News is only as valuable as society deems it. In order for a media outlet such as a newspaper to be successful it must speak to its audience in a meaningful manner. Newspapers face an even more difficult challenge, as they often have to find a balance between varieties of different media sources. Furthermore they must to stick out amongst the competition to stay not only stay reputable, but in business.
The Washington Post is one of the United States’ most prized newspapers. Their extensive coverage has broken some of the biggest national and international stories ever. From Watergate to the NSA leaks their stories have made their mark on history. The publication covers a variety of relevant topics from politics and international news to sports and small town events.
All papers lean towards certain story ideas and this one is no different. The Washington Post’s strengths lie in hard news and politics whether it is local, national, or international news. Browsing through their front page you can see the top stories are on the Islamic State and the growing support for action against them, Iraq and United States relations, and the Ray Rice domestic violence incident. Also gracing the front page are smaller stories on wrongful seizures by the Police, an opinion piece also on the Ray rice incident, and news of Russia blocking international flights. All of these stories are very political (but isn’t everything?) and of course of significant to a general crowd.
Now being a paper located in our nation’s capitol politics will obviously play a big part. In the “national” section of the paper I counted 10 out of 40 articles having something to do with politics. Being the first week of the National Football League, you would think something besides Ray Rice might be in this section related to football. Not one story graced this page. In the local section the “story” hasn’t changed much.
Articles on murders, Michelle Obama and more shootings maintain a very eye opening experience for D.C. area readers. The paper is littered with stories of doom and gloom. Now news as a business is generally not pretty, as the old adage goes “bad news sells.” Though I felt like the post could use a little more variation in it’s promoted stories.
Bibliography:
Boren, Cindy, and Mark Maske. “Ravens Cut Ray Rice in Wake of Latest Domestic Violence Video; NFL Suspends Him Indefinitely.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 08 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Nakamura, David. “Obama on ‘Meet the Press’: U.S. to ‘start Going on Some Offense’ against Islamic State.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 07 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
O’Harrow, Robert, Jr., and Michael Sallah. “They Fought the Law. Who Won?” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Noak, Rick. “What Would Happen If Russia Closed Its Airspace to Western Airlines?” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 08 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Ray Rice Incident Monday, September 8th, 2014 no football this day
1 comment
The Washington Post is a great paper, but is not an “Ethnic” paper, it is more of a mainstream paper like the NY Times, etc… You need to chose three papers, The Washington Post is ok, but you need two more ethnic papers that are not written in English. Please add these sources.