Link to story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/27/ap/hightech/main2735358.shtml
Link to company response: http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=23738
Edward E. Whitacre Jr., has announced that he will resign from his position as C.E.O. of AT&T. He is to be succeeded by AT&T's chief operating officer, Randall L. Stephenson, effective June 3. There is a very obvious difference in the tone of the two releases. The company release is written very professionally, and focuses on the success of AT&T and what good things will come of this change. The news story is written in a very lax style, and seems to hit most on the fact that this change is "unexpected" and that the reason of Whitacre's resigning is unknown, when the company release confirms that he is retiring. The CBS coverage also hits on the money that Whitacre's makes, and will continue to make after retirement, while again, the company release focuses on the success of the company as a whole.
Both releases do however give information on Whitacre and Stephenson's previous experiences with AT&T and other companies, and the stories are pretty similar with the exception of the reason for Whitacre's leave. While the news story is written in a very laid back, everyday manner, the use of language to describe what happened is similar. The company release supplies a substantial amount of information that the CBS release does not, and contains more direct quotes from Whitacre and Stephenson. These two releases are similar in their context, but their tones and style show the differences between how a company wants to portray a change or crisis to it's consumers, and how a news team will portray it.
No comments:
Post a Comment