TELEVISION - NBC News
The story is about 14 new cases of the Zika virus appearing in the United States. New research was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and revealed that the Zika virus has possibly spread through sexual transmission within the United States. The Zika virus spread fast in Latin America and has strongly been suspected as the main cause of birth defects in newborn babies. The news story featured on NBC News and was reported by Erika Edwards. The story is relatively short and a little over one minute. Two sources are quoted and directly featured on the news report, Dr. Anne Schuchat and Dr. William Schaffner, both research doctors from the CDC. There are much less details provided on the television news in comparison to the newspaper. The television uses less words and more imagery to emphasize its main points. The report headlined “CDC Investigates 14 New Zika Cases in U.S.” was short and straight to the point. The lead was informative and grabbed the audience's attention. There was no teaser shown for the upcoming story. The anchor did not use an announcement at the start of the story, instead she jumped right into the story by stating there were 14 new cases of the Zika virus in the United States. The news report started with an outside view of the CDC and then continued to focus on images of the virus under a microscope.
ONLINE NEWS - The New York Times
The story is about 14 new cases of the Zika virus appearing in the United States. The story is relevant because the spread of the virus is occurring in our own country. The idea of the virus infecting one of our loved ones is a horrific thought. The online news coverage of this issue focuses more on the possibility of the virus spreading through sexual transmissions. In comparison, the NBC News report emphasizes more on the birth defects caused by the virus. The story is 985 words long. Four sources were used in the article, Dr. Anne Schuchat, Dr. William Schaffner, Dr. Peter J. Hotez and Dr. Gary W. Procop. The Wall Street Journal’s online news coverage was more like a print coverage. The headline reads “C.D.C. Investigating 14 New Reports of Zika Transmission Through Sex”, further emphasizing the possibility of sexual transmission of the virus. The lead leaves the reader engaged and takes note of the major implications of the virus being spread sexually. There is only one image featured in the article and it is shown at the top of the page. The image shows two mosquitoes under a microscope. The rest of the article is mostly text.
RADIO - NPR
The story focuses on the CDC arriving in Brazil to investigate and conduct further research on the Zika virus. The main discussion points in this radio story is how the Zika virus is spreading to the United States and if the virus is actually the cause of birth defects. The story is four minutes long. There is one main source in the radio story and that is Erin Staples, a CDC medical officer leading the CDC team in Brazil. The radio and television coverage are similar because they both focus on the efforts conducted by the CDC. However, the coverage on the radio focuses more on the origin of the Zika virus and the different ways it's spreading to the United States. No, the radio story doesn’t use background sound or interviews to change “the scene” in the listener’s mind. The story is a discussion between the reporter and CDC medical officer. The headline “CDC Arrives In Brazil To Investigate Zika Outbreak” is too simple and could’ve been worded better to build more curiosity from the audience. The lead is engaging and successfully captured my interest. There were no ads after the report, it went straight to discussion on a different topic.
