Before focusing on the depths of the stories on the web news sources, what attracts the reader is the front page. Comparing three online news sources: Vancouver Sun, BBC, and CNN, I must give CNN the props for the most inviting front page. Unlike the other two sources with their titles in small font on the left of the page, CNN’s logo is centered at the top of the page and bolded in red. Also, when you go to Vancouver Sun and BBC, there are many advertisements right at the top of the page, but for CNN, not only do they have less advertisements, but they have two headline stories and their links right at the top. Even though I am from Vancouver, I have to admit that CNN’s online news web page layout is excellent and professional. Under their two main headline stories, they have a section filled with videos, and below are columns of news categories…even interesting ones like: Tech, Living, Justice, Blogs, and ‘Living With Technology’; everything is clear, precise, and convenient.
Embarrassed as I may be about the Vancouver Sun compared with the other two national and international news sources, I still must give credits to Vancouver Sun for keeping the online version as homey and heart-warming as the print version. Although the name of the paper is ‘Vancouver’ Sun, but it still tries it’s best to cover major news all across the country. One thing I really enjoy about the online Vancouver Sun, compared with the other two, is that it the advertisements are not just random supporters or companies, the commercials are actually beneficial and helpful to the city. For example, on BBC, the headline advertisement is “ING DIREC—HIGH INTEREST & NO FEES”, on CNN it is “VERIZON”, whereas on the Vancouver Sun, the commercials are much more personalized like “METROPOLITAN APARTMENTS IN THE CITY OF RICHMOND—Call (604)_____-__________” However, all this is just the appearance and surface of these online news sources, let’s get into the important part: news coverage.
When comparing CNN with BBC, I realized CNN still prioritizes national news, whereas BBC has the world news and their own news on an equal level. For example, on CNN the title of the top stories are: “Economy Better? So Where Are The Jobs?” and “BART police probe scuffle with passenger” but on BBC, the top stories (including their own national news) are: “Romanians face election run-off”, China Executes Tainted Milk Pair”, and even entertainment news “Four Posthumous Gongs for Jackson”. But at the same time, maybe it is because BBC needs to cover such a large amount of news in detail, when it comes to media quality (photos and videos) and ledes, CNN does a better job at it. It is obvious that the photos and videos on CNN have been nicely filtered and fixed, whereas on BBC, many of the pictures just look like they have been cut and pasted on.
These three online news sources are all very different in appearance and news coverage, however they do share the same goal: to provide the people with true stories.
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