Edwar Hernandez

TA:Zack de Pierro

Due: January 21st, 2015

State of the Union

The distinctions from genre to genre are numerous and therefore, as a writer, it is important to recognize those distinctions. The differences between genres exist due to precedents set by writers that chose to evoke another writer, creating a set of loose rules for anyone writing the same genre or addressing the same audience. These loose set of rules become guidelines and therefore create similarities that, if multiple sources were compared, would utilize the same rhetorical approaches and use of language. After The State of the Union Address by President Obama, all major news networks set out to create a clear picture for Americans that might have missed it using the guidelines of their genre, the newspiece. Although the approach may differ, the news stations Fox News, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post utilize the precedents set by reporters years before them adopting the genre as their own.

That bold large print hovering over the story is called a headline, and is arguably the most important part of the news piece. The reporter must make the headline short and concise, yet attract the attention of the reader. A reporter may choose to use hyperbolic language to make the headline sound more exciting than it is, or keep it mild and respectful. The New York Times headline for the state of the union reads “In State of the Union, Obama Heads Ambitious Plan.”(New York Times) The headline is overhead, in bold. and the font is different from the rest of the article because it attempts to attract the attention of the reader. The reporter chose to word the headline formally, opting for words that convey little emotion, “ambitious” “heads.” This is in vast contrast to the choice of words in the Huffington Post,”Last Act: MIddle Class Warrior”(Huffington Post). The language paints Obama as a passionate crusader for the middle class running out of time before he is vanquished by another election cycle. Fox News on the other hand directs a different approach, perhaps guided by their own personal bias,”What Obama Didn’t Say: Address Skips over Debt, Entitlement Crisis.”(Fox News). The headline utilizes mild language and pairs those words with terms which are controversial in a manner that would sound condemning towards the president. The reporter, according to the headline, has directed the article in a manner which would criticize Obama for what he did not say. The choice of words in all three news articles is a great example of Jargon, “the terminology used by those in a particular profession or group to facilitate clear and precise communication (Janet Boyd Murder, 89).  In all three articles the choice of words gave notice to the reader on how the State of the Union was going to be addressed by the writer. Reporters have learned to create short, bolded headlines using Jargon that will attract the attention of readers thus making it incredibly important to the genre.

Another quality that has become incredibly important, especially when on the internet, is the use of pictures for context. Pictures following a headline, yet preceding the actuals text has become a mainstay aspect of the news on the internet, and paper to a smaller extent. The choice of the picture conveys the message of the reporter just as much as the text. Many pictures are taken during a speech and at different times a person may convey different expressions that are interpreted differently. For example the news site Fox News carries a picture of Obama wearing a seemingly sly smile. This type of picture may create the impression the president has done something wrong and is very proud of it, smug even. On the other hand, the more liberal news site, The Huffington Post, uses a more heroic picture of the President, one where he appears to be making a bold statement. The picture is a close up, much like a heroic figure in a film would have. In both news sites Obama is characterized further through the use of photographs. Pictures not only further the argument for a reporter but it also creates an association between the reader and the figures in the story. A person that may not have known what the President’s face looked like, or the face of the very melancholy John Boehner that sat behind Obama, can now associate the name with a face. This helps the reader cement the names, and information, given by reporters.

A common convention in new articles is the objective tone an article carries. The tone of objectivism adds to the legitimacy of the article by instituting the approach Logos. The articles do not use any indication that the opinions expressed belong to the reporter, instead the information is presented in a way that seems factual by presenting charts and citations. It is incredibly important to cite sources and keep a legitimate reputation because reporters will be judged on their information by their audience. Perhaps no other profession has such a varied audience as a reporter because the news is a necessity among the people of any democracy. Lately, news sites have begun to pander to demographics. Fox News is a great example of how an objective tone can be used for bias in news, as can be read, “If there were any doubts that President Obama has moved beyond trying to tackle the 18 trillion national debt, his state of the union address should put them to rest:he’s over it”(Fox News). Here the reporter uses a tone that sounds objective and alludes to the State of the Union Address to cite his conclusion, Obama will not do anything about the growing debt and has stopped caring.  The tone may lead readers to lose faith in the president. Fox News has taken the conventions of the genre to legitimize their arguments by making it sound objective. The Huffington Post, though, decides to use this tone to support the president and the proposals he offered Tuesday night, “President Obama’s...Signaled a fresh battle for the hearts and minds of America’s middle class -- and Republicans weren’t having any of it.”(Huffington Post) Here the Huffington Post has established Obama as the “Middle Class Warrior” and Republicans as the barrier in the face of his benevolence. The reporter has condemned the Republicans as enemies of the middle class, but informs the reader very little of Obama’s proposals throughout. The use of language in both articles shows the ability of genres to have the same rhetorical devices, in this case the same tone, yet used to different ends. Fox News was antipathetic towards Obama's goals and made it clear, but the Huffington Post utilized the same tone to aggrandize the president for his proposals and demonize republicans. Kerry Dirk describes the role of genres best,”It is the knowledge that helps us to recognize and determine appropriate responses to different situations.” (Dirk, 259)As reflected above, each reporter had an opinion and decided to write an article using the respectable conventions of a news piece.

A respectable aspect of news pieces is the ability to admit when they are wrong. If a news piece relays the information incorrectly, the reporter must edit it and add a piece in the bottom admitting the mistake, This on its own adds to the Logos approach that is furthered by the objective tone, as well. The New York Times adds such an edit on the foot of the article explaining,”(New York Times) An earlier version of  this article misstated the nature of a killing by a police officer on Staten Island. The victim, Eric Garner, was choked not shot.” The small piece at the foot of the article also adds the date, January 21, 2015, to inform the reader of the date of the correction. The reporter has admitted his mistake in regards to the death of Eric Garner demonstrating his integrity, ethics, and commitment to his trade. The correction piece also creates, by mistake, Ethos. By admitting the small mistake he has humanized himself beyond the a name on print and as a fellow person. Of course, if Ethos is established multiple times, it may lead to the reporter losing credibility in a career that demands it.

Although the amount of genres may be daunting, learning them remains an important aspect or anyone writing anything. Genres are not only precedents set by writers before us, but they are also a guideline to approach an audience. For those that say otherwise and say Genres play a very minimal role in writing, they’ve obviously never been a news reporter. News reporters must abide to their genre or lose credibility. Because they are the voice of truth, their credibility is of the utmost importance. There are many conventions that a news piece must follow in order to garner validity.

Genre will forever be an important aspect of writing. A person’s audience will never be the same and because of this, the amount of genres are equally varied. The person that every specific genre to will differ vastly not only because of time period, but because of targeted social groups. Genre will remain important to the struggling author or to the unemployed resume writer.

Works Cited

McAuliff, Michael. "Obama State Of The Union Address Highlights Battle For The Middle Class." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. .

"Obama’s State of the Union 2015 Transcript (Full Text) and Video." The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. .

"What Obama Didn't Say: Address Skips over Debt, Entitlement Crisis." Fox News. FOX News Network, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/21/what-obama-didnt-say-address-skips-over-debt-entitlement-crisis/>.

Boyd, Janet. "Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)." Writing Spaces: 89. Print.

Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: 259. Print.