A comparison of the Independent and the Sun from 08 October 2008 on the banking crisis and the rescue plan from the government.
We will start with a brief summary of the two articles followed by a short comparison of the approaches and bias shown in the two papers.
The article in The Independent has few illustrations but a link to the CNN video of the announcement in the middle of the article. The language used generally expects the reader to have some knowledge of the subject, which is not surprising given the high profile nature of the banking crisis.
The first paragraphs are a short introduction following on from the headline “Brown hails ‘bold’ £50 bn rescue” Basically it describes how Gordon Brown has praised the emergency rescue plan to part-nationalise banks to restore confidence in the financial system. It then goes on to mention the chancellor’s announcements and opinions and that the Bank of English is to extend the existing £50 billion Special Liquidity Scheme to £200 billion. After giving a brief outline of the amounts involved and the announcements made it explains the conditions under which the government would provide this rescue plan and the aims it is seeking, such as guaranteeing support to small businesses and home buyers and a cap on the bonuses for executives. The article does not make any judgements on the actual scheme and is satisfied with reporting quotes from the various people involved from the opposition and from the government in interviews given elsewhere. The sources quoted include GMTV, BBC Radio four’s Today Programme, Sky news and statements released to the