Video Story

By Carla Schaffer

http://www.suntimes.com/index.html#

The video that I watched was part of the video section of the Chicago Sun Times. The video story is about a man who was killed trying to stop two young adults after they stole from a Starbucks tip jar. The story is starts out as a story about a robbery at Starbucks but quickly turns into a profile of the hero of the story - the man who died trying to stop the robbers. The story works well as a video story, because it includes footage of the events up to, during, and after the robbery. It also shows the man that the story focuses on at the register leading up to the robbery. If this story was done as a newspaper/print story, the reader wouldn't get the same connection with the story as he or she does with the video. With the video story, the reader gains connection with the hero of the story by seeing his last moments before chasing after the robbers. The story could be improved by completing the robbery focus of the story. The video does a great job of profiling the story's hero and talking to friends and family, but it never gives detail about how authorities are planning to catch the robbers that ran the man over in their car. It would have been nice to know if officials were using the footage that they show in the story to find the criminals.