Brian Castro

Matt Wilson
Section 2000
WP1
When the average person thinks about traveling to a new location, the first resource
he/she looks to for information about the location is a travel guide. However, relying on travel
guides may not be the best idea. Travel guides are directed towards people that are already set on
traveling somewhere and are written with the intention of getting readers to visit a certain
location. To accomplish this, they use provocative language and focus on descriptions of the
strictly positive aspects of a location. On the other hand, news articles are meant to inform the
members living in a certain community about important, current events and their relevance to the
members of the community. They use a different set of conventions which include statistics,
quotes, and detail to give the reader a good look at the type of events that are currently taking
place in the area. For example, the online travel guide Fodors Travel uses genre conventions
to try and convince travelers to visit Los Angeles while the online news article Risk of big
Earthquake on San Andreas Fault rises after quake swarm at Salton Sea by Rong-Gong Lin II
gives the reader a detailed description about the potentially dangerous seismic activity occurring
in Los Angeles. Travel guide conventions make them an unreliable resource while deciding
where to visit because they intentionally place locations in a positive light.
Travel guides use provocative language to hook the readers attention and make them
continue reading. For example, Fodors Travel uses adjectives like jaw-dropping and
celebrity-filled along with phrases like One of the glitziest places on the planet and World

class to catch the readers attention and make it difficult for readers to become bored while also
making LA seem very appealing. However, such flashy language portrays LA in an
unrealistically positive way that makes it seem like the ideal travel destination although that may
not always be the case. Fodors abstains from using adjectives like filthy and enraging to
describe LAs sidewalks and traffic jams to maintain the positive image of LA that it is trying to
create. But, doing so is unfair for readers because it withholds information from travelers that
could potentially change their decision to visit.
Once the reader is hooked, travel guides delve into everything a location must offer. All
must-see locations and activities in a certain place are listed so that there is a high chance that a
place will have at least one thing the audience finds appealing. Fodors travel guide does this
when it states, One of the glitziest places on the planet, the City of AngelsRodeo Drive, Walt
Disney Concert Hall. These locations are intended to make LA seem fun and lively. Fodors
also suggests spending Friday at Lincoln hiking and biking followed by Saturday touring Old
Pasadena, and ending the weekend at the Norton Simon Museum. This is done to help readers
get a sense of what an exciting day in LA would look like. The guide purposely avoids
mentioning neighboring communities like Skid Row near Downtown LA or the increased crime
rates in Hollywood because of the negative perceptions that would be drawn, despite knowing
that the information could be critical to the readers safety.
On the other hand, online news articles have no underlying motives besides the purpose
of educating the public so they do not omit information. The article, Risk of Big earthquake on
San Andreas Fault..., by Lin II is intended to inform people living in the LA area about the
recent earthquake swarm and what it could mean for them in the future. It uses descriptions like
just after 4 a.m. Monday morning and There was another burst of activity Tuesday night to

provide readers with an accurate date for which the earthquake swarms occurred. Lin II also
identifies the location when he states, less than four miles from Bombay beach, population 171,
sitting on the edge of the Sonoran Desert. Proper descriptions, like the one used by Lin II,
inform readers about the setting of an event and allows them to avoid a dangerous situation.
Readers require news articles to be reliable so they often use quotes and statistics from
reliable sources to gain a sense of credibility. Lin II uses the quotes So maybe one of those small
earthquakes thats happening in the neighborhood of the fault is going to trigger it, and set off
the big event. from Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson and chances of a magnitude 7
earthquakeare as high as 1 in 100 by director of the Southern California Earthquake Center
to reinforce the legitimacy of his claims. Statistics like, the death toll could rise to 1,800
people and such an earthquake could cause 50,000 injuries and 200 billion in damage
effectively inform the reader that people and their communities are at risk. Learning about the
potential harm that an earthquake of the estimated magnitude cautions people to plan and think
of ways to minimize the damages. Facts and expert opinions are undisputable and unbiased;
therefore, readers can use them to create their own image of a location rather than having a
positive impression of a place already set up.
In conclusion, news articles do not have a bias on a certain location, unlike travel guides,
and use factual evidence to help produce a more accurate representation of what a location is
like. Their purpose is to inform the public about prevalent issues rather than to make them with
positivity to convince someone to visit. Ironically, this make news articles more helpful than
travel guides when deciding where to travel.

Sources
"Los Angeles Travel Guide." Fodor'sTravel. Internet Brands, Inc., 2016. Web.

Lin, Rong-Gong, II. "Risk of Big Earthquake on San Andreas Fault Rises after Quake Swarm at
Salton Sea." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 Sept. 2016. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.