Global Citizenship - Winter Term Homework

Subject: Global Citizenship - Winter Term Homework Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:36 pm

Whenever reading a story on any media channel, one must view it critically, analyzing it for the truth it portrays mixed with the content meant solely for the generation of shock value to boost sales. For your homework, you must choose one (1) article from any media source be it a book, newspaper, magazine or blog and analyze it critically.

A copy of the article must be submitted with your homework (in link form). Your analysis should deconstruct all the components of the article and explain what portions are relevant, what could have been left out and how much of the information presented overall is of value to the reader. Your source material may be recent, historical, fictional, anything that reports on an event in a semi professional manner. It may even be from the Muggle world.

Your homework is due by the end of the month (2nd July) and should be submitted with your name and house at the top lest it remain unmarked. If you have any questions regarding the homework, please read the instructions again before reaching out to my assistant for clarification.

All the best, as always.

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"There is nothing that transgender people can't do" there is a woman who is a transgender that is the first Pakistane transgender who made her debut anchoring the Primetime news. This just shows to prove that anyone can over come obstacles and make a difference out there in the world. She was totally fearless and showed everyone that she is a newly proud woman and there is nothing that woman can't do out in the world. Marvia Malik is the name of the totally hardcore fearless woman who showed all her haters that she is proud to be herself... She may have been born a guy but she was born ready as a female. No one can stop us females from doing the same thing guy does. But personally in my opinion us females are better Wink

Elena Bliss
Slytherin

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/first-transgender-news-anchor-pakistan/

Adelaide Goshawk wrote:: Miss Bliss,

While your homework serves as an upifting and optimistic human interest piece, those ar enot qualities I value in my class or homework submitted for it. You did not address any of the points detailed in the question.

3/10

Subject: Re: Global Citizenship - Winter Term Homework Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:37 pm

Elenore Clement
Hufflepuff

Source: https://hogwartsandbeyond.forumotion.co.uk/t1884-plot-watcher-now-in-3d#17047

Introduction
In the following report, the attached magazine article will be critically analysed in respect of the relevance of the words used within the article, what could have been left out or what could have been added to aid the reader of the article, and finally how much of the information would be of value to the reader.

Source
Whilst not directly noted to the aid of the reader, or usefulness, the best place to start a search upon the content of an article in any news item is the source of the document. Which Witch Weekly is a well-established magazine that has been circulating around mostly female readers for a number of decades. Whilst this would suggest that they have a sturdy reader base, and an expanding one, it is known to focus on women’s interests, celebrity news and cooking.

Which Witch Weekly as a source for international political news is, of course, somewhat of a curious combination as it does not fit the usual categories of the magazine. This should, for any close follower of International news subjects raise a number of questions on why the piece has been included within the magazine to begin with.

Tone
From the outset of the article, the writer has gone with a very aggressive, persuasive language, directed at making sure competitors and the reader joins their side of the argument, and gets fired up within the first line of the article.

The first line of the article doesn’t, in fact, give the reader any glimpse in to what they’re about to read, nor does it give any relevant information. The first line pushes an opinion on to the reader which they may, or may not, have decided upon themselves by the end of the article.

The tone continues in much the same was with the blame of the decision being made by Wizengamot being thrown to the reader, before denoting that Mr. Holmes was not given a chance to defend himself. Throughout the article it is clear that the author is insisting the reader doesn’t accept the facts being given, rather than giving a balanced account of the information at hand.

The choice of words, and phrasing of sentences, is used purposefully to sway the reader in to sympathising with Mr. Holmes and the decision made against him in August 2024. The assumption for this would be because Which Witch Weekly is a UK based publication, and it is working on the ‘protect your own’ stance in its writing.

The story could have been told with a much subtler tone, which would allow the reader to come to their own conclusion upon the subject. It is likely, however, that many a reader would have been drawn to agree with the writer – whether correctly, or incorrectly, is another topic of discussion.

Photograph
As the reader looks at the article, it can’t be helped to look to the face of Mr. Holmes whilst reading and wondering whether such a man could have committed the crimes for what he has been accused. The picture denotes something of a friendly persona on first glance, a picture meant to soften the hearts of the readers to further portray a man who should not be being harassed by the Wizengamot for crimes of only circumstantial evidence can be collected.

It therefore begs the question of whether the picture used was one purposefully picked to sway minds? Had a picture showing Mr. Holmes looking less happy, less open to others, and simply… unwelcoming been used for this article, would the reader be as quick to jump to Mr. Holmes’ defence, or would they instead question the reliance upon the source of the news being given?

Removing only the photo might not have enough effect to sway the reader away from the author’s point, but it would not allow the reader to feel ‘close’ to the suspect in a murder trial, either.

General Layout
It is not only the picture that softens the reader, though. Once again the whole article is presented in calming/softer colours. Had the article been made in a different manner, with harsh contrasting colours, and a lack of ‘clean’ space, it would like be taken in a different manner. The pink with the white and black gives off a classy feel to the article.

Almost as if to say ‘you can trust the writer’ in it’s style. Whilst a subtlety of the magazine, it works well in bringing in the audience to their views once more, without the reader truly thinking about what they’re being drawn in to.

Information Provided
Despite being rather upset in the tone of the article, very little information is given by the article on what is and is not known by the reporter. Throughout the article there is very little in the way of specific facts/figures/events/charges being placed on and around the murder of Minister Jensen in the Cayman Islands. It stands to reason, therefore, as to how much the article can be relied upon. If Mr. Holmes was going to be prosecuted, what evidence were they working with?

The only information that was being provided by Which Witch Weekly was the single quote from a member of the Wizengamot – once again unnamed, which makes for a questionable source – saying there was circumstantial evidence being held against Mr. Holmes.

Further on, the magazine jumps on an idea presented by the Daily Prophet of Mr. Holmes engaging in an affair with the Minister’s wife, but once again there is no substantial information for the reader to take away to decide whether this could possibly be true.

All in all, the magazine seems to flit from idea to idea under the pretence of telling the reader all the need to know without actually giving any facts in the process.

Possible Additional Information
The article could benefit from a balanced approach to the subject. Instead of directing the reader in to one pool of thought, it could have opted to pose questions to the audience in which they had to find their own answer. This helps people to pick apart the information they have been presented, ask questions, and can often prompt further research in to a topic.

This would also push the writer to work on collecting more evidence of the information she is talking about in the article, so that each point is backed up with facts/figures/other sources.

However, whilst all of this information would be much more useful to the reader, the analysis needs to first go back to the first point of this essay. The source document of this article is not meant for heavy reading, it is for celebrity gossip – in this case Mr. Holmes, a wealthy, eligible bachelor of the Ministry of Magic – cooking tips and recipes, as well as other fun, but light hearted material. To push a more serious outtake on this subject would likely deviate from the source’s image they’re trying to make, and would therefore be an unlikely point forward.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the article leaves a lot to be desired on the front of being informative. However, it does – for those mindful of not being caught in the trap set by Rebecca Sternum – give rise to a number of questions on what is happening to Mr. Holmes and what the ICWW is doing to capture the murderer of Minister Jensen, because it is vastly unlikely anyone could ever see Mr. Holmes as the man behind the job.

Adelaide Goshawk wrote:: Miss Clement,

A truly exemplary submission that had me pleasantly surprised. Your detailing and the close pursuit of structure has made this an outstanding piece. I would highly recommend you continue delving into research writing at whatever higher institute you chose to continue your studies at.

10/10

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Clara Goldstein
Ravenclaw

Source: https://hogwartsandbeyond.forumotion.co.uk/t796-site-plot-notices

Background:
Warlock at War is a notoriously anti-muggle tabloid popular with some of the more radical sects of blood purists. It is important to understand this before reading the article, as it is likely to contain a biased stance that caters to its readers. Knowing this, the reader should prepare to look for certain framing devices, exaggeration, and other attempts by the author to sway the reader's point of view.

Title:
The title is clearly exaggerated. The alliteration suggests that the author cares more about being catchy and compelling than being straightforward or accurate. It intentionally says very little about the actual contents of the passage, in order to hook the reader into continuing. On top of that, a strong word like "conspiracy" plants the author's point of view into the reader's head before the article even begins, setting up the audience to expect a conspiracy already, and therefore see what they expect.

Paragraph 1:
This is a simple introduction, meant to briefly summarize the issue at hand to add context to the real content of the article, which will be addressed soon. The tone is light and excited, meant to engage the readers. The diction is casual, but educated, meant to endear the author to the readers by conveying the air of a friendly and trustworthy source. Overall, the introduction has an upbeat feeling, but certain words stick out: "ignore," "violation," and "rife," all possess a negative connotation, making the author's own views on the Statute of Secrecy decision clear. The author seems to believe that the Statute itself is a sacred institution, but blames other unscrupulous witches and wizards for defaming it. The author is subtle about this stance, however, and prefers to rely mostly on engaging the readers, ending the introduction with another hook.

Paragraph 2:
Since this article was written before much was released about the then upcoming ICWW conference, the author intends to dangle enticing new information in front of the audience to draw them in. The actual reveal does not happen at the beginning of the paragraph, because the author wants to build suspense leading up to it. The article only really contains one small bit of new, factual information, so the author needs to embellish it with as much fluff as possible to hide the fact that not much is actually known. After delaying for as long as naturally possible, the author finally drops the information--but in order to keep the audience reading, this fact is revealed as if it's the least interesting sentence in the article. Like any good entertainer, the author leaves this paragraph off on another cliff hanger.

Paragraph 3:
Now begins the conjecture. This is the main point of the article, and so of course it cannot be concise. Consistent with previous paragraphs, the author drops off of the earlier cliff hanger all the way to the bottom of the Freytag plot model: exposition. Setting off on a long-winded explanation, the author hopes to slowly build up suspense by detailing a summary of the relevant history of the Cayman Islands. The author intentionally feeds the reader information, and leaves the implications hanging for the reader to snatch up. The untrained audience will feel as if such conclusions are their own, not the author's, and will be thus manipulated into justifying for themselves whatever the author wants them to believe. This author wants the excitement of a potential conspiracy, (because such things make for good press), and so all the information provided points to something suspicious brewing in the Caymans.

Paragraph 4:
The article winds down by winding the audience up. With a series of rhetorical questions, the author leaves the audience wondering what could happen next--and then offers them a way to find out. Now the author finally reveals the article's true purpose: to make the audience buy the next edition of Warlock at War. The entire article was leading up to this. Although the message was hidden underneath a facade of compelling news, in reality the whole thing was a glorified advertisement. The tabloid is less concerned about keeping its audience informed, and more concerned about keeping its audience

In conclusion, the only real information revealed in this article is the location of the ICWW conference. The rest is gratuitous suspense, manufactured for entertainment purposes. While the historical information provided by the author about the Cayman Islands is probably true, it shows a very narrow and obviously directed point of view, which does not reveal said information in its full context. While this article is useful for determining some background knowledge and facts, it should not be the only source one turns to, and needs to be backed up with other perspectives.

Adelaide Goshawk wrote:: Miss. Goldstein,

You continue to impress with your analytic skills and Caligula solutions. Of particular note is the fact that despite writing such a lengthy piece, your own opinion did not effect the writing to a notable degree. You have all the makings of the kind of reporter you wish would have penned that article.

10/10

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