P9: Taking an Approach

"And much as many creative artists transform prior texts into new works of their own, so, too, academics often rewrite the approaches of thinkers who have influenced them."
-Joseph Harris 

I would explain "Taking an Approach" as a means of shaping your writing by the influence and styles of previous writers. Harris describes "taking an approach" as acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and reflexivity. "Acknowledging influences" involves recognizing the work of authors whose work you now model your own after or are influenced by. "Turning an approach on itself" is using a key element or question that another author does to strengthen your own writing or develop a new perspective. "Reflexivity" means acknowledging and analyzing your own style of writing and the key elements that you use to construct your text.

I think the New York Times has a unique approach in that its writing is more academic and factual in contrast to other news sources on the web. I don't think the New York Times really takes the approach of other newspapers because it is such a major player in the media. I think that they definitely have a similar style to other media outlets, but is this because they are borrowing from each other? or because they have all grown throughout the century to have a cohesive style of reporting?


I think that DailyIntel has a much less academic feel to it because they will often put jokes into their writing and little snippets of opinion carefully packaged into a parenthesis. DailyIntel has a simple black and white layout that is similar to other news sources that may be an "approach" that is taken. I think that DailyIntel uses a sense of humor to translate hard news stories into the articles that they post and that this makes it more enjoyable to read and more marketable to others.

P8: Literacy in Three Metaphors and New Literacy

I wrote in P1 of this unit about my news sources and the various ways that I obtain news. I mentioned various sources on the Internet, friends, and the newspaper. I mention in the post that "I also learn about a  lot of news through word of mouth. If a friend comes to me with a situation or event I haven't heard of, my first instinct is to search for it online." I think that learning about news events by "word of mouth" can be helpful in keeping up to date but can also lead to miscommunication and misinformation. 


For example, on my way up to the mountains for a snowboarding trip a friend in the back seat mentioned that Kim Jong-Un had been assassinated in China. She verified the story online and we all speculated as to who did it and what that would mean for North Korea. I didn't check the news that weekend and when I came back I was shocked to hear that Kim Jong-Un was alive and kicking. It turns out that the story had been leaked by an intern at a news company and had exploded on Twitter. American officials announced that they had no reason to believe the North Korean leader had been killed and that this was all a hoax. 


In this way, "word of mouth" can be detrimental to a news story and can cause confusion. I think that this is also a good example of "word of mouth" on the Internet through social networking. Twitter, Facebook and even Tumblr can be sources of misinformation because things get re-tweeted, re-posted, or re-blogged without any fact checking. I think that this parallels real life because things can often be misheard or misunderstood when transferred from one person to another in conversation; like the old kids game telephone. We live in a complex age of information and with this come many risks. I think that it is important to rely on sources that you trust and to be sure to do your own independent research on things that are especially pertinent to you.

P7: Countering

"To identify what a text fails to do, you need to be clear about what it achieves-or at least what it attempts."
-Joseph Harris

Harris elaborates on the art of argumentation in his chapter on "countering" which focuses on arguing the other side, uncovering values, and dissenting as the main forms. Arguing the other side involves affirming that an opposing belief has merit or noting faults within the argument. Uncovering values involves finding the areas of an argument that have been left out and elaborating on why they're important. Dissenting is finding a common strand within your own argument and the counter argument in order to bring strength to your own. 


DailyIntel published an article titled "Obama's Dumb Deficit Promise" that concerned the Republican argument that Obama has not fulfilled his promise to cut the deficit in half. This article argues in favor of Obama's actions in saying that cutting the deficit would have raised taxes exponentially and been more detrimental to economic recovery than beneficial. The author even concedes that "it’s certainly true that he has broken his promise" but goes on to elaborate on why this is not a bad thing. I think that this a good example of "countering" because the author skillfully points out why this argument is flawed, pinpoints areas that are correct and elaborates on what should be done instead.

P6: Forwarding

"But a text is also an artifact; it is not only something you say but something you make."

-Joseph Harris  

In Rewriting Chapter 2, Harris introduces the idea of illustrating, authorizing, borrowing and extending as forms of "forwarding" a text. Harris utilizes e-mail, a previous metaphor, to describe "forwarding" as a continuation of thoughts and comments as opposed to a simple reply which takes you back to the original work. Each of the different methods of "forwarding" focus on expanding on a piece of text. Illustrating uses text to describe non-text sources like videos, pictures and other media. Authorizing uses direct quotes to authorize an idea or concept the author will elaborate or build off of. Borrowing takes an idea from another author and uses it within their own piece to strengthen an argument. Extending uses an idea and elaborates and changes it to fit their own piece.

DailyIntel had a recent article entitled "Isn't Foster Friess's Bad Aspirin Joke Basically Rick Santorum's Actual Perception on Contraception?" This article concerned the controversial joke that one of Rick Santorum's affiliates, Foster Friess, made in which he declared that the most effective birth control is to "hold an aspirin between your legs." The article directly quotes Santorum and Friess in order to authorize their comments and make the situation clear. Then the author breaks down how the joke was a crude way to say "keep your legs together" or to promote abstinence. Although Santorum obviously wants to distance himself from a vulgar way of advocating for abstinence, the author points out that Friess was actually following Santorum's platform. I think that the use of authorizing greatly strengthens the authors argument and adds to the truth of the story. 

P5: Blogs and the New York Times

Upon first glance, there are similarities between the blog I'm following, DailyIntel, and the New York Times based solely on layout and appearance. I think that the content of the two websites are also similar and that they both have a balance between hard news, like politics, and soft news, like entertainment pieces. However, the New York Times' front page is more hard news focused and keeps the soft news portion of the website tucked under easy tabs like Art and Travel. DailyIntel posts multiples of each type of news a day and makes things a bit less organized. I think that I prefer reading the New York Times to DailyIntel but that there are a lot of silly, interesting stories on the blog that I enjoy as well.


I think that the New York Times is an example of a news source adapting from the old model of news to fit the press sphere. The New York Times now boasts a variety of different content all available at one website. The site also allows for comments on its stories and provides further information about the author, like a short bio or e-mail address, than a newspaper would. I think that there definitely is a press sphere and that New York Times is a major component of this as it is a major media outlet in the United States.


I think that DailyIntel is a component of the press sphere that is smaller than the New York Times but that is still important to the media world. The constant feed of news stories, comments, links to original stories, and the variety of topics shows how news sources have evolved since the era of daily newspapers. I think that despite the DailyIntel not being as widely read as other sources, that it is an important example of non-conventional sources of news.

P4: "The Press Becomes the Press-sphere"

I read Jarvis as defining the press sphere as the intricate network of sources, links, witnesses, readers, editors and authors that all contribute to a single story. Within the press sphere model, there are multiple different ways that a story can change. It can be commented on, edited, linked to, revised, and discussed. Unlike news of the past, it can be changed by a variety of different players not just the author or the editor. In the past, news was filtered through the media (authors, editors, reporters) and produced a single story to send to the masses. Now, stories can be changed by the commentary of a person unaffiliated with the source of publication. I think that this concept is very interesting and that this article was exactly right for what we've been discussing in class and through our blog posts. 

I thought that Jarvis' model made a lot of sense because technology has deeply impacted journalism and has created a different type of media than say twenty years ago. I didn't find it confusing or unusual actually, I thought that it was a clever analysis of the current types of news outlets. I like the idea of a sphere of influence for a story because it shows the different ways that a story can evolve. I think that this idea is generally a positive thing for the world of journalism because it allows for collaborative and accurate stories. However, since the press sphere does not discriminate against those who augment stories, it also opens up the possibility for inaccuracy and misleading information. 

I think that this model accurately reflects my personal experience of the news because there is no longer a single source for news. I liked the emphasis on peers within Jarvis' model because I think that younger generations are greatly influenced by what stories the people around them are following. I think that Jarvis has a great perspective on the media and news of today.

Rhetorical Analysis of DailyIntel

DailyIntel is an American blog following news and popular culture. Although some stories, like Martha Stewart's dog winning Westminster, are less than important there are also many stories about politics, life and issues in the US. I admit I had been hoping for a bit more substance but since the blog updates many times a day, I can pick and choose stories that are more interesting to me. It's hard to pick a key passage because DailyIntel has so many stories but I like the updates about the presidential candidates and American politics.

One of the things that attracted me to this blog was the easy layout because a lot of others seemed too crowded and busy to me. It quickly allows me to pick the stories that I like and to scroll through the latest posts. Other blogs seemed to have an inordinate amount of links and stories that were quite the overload.

Daily Intel

I'm going to follow New York magazine's Daily Intel blog because I like how clean the layout it compared to other politics blogs and I like the content on the blog. I think it's good to follow an American news blog because it's hard for me to keep track of US events sometimes.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/

P3: The New York Times

Reading The New York Times online this quarter has been really interesting for me because I had previously only read the paper version occasionally because my dad subscribes to it. I think that nytimes.com is a great resource for current events and presents issues with little bias compared to other news outlets. I really liked the Arts and Travel sections of the website because the articles were a bit more leisurely and I could easily follow up a hard news article with a multimedia piece on entertainment.

The stories that I usually notice are the ones with attention getting headlines, like today there was a story titled Russia to Retry Dead Lawyer on Tax Charges.  The story concerned a Russian man who died in prison and was the center of human rights controversy. It's interesting to find stories like this that concern international issues. I also find myself noticing stories that are accompanied by pictures and think that photo stories are an easy and effective way to relate the importance of an event. I hope that I am not attracted to these articles because they contain less text, but because they contain more content and accuracy through photography.

I think that my less than systematic way of reading through the news might cause me to overlook domestic issues that are important as well. I've always found the world news sections of newspapers and websites more interesting than the US news and I think that perhaps I should pay more attention to American issues and events. Not to say I'm an uninformed citizen, but there's always room to improve.

Keeping up with this newspaper has allowed me to stay a bit more updated on current issues in the US and the world. I've noticed that it's easier for me to chime in on a conversation about a recent happening and I enjoy having the knowledge to have my own input. I wouldn't say that reading this newspaper has influenced my work or attitudes very dramatically, but I do think that it has encouraged me to stay informed and to think even more about the challenges that our world is facing.

P2: Comparison of News Sources

When reading through my classmates blogs, I noticed that we receive our news from unsurprisingly similar sources. A few mention watching TV and reading the newspaper but the majority cite the Internet as the main outlet for news. I think that we have reached a conclusion in class that technology cannot be classified as entirely good or bad, therefore using the Internet for news has its pros and cons. There can, of course, be false information and hoaxes on the Internet but with reputable resources like The New York Times, BBC, and CNN there can also be a huge amount of viable information.

I must confess that it's been a very long time since I picked up a newspaper and read it but I have been keeping up with nytimes.com and have enjoyed reading and exploring the variety of topics available. I really like the Travel and Arts sections because they often choose topics that I've never heard of or destinations that would seem less than exotic, but are actually quit interesting.

I was reminded by one of the posts about watching the news with my parents after dinner and realized that my habit of watching the nightly news has largely disappeared. I recently got a small TV in my room and hope that perhaps I can take up this habit again. I realized that watching the news usually came with more opinion but also sparked a bit more conversation and critical thinking on my part as well.

I think that our class' web habits are on par with the rest of the United States, if not a bit more academic, and that it shows that our generation is adapting to new ways of gathering information. I think that as long as you take certain sources with a grain of salt, that it's reasonable to have the Internet as your main news source. I think that above all the Internet is a tool which, like all tools, can be used properly and become valuable but can also become a hindrance if used without caution.

P1: News Sources

I usually get my news from the Internet through online news sources. I really like Google News because it makes it easy to find the most up to date information and allows for you to track the story back to its beginnings. If I'm just looking to catch up on some current events, I usually go to BBC, CNN and sometimes Fox News. I think that one of the advantages of having news websites is that it allows for instantaneous updates. Even, for example, the speed at which we hear about deaths of celebrities that are relatively minor global events.

I also really like watching comedy shows like SNL, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show. Even though they're not the most substantive news sources I think they provide a general summary of global events with some satiric comedy. I remember reading once that a large number of Americans get their news from shows like that too and I wonder what impact it has on perception. Despite the utility of these shows, it's important to take them with a grain of salt and realize that these are biased, small views of the events.

I also learn about a  lot of news through word of mouth. If a friend comes to me with a situation or event I haven't heard of, my first instinct is to search for it online. This happens a lot with topics in class because I'm often on my computer taking notes anyways and just look things up for clarification. Wikipedia proves to be a source of infinite knowledge especially when it comes to looking up other countries or basic facts about an event.

I don't often read the newspaper but usually find that a quick skim of the first section usually contains the major issues of the nation and the world. I like reading the newspaper but the convenience of a laptop and instant searches often overrides my desire for printed word.