International Media and Me

Part of becoming excellent at my trade is learning from the masters. It is helpful to observe the many unique news outlets. In this exercise for Foundations, I'll take a look at three different international sources and their approach to news: BBC, Deutsche Welle, and France 24.

In comparison to the typical American news outlet, many European news sources have a broader view of the world and include all of Europe instead of just their specific country. Like the NYT and the Washington Post, which I discussed earlier, these companies use the internet's ability to display multimedia.

At a glance, the three sources seem to have somewhat similar goals. Each of the three displayed a story about the upcoming UK inquiry into the war on Iraq. Clearly, each thought it was an important topic, although it only affected the UK. Each story had shared sources, but differed in form.

The BBC, which has the most at stake in the story, broadcasted the public hearings live in conjunction with their article. They also included blocks with details such as upcoming witnesses and a timeline.

DW's story had many pictures and captions incorporated into their article, but no other multimedia. However, they did set their sub-head significantly apart from the story. This allows the reader to see what the story is about at a glance.

France 24 used a wire report on the situation. They only had one picture within the article. They did have a link to a related article, which was helpful. The site also allowed comments that would be published, unlike the previous two sites.

In general, the three companies seem to have many different takes on journalism. The BBC utilizes audio and slideshows within their stories, giving them a well-developed feel. They make use of video in conjunction with many stories. They also have a segment that I particularly enjoy: “One-Minute World News.” Updated regularly, it gives the latest news for the hour.

DW works less with video multimedia. They are careful to incorporate pictures in a detailed way into most articles, allowing the reader to glimpse them as they read. DW also works with radio journalism. Similar to the “One-Minute” feature, you can listen to the world headlines at the top of every hour on their site.

France 24 has the most seamless integration out of all of the websites. They incorporate video into many of their stories. Oftentimes the video is displayed as a photo, with a play button in the corner. Articles often have more than one video. France 24 makes strong use of video to support each story.

The thing that stuck out to me through this exercise was the awareness that the rest of the world thinks on a more global scale than the US. Take any of these sources and compare them to an American news outlet, and you'll see that they have a broader perspective. As part of my striving to excel, I must broaden my view as well.