Compare and contrast:The Enquirer and People run nearly identical cover stories

Publications: National Enquirer, People
Date: 21 June 2010

I have given the National Enquirer and People the nicknames The Flagship and The Gold Standard, respectively. The Enquirer is the big budget rag in the American Media Inc. stable, which includes the Globe, Sun, National Examiner and Star. Kennel might be a more accurate metaphor. People is owned by Time, Inc., and in general acts like a news magazine with a focus towards celebrity stories.

In general, the Enquirer is meaner and uses more paid informants, while People tends to interview the subjects of their stories, and if those subjects come off looking bad, it's because they get hung on their own quotes. This week, both use the majority of their front covers to discuss the arrest of Joran van der Sloot in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez. He has confessed to this crime already. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in Aruba when Natalee Holloway went missing five years ago and was presumed murdered, and his friends and alibi providers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were arrested three times each. No one was ever charged with the crime and her body was never found.

Here's the breakdown of the Enquirer cover.

• EXCLUSIVE
  
• Natalee Holloway's suspected killer STRIKES AGAIN!
• DEATH SCENE PHOTOS
• What happened in hotel room
• Why he snapped
• The largest picture is of van der Sloot, with large pictures of the crime scene as well. There are two small pictures of Holloway and Flores.

Here's the take in People of the same basic evidence.

• HOLLOWAY CASE BOMBSHELL
• JUSTICE FOR NATALEE?
• Suspect Joran van der Sloot confesses to a murder in Peru. Will he now tell the
  truth about what really happened in Aruba to the missing American teen?
• The largest picture is of Natalee, with smaller pictures of van der Sloot and Flores. No crime scene shots.

The main difference is the focus on the crime, short catchy phrases versus complete sentences and the use of exclamation points versus question marks. Even when the Flagship does the right thing and calls van der Sloot the suspected killer, they negate that legal nicety by using the phrase "STRIKES AGAIN" in caps. If we want to believe in the law, a difficult proposition in the best of times, there is only one legal entity willing to charge him with murder, and that's Peru, where the evidence against him looks very strong.

And there's the difference between them in a nutshell.