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Yvette Guevara

Jennifer Johnson

ACE Writing 2

8 June22 April 20199

You Can Read or Watch the News

What if you woke up tomorrow and all ofall the water in your city became undrinkable

and unsafe? The people of Flint Michigan lived with water in these conditions for about three

years before anything was done to help them. For economic reasons, Governor Rick Snyder

switched their water source from Lake Huron to the Detroit River while the city built a new

pipeline..pipeline. The next day, the city’s water was contaminated with lead, butand the

government assured them that there was no dangerous level of lead and the water was safe to

drink. Eventually, the people of Flint noticed how many people were falling ill and dying due to

the leadlead poisoning from the water they drank and showered in. The events that took place in

Flint was on the forefront ofin the media outlets for a few monthsgood chunk of time before

news coverageit eventually died down from nationwide media. News articles, much like The Formatted: Font: Italic

Guardian article titled “Bottled waterwater must be delivered to Flint Residents in Llead Ccrisis”

written by Ryan Felton . These articles sole purpose is to help inform the audience looking into

the situation without influencing them with the opinions of the writer. Another way that Flint

stayed in the eye of the public was through documentaries. A more memorable documentary,

that stood out from the rest was Fahrenheit 11/9 by Michael Moore, that since its 2018 been Formatted: Underline

release, is being talked about by many because it visually shows people nationwide just what the

people of Flint are experiencingliving on a day to day basis. While news articles give the
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audience nothing but hard facts, documentaries approach issues in a far more into depth way than

what a news article can do, while presenting facts to an audience.

The driving force of a news article is its logos. The only job of a news article is to present

facts that is supported by evidence to inform its audience. News articles that were released at the

start of the crisis to present day, allow the audience to keep up to date with what is going on in

Flint. When the city government officials issued statement after statement that the water in Flint

was safe, news outlets were quick to report it to the public. To understand the severity of the

crisis in Flint, The Guardian published an article that. In the article, Felton reported on a court

ruling by U.S District Judge David Lawson that stated all residents of Flint must be delivered

four cases of water per week until the situation is solved (Felton 2016). To many around the

world and in the city of Flint, the decision came as a “surprise.”. The articleIt is stated that the

Crisis in Flint began in the year of 2014 and this court ruling was decided in 2016. For two

whole years, the people of Flint lived with lead poisoning and the government was only now

addressing the situation at hand. The news article’s job is to inform the public on the situation

and not to purposely evoke any kind of emotion out of the audience. Surely, the audience reacts a

certain way to the news but, Felton reports with a neutral tone throughout his piece and his sole

purpose is to inform his audience.discusses the information that was released.

NNot only is the job of a news article to present published facts to the public, but

newspapers areit is also used as an outlet for the people of Flint to express their concerns and city

officials to issue their informationrebuttal. Providing a point of view by including quotes from

others allows the audience to better understand the situation at hand. Including the quotes of

various differentvarious people also enhancesallows enhancing the credibility of a news article to
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keep the audience’s attention and loyalty to the news source. Publishing direct quotes of the

victims of the Flint water crisis allows the readers to picture the severity of the situationcrisis.

For example, aA woman by the name of Melissa Mays was interviewed for The Guardian

piecethis piece and she expressed her happiness on the court ruling, but further went on to say it

is only a “..Band-Aid of a gaping wound” (Mays 2016). Although the people of Flint were

forever grateful that they would receive clean bottled water, . tThe gesture of receiving cases

rulings of water was notdid not even come close to solving their issue. Providing Mays’ input

further allows the audience to understand the severity of the situation. The city was in a state of

crisis and it took them, the city, two years to finally react. News reporting allows people

nationwide to have an in-depth look into what is going on in the world. In this case, Flint and

their ever going water crisis.

Documentaries have become a mainstream way ofor people in today’s societytoday to

learn more about topics they are interested in. In a 2018 documentary named Fahrenheit 11/9 by

film director Michael Moore,. Moore goes in-depth and analyzses what events have taken place

since the announcement of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and what more couldis to

come. One of the events Moore focuses on is the Flint water crisis. With this documentary,

Moore does what a news article and editorial does all at the same time;. Moore tells the audience

the facts of the Flint water crisis and pays a visit to the city to go more in depth with the problem.

By filming himself going to the city, Moore allows the viewers to actually seesee what the water

looks like when it's running, how trashed and scattered the city is, and the symptoms of; rashes,

hair loss, and how ill children are becoming. Pathos is the strongest rhetorical device used in

documentaries to sway the audience and in Fahrenheit 11/9, Moore appeals to the audience’s

emotions by using pathos by playing solemn songs in the background of the scene described
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before. Throughout the film it is clear to see that Moore’s goal is to tap into the emotions of the

viewers since he talks to people who are outraged of the events that took place in Flint. The rage

of the people Moore speaks to is expected to transfer over to the viewer. A documentary goes

into more depth of a certain topic and usually, those topics are not avidly being talked about in

the media. In this case, Moore talked about events that died down in the media because

differentnew news stories breakhappens every day and are updated. Yet Moore managed to

keepkept the conversation going during and after filming this documentary.

What kept the viewers talking about the water crisis is the passion that Moore exhibited

throughout the documentary. Besides first- hand taking part in of the Flint protests for change,

Moore’s voiceovers have a direct, solemn yet ironic tone that can’t help but captivatemove his

audience. Documentaries are not only used to inform but also evoketo evoke emotions from the

viewers as well. The goal of the documentary is to leave the audience in awe, awe and have them

feel emotions of shock and anger that the events in Flint happened. The imagery, the victims of

tragedies, protests, music used in the documentary are all catered to have the audience feel a

certain way, and it is used across all documentaries. Moore describes the action of Governor

Rick Snyder switching the water source of Flint’s water as a “slow-motion ethnic cleansing.”.

Depending on the viewer, one mightwill think that Moore is making a harsh stretch and the other

will agree. By interviewing Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Moore successfully attached credibility to

the news that he puts in his documentary. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha explains the severity of lead

in water and being its consumconsumptioned by stating “there is no safe level of lead. It is

“irreversible” and “moms who ingest lead can see DNA changes in their grandchildren.” (2018).

Moore even goes as far as filming himself taking part in the Flint protests, going to the

governor’s office just to offer him a drinktry with water brought from Flint. Moore showing his
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activism in Flint exhibits his own stance on the situation and creates a tone of urgency and

frustration with the Governor and the crisis the people of Flint are in. The documentary is used

so that the audience can ask questionsto make conversation and have the audience ask questions

and form their own opinions on the topic.persuade them to see the severity and inhumanness of

the crisis in Flint.

Throughout the Flint water crisis, several news articles about what was going on in the

city were being published almost daily at the peak of the crisis in 2014. News articles, like the

one by The Guardian, allows the audience to inform themselves of what is going on at the exact

moment it is happening. News articles cut out the fluff of opinions and serve cold hard facts to

the audience. On the other hand, documentaries like Fahrenheit 11/9 helps the audience have a

visualization of the water crisiswhat is happening by using video clips of people, city, and water

that was contaminated with lead. The documentation and almost “behind the scenes” look

givesgive the viewer a better understanding of the situation. Both the news article and

documentary approached the problem that occurred in Flint in their own way. They almost both

have the same goal, to inform the people. However, the documentary wants to move and sway

the audience rather than just inform, like a news article does. . Since the documentary was only

released in 2018 and the crisis beganwent on in 2014, the news article is the most

convenientexpedient way to learn what happened. Though, they both can work well as a reliable

news source,. iIt trulyonly depends on how quickly you would want the information.
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Works Cited

Felton, Ryan. “Bottled Water Must Be Delivered to Flint Residents in Lead Crisis, Judge Rules.”

The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Nov. 2016, www.theguardian.com/us-

news/2016/nov/12/flint-michigan-lead-bottled-water-delivery.

Moore, Michael, director. Fahrenheit 11/9. Briarcliff Entertainment, 2018. Film