Best: The Inquirer
Worst: Manila Bulletin Online
Worst: Manila Bulletin Online
From my initial outlook on the two sites that I have chosen regarding Filipino business news, it's readily apparent to me from the get-go that both The Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin Online have their act together. While both have their pros and cons to them, the sheer amount of information that The Inquirer gives the reader makes it the better of the two. I was actually quite shocked when I first clicked the link for the business section to the Inquirer, as it manages to give a copious amount of information in a reasonably orderly manner. One of the first things that I noticed that The Inquirer has over its rival that I personally designated (and over the websites covering Japanese business news, as well) is that its business section is divided up into several sections, with links devoted to money, the job market, the peso-dollar rate, and the marketplace. Sections devoted entirely to breaking news and stock market updates are featured prominently on the main business web page. In the breaking news money section, where the bulk of the business articles are, a good amount of new and pertinent articles on stock markets and currency rates are given, and each article link has a quick summary of the full story. At the bottom of the breaking news money section, the option to see all business headlines gives a wealth of articles from several days past at the reader’s disposal, although the links are unfortunately not individually dated. Every article that I read was well structured, with no grammar or typographical errors, with the author clearly stated along with a copyright statement. Additionally, every article has links to related articles, which is a very nice touch. Another aspect that the Inquirer has over the Manila Bulletin are more and better opinions and editorials; while the Manila Bulletin only has one section devoted to opinions across all categories (including business), the Inquirer features individual sections devoted to editorials and letters to the editor, in addition to several articles written by many individually listed columnists. The advertising on the site is not quite as innocuous as that on The Manila Bulletin, but the vast majority of it is related to real estate and finance.
The Manila Bulletin may be the humbler website upon first impression, but it is a remarkably well ordered website that is a quality source for Filipino business news. It has two main business links, one for business news and business agenda. In the business news section are articles that deal more with the economy and stock markets, while the business agenda section focuses more on the actions of corporations. The Manila Bulletin contains everything that one could expect from a business news website, including up-to-date stories by writers that are clearly identified, and articles that appear to be well researched and full of pertinent information. The site also gives readers easy links to print and email their articles to other people. However, one article that I read (and found to be quite interesting) on the world’s largest copper producer looking into using a Filipino mine, was unfortunately marred by a few typographical errors, such as a letter in uppercase lettering when it should have been lowercase, a few words stuck together when they should have been separate, and a paragraph break where it should not have been present. Another article that I read had HTML code scattered right in the middle of the text. The advertising on The Manila Bulletin is done quite well in my opinion, with the vast majority of it coming at the bottom of the page and not getting in the way of the news information. Most of it does not deviate from business news, with ads for things such as colleges and hotels. In fact, most of the advertising was for advertising itself, with links showing how to get an ad up onto the site.
On a scale of one to ten with ten being perfect, I would give The Inquirer a nine and The Manila Bulletin an eight. Both were quite impressive to me. The Inquirer could perhaps improve by finding ways to better organize the massive amount of information it has and make its advertising a bit less intrusive, but the site is hardly at fault. The Manila Bulletin should watch out for typographical errors from its writers a bit better. While the few mistakes I found didn’t hurt the content the site had, repeated instances like this in the future could damage the site’s reputation amount serious readers.
On a scale of one to ten with ten being perfect, I would give The Inquirer a nine and The Manila Bulletin an eight. Both were quite impressive to me. The Inquirer could perhaps improve by finding ways to better organize the massive amount of information it has and make its advertising a bit less intrusive, but the site is hardly at fault. The Manila Bulletin should watch out for typographical errors from its writers a bit better. While the few mistakes I found didn’t hurt the content the site had, repeated instances like this in the future could damage the site’s reputation amount serious readers.
Best: Asahi.com
Worst: Kyodo News
After having looked at the two new websites that I have chosen on Japan, I would have to say that asahi.com is the superior website to Kyodo News, but neither are quite as good as the websites that I reviewed last week for business news on the region. Both are rather simplistic, especially in comparison to the ones I covered last week.
Asahi.com is for the most part a no-frills news website with few business stories, few links to other sites, and few advertisements. While the site may not be much, and to a certain extent it looks a bit “soulless”, the kinds of stories that the site does offer manage to be quite informative and approachable to the casual reader who wants to know more about Japanese business. While the actual writers of the articles are unfortunately not identified, every article is identified as being from the Asahi Shimbun Company, which is the parent company of Asahi.com. The site goes have copyright statements for its articles. The website features good articles on solid news stories, like the rate of imports on U.S. beef still being low six months after the lift of the ban on imports due to the mad cow scare, Toyota Motor Corp. closing in on General Motors in sales in 2006, and an estimated 39.7% of the Japanese national income going to taxes and social security payments in fiscal 2007, which would be a record high for the country. Of particular interest to me was a story on a 22-year-old computer programming whiz who has created a breakthrough computer networking software application. The story highlights that Japan imports more than ten times the amount of software that the company exports, with 90% of the imports coming from the U.S. alone. All the stories that I read on Asahi.com were fortunately free of grammar and typographical errors. Advertising is kept to the bare minimum, with all of it being links to other parts of the Asahi website for things like English tutoring. Asahi.com’s simplistic approach may not give enough meat for someone wanting intensive coverage of Japanese business, but it gets the job done for the casual reader.
Kyodo News is a website that is aesthetically better and more professional looking than Asahi.com, but it unfortunately requires its readers to subscribe to its website to read the full stories in its business section. However, on the front page of the website, breaking news articles are prominently visible and made available for all readers to enjoy, and many of them deal with business. The stories that I read on the website were well written, but like Asahi.com, the articles lack the identification of the actual writer, and merely credit the article to the website itself. A copyright statement is fortunately provided. I noticed that the articles of Kyodo News have what may be a bit of a nationalistic bias to them; An article on Japanese vehicle output being up 6.3% on strong exports to the U.S. flaunts that people in the U.S. are interested in car with good gas mileage, such as Japanese small-size cars, and an article on the Japanese health minister’s sexist remarks towards women being “birth-giving-machines” ends highlighting the Japanese defense minister’s criticism of the U.S. plan to relocate American troops in Okinawa. While the defense minister’s remarks were called “problematic”, the article gives the impression that it favors his opinions on the subject. Things like these perhaps may sway some readers away from the website.
Every article on Kyodo News appears to be free of typographical errors and such, but the spacing of the sentences could be better, as the articles appear to be a little cramped, which could make reading them troublesome for some readers. Advertising is nearly nonexistent; only a few ads for things like education and photos of Japan exist on the website’s main page.
On a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, I would give Asahi.com a seven and a half, while Kyodo News would be given a six and a half. Asahi.com could improve by giving more articles and improving the aesthetic look of the website. Kyodo News could best improve itself by making its business section articles free for all to read. Both website should identify the writers of their articles.
Asahi.com is for the most part a no-frills news website with few business stories, few links to other sites, and few advertisements. While the site may not be much, and to a certain extent it looks a bit “soulless”, the kinds of stories that the site does offer manage to be quite informative and approachable to the casual reader who wants to know more about Japanese business. While the actual writers of the articles are unfortunately not identified, every article is identified as being from the Asahi Shimbun Company, which is the parent company of Asahi.com. The site goes have copyright statements for its articles. The website features good articles on solid news stories, like the rate of imports on U.S. beef still being low six months after the lift of the ban on imports due to the mad cow scare, Toyota Motor Corp. closing in on General Motors in sales in 2006, and an estimated 39.7% of the Japanese national income going to taxes and social security payments in fiscal 2007, which would be a record high for the country. Of particular interest to me was a story on a 22-year-old computer programming whiz who has created a breakthrough computer networking software application. The story highlights that Japan imports more than ten times the amount of software that the company exports, with 90% of the imports coming from the U.S. alone. All the stories that I read on Asahi.com were fortunately free of grammar and typographical errors. Advertising is kept to the bare minimum, with all of it being links to other parts of the Asahi website for things like English tutoring. Asahi.com’s simplistic approach may not give enough meat for someone wanting intensive coverage of Japanese business, but it gets the job done for the casual reader.
Kyodo News is a website that is aesthetically better and more professional looking than Asahi.com, but it unfortunately requires its readers to subscribe to its website to read the full stories in its business section. However, on the front page of the website, breaking news articles are prominently visible and made available for all readers to enjoy, and many of them deal with business. The stories that I read on the website were well written, but like Asahi.com, the articles lack the identification of the actual writer, and merely credit the article to the website itself. A copyright statement is fortunately provided. I noticed that the articles of Kyodo News have what may be a bit of a nationalistic bias to them; An article on Japanese vehicle output being up 6.3% on strong exports to the U.S. flaunts that people in the U.S. are interested in car with good gas mileage, such as Japanese small-size cars, and an article on the Japanese health minister’s sexist remarks towards women being “birth-giving-machines” ends highlighting the Japanese defense minister’s criticism of the U.S. plan to relocate American troops in Okinawa. While the defense minister’s remarks were called “problematic”, the article gives the impression that it favors his opinions on the subject. Things like these perhaps may sway some readers away from the website.
Every article on Kyodo News appears to be free of typographical errors and such, but the spacing of the sentences could be better, as the articles appear to be a little cramped, which could make reading them troublesome for some readers. Advertising is nearly nonexistent; only a few ads for things like education and photos of Japan exist on the website’s main page.
On a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, I would give Asahi.com a seven and a half, while Kyodo News would be given a six and a half. Asahi.com could improve by giving more articles and improving the aesthetic look of the website. Kyodo News could best improve itself by making its business section articles free for all to read. Both website should identify the writers of their articles.
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