The article(s) we are analyzing for this week’s discussion cover the Actor and Comedian Russel Brand, who has been accused of sexual assault. While Brand denies the allegations, we are able to see all three sides of media coverage to thoroughly analyze the accusation at hand. The right article is from The Telegraph – UK, the center is from Reuters, and the left is from NBC News (Online). All three stories covered the general assault directed toward Russel Brand. However, two out of three articles from Reuters and NBC News Online, immediately start with the fact that Russel Brand is denying all allegations against him- While The Telegraph – UK poses what he was accused of with details, and then explains that he is denying the allegations. The first few sentences of the two articles denying Brand’s allegations can incite bias toward the reader, which will likely coerce them into believing his claim of “not guilty. The Telegraph and Reuters make it a point to say that the assault took place during his height of fame, which was a 7-year period. This also might bring the reader to believe that he was capable of committing these crimes due to his presence as a famous person. I also want to note that two of the articles (The Telegraph – UK, and Rutgers) use the term “accusation” as opposed to the third which states “allegation”. An accusation is when someone is guilty of a crime, versus, an allegation which is when someone has done something wrong but it has not been proven yet. I found it interesting that the Reuters article mentioned how none of the women made initial reports to the police, which pushes the reader to question the legitimacy of the victim’s accusations.
