1. Writing Workshop Writing a Compare-Contrast Essay
Assignment
Prewriting
Select a News Event
Compare and Contrast Coverage
Form a Thesis
Organize Your Essay
Practice and Apply

2. Comparison-Contrast Essay: Assignment
Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the coverage of a single news event by three different news media outlets.

3. Comparing Media Coverage
Where do you get your news? From TV news shows? From articles in newspapers? From news magazines/papers? From the Internet?
You’ve probably noticed that each of these media presents information in a different way. Have you ever stopped to wonder why?

4. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Select a News Event
Look for major national or international events that interest you. I strongly suggest that you choose an event that relates to your social issue, but it is not required.
1. Choose an event.

5. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Select a News Event
2. Watch a national news program or read a national newspaper.
3. Survey other media—magazines, radio programs, Internet sites—to find additional coverage of that event.

6. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
No two news media report an event the same way. Every news story is shaped and limited by:
the technology used
the traditions of the medium itself
people (writers, editors, directors, producers)

7. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Think about ways a TV news story might differ from an Internet news story or an article in a news magazine.
TV News
Internet
Magazine/Paper
dramatic video and audio
usually short
little coverage of related information
images, audio clips, and/or video clips
more in-depth coverage
links to related information
still images only, no audio
more in-depth coverage
sources for further information

8. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Compare the coverage of one event by each media source.
Questions to Ask When Comparing News Media
Attention-getting techniques
How are images, words, and sounds arranged to get the audience’s attention?

9. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Questions to Ask When Comparing News Media
Objectivity
Is the main subject portrayed objectively, or is there a positive or negative slant?
If two people or groups are involved, does the story give the impression that one side is more honorable or honest than the other?

10. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Questions to Ask When Comparing News Media
Complexity
Does the story provide background information?
Does it help you see how this event fits into a bigger picture?
Does the story present multiple points of view? What types of sources are interviewed?

11. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Questions to Ask When Comparing News Media
Sequence of information
How does the story begin and end?
What kinds of details make up the bulk of the story—interviews, facts, dramatic images, others?

12. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Questions to Ask When Comparing News Media
Emotional impact
Does the story seem to be designed to arouse a certain feeling or impression in its audience?
What technique does it use to do this?

13. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Analyze the coverage of the news story you have chosen. List both similarities and differences, and make sure to include specific details and examples.
Similarities
Differences
Magazine TV
Internet

14. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Here’s one student’s chart analyzing two stories on the final of the Women’s World Cup soccer competition.
Similarities
Include background, setting up one team as underdogs
Present key moments of final game in chronological order
Include comments from both coaches
Include dramatic action photos of the game and emotional images of winning team at the end of the game

15. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Compare and Contrast Coverage
Differences
Magazine
More quotations from players and coaches; interviews seem more thorough
More photos; greater emotional impact
Gives history of event—past winners, past locations, etc.
Internet
Includes quotations, but they are shorter, fewer in number, and less in-depth.
Fewer photos; not as much emotional impact
No history, but there is a link to an article on the history of the event.

16. Comparison-Contrast Essay Prewriting: Form a Thesis
Analyze the similarities and differences between the media sources. Then, write a thesis statement—a basic conclusion or judgment.
Make sure your thesis statement is clear and coherent.

17. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Form a Thesis
Clear and Coherent
Let your readers know exactly what you intend to prove in your essay. Be clear and coherent.
The two stories use photographs and impact you differently since in one you are in the action, and in the other you get more information.
Confusing
The magazine article uses photographs to create a greater emotional impact and includes more information than the Internet story.
Clear

18. Comparison-Contrast Essay Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Organize your essay using either the block method or the point-by-point method.
Block Method
Similarities
Differences
Discuss similarities first and then differences. OR

19. Comparison-Contrast Essay Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Organize your essay using either the block method or the point-by-point method.
Newspaper article
Internet story TV
Block Method
Tell everything about one medium first and then move on to each subsequent medium.

20. Comparison-Contrast Essay Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Point-by-Point Method
Explain how the subjects are alike and different for one point of comparison. Then, move on to the next point of comparison, and so on.
Type of information
similarities
differences
Emotional impact
similarities
differences
Complexity
similarities
differences
Which Method?

21. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Which Method?
Before you decide on an organization method, consider the content of your analysis. Here are a couple rules of thumb:
The block method works best for shorter pieces with fewer comparisons.
The point-by-point method works best for longer essays with more comparisons.

22. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Practice and Apply
Choose your event
Find news coverage of your event
Make sure to check quality and validity of your sources
Is it a National newspaper, International newspaper, small-town paper?
Is it a credible Internet news site? Does it have a heavy bias?
Is the TV coverage a cable news channel or a local channel? Does it have a bias?

23. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Practice and Apply
Write a thesis statement that communicates your conclusion about the coverage.
You are not deciding which news media is the best; you are analyzing the coverage of each one and its effects or lack thereof.
Finally, organize the information you’ve gathered into a compare-contrast essay.

24. Comparing Media Coverage Prewriting: Practice and Apply
Your conclusion should state which type of media is better suited for the news event. While this is somewhat biased, it should have been supported by your essay and reinforced in your conclusion.