I read both Al Jazeera and CNN's coverage of the prison fire that occurred in Honduras early this morning, Feburary 15, 2012. There were several noticeable differences between the networks' coverages of the story. Firstly, CNN's coverage of the story included quotes from witnesses and information about how the families of the inmates were reacting to the blaze. Al Jazeera's coverage stated only facts and quotes from officials. They did not include any witness accounts or reactions.
Also, CNN's version of the story included information relating to how the United States government has felt about the conditions of the prisons in recent years, while, again, the Al Jazeera story stated primarily facts about the blaze. To me, that shows a difference in how these two cultures handle international situations. The Al Jazeera story left out any inclination of how the Arabic community or government is reacting to the prison fire. I wouldn't say that it is a bad difference for either network to have in their coverage, but it is present in their coverage.
CNN's coverage of the fire also contains facts about the prison conditions and prisoner treatment, such as not providing adequate food for prisoners, including how human rights groups have responded to the treatment and conditions, and how they were trying to change them. Al Jazeera's coverage did not include the conditions of the prison, but did mention that there have been several prisoner riots over the last few years, a fact that CNN left out. To me, this shows a bias in the way both cultures treat their prisoners. Al Jazeera almost has a no mercy approach to the story, while CNN tries to evoke an emotion from the reader by describing the conditions of the prison and the families' reactions to the fire.
Despite the differences in the tone of the articles, both networks delivered the same facts about the blaze to the readers. All of CNN's facts about the fire lined up with the facts that Al Jazeera presented, and vice versa. However, the networks differed on their delivery of the information to their respective audience.
Katie -- there are some nice details in this essay. Continue to work on your vocabulary and word choices. "Coverages," for example, is not a word. I think you might have used "treatments" or something along those lines. I would also suggest not starting a paragraph with the word "also." Your introduction needs a thesis statement.
ReplyDeletePlease try to write your posts in third person; I'm trying to help my students develop their declarative, third person voice.