China's Got A Armless Talent

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/armless-man-liu-wei-plays-piano-with-his-toes/story-e6frfmyi-1225905013684

This week, one piece of news is headlined in hundreds of news websites’ Entertainment section. It tells a story about an armless Chinese pianist plays on the stage of “China’s Got Talent”, and wows audience. I came across this news firstly on News.com.au, than found it had been reported almost around the world. The video clip was posted on Youtube right after its broadcasting on TV, and won about 800 thousand clicks within one-week period. The news is too hot to ignore.

Most reports of this news put word “armless” in their titles, which is quite eye-catching. Imagining an armless guy plays pianist with his toes, general readers may not believe it, and eager to check it with eyes, that is how this novel news successes.

Come to the piece posted by News.com.au, as regular, it is started with brief notes of the news story. While I notice a small change in this regular part – “Join us over on Facebook | Twitter” is listed as one of the notes on this page. The editor seems to take advantage of readers’ habit of scanning news notes first or only to gain more long-term followers. I don’t see it a good idea. It wastes readers’ time and attention for the news. If it goes on like this, readers will be more likely to read this part carelessly and also may skip some main points of news. Move forward to the news itself. I, as usual, attracted by the way of presenting on this website. It follows a clear structure – brief introduction with appealing elements of a story, then comes the main body, following by quotes and background. Though it’s just around 200 words, it provides a story complete enough to move readers. And the choice of words matches well with the type of the story – it is casual, up-to-date and widely used by “Youtubers” (where the story come from).

Compared to the other reports on this topic, the one from New.com.au is successful. It is clear presented and informative, and well use the aid of a video clip.

Here gives one other link on this story:

From AFP:

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Lifestyle/Story/STIStory_568309.html

*Next entry shares the video clip of the story.