Two Views, One Plan: Feb. 22, 2010

There is one debate that has been raging since before Obama took office... Health Care. On Feb. 22, I grabbed two articles, one by CNN and the other by Fox, and sat down with them. I wanted to analyze the coverage of health care on that day to see what someone reading on Feb. 22 would be exposed to from both sides. I looked at the layout of each article and assessing their headlines, content, word choice, and overall slant to try and understand the frame of each article. I have ruled that the Fox News article was less partisan (though still conservative) than CNN which has taken a more leftist view. I have the analysis to prove it.


HEADLINES

Headlines are important. they are the most important thing on a newspaper or website. In fact, 44 percent of Google users just skim headlines without ever reading the articles.

CNN- How Obama wants to pay for health reform

CNN's headline was pretty straight forward, however, the use of the word "reform" can be touchy. A reform is a beneficial change, and by saying reform instead of plan gives the image that it is necessarily a good idea. However, the headline is a good because they could have easily written a headline from the first paragraph about how the health care plan would reduce the deficit by $100 billion.

Fox-White House Talks Compromise, but GOP Claims Health Care Plan is Merely Camouflage

I gave Fox a break (I beat up on them a lot). When analyzing their headline, I did not use the headline that lead to the article which read "Health Compromise - or Camouflage?". In this headline there are three powerful verbs, "talks", "claims", and "is", arranged in a way that makes the White House seem shady and non-trasparent (who knows? They might be).

ARTICLE ARRANGEMENT

Article arrange is important because of the 56 percent of reader left, many of them stop reading after the first few sentences. I looked at what the article mention in the first sentence and then measured the distance between that and the first opposing point in the article.

CNN's First sentence- "President Obama unveiled a $950 billion proposal for reforming health care Monday, and promised that the plan is fully paid for and would even reduce the deficit in 10 years."

Anyone walking away from the article would assume that Obama's health care was a good idea. It's not until 7 long sentences later that the article mentions that some of the changes to the health care policy aren't free. In fact, the article reads like a big advertisement for Obama's health care plan, at one point it even referring to it as a "supermarket" where customers can "easily comparison shop". Let's see what Fox has to say...

Fox's First sentence- "The White House issued proposals Monday for Health care reform that have won kudos from several Democratic lawmakers, a sure sign, say Republicans, of how little GOP input is in the plan."

Fox's first sentence is a far more subdued than its headline. I believe Fox played a straighter hand than CNN in this respect because it put the comments from the White House in defense of it's actions earlier in the story (5 sentences instead of 7).

OVERALL TONE

CNN's piece reads like a big advertisement for Obama's health care plan at first, then it goes into detail (at length) about the specifics of the plan. by going into the specifics, however, you runoff any one than is afraid of numbers, leaving them with the impressions left from the first 8 sentences. Not that the health care plan is a bad idea, CNN just positions it as too good to be true. The difference between the first half of CNN's article and the second is striking. It goes from relating the health care plan to something simple, like shopping at a super market, then it jumps straight into heavy numbers and technical jargon. This sudden shift could be an attempt to try and keep the people that know very little about the mechanics of health care on Obama's side.

Fox's article, although a little skewed to the right, is more fair in it's assessment of it's particular situation because it shows opposing opinions earlier in the story. Fox still uses some inflamatory statements like "Indeed in it's efforts to appear bipartisan", but the article lays out several items that the White House has incorporated into the bill from the Republican agenda.

REMARKS

Although these articles are talking about different aspects of the health care debate, it is important to compare them because what the news determines on a particular day (Feb. 22), affects it's readers outlook on the situation. Fox talked about the White Houses unwillingness to compromise and CNN talked about the financial benefit of the plan. When two of their respective readers come together, they will be under totally different frames of mind.

CNN: The News in Color

This past week, I talked to Michele Thorton, CNN's Director of Multi-Cultural Sales, at a CNN industry immersion in New York City. She stated that 40 percent of CNN's viewers were minorities. As America's population becomes more diverse, CNN's audience will also. Does this demographic statistic affect the way the news is covered by CNN? Maybe...


CNN's viewership is 40 percent minority as of 2010. With the minority population in America expecting to outnumber the majority in 2050, it isn't a stretch to believe that CNN's viewership will reflect that in the coming years (They've already hit 40 percent). Michele elaborated on the issue while mixing the effect of advertising dollars into the equation. She said, CNN is bringing people the news, but at the end of the day, CNN is still about making money.


In 2009, CNN aired two documentaries by Soledad O'brien, "Black in America 2" and "Latino in America". Michele said that this was designed specifically with its viewers in mind. Michele said that CNN has even tossed around the idea of doing a "Gay in America"; it's all about ad revenue. So, let's do a bit of logic:

A) CNN's viewership will near 50 percent minority
B) Advertisers will only go with CNN if they feel CNN is reaching it customers
C) Minorities will only watch CNN if they feel CNN caters to their needs


If we believe that MSNBC is the liberal station while Fox News is the Conservative station, could CNN be the minority news station? All signs point to "yes" when you look at CNN's web site compared to MSNBC and Fox; CNN is the only one that offers its news in other languages. CNN even has a site in spanish, CNN en Espanol, directly targeting Hispanic Americans. The August 2007 issue of "Ebony" magazine the article "the big newscasts and the Black anchors who deliver them" said that CNN had the most black anchors-8; Fox had none. Along with the "____________ in America" series, CNN has also produced "Black Men in the Age of President Obama", a show targeted directly at Black audiences.

With these factors considered, can one assume CNN takes the minority side of every issue? I mean, their success depends on it. We can't jump to that conclusion because it is the "news"; every situation can't be slanted with a minority angle. But, in certain debates, like the immigration debate or inner city education, it would be hard to refute the effect of the minority viewership on CNN.

CNN's multi-cultural approach is worth noting because it might give us insight into the future of newscasting. CNN's viewship already represents what America will look like in 20 years. Multi-cultural programming and newscasters are a staple in CNN's positioning. Watching CNN is like looking through the lens of the future...