NPR:Obama Names First Male And Openly Gay Social Secretary
The Washington Post via The Drudge Report: Obama makes history with social secretary pick
Three stories all reporting the same thing, yet the frame of each one is very different.
Right off the bat, FOX News, who you might be expecting to make a big deal of the fact this new social secretary is openly gay, doesn't mention it in their headline. The Washington Post, who's political leanings are less obvious to me, seems to take the same neutral tone. But it's NPR that seems to put two and two together and mention not only that he's the first male social secretary, but also that he's openly gay.
The way each news outlet chose to frame their headlines could have at least some kind of affect on who actually proceeds to the full story. What particularly interested me about each story was the way they went about framing each of their takes on the new appointment.
NPR, who boasts the most descriptive headline, actually spends about half the time discussing the new appointee and the other half discussing his once-removed predecessor, Desiree Rogers, who was apparently responsible for failing to prevent the Salahi's from crashing a state dinner in November 2009. Besides an excerpt from the White House press release, the short story itself is not as intriguing as the headline might suggest.
Fox News only mentions in their headline that Bernard is the first male social secretary with only the mention of Roger's marred reputation and only paraphrases a line or two from the Press Release itself.
Leave it to the Washington Post to personalize the story with a color picture of Bernard and his partner, as well as their very cute dog to introduce the story. Where the FOX and NPR headlines either mention that Bernard is the first male secretary or that he's openly gay, WoPo saves that for the opening hook and proclaim history-making status for the headline instead. The format of the story also allows for some variety in a sense that instead of linking the White House Press release or simply quoting it, it's reproduced at the end of the story itself. Similarly, there is minimal reference to Desiree Rogers and at least one quote from some one in the gay activist community. Also interesting was that this was the first post to indicate that there may have been some ulterior motive associated with the appointment, such as President Obama buying himself time from the gay activist community who has been pushing Obama to declare his support for gay marriage. While the most personalized story, it also seemed to be the most analytical and informative. It also didn't hurt that it published the entire press release for viewers to read. I see it as allowing those folks who are less interested in seeking things out to continue to be lazy by providing them as much information in one shot as possible, which at least means they're learning something.
Besides personalization, WoPo also had the advantage of a political blogger who clearly had some interesting things to say about the issue and enough time/space to do it in. NPR is tailored to radio, so the length and depth of the story in this case seems reasonable for the medium---short and sweet. Similarly, there was no picture included with the story, which makes sense because the radio doesn't have pictures. Unfortunately, the story loses something in translation without it. FOX news got their news blurb on the story from the Associated Press, who clearly was only interested in providing the facts as they were at the time the story was compiled. The blog post added a human element to the story itself, but combined it with context and analysis that allows a person to, if they are so inclined, question what the appointment means and the motives behind it.
Unless you could put the pieces of the puzzle together and connect Bernard's appointment with the repeal of "Don't ask don't tell" and the government's decision to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, you may never have thought to do so, even though it's clear they might be connected in some way. In this way, the joint blog story appeals to and informs more people. Those who have the background information pick-up some new context and analysis and those who know nothing get a little bit of everything, allowing them to catch up with their more in-the-know contemporaries.
It doesn't seem like a simple story about the appointment of a new social secretary could have so many nuances. Of course, if you don't know you're supposed to be looking for something, it's not something you can fully appreciate.
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