News Comparison Analysis

As part of the digital and media literacy unit for 7th grade English class, we are analyzing the same news story as reported by four different newspapers/blogs. You can read the assignment below. 

News Article Comparison

You will compare the same news story in four different publications: The NY Times blog, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and a UK publication.

Topic:

Mark Zuckerberg gets married

Answer this: 1. Is this news? Why? Why is this story relevant?

Next: Read the following articles:

a. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/mark-zuckerberg-and-priscilla-chan-how-they-pulled-off-their-surprise-wedding/2012/05/20/gIQAQVK1dU_blog.html 

b. NY Times

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/mark-zuckerberg-ties-the-knot/?ref=style

c. Uk Newspaper

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/second-best-day-of-his-life-mark-zuckerberg-surprises-friends-with-secret-wedding-7769678.html

d. Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/the-curious-timing-of-mar_n_1535698.html

2. In the chart below, summarize each article in detail. Do they cover different content?

NY Times	Washington Post	Huff Post	The Independent UK

3. WHY do they cover different content? How is the slant or bias of each news source conveyed in the article? Write your answer in paragraph form addressing each news source.

4. Do you detect any of these types of bias?

▪   Advertising bias, when stories are selected or slanted to please advertisers.

▪   Corporate bias, when stories are selected or slanted to please corporate owners of media.

▪   Mainstream bias, a tendency to report what everyone else is reporting, and to avoid stories that will offend anyone.

Sensationalism, bias in favor of the exceptional over the ordinary, giving the impression that rare events, such as airplane crashes, are more common than common events, such as automobile crashes.

categories from wiki.