Comparison Assignment

A story that has been in the news lately has been LeBron James' decision to play for Miami. Each type of news venue seems to be addressing the story in a slightly different manner each with differing strengths and weaknesses.

On the show ABC Good Morning America, they focused on showing the basketball player and getting his first hand account about some of the reasons behind his decision. The interview was rather informal and showed this sports figure who many would have considered larger than life as just a normal guy with a heavy decision. They discussed the weight of the decision, how it would effect him personally. The narrative showed a little bit of a background montage of the events that transpired shortly after  the decision was made public.

In the New York Times article, the focus was more on the scale of the media event, with a focus on the first reactions, along with a listing of facts about the player, and the deal.

On the Huffington Post, the spin of the story was very sensationalized,  a headline that contained the words "Runaway Slave",  something so close to offensive that potential readers almost have to click and once they do they almost have to comment on the story.

The three different types of media present different aspects of the story. The newspaper article seemed most objective, focusing on the media circus of the announcement event and making sure to include facts about many of the factors involved (even if the facts were a few short mentions at the end of the lengthy article). The online article was more slanted toward provoking readers to leave comments and interact with the author and other readers. The television clip focused more on the personal aspect of the story and tried to make the sports figure more relatable to viewers, maybe even change their opinion of him to be slightly more favorable. The nice thing about television and online sources is to be able to view clips of the news and be able to make opinions of your own. Television is slightly less favorable, because networks like to string you along and make you watch commercials before the news of interest, online sources are searchable, clickable and of near instantaneous access.