JCOM
2010
united press international
Who owns them?
UPI was founded in 1907 by E.W. Scripps as the United Press (UP). It became known as UPI after a merger with the International News Service in 1958, which was founded in 1909 by William Randolph Hearst. Today, UPI is owned by News World Communications ("About UPI", n.d., para 4).
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How many are owned by the same parent company?
The Sports Network who's clients are AT&T, CBS SportsLine.com, Reuters, Tribune Interactive, Knight-Ridder Digital, Lexis*Nexis, Comcast, Dallas Morning News, New York Times, Boston Globe, New York Daily News, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, L.A. Times, Detroit News, Clear Channel Network, Learfield Communications, Media News, Metro Source, Comtex and hundreds more ("Content Representation", n.d., para 3).
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Are any owned by independent sources?
United Press International is an independent source.
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What is their annual revenue?
UPI has a history of declining revenue since 2003, as of now it is currently unknown (UPI History, n.d., para 6). Their latest revenue sale is $85 million ("United Press International, Inc. History", n.d.).
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Where do they get their revenue from?
From their clients, UPI charges $10,000 a year and their clients receive news coverage from about 16,000 companies with reports ranging from politics to cultural issue ("United Press International, Inc. History", n.d., para 37).
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What’s their reader/viewer share?
According to UPI's Site Traffic & Demographic Data, there are about 3.5 million unique users each month ("Site Traffic & Demographic Data", n.d.).
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Is there a particular story that “made” this news venue particular popular?
There is no particular story that made UPI popular in the media. Because its a wire service, there are multiple clients/companies that includes their news articles on their site.
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Was there a story that this news venue is particular well known for scooping?
There is no well known story that UPI is known to scoop from. UPI's front page has a mixture of different news topics ranging from sports, government, shopping, to businesses and heart warming stories.
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How does the news site frame itself?
UPI frames itself as having news from around the world. On their site, they describe themselves as, "A credible source for the most important stories of the day, continually updated - a one-stop site for U.S. and world news, as well as entertainment, trends, science, health and stunning photography."("About UPI", n.d., para 2). UPI also provides insightful reports on key topics of geopolitical importance, including energy and security.
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How is it perceived?
UPI does not show up on AllSides, but the news source Breitbart News is using UPI's sources. Breitbart News seem to report news with opinions on the far right. When using NewsGuard on Google Chrome, UPI's credibility is very reliable, but through transparency it lacks content such as content creator and ownership.
DAY 1: November 5, 2018
Grade:
F
Total: 30/190
DAY 2: November 6, 2018
Grade:
F
Total: 16/190
DAY 3: November 7, 2018
Grade:
F
Total: 2/190
FINAL GRADE
F
Total: 48/570
United Press International had the lowest score as a wire service. On UPI’s first page, they had a mix of core and peripheral stories as their headline. Where Reuters had their core stories at the top and peripheral stories towards the bottom. UPI had a more diverse core topic than Reuters had, but they were also hit with a lot of unnamed sources. In one of their articles about the elections, UPI kept using stats and polls from an unnamed source constantly without stating where they got their numbers from. What was sad about their website was that they had their peripheral stories presented on their front page of their website. For being an international news source, UPI didn't have many stories covering other countries. Most of the news articles I graded that day were mainly from the U.S. and about one or two stories were international. One of the media bias that UPI may play in is Access Bias. While researching background information about UPI I noticed that UPI had trouble with it's revenue. I noticed that they had a ton of partnerships from The New York Times to L.A. Times. Which is what Access Bias is, to cultivate good relationship with their other sources in order to stay in business. In our readings Gladstone states, "Reporters believe they must patrol the halls of power, but the price of admission is steep. Antagonize power and the door is barred. So sometimes journalist dance with the devil" (Gladstone, 2011, pg. 64 ). UPI also had Narrative Bias in their content, heartwarming stories such as how many women were elected in congress, celebrities named as sexiest person of the year, and new inventions being invented. This is what Narrative Bias is, as an audience we want to read a good story. Gladstone states, "The great thing about a narrative is that once a template is set with plots and characters, it can be reused again and again when reporting on the same subject" (Gladstone, 2011, pg. 66). Which is what I noticed with some of the news articles. It had a beginning, middle, and ending.
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