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The Causes And Consequences Of The Media

Good Essays

Catalonia was an interesting news story to cover, particularly because of its European implications. “The Guardian” newspaper, “Sky News” channel and “Aljazeera.com” are three distinct platforms I selected to monitor. This is mainly because of their reputation and political dissimilarities. These UK-based media platforms were expected, in such a case of Catalonia, to report this story in depth. My analysis of the coverage will follow the chronological order of these platforms, which is the same historical appearance of newspapers, television and Internet. This may also facilitate how we understand the strengths and weaknesses of each medium in covering this Spanish crisis. “The Guardian” is centre-left and favoured among Labour Party …show more content…

Even the space for his speech was very short (4th October). On the other hand, the Guardian included a picture of a pro-Spain rally in Barcelona and quoted from Spanish leaders. Bias, if it was so, can be also seen in attributing ordinary Catalan people, which were divided over independence. Even when the correspondents quoted what a pro-Spain thinks in page 4 (2nd October), it was a woman that changed her position to support the independence because she was pulled out by the police. “Sky News”, which is described as a pro-conservative according to the media blog (2010), treated the event quite differently. For instance, the report in “Sky News at 10” (2nd October) included a sound-bite of a pro-Spain Catalan to balance the news story. This may reflect impartiality in this outlet coverage, but it is not easy to say so. In this report and others, the correspondents insisted on the division of Catalans, which “The Guardian” ignored in the background. The report reminded the viewers that although the Catalan authorities declared that 90% of voters supported the independence, only 40% voted in that referendum. This statement of an interesting fact can communicate the story clearly to the audience. The focus of reports was on protests and police violence; however, the Correspondent’s report from Barcelona in “Sky News at 11” (3rd October) included a sound-bite of the Spanish king speech. Although

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