News Comparison

For this assignment I chose to look at the John Edwards Indictment. On June 3 former democratic presidential nominee John Edwards was indicted on charges that he used 2008 campaign contributions to hide his mistress and their child. Apparently using the money to conceal the affair is not the issue: it is whether the money was used for personal or political reasons. If the affair were to have been uncovered it surely would have had a detrimental effect on his campaign, however Edwards says the funds were used to conceal the affair from his wife. If the money were used for political reasons, the donations were over $2,300, which is the legal limit.

Newspaper:

I looked at the NY Times article about the indictment (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/politics/04edwards.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=john%20edwards%20indicted&st=cse)

I also took a look at a Washington Post Article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-edwards-indictment-expected-today/2011/06/03/AGQwEuHH_story_1.html)

• Strengths
• For the most part, the article was written in a traditional format and focused strictly on the facts of the case. The NYT interviewed parties from both sides of the case and explained the federal campaign laws at the beginning of the piece for easier audience understanding. I like the fact that they afforded both sides a chance to tell their story and comment on the issue. I also like how they presented the facts and left it open in such a way that people could draw their own conclusions about the Edwards indictment.
• It was well researched and included insightful interviews well still remaining timely.
• I also like how they drew from the indictment itself to help explain exactly what the charges are.
• The Washington Post Coverage really resembled the NYT Coverage but the Washington post did include an infographic which was very interesting. The graphic illustrated the events leading up to the indictment by creating a timeline and including photos and descriptions of the key people involved in the case.
• Weaknesses
• The article was a bit long, but I don't feel that it could have been shortened up much and still fit in the necessary information.
• I am a bit confused as to when this story was published. It says it was published on June 3, however in the lede it talks about the events occurring Friday. June 3 was a Friday so I do not know if this was published the next day or the same day.
• It would have been nice to have some expanded coverage on what some of the other charges against Edwards are.

Blog:

For the blog I looked at a Huffington Post article: (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/03/john-edwards-indicted_n_867406.html)

• Strengths
• Even though this is a blog, they did a good job of sticking to the facts and not letting political opinion interfere with their reporting. They are detailed in the facts and background of the case and incorporate many of the same techniques seen in the NYT article.
• At the end of the article, they include a pdf copy of the actual Edwards Indictment, which is nice for readers who would like more information.
• Weaknesses
• Some of the facts seem to contradict a bit with the NYT article, as the NYT article said he rejected plea bargains where as the Huffington Post article said there were negotiations and that they couldn't reach an agreement.
• Also the Huffington Post uses unnamed sources, something which makes me as a reader question the credibility of the statements being made. In one instance attribute "according to people with knowledge of the negotiations." What people? Are they credible? How do they have knowledge of the negotiations?
• Another source is referred to as "An Edwards spokeswoman," but she declined to comment so why is this included in the article at all?
• Yet another is "an attorney for Edwards," and then it quotes him, why is he not named?

I also took a quick look at Perez Hilton's coverage http://perezhilton.com/2011-06-03-john-edwards-has-been-indicted

• Strengths
• Hilton's coverage was brief but it did include the basic facts of the case
• Weaknesses
• Perez Hilton is never shy about sharing his opinion about a topic or poking fun at someone, I don't know if this is a weakness since his site is a known entertainment blog and not a straight news blog. His attitude and opinions are what people like about his posts.

Television News

For this I looked at an episode of Nightline run on ABC (http://abc.go.com/watch/nightline/SH5584743/VD55129875/nightline-603-john-edwards-indicted?cid=abccomsearch_results)

And a video about the indictment on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2011/06/04/ac.edwards.indicted.cnn?iref=videosearch)

• Strengths
• I fell that using images always helps to tell a story. The images and video clips used in the TV coverage helped paint a picture of the story. I also liked how the ABC News story used previous interviews with Edwards to aide their story. The previous interviews showed Edwards lying about the affair and the campaign money to the ABC news reporters.
• Anderson Cooper's coverage on CNN was good in that he interviewed a few experts about their opinions on the case. One of the men Cooper interviewed was in the courtroom during the indictment which gave an interesting point of view.
• I also like how Cooper's coverage was not just a cut-and-dry news report, rather it was more of a conversation about the news story.
• It was interesting that in Cooper's coverage, they mentioned the ABC News interview where Edwards lied about the affair.
• Weaknesses
• In his effort to create a catchy intro to the John Edwards piece, the desk correspondent at ABC news made some factual errors. He said something along the lines of 'while Edwards hasn't been convicted of any crime and may never be convicted the charges against him could have jail consequences.' Edwards can't go to jail just because of the charges, he would have to be convicted of the charges to serve jail time, so this was a bit of a factual error. Also, his puns with white house and big house were a little cliche.
• The ABC news coverage focused on the affair itself and the cover up, which according to the other reports I read, is not the issue at hand. The cover up was not illegal it was the amount of money used to cover it up which is in question, a fact ABC news did not talk about.
• In Cooper's coverage, it would have been nice to know who the experts were and what their credentials are. Also, although the conversational format was refreshing, a lot of what was being discussed was speculative and not hard fact.

Twitter

• Strengths
• Twitter is always great about breaking news and getting the word out fast. It depends on whose tweets you are following and getting the information from. I personally did not log on to twitter the day of the indictment, but most of the tweets I see looking back include links to various news stories about the indictment. I do follow a lot of news organizations however, which is probably why most tweets were straight news.
• Weaknesses
• Twitter can include a lot of opinion and you have to be careful that you do not confuse the opinion tweets with the actual news stories. It is interesting to see people from all sides of the political spectrum and their opinion on the indictment.