Alfred Taubman, a controversial Real Estate Mogul
and Famous Philanthropist Dies at 91
Who is Alfred Taubman?
- Real estate developer who launched Taubman Centers Inc., in 1950
- The company’s primary projects where shopping centers for the growing suburban environment
- His net worth was $3.1 Billion
- Established and funded centers at
- Harvard University
- Brown University
- University of Michigan Medical School (his alma mater)
- Served as President of the City of Detroit’s Art Commission
- Gained notoriety when the US Government indicted him in 2001, over an international price-fixing conspiracy with competing auction house Christie’s.
- Served 10 Months in prison and his auction house, Sotheby’s, was fined $45million
CNN, A Major News Outlet, Choose to Cover Taubman’s Passing Uniquely
CNN was the major news outlet I chose to read about Taubman’s passing.CNN is known for being relatively unbiased; but if a sway did exist, it is more left (liberal) than right (conservative). After browsing around the other articles by major media outlets, like Fox News and Yahoo Business , I realized CNN was one of the few major organizations writing a unique article about Taubman. The others had used republished work done by the Associated Press.
In choosing this more unique work by a major news source I figured I could gain even more insight into the comparisons between this source and my other two.
CNN chose to introduce Alfred Taubman without first acknowledging that as well as being a successful businessman he was a convicted criminal. Instead, the article’s initial focus was on the corporate effect of the tycoon’s death; acknowledging that his son Robert Taubman, is the current Chairmen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Taubman Centers Inc.
Taubman is described as a hard-working man who started working at age 9, and was driven by the struggles of his Depression-era parents. His Jewish parents emigrated from Germany and instilled in him a strong desire to live the American dream.
The article’s next headline, roughly two thirds through the page, addresses his Sotheby’s price-fixing scandal. The article acknowledges that he maintained his innocence and embedded a public tweet showing support for Mr. Taubman. This paragraph quickly trails off into talking about Taubman’s attention to detail.
Prayers go out to the family of Al Taubman, who died today at 91. An amazing man and true Michigan success story. #RIPMrTaubman
— Corey McIsaac (@coreymcisaac) April 18, 2015
This significant paragraph, while not as biased in favor of Mr. Taubman as my other source from his hometown , “The Detroit Free Press”, definitely showed less attention to his crimes than to his philanthropy. This indicates a more positive approach to the writing and a more positive outlook on Mr. Taubman’s passing.
CNN was the best piece of online Journalism I read for the following reasons:
- It was the one of the only unique pieces from a major source.
- It was not nearly as biased as my second source the “Detroit Free Press”.
- It was not nearly as critical or bland as my third source the “Jewish Daily Forward”.
- It included sub headings and a good introduction.
- It was considerably more brief and to the point than the “Detroit Free Press”.
- It followed an informative headline with a descriptive photo of Taubman in a shopping center.
The Detroit Free Press Presents a Home Town Bias on the Death of One of Their Own
TheDetroit Free Press chose to write an article about Taubman labeling him a retail genius, a shopping mall pioneer, and philanthropist. The article’s introduction discusses his pioneering methods of development and his road to self-made wealth. Coming from a town where Taubman gave so much of himself, it is a pretty clear-cut case of hometown bias.
An excerpt from this portion reads:
The article continues to introduce the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, speaking about Mr. Taubman, “He will be long remembered not just for his retail genius, but for the lives he touched through his kindness." This constant attention to his giving all the way up to the top level of state government shows just how impactful this man was in this location.
Much like a beloved athlete, an entrepreneur with a strong character and community presence can overcome the stain of a mistake in the town they are from.
The mention of his trouble with the law is prefaced by, “In a career full of honors and accomplishments, there was seemingly only one slip — one that proved especially painful,” a clear framing of the person’s character. Though the examination of a person’s character is crucial when considering trusting them with your money or family, in this case it wasn’t necessary to introduce his legal trouble. The act alone would not diminish his character as a whole, but framing an article to belittle a hometown hero’s criminal record is a purposely misleading and not fair.
The article, as a whole, is presented well, and if an interested reader from the Michigan area stumbled upon it, I am sure they would be very interested in its detail. As an online read it was far too long for someone who was not interested, but did make use of a slideshow and sub headlines. I would consider it the second best piece of journalism I read, and the best, for someone uniquely interested or supportive of Alfred Taubman.
The Jewish Daily Forward Falls short on the
Presentation of a Jewish Leader and Businessman
The Jewish Daily Forward wrote the worst piece I read about Alfred Taubman. This publisher wrote a unique piece about Alfred Taubman, and its first headline labels him a “Billionaire Snared in Sotheby’s Price-fixing scam.” This sets the scene very differently than the Detroit Free Press and CNN. The only confusion I found was that the biased seemed more demeaning of a member of their own culture rather than supportive like in Detroit. It was, however, a quick informative read if the reader was willing to ignore the visual dullness.
The list of why this article was the worst one I viewed:
· Bland text in block format
· Only one picture which is not informative or descriptive
· Brief writing but information is not easy to grab in block formatting
· Only mentioned Taubman’s business and philanthropy ventures at a basic level
· Overall a bleak and unappealing presentation for any audience, interested or not
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog because I thought it was very informative. One of the things done well was how you embedded your links. I liked how as soon as you began speaking about the best article, you embedded CNN, fox as well as Yahoo Business. Another thing that was done well was having a brief introduction of whom I was going to be reading about. I did not know who Alfred Tubman was prior to this article so having a bulleted list about the key points was very helpful. Adding in the tweet was great because it is relatable to people who use twitter, they are able to see what is going on. There are some things that I thought could be improved. The subheading "CNN, A Major News Outlet, Choose to Cover Taubman’s Passing Uniquely" needed a little bit more. It would have been nice to know why their article was unique. In addition to that, there were minor grammatical errors such as having a space after a period. Finally I do not believe you needed to use "I" as much because since it is your blog, it is already assumed it is opinionated. Overall the Eportfolio made me want to know more about the articles and see how biased the worst article actually was.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was interesting to read because I never would have expected a real estate mogul and philanthropist to have a criminal background. You provided a good deal of information so the article itself was informative while at the same time it was well organized so it was easy to follow. However, I felt that there were too many bullet points provided at the beginning under the explanatory headline. Maybe keep it to the 3-5 most vital points so that we can go to the rest of your article for more information. Another thing to point out is similar to what Ms. Sabi posted before. Using first person in a blog post is perfectly fine, however, you did use it one too many times and we can assume that since this is YOUR blog there is no need to. I did like how you compared a broad news source (CNN) to a local news source (Detroit Free Press) to show the clear bias in the latter. Lastly, I felt that you should have added an extra subheading for your critique on The Jewish Daily Forward since you provided ones for CNN and Detroit Free Press. Overall, this was an interesting and informative blog post.
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