Space shuttle rolled out to launch pad - Crack found in space shuttle pre-launch
www.smh.com.au, 7th April, 2005

I found these articles when looking for space-related articles on the Sydney Morning Herald. I was surprised to find two articles from the same source on the same topic but even more surprised when I realised that they were published less than two hours apart. I thought that it was really dodgy and pathetic of the newspaper to give them different titles and make it look like they were two different events. They probably did it to make it seem like they had more stories than they actually did.

Looking at the titles you might not think the articles are related, however they are about the same thing. There are also other differences meant to fool the reader such as the presence of a photograph in one article and not the other (but I suppose that putting the same picture in both would be a little too obvious). The authors have been careful not to be too repetitive with the information, they have detail in one article that they don’t have in the other, but go so far as to have different quotes from the same person. They have also used different words to describe the same things. For example in the first paragraph of each article they describe the speed at which the shuttle moved but in one article they called it a ‘crawl’ and in the other they called it a ‘slow creep’.

I thought that these articles were a prime example of how newspapers can take the same event and put a different spin on it to give a different message. The first article talks more about the technical aspects of the launch and puts a positive slant on the event. For example they make it sound as if everyone is excited about the launch and finished with a quote about how ‘absolutely special’ the day was. On the other hand the second article they make the launch sound more troublesome by emphasising all of the things that could go wrong and dwelling on past disasters. They even have a quote from the same guy saying that the chances of the launch actually going ahead are only 50-50.

One thing that I can say to the newspaper’s credit is that at least the information and facts are consistent. Despite the different slants, they haven’t said anything contradictory in the articles. I suspect that they published the second article when they got their hands on the picture.

The actual articles themselves aren’t too bad. They both give a good idea about what has happened – the delay of the launch due to a small crack, and provide the reader with an idea of what is going on in general with the US and their plans to get their grounded shuttle fleet airborne again. They also help the reader to appreciate the complicated issues involved in such a launch, including the technical aspects, strict time frames, safety considerations, past accidents and public expectations.

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