Rating News Sites

Rating News Sites

Jonathan L’Heureux

Media and American Culture

January 28, 2011

Stephanie Kirk

Axia College of University of Phoenix

On Sunday January 23, 2011, a man walked into a Detroit Police precinct and opened fire. The suspect wounded four officers before the police shot and killed him. This is a story that I researched on three different news websites. The websites are the online news sources for three credible and big name news providers, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. As I was comparing and contrasting the different source material, I noticed that each article provided different information and commentary.

The first online news provider that I used was Fox News. The title of the Fox News article is “4 Detroit Officers Shot at Precinct, Cops Say.” Fox News provided a photograph of several police officers outside of the precinct moments after the gunfire had seized on the front page of the article. The photograph includes a captain explain that the police officers were gathering after a shooting. Fox News opened the story explaining that a gunman had opened fire inside a Detroit police precinct. The article explains that four police officers were wounded before shooting and killing the gunman. Fox News provided statements from multiple sources such as Police Chief Ralph Godbee and Sgt. Todd Eby. The article quotes Sgt. Eby stating that he was behind his desk when the gunman entered and began shooting. He goes on to explain that he and other officers returned fire killing the gunman. Fox News provides the time the incident happened, which was 4:20 p. m. local time. Fox News goes into further detail explaining that the four police officers who were wounded did not receive life threatening injuries. Fox News also provides a quote from Chief Godbee explaining that the “department was very sobered, but very relieved that it appears the wounded officers were going to be OK.” The...