Journalism, Mass Media and Communication - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Three distinct approaches can be used in persuasive writing: appeals through ethos, pathos, and logos, which are terms derived from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, and which refer to morals, emotions or reason respectively. The two articles are compared, showing similarities and differences in the way they use these appeals, and then also instances where they use fallacies. The principle of ethos as used in the study of rhetoric can be defined as “persuasion through the moral character” (Cockcroft and Cockcroft, 2005, p. 4). In modern English, the word ethics is used in connection with making choices between good and bad actions. In rhetoric, it refers to the person who is attempting to persuade others through the written or spoken word. Ethos is defined in rhetoric as containing two separate concepts, namely personality, and stance. (Cockcroft and Cockcroft, 2005, p. 28) The personality aspect deals with how the writer presents him or herself, while stance relates to the attitude that the writer has towards the audience or readership. In the first article, the author’s name and qualifications are given at the end of the article: “Professor Ian Hickie is the executive director of Sydney University’s Brain and Mind Research Institute” (Hickie, 2009, p.1). The academic titles “Professor” and “executive director” imply that this person is a senior member of a respected institution, with high qualifications and important responsibilities in Australian society. The purpose of this description is to inspire confidence and give the impression that this person knows more than the average individual, and is an expert, especially in the field of the human brain. The writer launches into his article with a confident statement about “really smart countries” and then issues a clear instruction: “To achieve that aim, we need to....” Another instruction, in a somewhat gentler tone, is given later such as “It’s time we really took some hard choices...” There is an even gentler suggestion towards the end: “let’s do something...” followed by a very strong direct command in the last line: “Lift the age to 19 and make a real difference now” (Hickie, 2009, p.1). This pattern shows a strong ethos of a teacher telling people what to do, using both direct instruction and more subtle persuasion, which is an example of his skill in changing his stance in relation to the readership in order to appear both authoritative and considerate. In contrast to this high-status individual, the writer of the second article, (Blake, 2010, p.1) is described without any title: “Joshua Blake is a Bachelor of Arts student at the University of Queensland.” Interestingly the author also makes specific reference to his own status in defense of a statement that he makes about Australian binge drinking culture: “How do I know this? I’m a 19-year-old who regularly sees my peers getting drunk...” (Blake, 2010, p.1). The age is cited here because the author wants to make the point that he has direct experience of the issue of age-related binge drinking connected with rites of passage in student life.  ...Download file to see next pagesRead More