Compare/Contrast NY Times & USAToday

I have looked two articles about Toyota's recall and recent hearings regarding this recall in front of congress. One is from The New York Times and the other is from USAToday.

The ledes on the two stories are very similar and both are strong. They both get to the point with the most important information, What the top U>S official of Toyota told Congress. Both use blind attribution for this official which is appropriate as the information said and the position of the person saying it, not their actual name, is the news here. Both also use the partial quote "not totally" to describe the resolution of the Toyota situation. The New York Times article tells us exactly what committee of congress is involved. This seems wordy and unnecessary for a lede to me. I believe the USAToday's use of "Congress" is stronger.

With regards to sources, both do a fairly good job. Most of the sources are the same in both stories. Both include comments form both Republicans and Democrats on the issue as well as comments from multiple members of Toyota's organization as well as victims of the malfunction. Therefore they both successful include both sides of the issue. The USAtoday article does a better job of painting a picture. They use more direct and emotional quotes from one victim, Rhonda Smith. However, the Times does have more substance in their quotes from Toyota officials.

Both include numerous multimedia components. At the top of the USAToday article a video of the Rhonda Smith testimony and her husbands is available. However, this starts immediately when the page opens, which is a turnoff to readers. The USAToday does do a good job of interspersing links throughout the article. These include links to a live blog from the hearing as well as two directly related articles and a map of where the acceleration problems occurred. All of these are very strong uses of links throughout the story.

The New York Times article includes an image of a crying Smith which the USAToday article also includes. The Times has two videos available but both are of Toyota's testimony. This is a weakness as they should include a video of the opposition. Furthermore their videos and links to related articles are off to the side of the article. I prefer USAToday's integrated method, as I did not even notice the Times videos until well after finishing the article.

Overall, both are strong articles. Both have good sources and a strong lede. The USAToday article is better in my opinion because of its integrated (vs. the Times segmented) approach to multimedia.