Journal #2: Media Audiences

Suzzette Medina
MCom 100W- Tu/Th 10:30a.m.
Journal Writing #2- Media Audiences
Word Count: 717

For my journal writing assignment I chose a national news story that relates to another class of mine that addresses terrorism and national security. The news story was about a recent attack on the American Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. The coverage of the news story came from different sources of media to see the differences, if any, between the three.

The newspaper source I used was The New York Times. This particular news story had a fiery picture of the mob outside of the U.S. Embassy right in the center top of the front page. When the paper is folded in half, as it is usually found on stands, the orange and yellow picture takes up almost half of the visible portion of the front page. The article actually began eight pages into the front section of the paper. The article featuring the attack was rather long due to a large picture that is inserted with the text. In total, the article took up about an entire page. There was only one article about this news story within the entire paper. A large portion of the article was dedicated to the political situation that sparked the events on Thursday. There were several sources that were stated throughout the article, seventeen total. Out of these, there were six direct quotes from specified individuals about the matter. This article was accompanied by two large photographs. One picture was taken during the attack on the building; the other is of a man burning an American flag.

The television news coverage I watched was by FOX News. The story lasted three minutes and thirty-four seconds. During the broadcast there was only two direct quotes mentioned. One was from the man they were interviewing live about the events. The details that were provided by the television news story were of no real significance compared to those given by the newspaper. A very brief and vague description of the perceived causes for this attack was mentioned. The television coverage only spoke about the actions of the mob and the damage done to the building. The anchors also spent a great portion of the broadcast discussing proper evacuation procedures for the embassy personnel as well as their families. Lastly, the two reporters discussed the possible groups behind this attack, if any. It seemed as though the coverage by the television newscast was more concerned with the interesting facts and possible dramatic outcomes of the event rather than the history and causes. The newspaper focused more on what sparked the attacks and how those involved feel about the issue. Perhaps this difference has something to do with ratings.

Lastly, the newscast I obtained from the web came directly from the BBC News website. This article was also particularly superficial in the type of material addressed. Again there was a vague description of the reason behind the attack, and then it went straight to a dramatic detail. The second paragraph spoke about a mysterious charred body that was found inside the embassy. The rest of the article featured six different sources that were quoted about their opinion on the attack. The actual news coverage took up very little space, but the quotes and opinions of various personnel provided much needed length to the article. This particular news coverage seemed more like broadcast television news to me. There was a lack of informative or historically important data being transmitted to the audience. It appeared as though the mysterious body and the thoughts of spokesmen were the focus of this article. The only similarity the BBC news article had with that found in The New York Times was that they were both print material and were generally about the same topic.

The article found in The New York Times was so much more informative about the history and causes behind the attack than its competition. It appeared as though the newspaper was not focused on drawing readers in with interesting facts and dramatic explanations of the events. Television and web news stories contain drastically less deep material on the issues and contain a greater amount of interesting data the average person may like to read about. Also, the newspaper article is much lengthier than the other two and contains a large amount of data for readers.