Evaluation of New York Times Stories: My Top Two Picks

skeeze. "Challenger space shuttle" 12/31/15 via pixabay. CC0 Public Domain

    

   The New York Times is a massive content provider to not only New York, but to a global population of news reader. In this regard, their opinions on science and technology are of particular importance to me. Here are my top two picks from these genres in the New York Times this week, and a few questions getting the details from them. How do you like these stories? Leave a comment below. 

Top Science Story: The Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster, 30 Years Later
Top Tech Story: Facebook Moves to Ban Private Gun Sales on Its Site


Does there seem to be a "main character" or "protagonist" to the story? If so, who is it and how are they are the "center" of the story? If not, are there any important or central characters in the stoy at all? What role do they play?

 Science: The Challenger Space Shuttle is the designated main character to the story, making the headline and tying the theme of the lack of a space ferry in our current times and the technical failures that marked both the Challenger and Columbia explosions. The well known teacher, Mrs. McAuliffe, who was aboard the Challenger when it blew up, is also mentioned in the story to lend an emotional touch to the feeling of national tragedy that was felt across the U.S. in 1986. 

Tech: Facebook's move to ban private gun sales on both of its sites has thrust it into the spotlight, in news such as this article, where it is the main character of the story, making a social statement through its new company policy. 

Where do the specific events in the story take place? Is there a specific setting? Describe the settings for the stories and how they influence the plot and characters. 

Science: The main events of this story take place in and outside of the Earth's upper atmosphere, marking the boundary between Earth and space, which is the entire purpose of these dangerous but advanced shuttle launches that resulted in two tragedies. This limit will always push human groups such as NASA to move forward and keep pushing boundaries, which is why even though two shuttles were lost, we will still move on with exploration. 

Tech: Facebook's main action took place in it's online policy statement which can change over the course of a year. This year, as a private site, they decided to ban gun sales on their two websites, which are extremely popular social media platforms, and a growing base for sales. This is not a very specific setting, but it does have the effect of enforcing the rule that Facebook sets down immediately, instead of resulting in long debate and public appeal, meaning gun sale proponents will still have to abide by the rules and argue for its change. 

Is there any kind of disagreement or debate happening in the story? If so, who is particiapting, why are people debating and what seems to be at stake for the different characters in the story?

Science: The debate towards the end of this story about the Challenger disasters revolves around NASA's future use of private companies to shuttle astronauts to orbit instead of costly shuttles such as the Space Shuttle program. The main debate has occurred between the Federal government and NASA, against the private companies pushing for space flight such as SpaceX or Sierra Nevada. These companies would benefit greatly from the government funding for space flight, while the government and NASA might save money, and stop their reliance on Russia, but might face a backlash from the public over business control of space, and their lose of control over exploration in space.