Journal #2 – Media Audiences

The national news story that will be examined is O.J. Simpson being arrested in Las, Vegas, NV for an alleged armed robbery attempt.

Newspaper
The newspaper article chosen was from The San Jose Mercury News. The article titled “Video of Simpson Incident Surfaces,” was located in the first section of the paper, on page five. This story appeared on Tuesday, September 18, 2007, two days after the incident happened. The article was located at the top of the page surrounding a huge color advertisement. Taking up one side column of the page and about a half of another column, the article was not lengthy. Next to the lead of the article, a small picture of the mug shot of Simpson from the Nevada jail and a caption that read, “Football legend still being held without bail in Clark County jail.” The article sited a source of the audio tape, TMZ.com. Also quoted as a source Alfred Beardsley who was to broker the sale for the collector Bruce Fromong. Although Bruce Fromong was not directly used as a source in this article, he was quoted from an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Television News
Television news reporter Chris Jansing conducted interviews with legal analysts to shed light on this incident. The total time for the story was 4 minutes and 55 seconds. Jansing summarized the events that happened with this incident and then introduced legal analysis Susan Filan. Filan commentated on what the charges against Simpson were and what type of punishment he might face. Audiotape was also played and discussed the ethics of the tape being released to media outlets. Milton grimes, a criminal defense attorney, was also introduced to give his analysis on the incident. Much of the conversation was about the audiotape from the incident. During the story, Jensing reported that the celebrity website, TMZ.com was given the tape by Thomas Ricco, who secretively taped the incident. The New York Times claims TMZ paid for the audiotape, according to this report. This was more of an analysis of the charges being filed or that could be filed. The newscast was also able to play the audio tape being discussed and show video of the key players involved in the incident.

Web
The story, “Simpson Faces 7 Felonies, Including Kidnapping” from MSN.com is lengthy adding up to almost 550 words. Since this article came out after the newspaper article and television newscast, it had more up to date information. The article mainly focused on the fact that charges had been formally filed in the case and that kidnapping was one of the charges. This means the Simpson could face life in jail if convicted. The article quoted sources such as police spokesman Officer Ramon Denby. The article also quote the interview from ABC’s “Good Morning America” this time from Walter Alexander, considered accomplices in the case. This has many similarities to print and to broadcast. It is much too long for broadcast, but at the same time sounds like a newscast if read aloud.

Overall I felt that web based news has the advantage over television and print. Online news is up to the minute, can include not only print media but also sound and video to go along with the story. The newspaper gave initial information pertaining to the case. Television gave more information than the newspaper. However, the web gave more current and up to the minute information. I was even able to launch a video to show me more visuals of the incident. Even though all three outlets, newspaper, television and web, are all good sources for news information, each one is vastly different than the next in its information sharing and delivery.

Word Count: 595