Media Formats

Media #1- http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/02/23/dnt.inappropriate.stick.figures.kdvr

Media #2- http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/22/2011-02-22_11yearold_boy_arrested_in_colorado_over_violent_stickfigure_drawing_made_in_scho.html?r=news


The two media formats I found were a video and a news article about an 11 year old boy who was arrested for his stick figure drawings. The two media formats are very similar, but the news article goes into more details about some of the things that were mentioned in the video. The NY Daily news article even includes some quotes that were said by some of the people in the video. In the video, more is actually told about the sequence of events that occurred. In the article, more background information is given about the boy, his family, and his therapist. We are told the boy's name is Tim in the video, but when reading the article you find out that that is just a made up name because his family did not want to reveal that information. Both stories review what happened- an 11 year old boy from Colorado who has ADD was told by his therapist to draw pictures whenever he felt upset or agitated. He was doing this in school when his teachers saw him drawing a picture of him as a stick figure shooting his teachers, who were also drawn as stick figures. The words "teachers must die" were written on the paper, which caused him to be sent to the principals office. Both the article and the video tell that nothing happened at the principal's office, but later, when he got home, police showed up at his home and took him away in handcuffs. In the video, the mother, who is not shown, describes in detail how horrifying it was to see her son taken away in handcuffs. Watching the video gives you a very different feel from just reading the article, because you can actually hear their voices and the emotion they are channeling through it. The mother seems angry, upset, and shocked when talking about her 11 year old son being arrested. Even though there are quotes said by her in the article, you do not get the same effect from the video. Because of this, I think that the video was more effective in a few ways. Not only do you get the facts from the broadcaster who is speaking, you also get the facts from witnesses, family members, and other people close to the subject. The actual police report, drawing, and letters from the school are even shown in the video, which makes it more interesting and highlights the important facts for the audience. The overall video was more interesting to watch because as you hear the story being told to you, you see what is happening as well. In terms of content, the news article containing text and picture was very similar to the video and audio format of these two types of media.