Evaluation of New York Times Stories

THE New York Times

"All the News That's Fit to Print"

Stocker, Paul. "Untitled" via Flickr 

Uber monitoring driver in US in attempt to flag dangerous driving

The main characters involved with this New York Times article regarding Uber driving is Uber, a ridesharing company, and select Uber drivers that are being monitored in the state of Texas. 

Uber and the drivers are at the center of the story because the company, Uber, is conducting an experiment where they track the moves of these drivers in order to create a safer environment and protect the drivers as well.

Specific events within the story include the small test that Uber conducted by monitoring a minor amount of Texas drivers. Another specific event that occurs within the article is a class-action lawsuit filed by drivers in San Francisco to be recognized as full employees with benefits. These tests are designed to identify poor Uber drivers and then with this experimental results, Uber hopes to implement this monitoring process across the country to cut accidents and risks when ridesharing.

The debate occurring is whether it is just that Uber is tracking the driving of the Uber drivers and if the monitoring can be grounds for termination as an Uber contracted employee. Another side of the debate is that the monitoring can be utilized to protect Uber drivers when a false claim is made regarding their driving.

New Weapon to Fight Zika; The Mosquito

The main characters involved with this article are the population of Brazil near the Zika outbreak, scientists working to fight the virus, and mosquitoes which have been genetically engineered to kill the virus with a gene that kills Zika. These mosquitoes are the center of the story because if done correctly, they could be the key to extinction of the Zika Virus, which is negatively impacting childbirths through the region. 

Specific events that are relevant to the story are the release of these modified mosquitoes to towns throughout Brazil every weekday at 7 AM. Another major event was the creation of these mosquitoes by the British company, Oxitec to aid in eradicating this deadly virus. These events work towards the plot because without the work of scientists to create these extraordinary mosquitoes, this plan of action would never be possible.

The disagreement happening in the story is the debate over the impact of releasing genetically modified insects into the environment and the long term effects of these mosquitoes. The health of the environment in South America is at stake but for the scientist and first world countries, the possibility of the virus spreading also is a major fear.