Framing

I chose the story on Obama's recent decision involving GM, where he refused another bailout plan and decided that the company could no longer fix itself. The first source that I looked at for this story was with MSNBC. The story starts out with a light intro, "Obama to GM: Move over, I'm driving." It is an obvious play on words, yet it has serious undertones and manages to create a sober mood. It gives the impression that Obama is taking complete control of the situation, which is what the piece is trying to get across. Also, the title of the piece is an immediate clue as to how the author is looking at the events. "The rough road ahead for GM" isn't very promising and a statement from the president saying that "more of them likely would lose jobs and more plants would shut their doors" didn't help lighten the mood. The media outlet used here is a large company and plays a big part in the communities across the country. There is a video accompanied with the story as well, and though it is long in length there are few pictures. I think this adds to the seriousness of the story.

The other source that I looked to for this story was Slate Magazine, an online production. This is a very different look at the situation as it is in blog form and mostly is thought-provoking rather than fact-giving. There are more questions asked rather than answered. There are multiple links throughout the story that lead to other articles on the subject by papers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal that help make what the author is saying clear. It also adds credibility to the piece. The languaged used is more conversational and could reach to more of the public, I think. At one point I can almost hear the inflection in his voice as the author asks, "It will be Obama's failure, not simply GM's failure, no?" Tjis media outlet is more limited, but also a strong web presence. There are no visuals directly associated with the story but the links provide that.

They are two very different looks at the same subject and they take into account different qualities of the news. The Slate blog is definitely opinionated wheras the MSNBC article is balanced and factual.