The Blade vs. The Age

The Toledo Blade vs. The Age from Melbourne, Australia

I decided to pick an Ohio newspaper and compare it to an Australian newspaper to see the difference in coverage of the Australian Tennis Open. The coverage was way different. The section for sports for The Age was mostly on the Australian Open when the Blade had nothing. I did not even see a link of any kind. There were some video links to watch some of the highlights but nothing really major or any editorials to read on the Open. Let’s get down to business and compare the two papers

Similarities

Sports of course. Each one had national sports, videos, and pictures but hardly had any of the same sports. The Blade had a few pictures and videos of the Australian Open

Differences

The advertising was very different. The Age had an advertisement to help out Haitian people when The Blade did not have anything for the relief effort. Most of the advertisements in The Age were at the bottom of the screen and it was not any particular business. It was mainly a link to go to another search engine. There really is not any advertising on The Age. The Blade has advertising all over. There is a huge ad which goes across the top of The Blade and advertising all along the left side. The Blade’s advertising consisted of GMC, J. Foster Jewelers, OHMIcars.com, and other links to local restaurants and businesses.

The coverage of sports were different as well. The Age had tennis, cricket, bicycling, and football (soccer). The Blade had college and high school basketball, a story on Tiger Woods, Triple A baseball, OSU, minor league hockey, and a general overall section of Pro sports. It was nice to read a paper and not have to hear or read about Tiger Woods. The Blade focused more on local sports while The Age was more focused towards national sports. I liked there was not much advertising on The Age compared to The Blade. There was a lot more wasted space on The Age due to Multimedia section which was a single column with many photos, mainly of tennis because of the Open. It leaves about half the page with blank spots. There are more links on The Age than on The Blade. The Age seems more organized and not so much cluttered with advertising. Again, you can go to the bottom of the page and select what you are looking for; even trying to find a significant other is possible. The Blade just seems cluttered with advertisements of all kind. I like the navigation of The Age compared to The Blade. Any other sport is available at the top of The Age page while The Blade does not a selection at all.