Artifact Analysis

One potential field I’m considering pursuing a career in is the media/news field. So, I thought that a few scripts and articles would be great artifacts to analyze for this project. I chose three broadcast news scripts, one teleprompter script for a news anchor, and one newspaper (a campus newspaper from the school I transferred from) where I plan to analyze a few articles within, as well as the newspaper as a whole.

            First things first, all of these artifacts fall within the same [general] genre: news, information, “story-telling” to some degree. Even though news can be told in print, broadcast, and multimedia form, it’s usually very easy to distinguish something in the news genre. News, in contrast with many other genres, usually doesn’t care too much about the author’s personal opinion, instead using quotes and facts to tell the story.

            Newspaper articles, television and radio scripts, as well as teleprompter scripts all have the same purpose, regardless of whether the audience is reading, listening, or watching. Though my artifacts all serve the same general purpose, there are a few differences worth discussing for the sake of analyzing. The scripts are, generally, meant to not only inform, but engage the viewer and get them interested in the topic enough to wait for the actual segment to be aired. For example, one of my scripts is a news anchor’s introduction: “Tonight on the Channel 4 news……..” This introduction serves as the starter to the news segment, much like a newspaper’s front page. Their purpose is to inform, engage the readers/listeners/viewers, and present them with facts, and not opinion unless it’s an opinion piece of news or a talk show. In contrast with creative writing or work of fiction where the purpose can be to inform but is usually more for entertainment/leisure, news writing’s purpose is to inform and engage, as well as forming a bond with the audience to ensure they are loyal.

            Next, the audience within the artifacts can vary. In the case of my artifacts, the television scripts are intended for the news crew who will translate the script for the television audience, while the newspaper is intended for a different kind of audience. Some people like to read their news, some people like to listen/watch their news. What these audiences have in common is they are choosing to be informed by news, not a short-story, or book of poetry; the audience wants information of some kind. Another key aspect of the news rhetoric is the inevitable fact that most publications/news stations rely heavily on viewers and readers to keep their organizations afloat, so it’s important that viewers get what they expect: which, again, is information, even if it’s told in an entertaining way.

            My artifacts all definitely have conventions which follow the news writing genre. Firstly, due to the nature of news, the ethos concept is extremely relevant to the entire genre. To establish the ethos credibility, newspapers boldly display the name of the publication on the front cover, and also provide bylines which tell the name of the author and other relevant information, such as date and time of publication. In addition, my script artifacts all do the same: the news anchor script immediately lets the viewers know what news station they are watching, which establishes the ethos concept.

            In addition to the convention of establishing credibility, the artifacts all adhere to a more-formal style of writing. The conventions of news writing greatly differ from other forms of writing based off of this alone; the omission of opinion in articles and segments, replaced with quotes and factual figures, are a convention not many genres of writing use, although definitely not exclusive to news writing. Also, the ‘story-telling’ involved with scripts and articles is conventional, as is the use of descriptive and vivid language.

            Another convention of news-writing is the use of attribution. Because news-writing is the telling of facts to tell the story, it’s crucial to state where this information is coming from, because it usually isn’t coming directly from the writer/anchor.

            The tone of my artifacts all definitely have something in common: they may be playful and engaging depending on the audience and type of news, but the tone screams purpose, and formality. Like I stated earlier, news-writing typically takes on a more-formal tone, and within my artifacts this is expressed by the diction and syntax. Most of the language used in my artifacts is authoritative; it’s less colloquial and casual, but proper and systematic. You instantly recognize you’re reading something that somebody had to be trained and conditioned on, as opposed to reading a blog post which is more relaxed and casual. The syntax adheres to conventional news-writing styles, which is one aspect of news-writing that makes it so recognizable. The scripts are laid out in two/three column displays, indicating which words are meant to be spoken by the on-air anchor, or meant to be performed by those behind the scenes (director, producer, technical director, etc).

Reading Response 3

After reading Chapter 17 in Everything’s an Argument and the “From Backpacks to Briefcases” excerpt, I can honestly say I do better understand what it really means to analyze rhetoric, and also how being able to recognize rhetorical styles can help writing skills overall. What really helped me begin to see the big picture is the part in “From Backpacks to Briefcases” where Carroll begins by explaining how we quickly analyze people and form quick judgements based off of what we see, much like we are learning to notice rhetoric styles in different forms of writing. It really does make sense: when I pick up a newspaper, I know pretty much what to expect because most newspapers follow very similar conventions, and on the other hand I know not to compare the writing in a newspaper with the writing in a children’s book or a non-fiction piece.

For example, on the first day of our writing class, I saw that Zack was dressed casually and wearing sandals—based off of these initial observations, I came to a quick conclusion that he must be a laid-back guy, and that the class would probably be more of a laid-back and open environment. If, on the other hand, Zack walked in wearing a suit and tie, fancy dress shoes, and a briefcase, my judgement might have been that he prefers a more formal classroom environment. This week’s readings helped me to understand that eventually we’ll all get to a point where we can notice written rhetoric, and understand the greater implications of these findings and apply them to our own writing. 

Reading Response 2

After reading another issue in “Understanding Rhetoric” and “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking),” I once again am left with a lot more to consider and factor into my writing to achieve my goal of becoming a more effective writer! The benefits and ways of using identities in writing, another in-depth explanation about why it’s so important to always be aware of your audience and what you’re ultimately trying to argue in your writing, as well as the discussion about jargon and slang are probably my favorite parts of this week's reading. I also enjoyed the detective-writing exercise from Janet Boyd.

After reading the part about jargon and slang in “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking),” I immediately realized that I had been subconsciously using some of these concepts. For example, a lot of my writing experience is from high school when I was writing for the school newspaper and discovering my interest in journalism. Even back then, for example, I realized the words and rhetoric I would use to convey the tone and my identity would be completely different in an article for the newspaper compared to an essay for English class. Even when discussing the same exact event or topic, the rhetoric will depend on the genre and intended audience.

I also found the fashion/clothing metaphor in “Understanding Rhetoric” extremely helpful in understanding the idea of identity in writing—just as you probably wouldn’t dress the same going to church, school, and the bar, the way you present yourself in your writing shouldn’t be one size fits all. For example, for the e-mail assignment, I’m very much aware that the way I would be writing it would be much different if I was sending it to a family member, old teacher, friend, etc, but the fact is I’m sending it to a professional person in a career that I’m interested in so my tone, identity, and rhetoric all need to reflect that.

Reading Reponse 1

Before I began reading the assigned reading material for the week, I kind of thought I knew a lot about writing already—which I later discovered to not be the whole truth. I learned that just because I have some experience with writing in a few different styles, I have only begun to brush the surface; I may know how to write a paper or write an article, but I realize I don’t completely grasp writing as a whole. What I mean by that is that I’ve pretty much just been going through the motions, not truly grasping the fundamental ideas and underlying concepts of writing. I’m very excited to see how many ways this writing class will help me become a better writer.

All three of the assigned readings in some way managed to get me thinking, but I’m blown away by the ‘Understanding Rhetoric’ readings. I love how it immediately made me realize that writing is much more than simply WHAT you’re writing about, and I also appreciate the comic-style. What really hit the nail on the head was the discussion of ethos, pathos, and logos, and how all writing is arguing something. I loved the example of social media: how something as seemingly simple as posting a status update on Facebook about the loss of a pet is applying the pathos concept. It’s fascinating when you realize that all writing has a purpose and concepts that make it what it is, even if you don’t realize it.

I’m excited to build a more solid understanding of these concepts, and learn the ways to apply them in each and every writing style/situation.

About Me!

Hey guys! My name is Damon Hickman, I’m 23 and I was born and raised in our beautiful state’s capitol, Sacramento. Despite Sacramento lacking Santa Barbara’s natural beauty and all-around charm, I do miss my home, but at the same time I feel very lucky that I was given the opportunity to study here at Antioch. I am a taking the Communication and Media concentration, and have been very interested in journalism, writing, the media and people for as long as I can remember. Back in high school I wrote for the campus newspaper, and my senior year I was lucky enough to serve as editor! Though that was years ago, I learned a lot of my journalism foundation back then and discovered that I’m passionate enough about the subject to pursue a career in it. During my first few college years, before transferring to Antioch, I continued to take journalism and broadcasting classes which even further confirmed that this is the direction I want to take for my future. I love reading, writing, and the English language, but I feel that the career path I wish to take after college will be more of the broadcast/multimedia path. It’s a sad fact that print journalism (in many ways) is greatly suffering as a result of our amazing technological advances, but I still hope that it won’t completely go extinct.

In addition to journalism and media, I am very interested in psychology, sociology, and philosophy—I think studying these fields can only help you better understand people, as well as give you a better understanding about our world. I am very, very close with my family--they are a huge support system and inspirations in my life, and I’m very thankful that I grew up in such a close-knit and loving family. I love nature, music, art, and walking as much as I can!

I look forward to getting to know all of you, and I also look forward to crossing paths throughout our journeys here at Antioch. Here’s to a great quarter, and a great school year! J