Quote Analysis: Midterm Project

Quote Analysis

“Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half” – Gore Vidal

                Gore Vidal was an extremely successful and respected American writer. In his lifetime he wrote over two hundred essays and twenty-four novels. He was a prolific writer with remarkable ideas and theories. His quote above displays the infamous connotation of newspapers in relation to politics. This idea was, and still is, extremely popular and can sometimes decrease the legitimacy of a newspaper article, especially the political ones. However, despite this negativity, many people believe that newspapers are a legitimate and quality means of acquiring political information.

                Political newspaper articles have been undermined of their sincerity for many years. One of the reasons for this is due to journalism’s history. Yellow Journalism is a prime example of why journalism is mistrusted. Yellow Journalism was a form of journalism with inaccurate, subjective information, usually used to try to persuade the reader of thinking one way. Although now in journalism there is heavy emphasis put on fact checking, attributions and citing, people still doubt the newspaper articles. Another reason for the mistrust of newspapers is due to the Peter Zenger trial. The basis of this trial was the idea of slander and libel. Slander is any spoken defamation of one’s character. Whereas libel is any written form of a defamation of character. Libel is a popular issue within journalism due to the extreme bias associated with it. This also contributes to the subjective writing that was, and is, prevalent in journalism.

                Shattered Glass is a film that encompasses why attribution and fact checking is so extremely important in journalism. In the film, a man essentially made up several stories that got published and given to the public to. All without the knowledge of the editor and publisher. This discredited that newspaper in particular as well as journalism as a whole. This is the foremost fear and hesitation that many non-newspaper readers face. They are uncertain as to whether the information is factual or not, whether it is bias or not.

                Despite the negativity associated with journalism, many still turn to it for political issues and more. The reason for this is due to the strides made to create a more honest and sincere association with journalism. Throughout the years, many things were created in order to prove the legitimacy of journalism. For one, tape recorders are used to get word for word quotations. Also, attribution has proved to be an extremely significant piece to articles. Making sure that quotes are real and supported is very important. Stunt journalists also helped to prove truth in journalism. The journalists put themselves in the situation to provide truth.  Journalists have had to prove themselves through the years to prove their legitimacy.

                In conclusion, although journalism is seen as illegitimate, strides have been made to create a more genuine and honest connotation with it. 

This was a quote analysis we did for a midterm final. I analyzed the quote above using prior information we learned in class about journalism and the bias associated with it. This was a good writing piece that showed my writing abilities.