By: Qiao Yu Compare the information provided by newspapers to the information covered by broadcast newscasts Topic: Afghan President consider own talks with Taliban Newspaper (New York Times) Broadcasting (BBC) In this essay I will compare a single day’s news coverage from a newspaper and television on the same news topic. Differences Timing: Firstly, the two medium operate on totally different time.
The newspaper, distributed in the wee hours of the morning contains the latest or developing stories from the previous day, whereas an evening newscast typically contains the very latest from that particular day. In the case I used the newspaper which was published on 30th January 2011 while BBC’s news report was broadcasted on 29th January same month. Thus a significant difference is that the coverage provided on television centers on events that took place long after the same day’s newspaper hit the stands.
Different lead The lead of newspaper and television news differs significantly from each other, but both were informative. BBC news about talks with Taliban was started with an overview of how bloody the war toward Taliban is, and how many people died and how much resource used to combat the war. However it didn’t mentioned about Afghan’s talks with Taliban. The lead was engaging and attracts people’s attention because it incorporated an oppressive and true image of the cruel reality.
Unlikely with the broadcasting, New York Times used a different angle to write the lead, where the lead is straight forward and softer in nature. It mentioned that Afghan consider to have conversation with Taliban because the potential peace talks between the State and Taliban is being left out. Again, both stories were informative, but obviously packaged differently. BBC story had a bit of a dramatic quality to it, but all those bloody and devastating visual elements were not highly relevant to the news headline. Body part
When it comes to the body part, both medium provided very similar information. However news on the newspaper is more detailed and deeply analyzed than the broadcasting medium. Where they had a clear overview of the reason why it’s important to hold the talk and what’s the goal of the talk. Two Afghan officials were being interviewed and the reporter did analyze the Afghan government’s attitude and what they expect from the talk. Also reaction from the American side with supporting evidences can be find in the report.
When it comes to broadcasting news, the reporter did mentioned about why, where, who, when, what and how. However they only provide one sound bite from Afghan official and a news commentator, while a deeper analyze into the issue can’t be seen. There’s some differences one sees when examining the coverage of newspaper and broadcasting news. Where the newspaper was methodical in its reporting of the details, While broadcasting relied more heavily on the sound bites of the key players and visual images. This says a lot about their two distinct styles of news reporting.
