I found the Original Story on the BBC Homepage. From there I Googled "Sergio Vega" to see what would appear. I thought it was interesting that the top 4 results were web 2.0 applications. The first a blog and the second, third and fourth were tweets about the story.
The original BBC news coverage was in-depth as you would expect for a breaking story while the two versions presented below proceeded to fade on the credibility scale.
Billboard presented the facts... Vega had in fact died, he was on his way to a performance, he was 40 years old and he had just moments earlier confirmed he was not murdered. From there they put their Billboard spin on the story noting who he was signed with and his latest singles. For me Billboard provided a bit more credibility at this point by providing details of the whole picture. They gave details of 10 other deaths associated with Mexican musicians in the past 4 years. The story was short, to the point, provided a spin that you would expect being an established icon in the music industry. Credit is given to the author and Billboard staff making it seem much more reliable. Once again it is associated with a trusted source in the industry.
Helium on the other hand... still presents the basic facts but also intersperses them with opinions and commentary style writing that lessens the impact and removes credibility. Sure it speaks to a specific audience, but for this comparison the writing style, lack of connection to a verified news source, and overall poor presentation of potential motives kills the bloggers credibility for me. They do provide a link to the author if you would like to know more about him, but it's just not enough.
YouTube video uploaded from Russia
If nothing else each additional version provided a different perspective on the story. What I learned is that if I want a trusted news source, I still have to go to a trusted news source. If I want additional perspectives, that is an option as well. It comes down to what we discussed in class editing is necessary and not everyone blogging possess that skill.
It's a horrible news. But the two blogs you chose are toally different with each other. It seems the Helium's presentation is really poor. But it's interesting that for the celebrity news, there are always some bloggers are loving to comment although their posts are totally out of credibility.
ReplyDeleteA little off topic, but Beth was totally right. I can't watch the video you connected to without thinking about what all of these amateur photographers (or people with video recorders) are doing to the crime scenes. Was there information around the car that they may have stepped on or overlooked? I need to stop watching so many crime dramas...
ReplyDeleteTwo very different views on the story. I agree with Ms. Q the Helium's presentation is not a standard I would find credible.
ReplyDelete@Jess Gaff I have to wonder too how many people are trampling over crime scenes to get the video or photos.
It seems to make sense to follow a news story through different sources for different reasons: the facts, implications, reactions, purpose of the source media (social networking, blogging, to change ideas, attitudes, and beliefs), and to connect and interact with others.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the Helium's presentation is one I would not consider credible or take seriously when reading a news story. This article was sad but interesting and I went around the internet reading as much as I could about the subject.
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