Read all over Palin resigns

Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska today. Her resignation was covered by the four news sources I have chosen, the BBC, the New York Times, USA Today and the Juneau Empire. The reports had many similarities as they all used the same source for their information and covered most of the same facts, but there were differences in the scope, slight variations of focus, and major differences in length of the articles. In one instance, the factual information in two papers conflicted.


Mainly, the papers reported very similar stories. They all covered her resignation and saay what this means for her career and what her future plans are. They all speculate she may go into television or radio show broadcsting and possibly make a run for President in the next election. All three U.S. newspapers used the Associated Press as their source of information, therefore much of the content and most of the facts were the same in all articles. Even the BBC reported most of the AP content.


While the four news sources were reporting on the exaxct same event and using the same source (AP), there were many differences in the articles. There were differences in scope, focus, the time of reporting, and minor differences in emphasis and information in the articles. In one instance, the same fact relative to time remaining in Palin's term was reported differently by the BBC and NY Times.




There was a difference in focus between the papers even though each used the AP as a source. USA today seemed to be more concerned on where her future career was going. The BBC seemed to be a little more shocked that she had actually quit and focused on reasons why. The New York Times didn't initially report much more than a few basic facts which showed they had little interest in the topic. The Juneau Empire, as expected, had a more "close to home" approach and focused more on the impact her leaving will have on the community.



As far as publication timing is concerned, the BBC had a in depth coverage posted very early following the breaking of the news. The New York Times was later in reporting and at first only had a small blurb on the fact and a link to the AP. They later updated the story with the exact same wording as published by USA Today from the AP. On the otherhand, Juneau Empire included not only AP releases but added extensive coverage from local reporters. The Juneau coverage was very thorough.


I was somewhat suprised that the BBC, being a foriegn source, had such in depth coverage. I was also surprised that the New York Times was somewhat late with their coverage.



In conclusion, the articles all had slightly different focuses, slants, and depth of coverage, but they were more similar than dissimilar. I find it very interesting that people often read papers that they are comfortable with for news, when many of the papers go straight to the Associated Press and repost the words almost verbatim. I thought newspapers were much more independent and had no idea the AP had that much influence on what they say in terms of both content and exact phrasing.