Gonzo journalism

In his introduction to Permanence and Change, Hugh Dalziel Duncan wrote, “Burke demands that we become masters of many perspectives in order that we may understand one perspective” (Duncan xv). This statement does a sufficient job of explaining Kenneth Burke’s theory of dramatism to the casual observer of rhetoric. Today, it is second-nature for all 24-hour cable news channels and most people to take into account several diverse perspectives when dissecting events as trivial as celebrity…

Late-night comedy shows such as “The Daily Show” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” present viewers with a source of both entertainment and information on current political events. While the biases of the hosts and writers for these shows is reflected in the presentation of this information, their influence on public opinion is no more or less legitimate than that of other news sources such as newspapers and news channels. The people that watch these late-night shows on a regular basis…

The paper “Postmodern Representation and Commodity Spectacle in Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locusts”, written by Mr. Darvay, allowed me to gain insight on a novel I had never read, and to be frank never heard of either. As I was working my way through the paper, my brain was scattered as I tried to grasp the concept that was being talked about. Although, right of the bat the sentence “compressed into one huge junkyard...commercialized society and culture” truly stood out to me. My first…

Truth is in the Ear of the Beholder Understanding and making sense of the diverse inner psych that resides in each of us, is a daunting task. One thing is for certain, as long as humans have been able to communicate; they have had the ability to create stories and rumors. The deeper question is why? Why do people start rumors to begin with and then exactly who is spreading them? Gregory Rodriguez, a columnist with the Los Angeles Times examines these questions in his article written in 2009,…

Nowadays, the media is playing a big part in the American society. However, most people in America may wonder if there are negative and positive consequences of the media. Imagine that, a person who watches TV at home, has listened to the news for hours. He or she listens to the news for 5 hours as a minimum. He or she thinks that listing to the news is impotent, so every time he or she wakes up, the only things they want to do is to watch, or listen to some topics in the TV, radio, or phone.…

For the Romeo and Juliet Creative Project I decided it would be best to do it in a tabloid style. I have always been fascinated by Tabloids, you see them everywhere even on facebook. Tabloids is a type of journalism normally about gossip and crime. I thought Tabloid would be the best choice for this creative project because the scene I am writing about is the first scene in Romeo and Juliet where the Montagues and the Capulets were fighting each other in the Market. This is the best way to…

The Article, “Truth Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society” by Farhad Manjoo argues that we live in an era of selective perception. We as viewers expect for all information on the news to be beneficial towards us and trustworthy. Yet, news publications can be tainted, similar to all types of media. Manjoo explains the concept of Video News Releases, which is a short clip of marketing propaganda disguised as a real news due to its language and style. In fact, each of these news segments…

What are scare tactics and why do people use them? A scare tactic is a strategy that intends to influence the public’s opinion by arousing fear or anxiety on a specific issue. We see scare tactics every day when we watch the news. News stations use scare tactics because it simply boosts their ratings and people tend to pay more attention to the negative things than the positive things. The order in which information is presented is important especially when using scare tactics. To have an…

The media holds a very unique and important position for information sharing and dissemination in the society. It is the prime source of information on crimes and safety for a large proportion of the population. The media wields such enormous powerful social force that lobbyist from all sort of interest groups, rely on to achieve political, economic and sometimes personal gains through swaying of public opinion. Just like any other organization, media is prone to becoming tools in the hands of…

The article, Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers by Michael Schudson argues that journalism has changed due to changes in society. For instance, in the 1820’s newspapers consisted of only business and politics. The newspapers required subscriptions, only the wealthy could afford. “Objectivity” was not a journalist’s key focus, but rather to be factual. The ideal changed after World War 1. According to Schudson, “Objectivity is a peculiar demand to make of institutions……