Bloomberg News vs. Agence France-Presse

Comparing Bloomberg News and Agence France-Presse’s presentation of a story regarding the recent win of Barrack Obama against Hilary Clinton in the Wisconsin and Hawaii primaries, there are some similarities and differences that can be seen.

Both stories from Bloomberg and AFP provide the necessary information that answers the five Ws of a news report.  AFP and Bloomberg wrote about Barrack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John McCain, the three presidential hopefuls, and the results of the recently concluded primaries in the states of Wisconsin and Hawaii.

Both stories follow the inverted pyramid style wherein the most important part of the news can be found at the beginning.  The stories are easy to read and well written.
There is however, a marked difference in the use of descriptive language.  For instance,
Bloomberg used “rival” to refer to Mrs. Clinton, while AFP used “bitter rival” to describe Mrs. Clinton.  Reading the AFP story, one would gleam an emotion from the story, while the Bloomberg report is simply matter-of-fact. Reading the AFP report is like hearing somebody doing an eloquent speech.  On the other hand, reading the Bloomberg report is like listening to a well-prepared board presentation.
Probably, the eloquence that can be associated with the AFP report is influenced by the more expressive nature of the French people as a whole.  In the case of the very business-like Bloomberg report, one can reasonably say that the writing is influenced by the hurried world that New Yorkers have.   Another instance where the two stories vary is in the angle they’ve taken.
Early in the story, AFP talks about McCain’s preemptive strike against Obama.  The same detail was placed under a separate subheading in the Bloomberg story.  The Bloomberg story has been neatly divided into subheadings, while AFP’s story has no subheadings but incorporated all relevant details into a comprehensive news.
References
Goldman, J. & Jensen, K. (2008, February 20). Obama Wins Wisconsin, Adding Votes Before
Texas, Ohio.  Bloomberg News.  Retrieved February 20, 2008, from
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aoF_avJCMvew&refer=home Oberman, M. (2008, February 20). Obama hammers Clinton again to stretch unbeaten streak. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGjzzHGfhWvRQxy7LcMzUqRikkTA