Persuasive Speech Outline.

Name: Jazmin Betancourt

Topic: Why you should read your local Newspaper.
Proposition: I want my audience to be persuaded about the importance of local Newspaper and
why they should care about reading local newspapers.
Thesis: Today I will be speaking about the importance of our local newspapers and how you
should be reading your local newspaper.
Organizational Purpose:
INTRODUCTION
I. Attention Getter: A poll done in 2011 by the Pew Research Center indicated that only
27% of those born after 1976 read newspapers, as opposed to the 55% of those born prior
to 1946. 69% of Americans believe that the disappearance of their local newspaper
would not impact their ability to receive local information. It also indicated that that
many of those who say that the closing of their local paper wouldn’t make much, if any
difference in their communities note that there are other news sources available.
II. Reasons to listen: We are all surrounded by media and all these sources of information.
Before 1993 a subscription to your local newspapers was once as necessary an expense as
gas, water and electricity. Today I want to persuade you and tell you why local
newspapers are so important to you.
III. Speaker Credibility: I am a communications major and I hope to one day be a journalist
who writes about important things and this topic is very important to me. I believe
Newspapers and Journalists are important for keeping a democratic nation.
IV. Today I hope to convince you about the importance of Newspapers and why it should
matter to you.
I. The Newspaper industry is in big trouble.
Newspapers have been closing and downsizing because people aren’t reading and paying
for the news and that affects us even if you get your newspapers from Facebook, twitter
or goggle. Like I have said, studies show that in our generation people under 40 are not
reading print Newspapers. Today I will give you three reasons why Local newspapers are
important and why you should read them. .
II. The first reason why you should read your Local Newspapers is because they embrace
the civic life of communities.
A. Kassie Barroquillo wrote in an article called, “Are Local Newspapers
Necessary?”, that despite the belief that local newspapers aren’t necessary,
“Among all adults, newspapers were cited as the most relied-upon source or tied
for most relied upon for crime, taxes, local government activities, schools, local
politics, local jobs, community/neighborhood events, arts events, zoning
information, local social services, and real estate/housing.” The article continues
 to explain that the internet was a distant second when considering where people
get their local news.
B. A Time Magazine article by Belinda Luscombe, “What Happens When a
Town Loses its Newspaper, considered a study done by Princeton Universities
about communities affected by the closing of their local Newspaper,
the Cincinnati Post. The findings were dire: “voter turnout dropped, fewer
people ran for office and more incumbents were reelected. That is, when there
were fewer stories about a given town, its inhabitants seemed to care less about
how they’re being governed,” (Luscombe).
III. The second reason why you should read your Local Newspapers is because they are the
basis of Democracy.
A. John Whiteland in an article for the HuffPost writes, the freedom of the press
is such an integral part of our First Amendment. Our founders understood the vital
importance of the press in maintain a transparent government and educated
citizens. Freedom of press won’t do much less we have local newspapers
watching over what is happening over our own backyards and that won’t matter
much unless we read them and educate ourselves about what is happening in our
own backyards.
B. In the same article Whiteland quotes French historian Alexis de Tocqueville,
who writes, “The power of the Periodical press is second only to that of the
people.” Whiteland also argues that, “Governmental power flows up from our
local towns, cities and counties, that is where democracy happens. National News
are not more relevant that local news. We have bought into the that what the
talking heads in Washington, DC, have to say is more important than the dialogue
taking place between average Americans and their representatives at the local
levels and that is just wrong.”
IV. Third and final reason you should read your Local Newspapers is because they are the
watchdog power and the check of government and those in power.
A. In the book, Pulitzer’s Gold written by Roy Harris there is a story that was written
and investigated by the Boston Globe. The Globes Investigative Team spent 5
months covering and investigating the sexual abuse by priest of the Catholic
church in Boston City. The Catholic Church allowed sexual abused by priest for
years and this coverage stirred local, national and international reaction. They
won Public Service Prize in 2003. This story produced changes in the Catholic
Church about handling sexual abuse and Mark Pfeiffer, the man who wrote the
story says that that it was an example of how no one is above the law, not even
priests.
B. In a video by Paul Oliver, though he can be a bit crude he did a small segment
about Why Local Newspaper are important, and he says that without local news to
keep a check in government, in 10-15 years they will become more corrupt. As
Oliver puts it, “Not having reporters at government meetings is like a teacher
leaving her room of seventh graders to supervise themselves”.
V. So now that I have told you why Newspapers are important this is what you can do,
A. I also encouraged you to be read your local newspaper, ours is LNP. Each issue is
around $1.50. The truly literate and involved American should be reading the
local Newspaper. You need to do your part too and read your local newspapers.
Read it so you will know what is happening in your community. We can’t let the
Newspaper die, we can’t be unwilling to pay for the work journalist produce, like
John Oliver said, we are getting accustomed to getting our news for free, and the
longer we get used to get our news for free, the less willing we are to pay for it.
B. If you still don’t believe me about why the local Newspaper is important watch
Spotlight, the movie about the Sexual abuse in Boston, and it will change your
perspective about why we need local newspapers to keep justice, even if it only
gave justice to the hundreds of people who were abused by the Church in Boston
and prevented other children from being abused.
C. I also encourage you to watch the whole video of John Oliver about local
Journalism. It is quite funny.
 Short Outline
Persuasive Speech Outline.
Name: Jazmin Betancourt
Topic: Why local Newspapers are so important.
Proposition: I want my audience to be persuaded about the importance of local Newspaper and
why they should care about reading local newspapers.
Thesis: Today I will be speaking about the importance of our local newspapers and how you can
be a truly literate and involved American.
VI. Attention Getter: A poll done in 2011 by the Pew Research Center indicated that only
27% of those born after 1976 read newspapers, as opposed to the 55% of those born prior
to 1946. 69% of Americans believe that the disappearance of their local newspaper
would not impact their ability to receive local information. It also indicated that that
many of those who say that the closing of their local paper wouldn’t make much, if any
difference in their communities note that there are other news sources available.
VII. Reasons to listen: We are all surrounded by media and all these sources of information.
Before 1993 a subscription to your local newspapers was once as necessary an expense as
gas, water and electricity. Today I want to persuade you and tell you why local
newspapers are so important to you.
VIII. Speaker Credibility: I am a communications major and I hope to one day be a journalist
who writes about important things and this topic is very important to me. I believe
Newspapers and Journalists are important for keeping a democratic nation.
IX. Today I hope to convince you about the importance of Newspapers and why it should
matter to you.
I. The Newspaper industry is in big trouble.

II. Local Newspapers embrace the civic life of communities.

A. Reason 1
B. Reason 2
III. Local News are the Basis of Democracy.
A. Reason 1
B. Reason 2
IV. Local news are the watchdog power of media and check of government and those in
power.
A. Reason 1
B. Reason 2
V. Call to action
A. #1
B. #2
C. #3
 Cited Works
Barroquillo, Kassie. “Are Local Newspapers Necessary?” Gnovis Journal. 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 9

Nov. 2017.

Harris, Roy, J. Pulitzer’s Gold: Behind the Prize for Public Service Journalism. Columbia: U of

Missouri, 2010. Print.

“In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is vulnerable.” Pew Research Center. 27 Sept

.2012. 5. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.

“John Oliver Explains Why Local Newspapers Are So Important.” Web. 19 Nov. 2017.

Luscombe, Belinda. “What Happens When a Town Loses its Newspaper.” Times Magazine. 22

Mar.2009. Web. 9 Nov.2017.

Whiteland, W. John. “Why Local Newspapers are the Basis of Democracy.” HuffPost. HuffPost

News, 25 May. 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.

 Cited works

Feinstein, Adam. Pablo Neruda: A Passion for life. London: Bloomsbury, 2005. Print.

Goodnough, David. Pablo Neruda: Nobel Prize-winning Poet. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998.

Print.

Neruda, Pablo, and Ilan Stavans. The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. New York: Farrar, Straus and

Giroux, 2005. Print.