Week 8: The national news agency strikes

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/people-in-politics/greens-move-to-legislate-euthanasia/story-fn5oatrf-1225926203755

http://www.smh.com.au/national/greens-reignite-righttodie-debate-20100919-15hk9.html

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1357636/Greens-move-to-legalise-euthanasia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/19/3015782.htm

Articles: 19/09/2010

This week’s articles initially presented me with somewhat of a challenge. My blog’s objective has always been to “compare and contrast” news articles – those generated by different news organisations but on the same topic, to evaluate which article presents best online.

Which is why I was rendered confused after deciding on The Australian and SMH’s versions of Bob Brown’s announcement of his desire to overturn laws blocking the ACT and NT’s rights to legislate on euthanasia. Based on the headlines, I was led to believe they’d each provide their own take on the issue – “Greens move to legislate euthanasia” (The Australian) and “Greens reignite right-to-die debate” (SMH).

Also, the multimedia differed. Absolutely none in the sterile SMH article, but “Related Coverage” in The Australian, plus a handy hyperlink leading to a Bob Brown profile (did you know he was formerly a doctor who was working in a London hospital the same night an overdosed Jimi Hendrix was brought in? Neither did I). You could say I was thoroughly hoodwinked prior to reading any text that these were different articles.

However, the articles were word-for-word duplications! Yes, clearly AAP is a heavily used resource by both News Ltd (The Australian) and Fairfax (SMH), but as far as I’m concerned a bit of tweaking to at least give the impression of uniqueness wouldn’t have gone astray.

I was forced to look elsewhere for salvation – however SBS did not provide relief. Points to SBS for at least attempting to put their own stamp on the article (they rearranged some of the paragraphs!) but it’s also the exact same AAP article.

My search ended at ABC. Their article, “Brown continues fight against euthanasia ban”, not only provides a pic of an earnest looking Brown, but is a completely different article!

It is lighter on content, but is clearly the stand out player. It gives some historical context to the legislation ban issue and contains completely different quotes by Brown.

What can I say? ABC wins for originality.