The article can be found here.
1.) The argument being presented is the ongoing and controversial debate between keeping the drinking age in the U.S. at 21 or lowering it to 18. The article presents two sides of the spectrum. The author includes professors at multiple universities who are on board with the idea of lowering the age due to their experiences of being involved firsthand with students who binge-drink. The other side presenting their argument is Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)—who are concerned with the idea that there will be more drunk drivers on the road. Both sides represent good arguments
2.) Looking at this article as a supposed believer, I do believe that the reporter has contributed enough articles in favor or lowering the drinking age. He did not include enough opposition examples to balance out the debate enough; so I am looking at him as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune who lives in an urban setting surrounded by prestigious universities and colleges and I am voting in favor of his article. He uses good examples and he even closes the article with a quote in favor of this movement.
3.) As a non-believer, I am very skeptical of how skewed the article is. The reporter, Justin Pope, barely allows more opposition in the article. I do have to put into question his own personal experiences in college and his own personal stand on the issue. As a reporter, one should be neutral in news reporting and present a balance when it comes to debates. I did not believe Pope was very fair in this regard; but I can see how he can be biased on this topic. I would have to assume that he went to a respectable university where he has witnessed the trouble of binge-drinking that goes on in college.
4.) I am only basing my assumptions on the fact that it is a generic article presenting a debate as neutral as possible. I am using the fact that it is the Chicago Tribune as a foundation for my rhetorical argument—that the Tribune has enough prestige and enough intelligence not to put it’s power and clout it towards their own biases. From the way the article is written and presented, and considering it’s location and its urban reporter, I am judging that the author might feel passionate about the issue and that it is important to him—given the fact that he allowed the article to be seen more in his bias than on a neutral point.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment