On the 24th of Feburary 2015, the National Rugby League club; the Gold Coast Titans, were taken over by the National Rugby League its self, meaning that the only shareholder in the team was the governing body of the sport and not a private investor or shareholder as the club was set to fold a few short weeks due to a serious lack of funding.
Many news sources picked up on this significant story as it had unfolded. Sources such as: The ABC, The Gold Coast Bulletin and the NRL's own news page. Clearly, each of these sources covered the event in their own different way. The three sources mentioned earlier shall be compared with each other and will be contrasted from one another.
The National Rugby League news page on their website, while a little disorganized, displays the story clearly and presents its self in its own way. Realistically, the story is written for fans of NRL as a sport and those who understand whom certain people are; the beginning of the statement starts with an indirect quote from the CEO Dave Smith, as an objective third party with no prior knowledge about the National Rugby League, I have no idea who Mr Smith is or which organisation (The NRL or the Gold Coast Titans) he is the CEO of. When trying to see if the statement contains a particular angle to the story, it is difficult for me to ascertain as the piece feels more like someones notes on a transcript from a press release than a full and in depth statement from the company responsible of this action. The key messages presented in this particular article seems more to say that everyone should know that the club is fine and that nothing is going to happen to the team in the immediate future, rather than what sort of agreement the club and the board had come to.
LINK: http://www.nrl.com/nrl-takes-control-of-goldcoasttitans/tabid/10871/newsid/84020/default.aspx
The Gold Coast Bulletin has a webpage that is more easily laid out and a touch easier to use, (This, from an Interactive Design student) however, this article seems a little more inquisitive in nature and seems to try to pull the reader deeper into the article the further along that you read. however, this article seems to be written for a person who might live in the Gold Coast and again, have a mild understanding about the NRL as a sport. This article presents more of an angle towards the fact that this story could have proven devastating towards the fans and sponsors of the team, and that the club was saved because some people lost some money on trying to save the team. When looking for any key points addressed in this particular article, it is clear that the Gold Coast Bulletin has gotten a few more key points of the media release than the NRL web page did, however it does go into more detail around the situation also; the Bulletin also goes into some speculative information such is displayed towards the beginning of the article where the author writes:
"The Bulletin understands the Titans were in danger of folding due to crippling financial commitments and off-field dramas before the NRL launched a bailout bid."
LINK: http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/sport/nrl/five-year-blueprint-convinced-nrl-boss-to-save-titans-just-weeks-before-gold-coast-nrl-club-would-have-folded/story-fnj9yd9w-1227237781936
The Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) is one of the last bastions of unbiased, un-opinionated and un-influenced information and news in Australia. With a webpage layout that is vastly superior to either of the other news sources, the ABC is fundamentally better from an ease of use basis. Furthermore, the press conference that they had created on this particular subject was comprehensive enough to get more information than either of the other two entries, the ABC article was quick to tell us that CEO David Smith works as the head of the board in the NRL and is exemplary in providing informative facts and all around more information to the reader than other sources as the ABC article is written to an audience that may not know all the facts that is assumed knowledge in the other two. This article is more inclined to inform all people about the event in a manner that makes sense and that is clearly to provide information and to get news of this deal out to the public without tainting any information presented. The key messages shown in this Press Conference is that the titans would have fallen through as a club due to a severe lack of funding and that the NRL entered into a deal, letting the general consumer know that nothing will change to anyone else outside of the top-end management.
LINK: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-24/nrl-takes-over-control-of-gold-coast-titans-amid-drugs-scandal/6247574
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello Andrew,
ReplyDeleteFirst things first. When I read your comparative review on these three articles, your introduction drew me in. This was an awesome way to introduce the topic. I did find some issues however, in regards to missing words that made some sentences not read well. There were no references to the source material and there was a spelling error with ‘its self’ used in place of ‘itself’. Also, the fourth paragraph has a sentence that is repeated. These are minor issues, however, and they are overpowered by the impressive writing style and comprehensive analysis you give. You have addressed everything the task required and given a lot of thought to your responses. Good job, man!