Today, the Biden administration proposed a billionaire’s tax to cover for an economic package. NBC News and ABC News both covered the topic, NBC in the form of an article by Dartunorro Clark and Leigh Ann Caldwell, and ABC News in form of a broadcast story.
Whereas the lead in the article only contains key facts – the “why”, “how,” “when”, and “who” (also, the what is mentioned in the title) -, the introduction of the video is more aimed to get the audience’s attention. A speaker in the studio briefly mentions the “when?”, “who?”, “what?”, and “why?” but then also hints at a conflict by introducing legal and political questions.
The structure of the article and the video is kind of similar. The tax is first introduced and then explained. However, in the video the first proposal made a few days ago is explained right after that, whereas in the article, it is only briefly referred to towards the end. Instead, the explanation of the tax is followed by a quote by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden talking about the reasoning behind the proposal. In both, some questions concerning the passing of the proposal and two moderate senators that need to be convinced are talked about later on.
The broadcast story is close to two minutes in length. It is hard to compare its length to the article’s length. I’d say it is pretty similar, but the article probably contains a bit more information. For example, it gives more context regarding the economic package, the idea behind the tax, and what it would take for the proposal to pass. On the other hand, the explanation of the billionaire’s tax and the second proposal is more detailed than in the article. Another difference is that the article contains quotes by Ron Wyden and Senator Kyrsten Sinema. Apart from that, the differences in content are very small.
In contrast to the article, sound and pictures obviously play a role in the broadcast story. There is a reporter in a studio and another reporter in front of the White House talking about the tax. When one of them explains the tax, there are some graphics in the background that help get the grasp of it easier.