Kennedy Abramson

Zack De Piero
Writing 2A
14 October 2015
Tips for the Modern Reader
Information is being thrown at us more rapidly now than it has ever been thrown at us in
the past. This information is being thrown at us through online articles, T.V. shows, and social
media; simply googling gun control gives us instant access to a plethora of different
information on the single topic. Due to the vast amount of information available to them, modern
readers must be cautious when they read. A well-informed reader should always determine which
genre the piece they are reading belongs to and analyze the implications that genres
conventions. A reader must be even more cautious when reading politically-charged articles
online. Political articles are often written with the impact they will have on the intended audience
in mind; and the conventions of political articles often function to persuade the audience.
Political articles belong to a genre that is ever-present in many of our lives and sometimes
they can be difficult to fully grasp. A skill that is quite helpful for decoding one of the rather
surface level conventions of political articles is visual literacy. Articles focusing on political
issues typically have photographs attached to them and often times the pictures are of influential
politicians. In their book Spaces for Writing, the authors describe visual literacy as important in
understanding the messages that are conveyed by photography and illustration (Alexander et al.
16). Visual literacy is crucial when reading works belonging to a genre whose conventions
include images because the pictures often are chosen with the effect they will have on the
audience in mind.

Another common convention of political articles is quotes taken out of context from
politicians. The quotes can easily be manipulated to make certain politicians look positive or
negative. The quotes are also often used to convey a politicians stance on an issue in the
politicians own words. For example, the Huffington Post article Bernie Sanders Stresses Gun
Control, Calls For Assault Weapons Ban uses many quotes from Bernie Sanders to show his
position on gun control. In fact, the first words in the article, after the title, is a quote from
Sanders: Instead of people yelling at each other, we have got to come together on commonsense
approaches which, in fact, the vast majority of the American people support (Bernie Sanders
Stresses 1), in bold. An example of quoting politicians in relation to the media bias can be seen
in the Fox News article Obama Reportedly Considering Executive Action on Gun Control. The
article goes into some detail about Obamas response to the recent shooting at an Oregon
community college and then quotes some contradictory republican opinions. In order to
undermine Obamas stance, the article quotes republican Mike Huckabee as saying Talk of gun
control makes the liberals feel warm and fuzzy. However, the cold reality is that when you
disarm the good guys you put them at the mercy of the bad guys. Thats what gun control does
(Obama Reportedly Considering 1). These conventions are not worthy of noting because they
simply exist; the convention of political articles are worthy of noting because they have power
over our opinions on important issues.
Analyzing the rhetorical strategies that the authors of political articles employ is crucial
in order to understand how the authors are attempting to persuade their audience. The first thing
a reader of a political article should think about is who the intended audience for the article is.
Often times the audience for political articles is the general American public but things become
slightly confusing when an author is writing for Americans who belong to a particular political

party. If the author is writing for a particular party, it is important to consider that the information
provided may unfairly favor that party or that party's opinions. The author's purpose for writing
is almost always one of two things, either to inform the reader of a particular issue or convince
the reader to take a certain stance on an issue. A third important part of rhetoric in these articles
is the writer's argument which Laura Bolin Carroll describes as what the rhetor wants you to
believe or do and how he or she goes about that persuasion (Carroll 52) in her essay Backpacks
vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis. Many political articles attempt to phrase their
arguments so that it is reasonable enough for the audience to believe. Overall, rhetoric is an
important tool for the modern reader in that it helps them determine what they consider credible
enough to agree with.
Although many political articles have a lot in common that enables us to analyze the
conventions of their genres there is also a lot of differences between them. Some news sources
have a large amount of opinion mixed in with a miniscule amount of factual information whereas
others have nearly all fact void of opinion. For example, Democrats Regain Their Voice on Gun
Safety from the opinion pages of The New York Times attempt to construct a reason that
democrats have avoided gun control. The article states that democrats have avoided [gun
control] for the last 15 years, either because they thought progress was hopeless or because they
feared giving the gun lobby political ammunition to use against them (Democrats Regain Their
Voice 1), which is somewhat ignorant to do considering it is unlikely that one person can
accurately assume the motives of such a large group of people. Although this article makes a
bold move with their assumptions, many other political articles try stick with statements that can
be more easily proven such as a statement that a political candidate made during a debate. The
reason that this difference between political articles exist likely traces back to the writer or

writers wanting to persuade their audience. The writers with heavy opinion present in their works
may believe that simply being obvious with what their opinions are is enough to persuade the
reader while the writer who keeps his piece more factual may believe that a heavy opinion
present in their writing will lead the reader to question their credibility. Another difference
between political articles is the level of bias. Some articles do a good job of showing two sides of
a political issue or argument whereas other articles show only one side. Spotting this difference
is critical in order to be a well-informed reader because one-sided articles are often times the
articles that lack credibility.
Political articles are a great example for why it is valuable for everyone to learn and
understand genre. Understanding why writers obey these conventions can help the reader
understand what value they want to assign to that specific convention. For instance, if you have a
sense of visual literacy you would be able to understand that an unappealing picture of Hillary
Clinton in a Fox News article does not necessarily mean she is a bad choice for president. Such
unappealing images are usually recognizable upon first glance. The images are typically of the
politician looking caught off guard, with their mouth gaping open or an angry scowl on their
face. Understanding genres and their conventions also gives a writer a basic idea of what the
audience is expecting from them when they are writing for a specific genre. For example, if a
writer was unaware of research paper conventions they may write a research paper that looked
more like a blog post, in which case the teacher would probably give them a bad grade. Genres
can play games with our minds, make us believe things, and even help us become more effective
writers so they are undoubtedly important to learn.
Political articles belong to a genre that is filled with conventions and they often times aim
to persuade the audience. Political articles are actually capable of changing the way many of us

view American government. Analyzing the conventions and rhetorical strategies such as
audience, purpose, and argument can help a reader be aware of whether or not they should
believe what they are reading and what the authors intentions are. Although not all political
articles are the same, many are biased and they should be looked at under a microscope and not
just immediately believed. Ultimately, understanding the genre conventions and rhetorical
choices present within a political article can help the reader to not only better understand the
piece itself, but also its significance within their own life.

Works Cited

Alexander, Jonathan, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon. "Spaces for Writing." Understanding
Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. By Elizabeth Losh. N.p.: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2013. N.
pag. Print.

"Bernie Sanders Stresses Gun Control, Calls For Assault Weapons Ban." Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." Ed. Charles
Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 1. N.p.: Parlor, n.d. 4558. Print.

"Democrats Regain Their Voice on Gun Safety." The New York Times. The New York Times
Company, 9 Oct. 2015. Web. 9 Oct. 2015.

"Obama Reportedly Considering Executive Action on Gun Control." Fox News. FOX News
Network, LLC, 9 Oct. 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.