Rumoured food shortage fuels panic buying

With news that flour prices are set to increase by over 30 per cent come Tuesday, and rumours of shortages of rice and flour, consumers in Trinidad have begun panic buying.

As a result, supermarket shelves for items such as flour, rice, baking powder, and macaroni have been empty across the country. Consumers have also blamed the empty shelves on hording activity by supermarket owners.

Rising food prices are a global phenomenon, and with wheat prices rising steadily, Trinidad, which imports all of its wheat, is experiencing almost weekly price increases.

Adding to the issue is the Nutrimix's closure of one of its facilities for cleaning. Nutrimix is one of two flour producers in the country, the other being the National Flour Mills. The closure of Nutrimix's plant resulted in rumours of a flour shortage, which resulted in panic buying. In one case, a supermarket owner limted the purchase of 100kg bags of flour to one per person, on the condition they were buying other items.

With flour prices set to increase, the price of bread is expected to reach as much as $10. Already consumers seemed to have stopped buying commercial bread which remained stocked on supermarket shelves.

Headlines

Another one of this week's assignments is looking at headlines, how effective they are, do they pull the reader in, do they convey a sense of the story. Below are five headlines that I do not like:

Beach limers do it on sand

While concise and snappy, this headline, taken from the Trinidad Express, really does not tell me what the story is about. What's the "it" that beach limers are doing? And if you are a foreigner reading this online, you would be even more confused by the word limers and probably move on...unless your dirty mind is intrigued by the thought of people "doing it on sand".


Throngs at rivers

Again from the Express, this headline does not work for me. To me it's lacking and reeks of laziness like the sub-editor was tired and didn't know what to write. A snappier version could have been Rivers rule this Easter or something like that.


Primary Ideas

This headline, taken from the Barbados Nation, just does not work for me. The story is about primary school students coming out on top at a science competition, but you would never guess that from this headline. It does not tell you anything about the story nor it is catching.


Site Suspended After Promoting Dutch Lawmaker’s Anti-Qur’an Movie

This efluxmedia headline is too long for me. I have seen other headlines on the story that are shorter, snappier and less clumsy.


It will take more than one great speech for Obama to reassure some Democrats

This is the headline from a letter to the editor in the International Herald Tribune but to me it is way too long and unwieldy. I don't know if a double stacked headline works on the web, it's an assault to the eyes for me.


Headlines I like:

Pirates of the Caribbean? Antigua Firm Cracks Blu-ray DRM

This is a techie story but the headline, the play on the movie and what the Caribbean developers have done certainly works for me. It got my attention.


Jericho Nuked by CBS

I love my entertainment news and this headline from E! online is so clever. It's a play on Jericho, the biblical city being destroyed, used to describe what CBS did to the television series based on that historical place. LOL.. I love it!

'Mother' gooses up Britney's comeback

This USA Today headline immediately pulled me in. It's a play on the words Mother Goose and is very cleverly used to describe Britney Spear's efforts on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Clever not tacky.


Snow and sleet mark beginning of spring

This Guardian headline is simple, straight to the point and effective.


'He made love to the audience'

This Guardian article, in memory of British actor Paul Scofield sets the tone for what the article would be about. In one sentence it encapsulates the talent of the man.


Off to meet Santa

This headline from Richard Quest's blog on CNN"s Business Traveller is simple but got to me cause going to Lapland to meet Santa has always been my dream. The headline promises a story full of adventure and interesting tidbits.


Pawn Shops: Business Is Booming

This headline from the Huffington Post caught my eye. I have been following the economic meltdown in the US and this headline, which gives a human interest face to the meltdown, is interesting.

Sharmain's blog

Of all the class blogs I have viewed so far, I really like Sharmain's blog. It is clean and simple and everything is well ordered. Plus she is so brutally honest about the assignments, it makes me laugh.

Blogs I like

I read a lot of blogs, mainly because I love the diversity of information one can get from blogs. It's hard to select a favourite but since I have to, my top three choices are:
Caribbean PR
Huffington Post
Global Voices



Caribbean PR is a blog owned by PR professional Karel McIntosh. She uses this blog as a medium to educate other PR professionals about trends in their field, and to solicit views from professionals all over the Caribbean. She includes interviews with other professionals and also invites guest bloggers such as myself.



I first visited the Huffington Post last year after seeing its owner Arianna Huffington on Real Time with Bill Maher. I was intrigued about how she has been able to make her blog a reliable, viable source of news and information alongside traditional media. It's like a news site, with news of all types and commentary.



Global Voices is an international blog that takes contributions from bloggers all over the world. The emphasis here is on developmental stories as well as other stories that the mainstream media would most likely ignore. Truly alternative and very informative.

Beaches closed as rough seas batter Caribbean coastlines

Rough seas with waves reaching over 30 feet in some cases, marred the long Easter weekend for many beachgoers.

From Tobago to Puerto Rico, beaches across the Caribbean were closed and beachgoers warned to stay out of the water, as high waves pounded coastlines.

In Barbados one man died when he ignored warnings and drowned during an early morning swim. In Dominica, authorities were up to Saturday searching for a 19-year-old New York resident who disappeared in the choppy waters.

The rough seas, the result of an Atlantic storm, disrupted plans of many people who take advantage of the long Easter weekend to relax at the sea.

In Tobago, which usually sees a peak of visitors around this time of year, authorities said the closed beaches may give visitors the opportunity to discover other aspects of the island.

In Puerto Rico hotels were left scrambling with alternative forms of entertainment for their guests.

To read more click here

RSS Feeds

This blog was really created to fulfill a class assignment for the Knight Centre's Digital Journalism course. Hopefully, it will continue on and not go the way of all my other blogs, which I usually delete when boredom sets in...lol

The assignment is to subscribe to an RSS reader with five feeds and two new searches.

I chose to download Google Reader, mainly because I use different computers during the day- the office computer while I am in the office, and my Mac Book at night, when I get home. With Google Reader, I can access all my news and blogs no matter where I am, and since I have been Google user for the last year, it's just easier to share clips with friends who are on my email list.

The feeds I added are from:

Caribbean Net News: A regional roundup of news
BBC Caribbean: For up-to-date news on the Caribbean
Caribbean PR: A blog run by a PR practitioner, which covers technology and other PR trends in the region
The Manicou Report: A satirical look at life in the Caribbean
Caribbean Cricket: Cricket blog that is on the pulse of cricket in the Caribbean.

The News searches are from:
Google
Yahoo
In both I tailored my searches to all things Caribbean and RSSed them to Google Reader.