Analyzing Message in "Year End Review: Journalism Ethics Took Major Hits in 2014"

Jangam, Prerana (2013) "ethics" via pdpics
Public Domain Images (CC0)

In this post, I will be answering a few questions about my text's message and purpose...

Out of all the bulleted points listed for "Message and Purpose" in A Student's Guide to First-Year Writing, which two or three seem most relevant to the goals of your text's author?

• express an idea or opinion
• The author opens the article by stating her opinion of why ethics in media are so important, particularly in today's society. She claims that new technology and easier access to journalism directly correlates with the possibility of finding mistakes or unethical information within the work.  

• analyze, synthesize, interpret
• After opening her article with her opinion, Powell follows by listing and describing specific events in the past years where journalists have been questioned about their ethics or truthfulness in their work. Although she doesn't continue to state her opinion within the rest of the article, her opinion lingers in the word choice and tone of the examples she gives. 

• respond to a particular occasion
• Yes, the author responds to several particular occasions where ethics have been questioned in media in the past year. Like I said in the last bullet point, however, she does not continue to state her opinion on the events but rather report on them and explain. But, her opinionated tone lingers throughout the text giving you the idea of how she feels about the particular events. 

• advocate for change
• Although this does not seem like it is the purpose of the text, it is definitely a main idea that the author is proposing. When the author opened her article with her opinions on ethics in journalism and how that relates to credibility, she also stated that because many people recently have trouble trusting the media, that should influence journalists to report more truthful information and consider their moral responsibility. In a way, I think she is advocating that journalists be more aware of the power media has and the negative repercussions that result from unethical/untruthful work. 

Which ones do not seem relevant?

• inform the reader about a topic that is often misunderstood
• The idea of truthfulness and ethics in media is commonly understood. Despite ones socioeconomic background or how educated an individual is, most people would agree that media ethics are vital in our society and that there have been issues with media ethics in the past.

• move the readers to feel a certain way
• Not really. I personally think that the author is trying to state her opinion and relate it to various examples not to move the readers, but to inform them of how prevalent the issue of media ethics is in our society. Her opinion is one the majority of the readers would agree with. Media ethics is important to pretty much everyone who is seeking information. People want to expect that the information they are given is truthful and sensitive/appropriate to the topic. 

Are there nuances and layers to the message the author is trying to get across? If not, why?

I don't think so. I think that the author wanted to provide her opinion on media ethics in today's society. If there were nuances or layers, that would take away from the point she has made.