Compare and Contrast News Sites

The three news websites that I chose to compare and contrast were Google News (http://www.news.google.com), New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com) and BBC News(http://news.bbc.co.uk/). My goal was to look at websites that may not be as popular as CNN or MSN. The most obvious similarity between the three websites was their primary stories. Not surprisingly, the theme of the news seemed to be politics and the war in Iraq. Another similarity was their target audience of well-educated, middle-class viewers. They also had a similar format and style. Out of the three, BBC had the most appealing layout with more color and organization. BBC also did something different than your typical U.S. news website and divided the stories by country and/or topic rather than just topic. BBC took a much more global approach to news than Google News or New York Times. As an American it is typical to assume that all major U.S. news websites are unbiased. However, I learned that U.S. news tends to focus only on news stories that directly relate to or affect the U.S. in particular, even if the story occurs in another country. I would consider both Google News and New York Times to be unbiased and in accordance to the “Murrow standard” of being fair and balanced. Nonetheless, the BBC website was by far the most unbiased on a global scale. In regard to top stories, the three websites also differed. Google News’ top story was “Two Strong Democrats head for funds face-off”, New York Times’ top story was “Iraqi death toll exceeded 34,000 in ’06 U.N. Says” and BBC’s top story was “Israel’s military chief resigns.” I was surprised to see that every single website that I viewed (beyond just these three) had a different headlining story. It seems peculiar that they would all differ on their opinion of the most “newsworthy” story. Out of the three sites that I viewed I would likely use the BBC website if I wanted a more world-wide perspective. However, if I was particularly interested in U.S. news I would view the New York Times site. I think it just depends on what the viewer is looking for.