Holy Fox News! The plain truth behind the Fox News agenda

Today’s world has become very sensitive to political and religious groups in the spotlight within the academic setting. One example of this is the LSU “Painted Posse,” a group of Christian LSU students who paint their bodies in school colors and the symbol of the cross for home game events. In order to avoid any conflict with other students, the university administration photoshopped the crosses off each member’s shoulder before sending out a newsletter the photo was on. Though only one member of the group was offended by this act, this news article was featured on Fox News main web page, with the headline “Holy Photoshop! LSU erased Christian football fans’ crosses,” with a large, eye-catching image that first shows their chests with the cross, and then, when you press an arrow to the right, transitions to the photoshopped version (both photos shown below).

  

Fox News is known as a more conservative news outlet. By taking a more conservative stance on many issues, Fox News attracts a large crowd of Christian and other religious groups that resonate with similar political beliefs. Fox News knows who their readers are and, as a result, are able to publish stories with a greater religious context because it is important to their readers. Their audience is also more sensitive to issues like religious freedom, making this article a fitting addition to their website.

The author of the article is clearly targeting a Christian based readership. With the obvious reference to the “Painted Posse’s” Christian beliefs and specific removal of the cross from their chest, the author sets the university administration’s opposition to religious connotations within their university setting as the main conflict. The author states that the photo of the Posse was “otherwise untouched,” which emphasizes that the photo was not otherwise altered and that the crosses were targeted specifically. The author also makes it clear that this cross represents the Christian religion and is not just a generic symbol by quoting Posse member Cameron Cooke saying “The cross painting is important to me because it represents who I am as a Christ follower.” By doing so, he creates a clear “victim” and makes one group in particular, Christians, feel attacked or acted against.

The main argument between both activity systems (the LSU “Painted Posse” and LSU Administration) is the role the symbol of the cross plays in school spirit. With the use of clear, active language, the journalist portrays this point by minimal use of jargon or technical terms related to the academic world. Because of the increase in number of people receiving a college degree, many people have a general understanding of the university system. As Americans, a majority of people also understand a person’s right to free speech and religion. With the understanding of this right, audience members see the conflict the writer is trying to portray. Though I think the contents of this article are important, the real argument is being fought by the writer and not the “Painted Posse”--as only one member of that group was actually upset the crosses were removed, leaving me to question the reasoning behind making this story such a pointed part of Fox News’ main headlines.

When the writer uses direct quotes from both LSU Administration and members of the “Painted Posse,” the aim is to simply report the facts and not try to summarize them on their behalf. By directly quoting, confusion is offset and the tone of the article is very conversational. Fox News’ readers should feel fairly confident they are receiving the full story--as they already choose to go to this site for information. The journalist also uses common language that is accessible for a wide range of readers, which is confirmed because of the high reading ease, which is 69.5. The average readability score is 8.1 -- a score that shows nearly any person with an education of eighth grade or above would be perfectly capable of reading and understanding this article.

The language chosen by the author also adds emphasis to the issue discussed in the article. For example, when the author writes “A group of Louisiana State University football fans whose admiration for the Tigers is second only to their love for Jesus is outraged,” they are essentially saying that the group as a whole was very upset. The word “outraged” has a connotation attached to it, one that suggests outward displays of anger, which is just not accurate in this context. In the third paragraph of the article, the author quotes a member of the Painted Posse as being “a bit surprised,” which is quite far from being “outraged.” Also, by using the words “Holy Photoshop” in the title of the article, the author gives readers--and those who just browse the title--the sense that the entirety of the photo was altered, not just a small portion of it.

Some of the sentence combining skills used by the author also enhances his message and the ideas he is promoting. By using an appositive in this article, the writer is aiming to be more detailed in a concise way. Because it all comes in one sentence, readers are not interrupted or thrown off by an abrupt end of sentence, but they are given a sentence with good flow that is easily understood. This is not the only time the author uses appositive in their writing, as I think it really does enhance the clarity of the message they are trying to get across. Each additional piece of information inserted into each sentence gives more detail about the specific pieces of information in the sentence. The author could have chosen to write shorter sentences with each piece of information, but by including more information into each sentence, using this sentence combining strategy, the writer creates a more readable sentence.

Though LSU is responsible for removing the crosses, only one member of the “Painted Posse” was actually upset. If I had not read the entire article, I probably would have thought several people were mad and that some type of controversy surrounded this event. By the time I had finished the article I knew that was not the case and was somewhat confused about why this article was featured as headline news. The plain language used by the author of this article shows Fox News’s awareness of their audience and the ideals they feel comfortable pursuing. By using many of these plain writing styles and choosing to write about this topic, Fox News makes their readers feel that this media outlet is relevant and important to their lifestyle. They feel they can trust this source. Though there is wealth to this method, those who have contrasting beliefs will likely grasp the full intent of this article not feel the same.

--Melissa Moss

How to Keep Your Food Safe When Sandy and Its Friends Come

 

Superstorm Sandy had a severe impact to the East Coast at the end of October. It has become the second largest storm in recordkeeping. All the residents are urgent to prepare and face the difficulties they will meet, including power cuts, water cuts, food shortages and housing damages. Once the house is out of power and the tap water cut, the refrigerator won’t work and residents won’t have the running water to drink and use. When the severe storm affects all the former problems, making sure your food is safe and clean is vital due to the fact that unsafe food will cause diarrhea, even death.

In this fatal moment, A Consumer’s Guide To Food Safety: Severe Storms And Hurricanes will be very helpful for the residents who live in the disaster area. This document is published on the website of the United States Department of Agriculture. To be more specific, it is written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. Generally speaking, the document provides various ways to determine if the food is safe and how to keep food safe. The audience will be social workers and general residents. From social workers’ perspective, they want to provide this guide to the public, to remind them be aware of the food safety in severe weather.  General residents would like to read and print it out in case of they need it someday. In an overview of the guide, the intention of the guide is good for the audience, but it is not in a user-friendly format. However, will people remember most tips from the guide when they need to? In this article, I will argue how the simple tips seem to omit information within guides.

As a government document, especially a guide to the public, this guide should be easily accessed by the public. The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease is 57.4; Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is 9.6; Average Grade Level is 10.1; 17.3 words per sentence. According to the statistics, this guide seems easy to understand. Most parts of this article are accessible and clear. It is likely to be perceived as “credible” to the public, because it is published by a government department.

The content from this guide is definitely unbiased because there isn’t a specific position for the authors. The document doesn’t seem “dumbed down” or potentially insulting, but it seems dry. Some parts sound like doing an experiment in labs. Moreover, almost all the sentences start with a verb, and they read like commands.

The tone is neutral at most times, except “Knowing how to determine if food is safe and how to keep food safe will help minimize the potential loss of food and reduce the risk of foodborne illness.” It sounds a little serious, and evokes the public to pay attention to their food safety during an emergency. However, the serious tone contrasts with the simplistic information. Readers may feel that the guide has a vital core but with an unimportant appearance. Then they will question whether the information is really important to them or not.

At the beginning of the guide, it shows that “This Consumer’s Guide will help you make the right decisions for keeping your family safe during an emergency.” This sentence uses metabasis and states the major theory of the piece. Coming straight to the main point helps the audience know what they are exactly going to read. It is an effective communication within vast public safety guides.

Another effective rhetorical device in this guide is using parallelism “STEPS TO FOLLOW TO PREPARE FOR A POSSIBLE WEATHER EMERGENCY: Make sure the freezer... Freeze containers... Freeze refrigerated items... Plan ahead ...Store food... Have coolers...Group food...” All the steps start with a verb and use the second person point of view. In front of each step, the writer uses a bullet to separate each sentence, which helps the reader read this part easily.

However, it is oversimplifying the subject matter in some parts. “Group food together in the freezer—this helps the food stay cold longer.” How does one group food? How does one classify the food and according to what? Maybe some people would think everyone should have the common sense of how to divide food in different categories, but the tone of the whole guide will be distinct. For instance, in the last step of “Steps to follow during and after the weather emergency”, “Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, soft cheeses, milk, eggs, leftovers, and deli items after 4 hours without power.” In this example, the author gives what kinds of food are perishable. In this case, the author is oversimplifying some information, but he also provides more details.

Furthermore, providing specific information is helpful for the audience. Nevertheless, how many readers will remember the exact information? Here is the example of how to disinfect the water in using household bleach, “Add 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. Store disinfected water in clean containers with covers.” This step sounds like doing a science experiment. When the hurricane comes and the power is off, people cannot use their computer to check this pdf unless they print it beforehand. How many readers will remember what the dosage of bleach is? And how long does the water need to stand?  Moreover, even though they remember all the steps, they might not have the tools to measure the bleach. These details don’t bring about the author’s purpose. If the author can explain this step in a vivid and easy way, the audience will remember it so they can measure the bleach without difficulties.

To sum up, the whole guide is useful for the public, even though some parts are oversimplifying while other parts are complicating. Thus, the tone between different sections is distinct. If the readers print it out and they don’t need to remember all the tips, they will feel easy to use this guide. Nevertheless, if the audience doesn’t keep a copy when they need to use, they will feel struggle with recalling those unfriendly user format guidelines.

--Xiaoqi Wu

Source:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/pdf/severe_storms_and_hurricanes_guide.pdf

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/apocalypse-sandy-hurricane-photos-worthy-of-a-dystopian-film

The Average Assumption

The Average Assumption

The average American tends to read at a 7th grade level, which includes books, such as The Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer, the Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling, and the popular Hunger Game series, by Suzanne Collins. These books were written for the grade levels of teenagers and young adults; however, they bring in readers from every age.  Since these books were written at the average reading level, many people found them to be an easy read. This also includes writing for articles, handbooks, and other written pieces. I wanted to find a piece that would be around the same level as the books above, so I went to CDC.gov, which is a website dedicated to informing the public about disease control and prevention.  This website collaborates to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health. It was written at a reading level many can understand to attract people of any reading level to its website. With that in mind, I chose a simple article from the website called, “Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight.”

This page was made to inform people to make the right eating choices for the prevention and control of weight. It lists ways of changing your lifestyle eating habits in an easy to read format.  Currently, webpages like this one litter the internet, and the author wrote it in a simple writing style, often called plain style.  Plain style is an easy-to-read writing style that includes small words, fewer ideas per sentence, and it’s usually less ambiguous.  For example the author chose to write these sentences simply, “A healthy lifestyle involves many choices,” or “A healthy eating plan that helps you manage your weight includes a variety of foods you may not have considered.” These sentences are simple, and they don’t use any sentence combining strategies.  There are only a few instances of coordination and subordination in this article.  Because of the lack of large words and sentence combining strategies readabilityscore.com found this website to be written at a 7.4 reading level, along with the rest of the CDC.gov. 

            There are mainly two types of activity systems looking at this webpage: people who are researching how to eat healthier and the staff who had to write this page.  The researchers will want to know basic information about healthy food choices, and how to make them.  The writers wrote this page because of the motto CDC.gov holds, which is to inform the public of the prevention and control of diseases.  They want to inform everyone on how to eat healthier for a healthy weight.  There are many more activity systems, but I will be looking at how these two may interpret the webpage.

              The people reading this webpage may need to get a lot of information about which foods to eat, how much to eat, and what specific fats they should stay away from.  The article starts out by defining what a healthy eating plan is.  They use the source Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010, which is a dietary guideline that provides authoritative advice about consuming fewer calories and making informed food choices. Based on the article topic, this source was a good choice, and the article writes out the guidelines in a listed format.  After the guidelines, the article focuses on new foods you can eat.  This site does well in helping you realize healthy eating isn't the end of eating foods you love. 

This article informs you what is healthy to eat, but since the CDC.gov writes to inform the general public, they should include more information that may be general knowledge but not everyone knows.  The author assumes we know things such as average calorie intake, what foods are low in certain fats, how many servings to eat of certain food groups, and other basic health information. Considering this is written at a 7th grade level, there should be more information many people would think common knowledge but many people forget.  If this website is so focused on teaching the people about healthy food choices, they need to inform them on the basics often learned early on in health classes.

            First off, one bullet point tells you to eat things “low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars,” but what are the amounts we should stay away from?  How do I figure out what is low? Second, most people don’t even know the difference between a fruit and a vegetable.  They also don’t include the amount of servings to eat per day. Some people may be mistaking a tomato for a vegetable and could easily be eating too many vegetables per day and not enough fruit.   Third CDC.gov writes, “Do I have to give up my favorite comfort food? No! Healthy eating is all about balance. You can enjoy your favorite foods even if they are high in calories, fat or added sugars. The key is eating them only once in a while and balance them out with healthier foods and more physical activity."  From my own experience, if you are eating unhealthy then you should stay away from unhealthy foods, so you don’t binge eat.  I know if I give up my favorite snack, chips and salsa, I go crazy the next time I eat it.  I eat about a half a bag of tortilla chips and half a jar of salsa. I know the website is trying to make healthy eating seem easy, but the truth is it isn't always easy.  Finally, they say “stay within your daily calorie needs.”  What are basic calorie needs?  Everyone is different and many people who are active need to take in at least 2,000 calories a day.  How are we supposed to know that basic information without the author telling us? 

            CDC.gov is a website dedicated to informing people and communities about basic health and healthy lifestyle choices.  The webpage I chose to evaluate and critique did well in staying within the plain writing style and 7th grade reading level.  They let people understand their ideas.  The article showed you it isn't scary to change your food eating habits. The format and writing is easy to understand, but the author could have gone into more detail about certain aspects of healthy eating.  They could assume the author knew less about the subject to compensate for the questions that may arise when reading this article.  CDC’s motto is to inform, and they should try to include the basic health choices to coincide with their motto, the plain style, and a 7th grade reading level.

by Katie Mickschl

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/index.html

What is SparkNotes Missing?

I have always found the concept of SparkNotes very interesting. At times it can be very helpful, but I also can’t help frustrated when dealing with SparkNotes and my future profession as a teacher. As a future teacher, I am definitely a part of this activity system, along with other teachers and students.  As a future teacher, I have goals for my students. Obviously I want them to gain knowledge and understanding for the literature and be able to take something away from the unit. Some of my future students may not care much about the bigger, but rather are concerned with getting a decent grade and moving from the class.  In the classroom, students substitute one material for another because they believe them to be equivalent. They use site in place of the novel and read it to just gain enough of information to get a good grade or pass a test, but what are they missing when they do this? Just with the time I have spent with my current students during my field experience at Central High School, I can tell that SparkNotes is a big aid for most students. It is obvious though that some students abuse this source.

There are some beneficial reasons for students to use SparkNotes. For example, it can be a good aid to refer to as the student is reading the actual or assigned text. When doing this, it can be used to gain of better/deeper understanding for the text. SparkNotes can be more reader friendly. It gets to the point, in simple language, cutting out detail, and giving the reader the main points.

On the other hand, there are some negatives. What are students missing when they pick SparkNotes over the whole text?  When looking at the section below and comparing that to the section in the novel, there are some dramatic differences. The biggest difference being that this one paragraph section is “equivalent” to 6 pages in the novel. When looking at that fact alone, you know some of the details are being cut out. For example, dialog is completely cut out in the SparkNotes summary, along with some major plot point. One of the plot points that you don’t get from reading this section of SparkNotes is the dynamic between Elizabeth, Caroline, and Darcy. In the novel, the reader learns that Caroline Bingley really doesn't like Elizabeth because Caroline has feelings for Darcy and she can tell that Darcy has feelings for Elizabeth. This is a complicated love triangle and it built throughout the novel and yet we get no explanation of in the SparkNotes section. Now although this may seem like a small detail, Caroline becomes a bit of the antagonist and this would be important for the students to identify.  Without her role in the story, there would be far less conflict and no explanation as to why Darcy and Elizabeth have the relationship they do.

“That night, while Elizabeth visits Jane, the Bingley sisters poke fun at the Bennett’s. Darcy and Mr. Bingley defend them, though Darcy concedes, first, that he would not want his sister ever to go out on such a walking expedition and, second, that the Bennets’ lack of wealth and family make them poor marriage prospects. When Elizabeth returns to the room, the discussion turns to Darcy’s library at his ancestral home of Pemberley and then to Darcy’s opinions on what constitutes an “accomplished woman.” After he and Bingley list the attributes that such a woman would possess, Elizabeth declares that she “never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe, united, and implying that Darcy is far too demanding.”

Although the section from SparkNotes is written in more of a plain style than the original text, there are still elements of the official style. I believe that the website does this to establish some type of credibility. If the site was in “too plain” of style, I believe people would be far less likely to use the site as often as they do. For example, sentences in the above section like “Darcy’s opinions on what constitutes an accomplished woman” or “Bingley list the attributes that such a woman would possess.” These sentences could be put in even more of a plainer form, yet they keep a sense of formality. Also, there are different types of sentence combining strategies that are used that also add an element of the official style.

Overall I think that SparkNotes is a good resource for students to use as an aid, but there is no way to make sure that students aren't using it as a complete substitution. Although it would probably be very difficult for teacher to make it impossible for students to do well on quizzes, assignments, or exams just from using SparkNotes, they can try. For example, a teacher can look at SparkNotes and when they create a quiz or exam, make sure that they place questions on it that you would have to read the actual novel to understand. So then, the question becomes what is the importance of literature? Is it an important thing that students read the original novel versus SparkNotes version? Or can they get from SparkNotes all that they need, enough information to pass a test and get a decent grade. My answer to this is the original text is important and students are missing out on valuable information by ignoring that and only choosing to look at SparkNotes. 

Kacie Burke

The Truth and Nothing but the Plain Truth

When Richard Neill posted his comment on Facebook addressing the “lies” that Tampons companies have been selling since his childhood, it’s hardly likely he expected things to go as far as they did. A commercial specifically calling him out came as a response from the company, and soon thereafter news articles followed, creeping up to address the new viral campaign. This video has many people talking about the nature of sanitary pad advertising, and while some people are taking a strict analytical stance in response to it, others, such as Jennifer O’Connell from the online division of Dublin’s leading newspaper The Irish Times, aren’t going to let the opportunity to have a little fun with journalism pass them by. Reviewing the world’s (arguably) first funny advertisement for Tampons isn’t a job that just anyone would take on, but that’s just what Jennifer O’Connell did. In this witty critique of BodyForm’s newest Tampon-selling scheme, O’Connell succeeded in not only portraying the hilarious devices used by BodyForm in their Truth about Periods campaign, but also brought to the table her own amusing takes on the issue: Why can’t the general public handle the reality of women’s menstruation?

O’Connell starts her article with a paragraph warning her audience of what was to come:

“This is a column about the stuff the advertising industry wants to protect you from. That’s right: we’re talking about the messy reality of womanhood. The word “period” may feature. Cutsey euphemisms such as Aunty Flo, The Painters and That Time of the Month won’t. Neither will the suggestion that the shedding of the uterine lining is the ideal opportunity to go ice-skating in a pair of tight white jeans.”

She then adds, “So if you’re squeamish about that kind of thing, move right along to the other pages.” After a paragraph break, O’Connell good-naturedly asks, “Still here?” as if addressing an audience that she can communicate with but not see. It all creates a lead in that instantly grabs attention. O’Connell addresses her readers directly, challenging them to face what she’s about to write about, but keeps her tone at all times laid back, joking, and even familiar, as if she is simply conversing with a group of friends, rather than addressing a nation at large. She is, after all, addressing a nation as a whole, as The Irish Times is Ireland’s leading newspaper agency, comparable to what The New York Times is in America. And, although she is writing for an online-only blog feature of the agency’s site, it gets the attention that a national newsource would be expected to get (with ninety recommendations on Facebook, forty-two tweets, and twenty-nine shares on Google’s Blog community showing up at the top of article). It does seem though that the audience O’Connell is targeting is much smaller than that which is available to her -- half the size, in fact. O’Connell often refers to ‘men’ throughout her article in the passive sense, as if assuming no man is reading her article anyway. So, by her estimation the audience reading this article consists of women only, and not even just women, but women between the ages of twelve and menopause -- I mean to say, those who menstruate. At times she does stray from this, posing questions for her imaginary public that address more than just the female population: “Why are we so squeamish about something that will affect half the population once a month, for at least part of their lives?”

Neill's Original Comment

Some of these questions, she goes on to answer later in her article. Throughout her article she follows the history of sanitary pad advertising and it’s hits and misses with honesty in commercials. One in particular, she covers knowing that most of the people in the audience will be familiar with the commercials, but not as familiar with the background information:

“A 2010 ad for the American brand U by Kotex parodying the industry was more successful. “How do I feel about my period?” the actress in the ad asks. “I love it . . . Sometimes I just want to run on a beach. Unusually, by the third day, I just want to dance.” Sadly, the ad was rewarded for its candour with instant banning by three US TV networks. It had to be re-edited to replace the word “vagina” with the expression “down there” – and even then, two of the three networks still refused to run it.”

She covers the history of Tampon advertising, all the way from “a new freedom, comfort, convenience” in the 1930s, to Kotex’s “by the third day, I just want to dance,” pulling information from all sources, and creating a collage of failed advertising and comparing it to what she calls “[a] break with two of the major conventions for public discussion of the female menstrual cycle.” O’Connell compares the simple facts of Tampon advertisements in the past, to what this one does differently, without ever slipping out of her conversational tone.

Really, this article doesn’t seem to slip into what one would call the Official Style at all. Any time that she even gets close to toeing the line of “Formal Writing”, it’s used in a humorous way, as if she’s mocking the experts that talk about this subject without an ounce of humor. This can be seen very well in this quote about the differences in the reaction that people have when discussing periods:

“Women, I’ve noticed, have no problem discussing our menstrual cycles with each other. We compare notes about tears shed, or quantities of Maltesers consumed; we even prevail upon each other for tampon supplies when we’re caught short. So if we can laugh about our periods, why can’t advertisers?”

She speaks here of women and their periods as if it is a field of study (we all minor in menstruation perhaps?), and this is the only place in the article where you see sentences rambling on for several lines, and using combining of sentences to continue a thought. There is also a certain high-brow air in the voice used here that isn’t present elsewhere in the article, as if she is deeming herself the forefront of experts on this subject.

So, is O’Connell’s critique successful? She’s honest, plain, and funny, and still all the while, proving that she knows exactly what she’s talking about. I think few people would argue that her article fails to achieve what it set out to do -- namely, bring this issue to the forefront of people’s minds.

A humorous campaign from Pakistan in 2010 in response to WikiLeaks.

-Lauren Ihrke

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/1024/1224325613655.html