Comparing Media (300-500 words): Instructions: Compare the news coverage of a single national news story by examining its same-day coverage in different types of news media (compare at least three), as follows:  Newspaper: How long is/are the article(s) on this issues? How many sources are quoted? How many articles are there? Are the stories accompanied by charts, graphs or photos? If you are using the newspaper as one of your mediums, it must be an actual newspaper -- NOT the online version. Television: How many minutes is the story? How many sources are quoted? How does the detail provided on television news compare to the newspaper? National Public Radio (or another radio program that includes national news): How long is the story? How many sources are quoted? How is the coverage on radio and television similar? How are they different? Does the radio story use background sound and/or interviews to change “the scene” in the listener’s mind? Online News: How does online news coverage of this issue compare? How long is the story? How many sources? Is it more like print or broadcast coverage? Or different from both? Write an interesting and engaging lead. Be sure to address the questions raised in the examples above in your story. Follow the inverted pyramid style and use your AP stylebook. Example No. 1 Every four years on a night when the lights never fade and the screams never die, the United States has a civil war known as “The First Presidential Debate.” Different types of media offered full coverage of this battle for the title of commander in chief. Television screens, laptops and smartphones streamed the race to more than 80 million viewers for an intense 90 minutes. Afterward, NBC News commented on the surrealism behind the face-off and debated over the winner of the night for 15 minutes. The television story included four segments from the debate as well as statistics on public reaction to the debate. NBC television reporters were more biased in their debate coverage than The Washington Post story on the debate. The Post made the debate story its lead story, used a banner headline and a four column photo of Trump. The newspaper devoted 18 inches to the story on the front page and jumped inside with another 16 inches. Social media outlets such as Twitter questioned the integrity behind many of Trump’s statements Fact checking emerged as a new phenomenon during the debate rather than later. Unlike print or broadcast coverage, the Twitter feeds during the clash were flooded with sarcastic humor and angry rhetoric in less than 140 characters. In one instance, Trump had stumbled into a retweet nightmare from his deleted post. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” Many on Twitter did not hold back on filtering their opinion while television and newspaper stories were not so opinionated.  The National Public Radio station discussed the candidates’ composures for morning commuters. More than 17 minutes were dedicated to the debate within a 30-minute broadcast. A balanced mixture of the candidates’ sound bites and opinions by Scott Horsley set the mood. “He is the outsider, and she is the status quo.” After a short traffic update, Trump supporters shared their lukewarm feelings while Clinton supporters expressed a winning attitude. These interviews changed the scene to try alleviating independent voter mindsets. Through each medium, a clear distinction can be drawn from the story of Trump versus Clinton. The Washington Post offered the best coverage of the debate because the reporting was not opinionated and dealt with just the facts. Example No. 2 Forty gun-related deaths have taken place in Chicago within the last month. This story has been explored over many different forms of media. From coverage of President Barack Obama’s speech on gun control to coverage of the slaying of a young woman, radio, television and print have been addressing this issue in several different ways. National Public Radio covered the issue by interviewing three different people. The coverage of this story was a half hour long and consisted of interviews with eight different people. NPR had the most interviews out of any other medium explored. Something that was different about NPR’s interviews is that the news show was taking calls from listeners about what each individual is doing to stop gun violence in their own communities. No tactics were used to change “the scene” in the duration of the radio story. Television and online news coverage more so addressed only the problem and Obama’s reaction rather than giving the public a voice. The online news article is 454 words long, and can be viewed on a single screen.   No outside sources were interviewed. The writer claims she is well educated on the subject and has done research to support it. Online news is more comparable to television coverage and much different than radio. Television coverage of this story mainly discussed President Obama’s speech on gun control and how that affects the rest of the nation.   The story was 3 minutes and 30 seconds in length. The reporter interviewed one person and it was the bulk of the television story. In general, television coverage was more in-depth on one specific subject rather than covering the entirety of the story. Overall, radio was the most complete and well-researched medium covering this story. Observing these three types of media made it clear that each has its own method of telling a story.