Gabrielle Gonzalez
Writing 2
Professor De Piero
June 3, 2015
Read This, Not That
When you look at the cover of a magazine or the front page of a newspaper what is the
first thing that you read? The answer is most likely one of the many headlines that can be found
throughout the text. Three common media outlets—USA Today, The New York Times, and BBC
News— discuss the upcoming 2016 presidential election. Although headlines are used in
multiple sources, each of these contain the same conventions that allow them to be categorized
under the same genre while focusing on Hillary Clinton’s running for president.
Headlines are rhetorical genres that are found in nearly everything that is read. They are
intended to catch the reader’s attention with catchy or interesting phrases. Typically they are the
determining factor for a reader if he or she wants to continue to read the entire article or not.
Headlines are short, one-sentence phrases that identify the topic of the reading. Their font is bold
and bigger than the body content. Headlines are found in news reports newspapers, magazines,
and articles for example. Television and websites also contain headlines, whether you’re
watching the news or a breaking story flashes across your screen. Headlines are straight to the
point. The tone varies depending on the issue at hand. It can either be comedic or serious
whether you’re reading a headline on a celebrity website versus a headline on CNN, respectively.
The audience for this genre is relatively broad because headlines are almost everywhere we look.
Audience ranges from your average college student searching through articles online to an older
citizen who enjoys reading the Sunday paper.
In today’s press, one of the major headlines in most news sources is of the 2016
presidential election. Three sources— a magazine, a newspaper, and a website— focus
specifically on Hillary Clinton’s decision to run. USA Today is a popular magazine that focuses
on current issues specifically in our nation. Its headline reads, “If Hillary runs, What will Bill
do?” This addresses her second run in the form of a question. The purpose of this is to propose a
situation to intrigue the audience into reading the story. In magazines, the headlines are not
always serious and often play on puns. A second headline states, “Hillary Clinton to Announce
2016 Run for President on Sunday.” This headline featured in The New York Times newspaper is
direct so the reader automatically knows what to expect from the article. Newspaper reports are
more factual and typically less biased than other sources. The style of this headline can be seen
through the capitalization of each word except for the prepositions. Lastly, the third headline
from BBC News’ website is as follows, “Hillary Clinton: ‘There were so many obstacles’ as a
woman.” BBC News focuses more on Clinton’s election as a female rather than just as a
candidate. This is an interesting approach because it takes a different direction from just stating
the facts.
Each of these headlines are from different sources yet they serve the same purpose of
providing a brief overview of Clinton’s decision. However, these headlines also contain
dissimilarities between them. Notice that there is less capitalization in the BBC headline than in
the newspaper headline. Websites are typically less formal than printed sources therefore it is
okay for headlines not to follow a strict format. Magazines tend to have a younger audience so
they try to keep theirs the least boring as possible. This is why USA Today uses the form of
question. Rather than focusing solely on Hillary, its headline tries to direct our attention to Bill
while still discussing on her run.
It is important to study genre for multiple reasons. For starters, Kerry Dirk in “Navigating
Genres” says that, “Knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals”
(Dirk 26). Being able to recognize different textual genres allows you to identify each of their
purposes in order to better suit your audience. One should learn the convention of genres to help
him or her better understand tone and how to persuade the reader. Additionally, Janet Boyd notes
in “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)” that, “Audience is always highly important when one goes
to write anything” (Boyd 5). Newspapers, websites, and magazines keep this in mind when
creating headlines to make their stories stand out from the rest to engage your attention. Laura
Bolin Carroll mentions in “Backpacks vs. Briefcases” that we are constantly judging books by
their cover especially when deciding what and what not to read. Carroll continues to say that
audiences are constantly swayed by such sources into thinking or acting in certain ways. She also
makes a good point by saying being able to analyze these situations allows us to make “savvy
judgements” (Carroll 61). When we are able to recognize rhetoric in anything we read, we can
then determine how this makes us feel. Personal reactions and those from society as a whole
decide the success or failure of media sources. Magazines and websites know that they have to
tailor their stories based on what the general public will find interesting to read.
The importance of genre is just as important to the writer as it is to the reader. The New
York Times’ article continues to argue in favor of Clinton’s Democratic nomination.
Understanding this tactic makes it easier to understand the headline’s purpose of persuasion.
USA Today’s story answers the proposed situation, “What will Bill do?” by explaining he is
taking the backseat during her campaign. The headline asked a direct question and responds to it
to satisfy the reader who decided to read it. BBC News tries to grab its audience by adding
strength to Clinton considering she has been faced with gender inequality. All of these headlines
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use rhetoric to stand in favor of Clinton. By being able to understand this type of genre, we are
able to essentially judge each of these sources beyond their covers.
Ultimately, the three news sources may differ in word choice yet they are all considered
headlines by the definition of that genre. Each of these headlines gages the reader on the current
political topic in today’s media. Learning genre allows us to be able to dissect the conventions in
order to identify their purposes and audience. As the reader, we can then know what to expect
when reading through a newspaper or scrolling a website online.
Works Cited
Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writings, Volume 1. Library of
Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. 2010. 26. Print.
Boyd, Janet. “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking).” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writings, Volume
2. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. 2011. 5. Print.
Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.” Writing
Spaces: Reading on Writings, Volume 1. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data. 2010. 61. Print.