Freed American Hiker

I chose to do the rather recent story of the American hiker who was freed from an Iranian prison this past week. The links are:

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/14/iran.detained.american/?hpt=C1
The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2012896744_edit15iran.html
NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129861240

While all three versions of the story had the same basic info/facts, there were some differences. The CNN story went into much more detail about the released prisoner's (Sarah Shourd) feelings and emotions about being released. Included in their story were quotes from not only Sarah, but her mother as well, while The Seattle Times' version was more about the basic facts. All three stories agreed on where Sarah was released to (Oman) and who was there waiting for her (her mother). However, the NPR story talked about her Uncle also being there to greet her as she was released. The CNN and NPR versions of the story also go into more detail than the Seattle Times. I think this is because CNN and NPR are more nationally (and to some extent internationally) based; they have access to more detailed information that locally based newspapers or organizations. For example, the Seattle article discussed how Sarah was let out on bail, while CNN and NPR gave the exact number of that bail: $500,000. Seattle also gave an opinion statement at the end of the article about how a trade deal of prisoners between Iran and the U.S. Another big difference is that NPR goes into much more detail about the bail set for Sarah Shourd. They ask the question, "Who paid for this bail," and then go into detail about the U.S. asking the Sultanate of Oman to intervene in the matter. Overall, I think that the differences in these versions of the story are subtle. I think this is the case mostly because of the access of information that is available to each of these sources.