Chilean Miners Receive Electricity and Cigarettes
Reported from CNN.com, Miners in Copiapo, Chile who have been trapped for over a month are receiving electricity and cigarettes. The text story explains how the men have received a power line that will allow them to have electricity 2,300 feet underground. They have also received cigarettes, which they have been requesting, because of improvements made to ventilation in the mine. Improved air circulation and electricity will help to improve the sleeping patterns of the men. CNN.com goes into detail about the drilling methods that the rescuers are using to reach the miners.
The CNN News Room also ran a television story on the miners receiving electricity and cigarettes, but it focused more on the families of the miners. While the text story on CNN.com provided facts about the current state of the miners and the methods being used to reach them, the television story provided an emotional illustration of how families are coping with not being able to reach their trapped loved ones. The News Room story showed a miner’s sister holding vigil for her trapped brother, lighting a candle for him as well as creating a shrine for him. The television broadcast did not go into detail as to how the electricity was installed or how it will aid the miners.
The main difference between the text story and the television broadcast was the emotional impact of the television version, versus the factual nature of the text version. It is important for a television feature to capture both the attention and emotions of the viewers during the brief period of time that they will be watching the story. A text story is able to go into more detail of a news event, and it can provide facts that a reader is looking for that a television view may not find as important.
