Comparing Mediums: Television vs Print

Whether the news be in print, on the radio, or on television, they all have the same job which is to get the facts out. However, all three mediums have different ways of doing it. Television and print have similarities and differences that make them both useful and helpful in digesting information we receive from the media.
 After watching a CBS video about the recent rise of protest and violence in Libya, there are a couple of things to take in. The actual footage taken from people at the scene in Libya gave me a feel of what is happening without actually being there. That is something print is unable to fully accomplish. Although, photographs paired with print stories can often give readers a good feel of what is happening as well.
 The video medium is also able to give more of a background story than print. This is probably because video can keep an average person's attention span for a longer amount of time than print could in this day and age. Print has to get the facts straight across to the reader. Being too wordy is not attractive for a hard news print story. However, on television and video stories the anchor or narrator needs to sound intelligent and be able to tell a more complete story to the consumer.
 Comparing the CBS video from above with a New York Times article, the article included a lot more sources than the video did. There are quotes from everyone ranging from protesters to politicians, to researchers. The video did have a teacher speak on camera and a phone interview with a doctor. This shows that the video medium is more "on the scene" and reporting what they see. While on the other hand, the print medium is more thought out and processed news.

News Photo with an Impact

From Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

There are pictures everywhere every day in the media, especially in the news. Photographs often help tell to explain a story, or sometimes explain the story on their own. The saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" certainly holds true, especially in this picture from August 7th, 1930 in Marion, Indiana. The two men shown lynched are Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. They were both accused of robbing and murdering a white man, then raping his girlfriend. A mob broke both of the accused out of jail the next day, beat them, and then Shipp and Smith were both hanged. Studio photographer Lawrence Beitler took the picture. This photo did an extraordinary job of capturing one of the darker times this country has gone through. There are a lot of faces in this crowd surrounding the bodies of Shipp and Smith, but none of them seem to be very remorseful. It appears that most of the crowd is busy staring at the bodies, however the people that are looking at the camera seem to be just fine with what just happened and some even seem to be enjoying themselves. One man in the middle is even pointing up towards the bodies as if to make sure that they are the focus of the shot. There is a large sense of indifference as to what just happened throughout the crowd.  This photo is not just a picture of two bodies hanging from a tree though. This is a portrait of racism in the 1930's captured in just one picture.