Fox News had a very difficult task before them when they set out to write this article. Brain tumor patient Danny Nickerson, 6, went viral a short time ago with a video request for birthday letters, as he loved receiving mail. However, this article did not even get the chance to report on this bittersweet story. Fox did that a while ago. This article was a follow up. Nickerson died of his rare tumor after an 18 month battle. Fox had to bear this news in a light that would tug on heart strings, without tugging them out. A little sadness can be powerful in a news story, but no one reads Fox News to get depressed.
Reporting a story like this is easy to make sad. Through bluntness of language and intense candor, this article easily establishes its emotional punch. Calling it an "inoperable and chemotherapy resistant brain tumor" and stating that "less than 10 percent of patients live 18 months past the diagnosis" gives readers just enough emotional content to construct their own depressing images of young Nickerson. Still, this was the easy part. It would be difficult not to report on this story in a way that tells Nickerson's tale woefully. The hard part was not to overload readers.
Readers need closure in a story like this, and Fox News knows it. Two strategies used here were the reflection of the family's comfort into the audience and the arrangement of the facts. Infused throughout the article are references to God and Nickerson's place with him, in the form of quotes from his apparently religious family. These are used expertly to cushion the information, but not as effectively as the structure of the article itself. The depressing and clinical candor of the beginning of the article dissolves into sepia toned reports on the literal truckloads of birthday cards his video generated, along with general background that attempts to turn a death-report into a life-celebration.
Yes, the challenge was great. It is not easy to walk the line between emotional baggage and emotional fulfillment. However, Fox was up to it and without loading their article in distracting rhetorical devices or colorful language, they manage to solemnly and warmly report on the death of Danny Nickerson. They are effective in the most difficult to achieve way.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
TOW #26 - Vacuum Advertisement
Dyson advertising executives rolled out this little beauty not too long ago. It prominently features the words-turned-image, "others clog / ours doesn't" against a plain background with additional information at the bottom. This incredibly creative advertisement finds an immediately catching way to present evidence and then effectively furthers its main point to make a compelling and clear argument for their product.
The first thing you will notice about the ad, and you are meant to, is that instead of an image captioned with a description, this ad features words captioned with more words. The color choice and most obviously, the filled in eyes of "others clog" immediately gets across the information in a way more tangible than the words alone and lends them more meaning. Contrast this with the color choice and cleanliness of the "ours doesn't" beneath, and you have an ad that could stand alone without more than the word Dyson scrawled across the bottom. However, this ad isn't done yet.
Distanced far at the bottom of the page, so as not to detract from the main punch of the ad, are three captions and an image. The image shows a yellow Dyson vacuum to give color, cohesiveness, and connection in the ad. The three lines of text include one, a more full bodied elaboration of the elegant claim above, two, a connection between the minor claim and the consumption of Dyson products, and the third is a sanitized URL to gather more information. Stylish and simple, this text turns the pizzazz of the above into the ad that will get a Dyson into a customer's home.
It is fitting that so clean and clear an advertisement should come from a vacuum company. This ad is effective and clever, and is sure to catch the eye, heart, and wallet of any number of customers in web browsers and highway systems across this great land of ours. If you aren't convinced by this ad to buy a vacuum, then I will be shocked if you know what a vacuum is.
TOW #25 - Dark Knight Massacre Trial Article
A recent Fox News article details a piece of long awaited news. James Holmes, the infamous mass murderer involved in the Dark Knight massacre is finally ready to go to court and be tried for his crimes. In July of 2012 he opened fire on a crowded movie theater, killing 12 and wounding up to 70. In order to indite without condemning, the Associative Press had to walk a thin line in this report, with incredibly careful language. In addition, they made out the killer to be larger than life, in order to make the story more readable.
Word choice is the weapon of choice for those with subtle emotional roles to play in writing. Eyes are not "soulless" or "pitiful" but they are "vacant". Selfies with guns are not "terrifying" or "depressing" but they are "haunting". Fox News like the majority of its readers have reasonably set up Holmes as a character to be feared for his crimes than pitied for his possible mental disorders, but as the jury is literally still out, they must be careful not to make too gross their shared perspective. They expertly practice a thing veil of restraint.
Additionally, regardless of whether or not the indirect glorification of a mass murderer is appropriate, Fox seems to be taking the Dark Knight connection and running with it, describing Holmes almost as a supervillain. They emphasize his neuroscientist background and play up his abnormal personality, going so far as to describe his hair dye as "comic book orange". This careful presentation of the facts in a manner than gives a sick criminal a larger-than-life status is effective however, as it does make for a more memorable and recommendable article.
Fox News reporters, through subtle word choice, emotional recognition, arrangement of information, and above all, presentation of the facts produced a high memorable and vindicating report on the long awaited trial of James Holmes. Investigations into his drug and alcohol use, possible psychosis, neuroscience background, and booby-trapped apartment have culminated in an emotionally charged trial being reported on eagerly by Fox News.
Word choice is the weapon of choice for those with subtle emotional roles to play in writing. Eyes are not "soulless" or "pitiful" but they are "vacant". Selfies with guns are not "terrifying" or "depressing" but they are "haunting". Fox News like the majority of its readers have reasonably set up Holmes as a character to be feared for his crimes than pitied for his possible mental disorders, but as the jury is literally still out, they must be careful not to make too gross their shared perspective. They expertly practice a thing veil of restraint.
Additionally, regardless of whether or not the indirect glorification of a mass murderer is appropriate, Fox seems to be taking the Dark Knight connection and running with it, describing Holmes almost as a supervillain. They emphasize his neuroscientist background and play up his abnormal personality, going so far as to describe his hair dye as "comic book orange". This careful presentation of the facts in a manner than gives a sick criminal a larger-than-life status is effective however, as it does make for a more memorable and recommendable article.
Fox News reporters, through subtle word choice, emotional recognition, arrangement of information, and above all, presentation of the facts produced a high memorable and vindicating report on the long awaited trial of James Holmes. Investigations into his drug and alcohol use, possible psychosis, neuroscience background, and booby-trapped apartment have culminated in an emotionally charged trial being reported on eagerly by Fox News.
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