Content Analysis of Newsweek - Essay Example

I have chosen the magazine “Newsweek” printed with a special double issue named “Perspectives 2010” dated Dec. 27, 2010/Jan. 3, 2011. Leaving aside the last thirty pages devoted to global education advertisements, the total of 69 pages included both advertisements and interviews. There were 52 full pages of advertisements, including special focus advertisements on education, which brings the actual number of advertisement pages to 22. Percentage-wise, it comes to 31% advertisements and 69% content.

The last 30 pages of the magazine were devoted to advertisements of universities worldwide including the US, Asia, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, and other selected colleges and universities highlighting global education.
The number of males portrayed in photos and pictures totaled 121 while the number of females totaled 69.
In all, 15 people were identified as belonging to different ethnic groups. The number of writers with male names counted 13 while with female names counted 7.
Text pages were 67while artwork was visible through some of the photos and pictures were also included on 47 pages.

Article analysis: Palestine Goes It Alone by Dan Ephron
Dan Ephron has written on the possibility of making peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the year 2011. Examining the article on the first core concept of media literacy, which states that all media are construction, one perceives this construction by projecting the opposite of what President Mahmoud Abbas intends to achieve; the title of the article also points out, “Goes it Alone”, doubting the success of the peace talks. The first paragraph of the article speaks in favor of the chances of peace realization but the very next paragraph dismisses such efforts as a waste of time, recalling Yasser Arafat’s 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was a one-sided attempt without any concrete result. Different decisions and determining factors are reflected.

Till the end of the second paragraph, the writer goes on dwindling between the viewpoints of stakeholders to the peace talks. Here the external reality is presented not in simple words but by presenting the past historical context on the failure of talks between the two warring countries, the one still far away from global recognition as an independent country, Palestine, reflecting decisions taken by Yasser Arafat. The writer has deconstructed historical events to forecast the failure of any possible peace movement in 2011.
Through crafted language techniques and following its own rules, the writer makes a start with, “ODDS ARE THAT 2011 WON’T…” making a pun by using all capital letters to stress the conclusion that the writer wants to project. Another line, “Remember Yasser Arafat’s 1988...Independence?” indicates the uselessness of the efforts of peace talks. The conclusion of the article is already decided as the title suggests, “Palestine goes it alone,” indicating that no discussions can conclude until both the warring parties come to the table. As media through this article is conveying a sense of actuality, away from superficiality; one cannot imagine any wonder here that one-sided attempts at peace-making will be fruitful.

Palestinians while reading the article would have different feelings of remorse while Israelis might marvel at the economic growth achieved by the West Bank, which comes nearer to the 3rd media concept of different people experiencing the same messages differently. Palestinians could experience helplessness from the endless suffering of their people because of political instability. Lingering the talks and not reaching their aims, people could feel a sense of harassment over the peace efforts made by the Palestinian political leadership.

A small article of hardly half a page projects a realistic picture of the political aspects of the problem. Readers worldwide would react to the author’s viewpoint as per their political and geographical attachment to the region and its people. The whole Muslim community would sympathize with its Palestinian people because of religious bonding while non-Muslims, particularly Christians would show neutral behavior with the given media information in the article.