AP Lang
World Cultural Geography
EVALUATING NEWS ARTICLES FOR CREDIBILITY
Below is the summary of a news source and a specific article from that source.
Fox News is a satellite news television channel that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group
subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. The channel was created by Australian-American media mogul
Rupert Murdoch, who hired former NBC executive Roger Ailes as its founding CEO.[2] It
launched on October 7, 1996,[3] to 17 million cable subscribers.[4] It grew during the late 1990s
and 2000s to become the dominant cable news network in the United States.[5]Many observers
have stated that Fox News Channel promotes conservative political positions.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/09/bias-bash-obama-avoids-tough-questions-atslimdown-press-conference/
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Read the article provided above.
Copy the article into a word document.
After discussing the definition of these appeals (see reverse side), highlight the articles in terms of logos
(facts provided); pathos (words with emotional appeal); ethos (credibility gained from quoted sources)
Write a 6-sentence paragraph analyzing the use of PATHOS.
a) Topic Sentence (1) should indicate which of the audience’s emotion the article targets.
Example: Huffington Post’s coverage of the UN’s inspection of Syrian weapons appeals to the
audience’s fear.
b) Next sentence (2) should give two pieces of quoted evidence of this emotional appeal. Note the
transition word as well:
Example: For example, Huffington Post uses words like “victims,” ”attack,” “snipers,” and
“treacherous” in the first sentence.
c)
Next sentence (3)should CONNECT the evidence to the effect on the reader:
Example: Huff Po’s words paint a picture of UN inspectors being in a dangerous situation and have
the effect of scaring the readers by portraying Syria as potentially harmful to the entire world.
d) Repeat b) for (4) and c) for (5) another piece of quoted evidence and CONNECTION.
e)
Conclusion should give a potential reason for this emotional appeal and identify a source and article
that uses LESS APPEAL TO PATHOS.
Example: Huffington Post may appeal to readers’ emotions more since this source wants to attract
American readers (and therefore, sell more advertisements) by convincing readers of a Syrian threat;
however, Reuters, which sells articles to multiple news sources, may be more neutral due to their
policy of objectivity and need to sell to a variety of other news sources.
Logos (Message)
Argument or
Media
Ethos (Author)
(Audience)
Pathos
Logos: Rational or Logical Appeals. Appeal to logical reasoning ability of the audience
through use of facts, case studies, statistics, experiments, logical reasoning, analogies, anecdotes,
authority voices, etc. Are writer’s claims reasonable? Is there sufficient evidence to support
those claims? Does the speaker make logical conclusions? Does he/she talk about counterarguments, other opinions or points of view?
Pathos: Emotional Appeals. Appeal to beliefs/feelings of the audience. An appeal of pathos
can move an audience to anger or tears as a means of persuasion. It may attempt to invoke
particular emotions such as fear, envy, patriotism, lust, etc. Or, an appeal of pathos may stem
from shared values between the author and the audience, or from an argument that caters to an
audience’s beliefs.
Ethos: Ethical Appeals. Appeal based on the character, persona, and/or position of the
speaker. This kind of appeal gives the audience a sense of the author as a competent/fair
authority figure. Such an appeal may highlight the author’s trustworthiness, credibility,
reliability, expert testimony, reliable sources, fairness, celebrity, etc.