A Compare and Contrast Analysis of Two Articles
In the current essay, two articles on debatable news topics are chosen, analyzed, and compared in terms of credibility, validity, timeliness, and biases. The actual topic for the two articles is the COVID-19 pandemic and global changes in the world. The first one is “The World after Coronavirus” by Yuval Noah Harari (published in Financial Times); the second one is “We can’t go back to normal”: how will coronavirus change the world?” by Peter C Baker (published in The Guardian). Moreover, a compare and contrast analysis of the pieces of writing is carried out.
“The World after Coronavirus” by Yuval Noah Harari: a Summary
The first article by Yuval Noah Harari was published in Financial Times in March 2020 (Harari, 2020). Harari is an Israeli historian and philosopher, who specializes in world history, medieval and military history. He is widely known for his bestselling book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”. His present article addresses the post-pandemic reality and decisions made by governments and people that will affect it.
The author highlights that those decisions will have long-term consequences on healthcare systems, economy, politics, and culture. The focus of the article lies on the two essential choices humankind faces: “between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment” and “nationalist isolation and global solidarity” (Harari, 2020, para. 3). The first essential dilemma that the pandemic situation posed is the choice between privacy and health. Governments are already employing advanced surveillance systems (for example, in China) to control the spread of the COVID-19. However, Harari addresses the question of whether they are going to stop doing so when the virus is under control, or from now on the surveillance is an effective method to prevent a second wave and other emergencies. He states that people have the right to choose both privacy and health. For that, governments need to adopt a strategy of empowering citizens by providing information and encouraging cooperation (Harari, 2020). Failing to concentrate on both privacy and health means to step back and abandon the freedom to which humanity has been trying to achieve for so long.
The second dilemma Harari discusses is the choice between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. The author highlights that the problems all countries are currently facing are global. Consequently, they should be approached in cooperation to be solved effectively. First of all, Harari states that countries need to share information openly on tips, experiences, and insights on the disease. Moreover, countries need to exchange and help each other with medical equipment, assistance, and medical personnel, especially in developing countries. Secondly, global cooperation is essential in terms of economy and supply chains. If this is ignored and done individually by each state, it can lead to global chaos. Thirdly, a global plan of action is needed in terms of international transportation and travel. That is vitally important for the global economy to avoid a severe crisis.
“We Can’t Go Back to Normal”: How Will Coronavirus Change The World?” by Peter C Baker: a Summary
The second article by Baker was published in The Guardian in March 2020. Peter C Baker is a writer and a regular contributor to the Guardian long read. His article presents two opposing beliefs on the world’s future after the COVID-19 pandemic (Baker, 2020). The first view is pessimistic and states that existing problems will aggravate as a consequence of the pandemic. For instance, this applies to the following issues: racism and xenophobia, global corporations’ enrichment, criminality, and total surveillance.
Another, school of thought, presents the crisis in the light of opportunities for the world. The pandemic situation has demonstrated the actual power of states: they were able to protect people by global cooperation, allocation of money to citizens, immediate decision making. Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis is a great possibility to shape the way business functions nowadays: from purely capitalistic to human and secure. According to the optimistic scenario, world problems can be seen as a collective, and thus, there is a greater chance to solve them efficiently. It is important to mention that to illustrate and argue both views (pessimistic and optimistic) Baker refers to many scholars and their works.
Harari Vs. Baker: Compare and Contrast
Both articles are devoted to the same topic: the world after the pandemic crisis. Moreover, the two pieces are published in the well-known and reliable online newspapers: Financial Times and The Guardian. However, they are opposite to each other in terms of objectivity, possible bias, and credibility. At the same time, they converge in timeliness and reliability. First of all, it should be said that the article by Baker consists of certain biases in the way the article is presented. The information is not shown in a neutral way but rather in emotional. The author uses a storytelling method, rhetorical questions, emotional language, and exaggerations. Harari, contrariwise, uses neutral and academic (but not difficult for the general public) language. Thus, even though, both articles are published in well-known newspapers and consist of reliable information, one of Harari’s is more credible due to the lack of a subjective way of presentation.
It should also be highlighted that the two articles possess similarities in terms of timeliness and reliability. The two pieces are both published in the time (March 2020) when the information on the impact of the virus is in high demand among the general audience. Besides, the publication dates can be easily found which makes it timeliness. Moreover, both works can be considered reliable as they include facts, statistical data, and other sources.
In conclusion, for the current essay, the two articles on COVID-19 and its impact on the world have been chosen and evaluated in terms of timeliness, credibility, reliability, and possible bias. It can be stated that Harari’s work is more credible than Baker’s one, as the information is presented in a non-biased way. At the same time, both articles are reliable and timeliness because they meet the criteria for these concepts.
References
Baker, P. C. (2020). “We can’t go back to normal”: How will coronavirus change the world?.
Harari, Y. N. (2020). The World after Coronavirus.