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Analyzation of “The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments”
Viveca Novak
FactCheck.org
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Abstract
My research paper is based off the analyzation of two articles found in the same electronic source. The articles were found on the web site called Factcheck.org. The first article I read was about the author of my article. It gave her credentials along with other facts. The second article I read was “The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments”. This article contained visual and textual representations of what needed to be analyzed. We were looking for ethos, pathos and logos found within the text and visual. The point of the research paper was not to analyze what the author was saying but to analyze how it was presented.
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The author of my article is Viveca Novak. She is a journalist who writes stories having to deal with politics and government issues. Ms. Novak has been writing these articles for almost 20 years, and she has won a couple of prestigious awards, such as, the Harvard University Goldsmith Prize and the Clarion Award for her reports on President Clinton’s unethical campaign behavior (Factcheck.org/about/, para 7). Novak has worked as a reporter for Wall Street, a Washington correspondent for Time Magazine, as well as a correspondent for the National Journal, giving her multiple years of experience (Factcheck.org/about/, para 7). She is now the Deputy Director of Factcheck.org, where my article is located (Factcheck.org/about/, para 7). In my opinion, the author’s ethos is increased in this article, because she does not show favoritism to either political party. She starts off the argument by presenting an advertisement on how Pelosi will make sure that her party shows integrity along with upstanding ethics, and the Republican party gives examples on how they do not exhibit those characteristics (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments,2010, para 2). Novak then goes into further detail about the accusations made by the Republican party by explaining the incidents involved (The Dems’ ethical embarrassments,2010, para 3-4). She then points out several republicans that have made similar mistakes (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments, 2010, para 8). In doing this, it demonstrates to me that she does not favor one side over another but is interested in the unbiased truth.
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The author wrote this article to inform people on political parties, and the way they have been ignoring and neglecting their ethics. She does this by using pathos, drawing emotions from the audience by proving several facts. These facts stir up emotions of disgust or disappointment which helps her get her point across more effectively with the readers. The wording as well helps draw emotion from the audience. Her words are very precise and concise which elicits a sense of importance and seriousness regarding the article from its readers (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments, 2010, para 4). These emotions are there to aid the readers in clearly seeing the points being emphasized. Emotions are very important on these types of articles, because their intentions are usually to inform people on important information and elicit a response from the audience.
Throughout the article, Novak continuously uses logos, giving evidence to support and prove her point in the article. She documents several cases of unethical behavior by giving supporting detail about them. Novak includes the dates of the cases, the people involved with the case, the circumstances around the cases, and quotes from several of the people involved in the cases (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments, 2010, para 4-6). The evidence was further supported in the article by including a video clip. Once again, the evidence given does not favor one party over the other (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments,2010, para 8). This strengthen her argument by
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showing the reader that not one party is more ethical than another but shows that both fall short.
The video given in her article is there to help prove a point but more towards one side. The visual was made by the Republican National Committee to inform the viewers of the democrats failures at being ethical. The video increased their ethos, because it made the Democratic party look guilty of unethical practices. The video mentions several promises made by the Democratic party followed by several incidents showing the viewers the democrats not keeping their promises (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments, 2010, video). The visual also has pathos, which evokes an emotion similar to the article to try and persuade you to vote republican. It does this by showing several examples of the democratic unethical behavior for the purpose to elicit emotions of anger and repugnance (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments, 2010, video). Additionally, the video set prompts different emotions. The music is very fast paced and up beat giving it a sense of seriousness and urgency. The background colors as well are very dark, not bright, giving it an ominous, unsettling feeling (The Dems’ Ethical Embarrassments, 2010, video).
The visual’s and article’s main focuses go hand in hand. They both are related to the ethics of political parties and how they are ignored by them. They both give examples of how each political side is unethical. The visual helps introduce those examples that the author is address by showing some of the incidents of unethical practices. This allows the author to elaborate on her points through text. The visual also helps give the text a certain tone of seriousness. Furthermore, it helps draw the emotion
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the author intended the reader to feel when reading her article. The text however is not as closed sided as the visual. The visual focused more on the democrats where as her article focused on both parties and their unethical consistencies.
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Reference Page
Novak, V. (2010). The Dems’ ethical embarrassments. Factcheck.org: Political ethics. Retrieved from http://www.factcheck.org/2010/03/rnc-the-dems-ethical- embarrassments/
Novak, V. (2010). About us. Factcheck.org: about the authors. Retrieved from http:// www.factcheck.org/2010/03/rnc-the-dems-ethical-embarrassments/
