Editorials

The author of the article "Super Market Tabloids to the Rescue" does a good job of convincing people that tabloids do not really report accurate news but rather latch on to news that has already reached maximum recognition and then try to reverse it. The author is arguing that tabloids print untrue material just to get people upset about a situation in order to draw attention to their magazine; this is what keeps the tabloid business thriving. The author of this article, Clif Droke, focuses on economic news as an example of how tabloids provide false information. He establishes logos very well through the use of specific data and examples of previous situations that have occurred in which tabloid magazines were proven false. For example, he includes the piece of information that one day last year, when the economic crisis was at its worst, economists predicted the stock market was going to improve because trading volume was 10:1 in favor of upside volume. However, on the same day The Independent published an article calling for a second Great Depression. This obviously shows that tabloids are inaccurate in reporting financial news because they do not have experts in the field working for them. It can be inferred from this example that other types of news tabloids report is also not completely true. The author uses pathos when he recollects walking into a grocery store in 1998 when there was a stock market crash. He uses detail to explain his story and show how once again the tabloids were wrong in calling for a Great Depression. The portion of this article that doesn't help to convince me of his opinion is that the author does not establish ethos. He does not specifically establish his credibility in this article because he doesn't cite specific sources and doesn't discuss why he is an expert on the topic. However, it is an article on the Financial Sense website which looks like a reputable source. If he is a writer for a credible source then I would imagine that his facts would be true. However, assuming this may be wrong, so the weakest portion of his argument is in the ethos section.

The author of this article does a mediocre job of convincing me of his point. First off, I do not know who Simon is, so I don't believe what he is saying because the article does not mention his title or describe why he is someone to turn to on the topic of tabloids. Also, he does not appeal to the needs, wants, or desires of readers. The author touches on a few points that insinuate that tabloids, especially in the UK and even Fox News in the United States, may twist information to get people to believe that they are reporting the news when in reality they are convincing people of whatever they want them to believe. This allows tabloids to achieve their alternate agenda. The author brings up the idea that in the UK, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, three fourths of daily newspapers are tabloids, so people should be concerned that they are not being provided with important, accurate news on a large scale. Citing this source establishes Simon's credibility to a small degree because it shows that he did research. His reasoning through out the article makes sense and seems to prove the point that people need to be careful with what they read because tabloids are dominating the news paper industry. But in the end he does this with out specific facts and without establishing his credibility which makes his argument hard to believe.

Sebastian Noren does a good job of persuading his readers that we as humans are too caught up in tabloids and celebrity gossip. He establishes his credibility by citing sources such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration when referring to the number of deaths per year from car accidents. He uses this information to show that it is a bigger issue that we should be concerned with. Noren also uses a personal example about a friend of his who was killed in a car accident in Sweden. The event was covered with a single, small article that did not even mention his friends name. However, when Anna Nicole Smith died there were news updates everyday and new secrets were uncovered that everyone waited anxiously to hear. The author establishes pathos when he relates to the audience by talking about the tabloids we all see while standing in grocery store lines and showing how focusing on more important issues will make us all better people which we desire to be. Noren establishes logos in using cause and effect through out the article. By focusing on only celebrity news and gossip, he explains how we are becoming more "dumb" and apathetic as a society. Since he uses logos, ethos, and pathos, correctly, this is a good persuasion article.