Compare and Contrast: FOX News, CNN and Google News

Fox News Website

     After looking through Fox News' website, a news organization frequently accused of reporting with a conservative bias, it is obvious that the organization is pro-Republican. The leading stories are about the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The headlines of these articles negatively protray Presidential hopeful, Barak Obama. The top articles also hint at intra-party conflicts among the Democratic party -- especially between Clinton and Obama.
     I think it is easy to assume that Fox News is not "fair and balanced" and therefore does not adhere to the "Murrow Standard". Fox News' preference for the Republican party is noticable by the titles of their main articles. Ones like "Obamapolis" and "McCain Goes for Obama's Jugular".
     I think the site's primary audience are those interested in the DNC, especially those that are more favorable towards the Republican Party. These audience members are wanting stories that will attack the opposing party and their Presidential candidate, Obama. The website offers these stories and questions the possibility of having Obama as the next President.

CNN News Website

     Americans are entering the final months of the longest Presidential campaign in history. Because of this, and with the DNC this week and the RNC next week, it's of no surprise that the DNC is also being covered in great length on CNN's website as well. CNN also has a section for "Latest News" which covers all other random stories (as well as those stories that are political in nature). When scolling down the Politics section of CNN's website, all story headlines deal with the Democratic Party.
     Compared to Fox News, CNN is more balanced. I'm not saying that CNN completley adheres to the "Murrow Standard" of "fair and balanced" media, but they are much closer in achieving these means. According to the headlines (and the content of the stories), it seems as if CNN can criticize both Presidential candidates, but there is more negativity surrounding McCain than Obama.
     I think CNN's audience is more about retrieving news that is more fair and balanced. News that is more based on truth rather than political affiliation. Though, because the media is slightly more scewed towards the liberal side, audience members will still receive some biased information.

Google News Website

     Google News is extremely different as compared to Fox News' website or CNN's. The layout of Google's news page is more akin to The Drudge Report or The Huffington Report. Google's news sources come from a variety of sources and once clicking a link to a specific article, you are sent to another news organizations website/article. Google News is still interested in the DNC, much like the other two news sources that I viewed. But Google's top stories focus more on international news (Georgia's President and Storm Gustav).
     Because the news articles are not written by any one news organization, I think there is more "balanced" information. Not only does Google use news organization like, CNN, but, they also link articles from other international news organizations. I think the variety that Google offers is more closely aligned with Murrow's journalistic aims.
     Google's audience are those that quickly want to read the headlines and have some sense of what's going on nationally and internationally. I believe this because there are really only three main articles. To read other articles, one must go into the different sections (labeled much like a normal newspaper) to gain more specific information on things that specific readers are interested in.

     Honestly, through out my academic career, I was always taught that it is better to gain information from a wider variety of sources, not just one. Because there is always the potential to gain biased information or only one point-of-view of a story, I would read all three news sources. It's always better to know too much than too little. I'd rather be informed, from all different points of view so that from the abundance of information, I could decide for myself what the truth was and what I wanted to identify with.