh image of U.S. from the Christian Science Monitor.

The first article, by Paul Krugen, sparked some interesting discussion in the comments. The two most reasonably critical about the article came from Rory O'Connor

"Paul Krugman...seems to be tilting against Obama, as witnessed by this think piece on Ronald Reagan."

and Mike LaBonte

"Mostly accurate but selective. Evidence is complete but shallow. I would have expected an economist to include numbers."

The second article is a look at the U.S. campaign from a European perspective. According to the article: "He looks like a Kennedy type, and that he's black is very new. In Europe, the idea that a woman can win is accepted. But for a black person to win would represent a radical change - for the US, and the world."

It's interesting to note that the downfall of this article was its rating on "importance." This might be because, although an interesting and well written article, the vantage point of Europeans has less impact in helping "citizens participate in local, state and national government," which is how we have defined "importance" so far at NewsTrust.

Perhaps the Christian Science Monitor article had better overall quality than the New York Times piece? While the European angle was what the story hinged on, it seems the NewsTrust community interpreted that as making it a less important story than the New York Times article. It's an interesting decision and in the end, I believe, a correct assessment.

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