PamelaSantos

DePiero
Writing2
7December2015
TripleTrump

Acrossthenation,peoplegaspedasDonaldTrumpofficiallyannounceshisdecisionon

runningforpresidentinthe2016campaign.MixedemotionsspreadintheUnitedStatesthrough
responsesviaoutletsknownas
genres
.Genresarenotonlyalabelforliteraryclassicnovelsor
horrormovies,butalsofornewswebsites,blogs,andevenTwitter.Genresarewhatdifferentiate
theselabels,butitsclassificationisnotautomaticgenresarechosenthroughtheirconventions,
whicharethequalitiesanddetailsintextthathelpsinitsidentification,andevenaftercorrectly
classifyingatextualgenrethisprocessisfurthercomplicatedbythefactthattwotextsthat
mightfitintothesamegenremightalsolookextremelydifferent(Dirk23).PlatformslikeFox,
BBC,andCNNmayfallunderthesamenewsarticlegenrebecauseofsimilarconventions,yet
theystillcontrastfromoneanotherbecauseofhowthoseconventionsarerhetoricallyexpressed
whenrespondingtothesameexigence.
Beforepickingaparttheirdifferences,itisimportanttounderstandthenewswebsite
genrebyviewingeachsourceunderthesamelenseandcomparingitssimilaritiesofdesign
tactics.Forexample,siteslikeFox,BBC,andCNNsharephysicalappearancesthatfollowan
identicalstructure:captivatingheadlinesunderaphotojournalisticphotographwiththefirst
sentencesofanarticle.Eachwebsiteslogoisplacedonthetopleftofthepage,aboveabarof
linksleadingtotheirBusinessorPoliticalsection.Oppositethelogo,thetoprightincludesa

loginsectionforsubscribesandlinkstotheirsocialmediaplatforms.Morespecifically,intheir
articleshavewrittendatesandtimesofpublication.Adjacenttoeacharticleisacolumnwith
relatednewsorbreakingnewsthatthereadercanquicklyclickonaftertheyfinishreading.
Theseconventionsofdesigntacticsnotonlyattractaudiencesbyprovidingeasyaccessibility
whenexploringtheirsite,butalsobuildupthenewswebsitegenre.
Althoughtheysharesimilarstructureandaesthetic,eachthreenewswebsiteshaveaduty
toappealtotheirrespectiveaudienceswhichrangefromtheMillennialstotheBabyBoomers,
andeveryoneinbetween.Becauseofthevaryingdemographicswithintheiraudiences,the
differencesamongeachpoliticalviewcanalsodeterminethetypeoflanguageused,the
formalityofthediscourse,[and]themediumofthedeliveryoftherhetoric(Carroll49).
WhileBBC,Fox,andCNNallcapturethebiggerpicture:toreportcurrentevents,breaking
news,andongoingissues,theirspecifictargetistolureacertainsideofthepoliticalspectrum
intotheirarticles.
Thetoneandstyleofthethreeplatformstrulydecipherthedifferencesamongthem,like
whendiscussingthetopicofTrumpsplantoeliminatebirthrightcitizenshipforthosewhoare
bornintheUnitedStatesthathaveillegalimmigrantparents.Bydoingtheseanalyses,itcanbe
seenhowpeoplehaveapproachedsimilarsituations(Dirk29).BBC,Fox,andCNNhave
createdarticlesbasedonthiscontroversialissue,buttheirviewsandaudiencesdiffersimplydue
totheirtoneandstyleofwriting.Whenlookingattheheadlines,BBCsstatesDonaldTrump:
Nocitizenshipforillegalimmigrantsbabies(BBC),FoxclaimsTrumpstandsbystatementon
Mexicanillegalimmigrants,surprisedbybacklash(Fox),andCNNtitlesthesituationas
DonaldTrump:Birthrightbabiesnotcitizens(CNN).Fromthetitlealone,itisunderstoodthat

eachreportermustkeepacasualtoneintheheadline,buteachplatformhasahintofeither
conservatismorliberalismbasedontheirwordchoice.WhileBBCremainsneutralandlays
downinformation,FoxdescribesthatTrumpisshockedbytheuproarofthosewhoareagainst
hisban,andCNNaddresstheconflictsthatarisefromTrumpsstatement.Theseheadlinestarget
differentaudiencesalthoughitisonecrucialconventioninthisgenre.
Thesimilaritiesamongtheseplatformsareevident,butinordertounderstandthe
difference,onemustunderstandtherhetoricorpersuasivewritingtacticswithineacharticle.
AsforFoxNews,thequotestheyusefrompresidentialcandidateDonaldTrumponlyspeakof
protectingtheUnitedStatesfromdangerdisregardingtheracistremarkshehadspoken.The
reportedalsoexpressedthatTrumphasdrawnsupportfromAmericanswhosayheisopenly
confrontingtheseverityoftheimmigrationproblemthatotherswontpubliclyacknowledge
(Fox).Thereportersdiction,orwordchoice,indicatesthatthereisaproblemwithpeoples
responsetoTrumpsbanningbyusingthewordslikebacklashandseverityintheirarticle.
AlthoughFoxcontainsconventionsthatcontributetothenewswebsitegenre,likeanopening
hookinthebeginningoftheirarticle,theuseofquotes,andaninformativetone,itisnot
rhetoricallysimilartotheotherarticles.Foxhintsatconservatism,butoneconstraintwhich
limitthediscourseisdeliveredorcommunicated(Carroll49)thatpreventsthereportersfrom
fullysupportingrepublicanismistheneedtoremainneutralinthesecases.
ThemostevidentlyneutralplatformwhenreportingaboutTrumpsdecisionsamong
thesewebpagesisBBCbecaueoftheirfactualevidence.Inthisquickreport,BBCfollowedthe
sameconventionsasFox,byusingquotesandanopeningsentence,butalsoaddedaconvention
thatisnotalwaysusedbynewswebsites:statistics.BBCtookinformationfromTheConstitution

toexplaintheprocessofTrumpsdecisionbecomingthelawoftheland,ifheweretobecome
president.Amongthethree,BBCisthemostfactual,whichnaturallyleadsthewebsitetoremain
inaneuralapproachtowardsTrump.TheneutralityofBBCsinformationsmoothensits
discourse,luringtheiraudiencetotheirwebsite,clickingformorearticleswithaneutralvantage
point.
ThefinalplatformunderthenewswebpagesgenreisCNN.Theirarticlebeginswitha
screencaptureofTrumpwearingacapthatreadsMakeAmericaGreatAgain.Theuseof
photojournalismisabrilliantconventionthatCNNUsedwithmorepurposethantheothertwo
platforms.Fromthebeginningofthisarticle,itcanalreadybedeterminewhichsideofthe
politicalspectrumCNNremainson.Additionally,oneconventionplacedinthisarticlethatwas
notinthepreviouswerelinksbetweeneachparagraphinthearticlethatleadtomorenewson
Trumpsplans.Thereporterclearlyattemptstopersuadetheliberalaudienceintoagreeingwith
thisarticlebyusingextremephrasesagainstTrump,bysayingnoothermemberoftheGOPhas
decidedto[strip]certainpeopleoftheirAmericancitizenship(CNN).Althoughtheconstraints
ofbeingneutralareapplicabletoallnewsplatforms,CNNbecamethemostobviouslybiased
platformoutofthethree.Althoughitisinformative,thediscoursemaybelimitedtoasmaller
audiencebecauseoftherisksthereportertookfromphotographsthathechosetothetoneofhis
report.CNNusedcertainconventionsthatBBCandFoxdidnot,andthereforetookadvantageof
thisandbecameastrongerplatformforarticles.
Ultimately,theconventionsofthenewswebsitegenreareseenvastlyinFox,BBC,and
CNN.Thetopicdiscussedisacontroversythateachofthemaddressinvariousways,whichis
analyzedbytheuniquerhetoricaldevicesandconventionstheyusedtowardstheirownintended

audiences.Asasimplegenre,eachplatformisastrongexampleofwhatanewwebsiteshould
appeartobe,butinadeepersense,theirperspectivesonTrumpsbanningofthebirthright
becamestronger.Fromjustanalyzingthreedifferentnewswebsites,theimportanceof
understandingagenreanditsconventionshasincreased.Whatoncewasasynonymforthe
wordlabelnowbranchesoutintodifferentdetailsandfactorsthatmakeittowhatwenow
understandisthegenre(Santos).

WorksCited
Carroll,Laura.Backpacksvs.Briefcases:StepstowardRhetoricalAnalysis.
Writing
Spaces:ReadingsonWritingVol.1
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Dirk,Kerry.NavigatingGenres.
WritingSpaces:ReadingsonWritingVol.1
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Lowe,Ed.PavelZemliansky.SouthCarolina:ParlorPress,2010.Print.
Diamond,Jeremy.
DonaldTrump:Birthrightbabiesnotcitizens
.CNN,2015.Web.October9,
2015.<
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/19/politics/donaldtrumpbirthrightamericancitizen
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DonaldTrump:Nocitizenshipforillegalmigrantsbabies
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2015.<
http://www.bbc.com/news/worlduscanada33962029
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Santos,Pamela."PB1BNicetoMemeYou."Weblogpost.
Writing2
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Web.14Oct.2015.<
http://w2pamelas.blogspot.com
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TrumpstandsbystatementsonMexicanillegalimmigrants,surprisedbybacklash
.FoxNews,
2015.Web.October9,2015.
<
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/04/trumpstandsbyviewsdangerousmexica
nillegalimmigrantsadmitssurprisedby/
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