Comparing Media

Last week Oklahoma State University’s football team appeared throughout the media due to alleged scandal involvement.

The university is being investigated for academic misconduct, player payments, abusing drug policies, and an escort program.

The three media mediums I used to compare this story were television, radio, and online news.

Television and radio were similar in how they covered the story.

Both were short and covered the basics of the story.

The difference between the two was that the radio coverage was longer and it integrated segments of an interview into the broadcast.

I watched the ESPN segment titled “Alleged Violations” on television.

The segment lasted one minute and 45 seconds.

It was short because the reporter talked briefly on the topic and referred to other stories that were more in depth.

This segment was created using information from a four part series Sports Illustrated was doing about Oklahoma’s program.

Les Miles the former Oklahoma State football coach was the only person quoted in the segment.

The quote took up 34 seconds out of the one minute and 45 second segment.

The reporter ended the segment with a rundown of the allegations against the university.

Radio coverage of the story was similar to the television coverage.

Although they had similarities there were huge differences.

CBSRadio covered the story doing a three minute and 30 second piece about the story.

The biggest difference between the radio version and the television was that it used live game noise to create a background and sense of transition for the listeners.

It also had snippets of former players speaking about the situation in their interviews.

Three players were interviewed, as well as the executive editor and senior writer of Sports Illustrated.  

The radio broadcast provided more information by utilizing the interviews on the subject.

But it was still a short piece.

It ended by directing listeners to the Sports Illustrated website to get complete coverage of the story.

Lastly, the online version of the story was different from both the radio and television versions.

This was a long form style of writing.

I used an online news article found on the Sports Illustrated website.

It went into depth about the story and touched on things that neither television nor radio covered.

It didn’t talk about the allegations, it talked about the toll that a system like this has on football players after 

they leave college.

The article started by setting the record straight that the coverage of this story was not to “scold players or jump on the scandal train” but to explain the why and the effect something like this has on student athletes.

Sports Illustrated is the organization doing the investigation so there weren’t any sources mentioned.

This online news story is exactly like print because it gives the reader information that you would not get on 

television.

It goes into depth about the story rather skimming the surface with general information.