One of the first things I now do when a news story breaks that I think has political overtones is to visit NEWS360 to see if they are covering the story. For example, today the Chicago public teachers went on strike. Unions, public employees, education, etc. come together in interesting ways and result in a great opportunity for political spin. News360 uses what the company describes as a semantic analysis system to identify “stories” and then identifies links from various news outlets that are commenting/describing the story. The ways the same situation ends up presented to the public fascinates me. Contrasting the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal is always good for a start.
So, candidate Romney attacks the union and teachers for “turning their backs on students”. Other sources indicate this is the first time since 1987 that Chicago teachers have gone on strike so the tactic is not something that is executed without serious consideration. The “union turns back on student” phrase Romney used comes up from source after source. Is this the “issue” that will redirect the election? What a mess for parents.
I admit that the average salary of a Chicago teacher seemed fairly reasonable to me. However, I live in a different place and deal with different issues on a day to day basis. I have no idea how issues such as class size and cost of living would compare.
Anyone, I think News360 is an interesting site