An injury of a batsman during a cricket match, a car accident, and the new venture of a famous company, are among some of the important contents of the news which is displayed via the different forms of media. Regardless of the vigilance, presence and the pace which are the primary principles for a successful news channel, the quest of getting more viewers and the highest rating often results in a fallacy. Despite the doubtful reliable news reports, newscasts and news stories have a special importance in the life of every individual which does not only help people with their school assignments and business trends, but it also caters to every single facet of life. For instance, it is the news which tells people about an expected calamity similar to the newscast about traffic jams and victory scores. Therefore, media plays a significant role in delivering information to the greater population by making them aware about latest fashion, the business trends, endorsements, launches, weather, sports, and touches upon the everyday aspect of the global world. Furthermore, in the digitalized age of today, this function of media which was previously propagated through television, radio and newspaper/magazine, has expanded to take upon the form of the internet, cell phone and other high-tech devices. With this explosion, apart from the increased interest in following news stories, the associated media consequences such as discrepancies have also risen.
In order to look at the varying content of the newscasts as presented by different mediums, this paper aims to explore a newscast from the television and from the internet. In this way, the content of the two stories extracted from different sources could be analyzed for their strategies, biases, credibility and content. For this purpose, the newscast titled as ‘Maria Sharapova’s taste for business’ aired on 24th June, 2013 on CNN television channel (Quest, 2013) along with the online newscast; ‘Is it time to find a date online?’ (Bloomberg, 2013) added on the Bloomberg website on 24th June, 2013 would be analyzed. CNN and Bloomberg, having their television channel as well as news websites, are considered to be authentic and widely followed news sources.
‘Maria Sharapova’s taste for business’ (Quest, 2013) depicts the story of the famous tennis player who is acknowledged to be the No.1 player and female earner in the newscast. Mentioning the ‘female’ earner does not add into gender biasness or a stereotypical view as it was incorporated to further clarify the stats on earnings. Also, the statistics put forward by this news story do not appear to be fabricated as it is authenticated and mentioned in several other articles and newscasts (Liza, 2012). Though the story was precise and short, it served its purpose of bringing out the details about Maria Sharapova’s entrepreneurial expertise. The newscast talks about the launch of Sharapova’s candy line known as Sugarpova. Following the introduction, the newscast was based on an interview with Maria Sharapova which was taken by Richard Quest. Quest (2013) introduced the candy line as depicting the complete image of Sharapova; a designer, entrepreneur and a taster. Despite the initial outline and representation of the candies given by Richard Quest, the newscast showed captions which depicted names such as Flirty and Sporty Mix (Quest, 2013). These captions were in line with the former description about Sharapova that was being made which added a little biasness in relating the names to describe Maria Sharapova. Instead of incorporating the names, asking Sharapova about her candies would have reduced the biasness and the association made between the launched line and Sharapova’s Personality.
The interview was quite brief where Maria Sharapova talked about her childhood dream of becoming a Wimbledon winner. Also, Sharapova continued to talk about the accomplishments which often made her look at her past which was a key to motivating the audience towards achieving their goals and striving for their dreams. In a short interview, Maria Sharapova outlined her beliefs, preferences and dreams. Upon asking Sharapova about the launch of her candy line; Sugarpova, she responded with a true spirit and determination of an entrepreneur. According to Sharapova, playing a small role in endorsements was not what she wanted. It was her own line that would give her the power to make decisions and to own something. It was her effort of two years which finally resulted in the launch of Sugarpova (Quest, 2013).
The newscast revealing the message of hard work, determination and dream, was targeted to attract buyers. The newscast aided in the marketing of Sugarpova. This was especially conspicuous from the juicy names such as Flirty and Candy Mix which were flashed on the television. Also, displaying its launch in USA and by adding pictures of Sharapova with her candy line, added a source of inspiration for the buyers who would be greatly appealed just by the brand of Sharapova (Quest, 2013). Since people generally tend to identify with celebrities, a launch by the top tennis player ultimately strikes the charm of an advertisement. Also, the content of the newscast appears to be authentic as it reported a fact. The launch of Sugarpova has been a part of publications and news channels since long. Publications such as Maria Sharapova’s: Candy Line by Liza (2012) clearly states the names and the descriptions of the launched candies as provided by Sharapova herself. Also, the article mentions the price of the candies to be $5 per 5-oz bag as reported by the CNN newscast and other channels (Liza, 2012).
In a similar way, the authentication of the newscast titled as ‘Is it time to find a date online?’ (Bloomberg, 2013) is evident from the use of charts and corresponding figures in associated to existing reliable sources while comparing the online versus offline relationships. This is seen by mentioning a research conducted by the University of Chicago in 2013 that examined the online versus offline interesting findings for marriages that took place between 2005 and 2012. The study reveals that as compared to the 7.6 percent of the couples who met offline specifically randomly in a bar or somewhere else, a lesser percentage of about 6 percent of online couples report to have broken up. In a similar way, couples who had met online had were more satisfied with their marriage as compared to those who met offline. Also, the newscast listed that 45 percent of the couples who had met their spouse online, met them through online dating sites such as Harmony, match.com, Yahoo and more. The use of charts, statistics, and existing online dating websites proof that the data put forward by Bloomberg is substantial. This is further conspicuous through the availability of the corresponding research conducted by the University of Chicago which is not only present on the university’s news website (Harms, 2013), but also on other online forums. Incorporating names such as Harmony and Yahoo included a marketing perspective as depicted by the news story which made the audience aware of the success rate of online dating and marriage specifically through the websites which were listed (Bloomberg, 2013).
As compared to the newscast presented by CNN; Maria Sharapova’s taste for business (Quest, 2013) which could be said to have slight biasness thereby adopting a gender stereotypical role because of the connection between the names of the candies and Sharapova’s personality, the online newscast presented by Bloomberg (2103) simply presented a research without making any alterations. In contrast, the expressions and the tone of the newscasters along with the judgmental gestures regarding finding spouses online added to the society’s stereotypes and prejudices. This could be reduced by simply stating the already conducted study or by adding in an interview of the researcher without making any assumptions and claims (Bloomberg, 2013).
Also, as compared to the actual research and its findings which are available online, the newscast briefly mentioned the study (Harms, 2013). In this way, it missed out important details such as the sample size and other determinants of the success of online marriages. In addition, the presenter ended the news story on an unexplained finding about older individuals specifically between 30-39 years of age to share a greater percentage out of the total people who found their spouses online (Harms, 2013). For this purpose, the abrupt ending with a new finding gave an incomplete picture of the news story. By focusing upon a proper format with slightly more detailed news story would have added value to the newscast presented online by Bloomberg (2013).
While looking at the newscast at the Bloomberg (2013) website that talked about the ratio and the consequent satisfaction of online marriages as compared to offline relationships, the power of the internet is quite obvious. In other words, over the number of years, media has expanded to a number of mediums. The previous homes with televisions and radios are now filled with internet, tablets, cell phones and other high-tech devices which make it easier to access news. In this regard, it is not only the democracies, but almost every part of the globe experiences the changing role of the media where media convergence has given the World Wide web and the internet a great power to connect people, shape public opinion and impact every aspect of life (Bruce, 2003). From the localized version of news as in the case of television and radio which did not entertain feedback, the internet fosters a forum where public can participate in designing policies, forming opinions and get insights. Interestingly, the ruler of Dubai; Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has been awarded the Social Media Personality of the Year in 2011. Through his online communication, Sheikh Muhammad was able to interact with the citizens of his society which made him succeed in several initiatives such as the Global Entrepreneurial Summit and Tejar Dubai (Rincon, 2005).
As a matter of fact, the internet has expanded to such an extent that it continues to post the news that is the part of almost all forms of media. Famous news websites have their blogs which invite public opinion. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter do not only include information that is shared by individuals, but key leaders, activists, celebrities and politicians are active on such social networking website. Internet as compared to other forms of media is seen to play a significant role in shaping public as well as government opinion (Bagdikian, 2000). This can be greatly assessed by the part played by the Internet especially during a country’s election campaign. The 2013 elections which took place in Pakistan speaks about the power of the internet where the youth was highly involved in sharing their views about politicians and the political parties they chose. Also, posting numerous rigging videos online resulted in re-election in certain constituencies (Tisdall, 2013). In a similar way, the strength of the internet can also be viewed in the case of Arab Spring which took its root from this form of the media (Bhuiyan, 2011). On contrary, being an easily accessible mode of media, internet is also seen to face the consequence of fabrication and fake content which often makes individual ponder upon the credibility of news stories shared online. Regardless of this, greatly contributing in a revolution and political campaign points out at the way the World Wide Web and internet affect politics as compared to the other forms of media.
Thus, the current media explosion whereby which the previous media platforms such as the television and the radio has further expanded into the form of internet and cell phones, give media a more influential power to dictate lives. News which is important in relation to its function of spreading awareness in regard to different dimensions of life has spread to the different forms of media where internet is seen to be the emerging powerful force. With the advent of different media forms, public opinion has caught more attention and value. However, mediums such as the Internet are also seen in terms of skepticism when it comes to its credibility. Regardless of the authenticity of the content, media continues to play a significant role in not only shaping public opinion, but also has an impact on the government, the society and the whole world.
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