This week we were asked to analyze three online sources from three different countries for few days and see how the news dealing with the political elections in Italy and in the United States was presented. I chose to read three online newspapers that I considered important and trustworthy: the American New York Times, the British BBC News and the Italian La Repubblica. Perhaps the last one is a bit partial and ‘left oriented’; however, I chose it since I sometimes read it (together with other Italian newspapers) when I surf the Net and because I decided to analyze the news regarding the candidates of the left wing: the American Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the Italian leader of the PD Walter Veltroni.
As far as The New York Times is concerned, I noticed that every day in the home page there was an article with a big attention-getting title dealing with political elections. Other pertinent links were situated at the bottom of the page mainly under the topic ‘Politics’. I read through some articles regarding the two Democratic candidates and I noticed that they were all very long and detailed. There were plenty of quotations from the candidates’ speeches and from other important public figures in America. Throughout each article there were several links to other Web sites or to the personal descriptions of the candidates; other links to correlated articles were also present on the margins of the page. There were always one or two photos of the people who were the subjects of the articles and under each image there was a clear caption. Ot the left side of the page there was also a link that allowed you to join a blog and express your opinion about elections.
Journalists spoke a lot about the political race between the two candidates of the left wing and several specific events or quotations that can affect their public image. An article, for example, dealt with the case of the inflammatory statements of Rev. Wright, who has been the Pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama was asked to express his opinion about what Rev. Wright said, since he had been his Pastor; Obama strongly criticized him and clarified that those ideas had nothing in common with his ideals and his campaign. In other articles, Obama was described as a leader that uplift national unity, whose personality is more proper to the office of president. Clinton was described as more competent, but she was criticized because she often questions Obama’s experience and thinks that he can only be a vice president.
In The New York Times it was very difficult to find news dealing with Italian political elections. They weren’t present in the home page or under the section ‘World’. If you typed the name of Italian candidates in the search bar you find few old articles, which dealt with the main political events of the past months; you could find also some short quotations or agency news, but there were no photos.
As far as the BBC News is concerned, I noticed that the US elections news was presented in the front page even if only as a small link under the topic ‘World’, ‘Other Top Stories’ or ‘America’, with no photos to catch the attention. If you clicked on the link, however, there were long and detailed articles, complete with some photos of the candidates and several related links on the right side of the Web page. As The New York Times, the British online newspaper dealt with Obama’s contempt for Rev. Wright remarks; however, the style was different. The BBC News articles were shorter than the American ones and gave a more general overview of the situation in the USA; sometimes they focussed on the racial issue, that is, the percentage of African-American or of ‘white’ that voted Obama and Clinton. I noticed other differences between the American articles and the British ones: the latter always began with a short period in bold that summed up the content of the news and than the articles were subdivided in various parts with different subtitles. As The New York Times, there were many quotations, but they weren’t always followed by comments. For all these reasons, I found the BBC News articles more easy and pleasant to read than those of The New York Times.
As far as the Italian situation is concerned, I noticed that even in the BBC News was difficult to find updated news about this topic. The only difference was that in the few articles that I found in the British newspaper there were some photos of the Italian candidates and some links to the Italian Government Website and to the Italian Parliament Website.
As far as La Repubblica is concerned, I noticed that the topic of the elections in Italy had always a space in the front page. Under the section ‘Politics’ there were a number of links to articles dealing with the political situation ordered from the more recent to the older ones. On both sides of the page there were always other hourly updated links to related articles. If you clicked on the link “Tracce dei Candidati” from the main page, you entered in a Web site entirely dedicated to the elections; here you could find a geographical map of Italy and see when and where the next public speech of the different candidates will take place. For each candidate there was also a short personal description and a list of links of articles dealing with him/her. You could find the list of candidates for the parliament and the Senate from each Region and several graphics, polls, and also a ‘popularity chart’ daily updated.
I read through some articles dealing with Veltroni and I saw that there were always a subtitle that summed the main points of the content and then the text was often subdivided in sections according to the different aspects of the news. Photos were not always present; however, they represented either Veltroni and his main opponent, Berlusconi. A detail caught my attention and made me think that this newspaper is a bit partial: in some articles, on the left side of the page, there was a big blinking image that suggested you to vote the left wing.
Generally speaking, the news dealt with the main problems of the country: the national security, the relationships with other countries, the way our troops in Afghanistan and Lebanon should be employed, the issue of the short-term jobs, the proposal of a minimum salary and of a reduction of taxes.
Unlike The New York Times and the BBC News, in which the news dealing with the Italian political situations were hard to find, in La Repubblica there was link in the front page dealing with the elections in the US. If you clicked on the link you entered a Web page which was entirely dedicated to the American elections. There was a big photo of Obama, perhaps because the political program of the Italian left wing (Veltroni) is similar to that of the Democrat Obama. On the left side there were the photos of the American candidates, their personal description, the good and weak points of their campaign. At the bottom of the page there were also the main themes of the American campaign (health care, abortion, immigration, climatic changes, Iraq, Iran) and you could read what the various candidates think about them. On the left side there were other links that allowed you to deepen your knowledge about the political situation in the US. Some articles dealing with the American elections were present also in the section ‘Esteri’.
Veronica
As far as The New York Times is concerned, I noticed that every day in the home page there was an article with a big attention-getting title dealing with political elections. Other pertinent links were situated at the bottom of the page mainly under the topic ‘Politics’. I read through some articles regarding the two Democratic candidates and I noticed that they were all very long and detailed. There were plenty of quotations from the candidates’ speeches and from other important public figures in America. Throughout each article there were several links to other Web sites or to the personal descriptions of the candidates; other links to correlated articles were also present on the margins of the page. There were always one or two photos of the people who were the subjects of the articles and under each image there was a clear caption. Ot the left side of the page there was also a link that allowed you to join a blog and express your opinion about elections.
Journalists spoke a lot about the political race between the two candidates of the left wing and several specific events or quotations that can affect their public image. An article, for example, dealt with the case of the inflammatory statements of Rev. Wright, who has been the Pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama was asked to express his opinion about what Rev. Wright said, since he had been his Pastor; Obama strongly criticized him and clarified that those ideas had nothing in common with his ideals and his campaign. In other articles, Obama was described as a leader that uplift national unity, whose personality is more proper to the office of president. Clinton was described as more competent, but she was criticized because she often questions Obama’s experience and thinks that he can only be a vice president.
In The New York Times it was very difficult to find news dealing with Italian political elections. They weren’t present in the home page or under the section ‘World’. If you typed the name of Italian candidates in the search bar you find few old articles, which dealt with the main political events of the past months; you could find also some short quotations or agency news, but there were no photos.
As far as the BBC News is concerned, I noticed that the US elections news was presented in the front page even if only as a small link under the topic ‘World’, ‘Other Top Stories’ or ‘America’, with no photos to catch the attention. If you clicked on the link, however, there were long and detailed articles, complete with some photos of the candidates and several related links on the right side of the Web page. As The New York Times, the British online newspaper dealt with Obama’s contempt for Rev. Wright remarks; however, the style was different. The BBC News articles were shorter than the American ones and gave a more general overview of the situation in the USA; sometimes they focussed on the racial issue, that is, the percentage of African-American or of ‘white’ that voted Obama and Clinton. I noticed other differences between the American articles and the British ones: the latter always began with a short period in bold that summed up the content of the news and than the articles were subdivided in various parts with different subtitles. As The New York Times, there were many quotations, but they weren’t always followed by comments. For all these reasons, I found the BBC News articles more easy and pleasant to read than those of The New York Times.
As far as the Italian situation is concerned, I noticed that even in the BBC News was difficult to find updated news about this topic. The only difference was that in the few articles that I found in the British newspaper there were some photos of the Italian candidates and some links to the Italian Government Website and to the Italian Parliament Website.
As far as La Repubblica is concerned, I noticed that the topic of the elections in Italy had always a space in the front page. Under the section ‘Politics’ there were a number of links to articles dealing with the political situation ordered from the more recent to the older ones. On both sides of the page there were always other hourly updated links to related articles. If you clicked on the link “Tracce dei Candidati” from the main page, you entered in a Web site entirely dedicated to the elections; here you could find a geographical map of Italy and see when and where the next public speech of the different candidates will take place. For each candidate there was also a short personal description and a list of links of articles dealing with him/her. You could find the list of candidates for the parliament and the Senate from each Region and several graphics, polls, and also a ‘popularity chart’ daily updated.
I read through some articles dealing with Veltroni and I saw that there were always a subtitle that summed the main points of the content and then the text was often subdivided in sections according to the different aspects of the news. Photos were not always present; however, they represented either Veltroni and his main opponent, Berlusconi. A detail caught my attention and made me think that this newspaper is a bit partial: in some articles, on the left side of the page, there was a big blinking image that suggested you to vote the left wing.
Generally speaking, the news dealt with the main problems of the country: the national security, the relationships with other countries, the way our troops in Afghanistan and Lebanon should be employed, the issue of the short-term jobs, the proposal of a minimum salary and of a reduction of taxes.
Unlike The New York Times and the BBC News, in which the news dealing with the Italian political situations were hard to find, in La Repubblica there was link in the front page dealing with the elections in the US. If you clicked on the link you entered a Web page which was entirely dedicated to the American elections. There was a big photo of Obama, perhaps because the political program of the Italian left wing (Veltroni) is similar to that of the Democrat Obama. On the left side there were the photos of the American candidates, their personal description, the good and weak points of their campaign. At the bottom of the page there were also the main themes of the American campaign (health care, abortion, immigration, climatic changes, Iraq, Iran) and you could read what the various candidates think about them. On the left side there were other links that allowed you to deepen your knowledge about the political situation in the US. Some articles dealing with the American elections were present also in the section ‘Esteri’.
Veronica
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