I was both impressed and disappointed by the BBC's coverage of President Barack Obama's second inauguration. After watching the inauguration live on NBC from the comfort of my own couch, I quickly turned to my computer and logged on to BBC.com to check out their media strategy. 

There was only one article posted after the event ended, and still the article above is the only one that remains. In my previous blog post I indicated that I enjoyed the BBC's one sentence/one graph writing style because it was to the point. However, in the case of a Presidential Inauguration I expected the article to have more flavor to it. I liked that they included two videos from the inauguration, but I would have preferred the videos to feature more than Obama repeating his oath of office. Other news publications made videos that featured various highlights from the event. I had a better understanding of the day after watching those videos than I did watching the videos included in the BCC's article. 

While watching the Inauguration I was simultaneously checking up on my twitter feed and took notice of the BBC's presence. When navigating the website I was surprised I could not recover any of the tweets I had seen. I started to dig deeper, and stumbled across the page I was looking for: a live screening of the inauguration with a sidebar of keynotes and tweets from a representative at the scene. 

Although it looks rather simple, I found this page to be an excellent tool for foreigners to follow the inauguration. With the large fan base President Obama has, it makes sense that an event this big should be seen by people around the world. Finding this page reaffirmed my attitude toward the BBC, because although they are based thousands of miles away, they are still a top competitor among U.S. based news publications. 

An important aspect the BBC failed to mention in any of its coverage of the inauguration was the significance of the inauguration falling on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Since the British do not celebrate the same holidays as Americans, their reporters may have felt it wasn't necessary to emphasize the correlation between a black man being sworn in as president on a day dedicated to our country's most famous Civil Rights activists. Again, I was disappointed by the lack of spirit.

Overall I think the BBC's coverage of President Obama's second inauguration was well done, but dry. The BBC delivered in social media content and video, but failed to present the story in a unique manner. If I were to follow the BBC on an event as big as this again, I would look for updates on their twitter feed rather than their website. The BBC twitter feed provided coverage that went beyond Obama's speech and included pictures and updates throughout the entire day.

When I arrived to my digital journalism class on Wednesday I was looking forward to hearing what my professor, Herbert Lowe, assigned me as a beat for the course of the semester. Previously he had asked each of us our career aspirations to get a better feel for the type of work we should be focusing on. Mine? To be a magazine editor. I figured with the rest of my classmates being assigned a publication within the realm of their own interests that I would be assigned something similar. When "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" came out of Professor Lowe's mouth I was a bit disappointed. If you knew me you would know that a news-heavy daily paper out of Atlanta, Georgia is not my cup of tea.  

For tea, I prefer a British breakfast blend. It is reliable, healthy, and it delivers the daily dose of caffine I need. Last semester I was lucky enough to find my favorite blend in the tea capital of the world- England. I spent a semester studying journalism in the UK. My classes focused heavily on the history of journalism and how the BBC came to be one of the most reliable news publications in the world today. After four months of living in a city dominated by rock n' roll listening, cider-drinking, fashion setting junkies, I knew I would have to return. My post-graduation plan is to "hop the pond" back to City University, London and earn a master's degree in International Journalism. 

Since I plan to use this blog to showcase my writing, I didn't see how the Atlanta Journal-Constitution could contribute to my acceptance into the International Journalism Program. After class I went up to my professor and briefed him on this issue. He was understanding and graciously assigned me the BBC, which as you can tell is definitely my cup of tea. 

Having already been familiarized with the BBC website while in London, it is hard for me to think back to what my first impressions were. When I compared it to other newspapers' websites I found the BBC's homepage to be less busy than others. Unlike the New York Times, the BBC is dominated by more headlines, less words and bigger pictures. The font is not the expected Times New Roman size 8, and the addition of a home-page header slideshow gives the BBC a one-up in my book. 

I chose to read an article on President Obama's inauguration to get a better understanding of how the BBC covers U.S. news. One noticable difference was the size of the graphs. In the article, not one of the 17 graphs were more than one sentence long. Having read many BBC articles before, this did not surprise me but it did remind me that the spelling and style of British English differs from American English. Something to keep in mind while I am updating this blog. I like that the writing is straight and to the point, however since I prefer features to news stories, I think there is a lack of voice from the author. On the BBC many of the articles do not include a byline. I personally enjoy knowing who is writing the articles so I can easily access some of their other work and read up on their credentials. 

Prior to becoming a journalism student, I knew very little about the BBC. I knew it stood for British Broadcasting Corporation, but I didn't understand the profound impact it had on the lives of Europeans. This semester I look forward to reviewing their articles, critiquing their coverage, and spreading awareness of their site to my followers. And I am happy to say that at first glance, I am already sure the BBC has more depth to it than what I was taught by Austin Powers. Remember this?