Nathan Henty
Professor Ulmer
Effective Writing
September 24, 2013
Last week, when
reporting on Typhoon Usagi in China, there had been 3 people who were confirmed
dead. Today, there are 25 people confirmed dead. The BBC website goes into
great depth talking about the storm. It gives the information on when it hit
China, who was affected, and how much money was lost due to the effects of the
storm. But it also went into detail about the people that were affected by the
storm. It explained how “millions were travelling for
China's mid-Autumn festival - a national, three day holiday when many visit
family.” This statement was meant to make an emotional connection with the
audience. It is clear that the piece was written to keep the reader invested in
the news it was presenting. More importantly, the website showed many
pictures. Some where of people who were clearly distressed. Others were of the
pure devastation that the storm caused in the areas that it hit.
In the Chinese
newspaper, however, it did not give the reader an emotional connection to the
people who were affected. It presented only the facts of the matter. It said
the death toll, when it hit land, who was helping in the aftermath, and how
much the storm cost China in economic losses. It did not have a story. It did
not have sad pictures. In fact, it had a picture that I, personally, found
somewhat beautiful. It is so interesting to see the differences in the media
between the Americanized media and the Chinese. It almost shows that westerners
need a reason to read about the disaster other than the fact that it happened,
while there should be an intrinsic interest in it. Whether this interest be
vested in helping those affected without a story, or just to be able to inform
those who don’t know about it, there should be an interest without the need for
a story to go along with it.
Sources:
Nate,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great beginning for a longer cultural analysis paper that might go into detail regarding the differences between Chinese and North American reporting.
Fantastic! Do you mind if I use this as an example in class?
Spring