Pages

According to Peverill Squire and Christina Fastnow, "voters tend to learn about office-holders from the media...newspapers are the major source of news about state politics. "

The purpose of this blog is to present my analyses of Star Tribune's news coverage of the governor's race. I will be reading literature on the news coverage of gubernatorial candidates and elections and applying that reading to the articles within the Star Tribune in order to analyze. I will be analyzing the content, location, tone, length, sources, and all other aspects of the articles.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Getting to know Dayton

An article in today's paper titled, "Dayton was born to run" is rather lengthy and therefore is split into different sections. The article falls under the category of personality trait coverage. The writer begins by describing the art in Dayton's town house. The second section is titled "Growing Up as a Dayton." The writer goes on to describe Dayton's earlier years.
High expectations were branded on Dayton early by his father, Bruce Dayton, the demanding patriarch of one of Minnesota's wealthiest families.
The elder Dayton once told a friend that he wasn't surprised to be at the helm of Dayton-Hudson in 1979 when it became a billion-dollar company. Family lore says his rejoinder was: "I'd always dreamed I'd run a $10 billion company."
To be the eldest of four children -- two boys and two girls -- was to feel the brunt of his father's lofty aspirations.
Mark Dayton slumps in his chair, gazing up as he did when his parents sat him down to speak to him about bringing home only second honors from the fifth grade.
"I was told in no uncertain terms that I would never come home with second honors again. ... I was given an 'F' and an 'F' for effort," he says with a laugh. "I got first honors every semester for the rest of the time."
He was an All-State goalie as a senior at the Blake School who went on to play for Yale until an accident on the ice slit his throat. Asked why he became a goalie and he says "Because I couldn't skate well enough to do anything else."
So he worked harder at it. 

The article has some great quotes from Dayton, especially being that it is an article on personality trait coverage. This is a great time to do an article on Dayton, as election day is almost here and Dayton is pretty far ahead in the race.

The article portrays Dayton as just another guy, which makes it easier for voters to relate to him. The article discusses his struggles as a child and throughout college and problems with drinking. This article doesn't hold anything back and whether or not that is a good thing is up to the reader's opinions.

After showing the funny side of Dayton with a few quotes, the article ends with a quote from a friend of Dayton's.

"He is really a wonderful human being. ... He has done so much that he never takes credit for."

No comments:

Post a Comment