Week 6 Blog assignment

Saturday night deadlines are hard to remember. Even though there is a chance that I will get a zero on this assignment because it is late, I still feel obligated to complete the assignment.

The first site I looked at was Azzaman, the Iragi paper. In answer to the second question about objective reporting, I say no. One of the lines in the article I read the author expressed his desire to have Pres. Bush electrocuted. While I don't whole-heartedly support that concept, I still think the idea has it's merits, it is not objective reporting.

The stories covered in the paper are similar to the stories published by CNN, FOX, etc. because they are focused on the situation in Irag. However, I actually think that the Iraqi paper may be more biased that our own publications.

I did find that kind of blatant bias appealing in the paper. It is basically an opinionated paper, and they advertise that. In that respect they should report how they feel about their current situation.

The second site I looked at was the Islamic Republic News Agency, from Iran. I actually went to this site to read some more biased coverage, but was relatively disappointed. One of the articles I read was about the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, saying that the U.S. and the occupiers are responsible for all of the catastrophes in Iraq. The author of the article only sited what was said and never offered his own opinion in the article.

Some of the stories they were covering were very similar to what is being covered by our own news agencies. Most of the stories related to things that were happening throughout the world, such as the India/U.S. nuclear agreement.

I found this site to be appealing because of the lack of biased reporting. As I stated earlier, I was surprised by the objective reporting. I assumed that the Iranians would jump on any opportunity to bash the U.S., and they didn't.

The third site I looked at was South Africa's the Star. I felt like the news was being reported objectively throughout the paper. The authors of the articles didn't relay their opinions, and appeared to only report facts. Most of the articles were about local stories, mostly South African stories.

The stories in this paper are not front page headlines in our news sources. If you want to find similar articles in American papers, you would really have to dig. There may be a blurb somewhere in the world section of our papers, but that would be the extent of it.

I found this paper to be appealing because of the fact that they are not reported on in our papers. It gave me a perspective on what was happening in South Africa, but not many other places in the world. If you want to find out what is going on in another country in the world, it is better to go to their local papers.

Go Vikings.......Kick the Bears' collective ass!