Comparative Research Essay on Gabby Petito

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Comparative Research Essay on Gabby Petito
According to Zhou (2018), newspapers play a significant role in society as they act as the primary sources of current events. In this paper, I will be comparing two newspaper articles about the same event that were published at the same time. One of the newspapers will be from CBS News. Christen Jones wrote it on 20th September 2021, and it is known as the Police asking the public for help in the search for missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito. The second one is from The New York Times and was written by Katherine Rosman on 20th September 2021, and it is known as How the Case of Gabrielle Petito Galvanized the Internet. The two articles talk about a 22-year-old American girl named Gabrielle Verona Petito, who disappeared after going out for a country road trip with his fiancé Brian Laundrie. While the two articles present information covering the same topic, the New York Times article shares more detailed, clear, and precise information.
According to Heaton (2010), journalistic context refers to journalists’ discussions about a specific topic or event. The author states that in most cases, reporters tend to take these arguments and conclusions for granted and end up writing articles that do not have background information. Therefore, this makes it harder for the audience to understand the development of the ongoing events that they report. Looking at the article written by the New York Times, it is evident that the writer understands the importance of creating an excellent journalistic context. This is because she has given background information on the news she is writing on. In the first short paragraph, she makes the reader understand that the article is about a missing person by stating that a hundred thousand individuals in the United States are reported missing (Rosman 1).
Then, in the second paragraph, she gives all the required information on the missing person by stating her name, age, region, date, and what she was doing before she was reported missing (Rosman 2). This information makes the reader understand the main reason for writing the article. Contrary, the CBS news article assumes the reader has the background information of the ongoing event and gives very shallow details about the event. This is evident as in his first paragraph, and he only states that the police officers in Florida have indicated that they are investigating the case of the missing 22-year-old woman (Jones 1). They are calling for the public to give any information to help them bring the woman back home safely.
Although the two newspapers present the Gabriella Petito story in different ways, they have used an eye-catching layout in these articles, which is crucial. The New York Times article has used an e-fit picture of screenshots from the TikTok accounts of Paris Campbell and Haley Toumanian, the top individuals who have been posting the disappearance of Petito on the front page (Rosman 2). Similarly, the CBS news article uses the e-fit picture of Gabriella Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie on the front page. This makes the articles more helpful as it enables more people to get more informa...