Paper 1- Fixed up

In this comparative commentary, ' Squatters Take On Developers' by Benjamin Shors and ' The Great White Fleet' advertisement will be compared and contrasted. Although one text is an informative article and the other one is a descriptive advertisement, they still obtain a common theme, corporate social injustice within the tourism industry. The article addresses the ongoing issues that are occurring on the Caribbean Islands, whilst at the same time, it is informing the developers, investors and the general public what is currently on going. Whereas the advertisement is informing the higher/middle class individuals about the cruise, convincing them of the quality, through the use of feasibility and passenger benefits.

The intended audience of text one and text two are both upper middle class, those who obtain enough money to take a vacation in Central America. Although similar audiences are targeted both the texts are set in different time era's. Text one is from 2007 whereas text two is from the 1920's, thus highlighting that both the mentality and intention will differ. Although both text one and text two target the same audience, they are aimed at for separate reasons. Text one ' Squatters Take On Developers' is aimed towards the investors who may be unaware of the aftermath of their actions, the article serves as a call to action in order for these superior fgures to wake up and fx their mistakes. For example the article states “the size of the new developments threaten to displace hundreds of low-income island residents”, hence displaying that this is one of the issues that must be addressed. In terms of Text two, ' The Great White Fleet' is aimed towards people going on vacation but only those who can afford to travel thus why the advertisement states “Only First Class Passengers Carried”. Due to the texts being set in dissimilar time era's it is unmanageable to obtain a perspective that is not coming from a postcolonial vs. colonial concentrated lens.

In regards to the theme and content text one and text two both share a theme of travel and tourism, yet they contrast in the content aspect. This regards to the fact that through the use of the theme text one tends to address the corporate social injustice that is commencing within the tourism industry in Panama, as opposed to text two that uses the theme to persuade upper middle class individuals to take a vacation on a cruise. As an illustration text one states “Developers and speculators will use any means necessary to get the land from the people” portraying the social injustice that is being rendered on the people, in turn text two as an example asserts “Delightful cruises of Eighteen and Twenty-two Days cost you no more than your annual vacation to seashore or mountains”. This ties in with the tone and mood of the two texts, once again text one and text two contradict one another through having different tones and moods set for their text type. Text one challenges a tone of concern and comes off quite moralistic, in opposition to text two which proves out to be challenging a casual and typical tone.

Text one and text two posses a striking style and structure, they oppose one another in the sense that each text has it's own different set of features that are used to beneft the text's purpose. Text one utilizes various propaganda techniques such as plain folk and glittering generalities to counterbalance and manipulate the minds of the audience. These techniques assist in grabbing the audiences attention whilst also appealing to their ethos at the same time, this is done so through the unfolded story of the Jimenez family. Text one also follows through with a different layout as this text is in the form of an article template. Text two on the other hand follows through with the use of a more visual template, it permits the audience the ability to imagine themselves aboard the ship hence establishing the connection with the higher social class.

In conclusion this comparative commentary, compared and contrasted the two texts ' Squatters Take On Developers' by Benjamin Shors and ' The Great White Fleet' advertisement. Although the text templates did differ ( text one was an informative article whilst text two was a descriptive advertisement), they still obtained a common theme, travel and tourism. The articles addressed the ongoing issues that were occurring on the Caribbean Islands, whilst at the same time, it informed the developers, investors and the general public what was currently going on. Whereas the advertisement informed the higher/middle class individuals about the cruise, convincing them of the quality, through the use of feasibility and passenger benefts. 

Paper 1 practice

In this comparative commentary, ' Squatters Take On Developers' by Benjamin Shors and ' The Great White Fleet' advertisement will be compared and contrasted. Although one text is an informative article and the other one is a descriptive advertisement, they still obtain a common theme, travel and tourism. The article addresses the ongoing issues that are occurring on the Caribbean Islands, whilst at the same time, it is informing the developers, investors and the general public what is currently on going. Whereas the advertisement is informing the higher/middle class individuals about the cruise, convincing them of the quality, through the use of feasibility and passenger benefits.

The intended audience of text one and text two are both upper middle class, those who obtain enough money to take a vacation in Central America. Although both text one and text two target the same audience, they are aimed at for separate reasons. Text one ' Squatters Take On Developers' is aimed towards the investors who may be unaware of the aftermath of their actions, the article serves as a call to action in order for these superior figures to wake up and fix their mistakes. For example the article states “the size of the new developments threaten to displace hundreds of low-income island residents”, hence displaying that this is one of the issues that must be addressed. In terms of Text two , ' The Great White Fleet' is aimed towards people going on vacation but only those who can afford travel thus why the advertisement states “Only First Class Passengers Carried”.

In regards to the theme and content text one and text two both share a theme of travel and tourism, yet they contrast in the content aspect. This regards to the fact that through the use of the theme text one tends to address the corporate social injustice that is commencing within the tourism industry in Panama, as opposed to text two that uses the theme to persuade upper middle class individuals to take a vacation on a cruise. As an illustration text one states “Developers and speculators will use any means necessary to get the land from the people” portraying the social injustice that is being rendered on the people, in turn text two as an example asserts “Delightful cruises of Eighteen and Twenty-two Days cost you no more than your annual vacation to seashore or mountains”. This ties in with the tone and mood of the two texts, once again text one and text two contradict one another through having different tones and moods set for their text type. Text one challenges a tone of concern and comes off quite moralistic, in opposition to text two which proves out to be challenging a casual and typical tone.

Text one and text two posses a striking style and structure, they oppose one another in the sense that each text has it's own different set of features that are used to benefit the text's purpose. Text one utilizes various propaganda techniques such as plain folk and glittering generalities to counterbalance and manipulate the minds of the audience. Text one also follows through with a different layout as this text is in the form of an article template. Text two on the other hand follows through with the use of a more visual template, assists in grabbing the audiences attention whilst also appealing to their ethos at the sam time.

In conclusion this comparative commentary, compared and contrasted the two texts ' Squatters Take On Developers' by Benjamin Shors and ' The Great White Fleet' advertisement. Although the text templates did differ ( text one was an informative article whilst text two was a descriptive advertisement), they still obtained a common theme, travel and tourism. The articles addressed the ongoing issues that were occurring on the Caribbean Islands, whilst at the same time, it informed the developers, investors and the general public what was currently going on. Whereas the advertisement informed the higher/middle class individuals about the cruise, convincing them of the quality, through the use of feasibility and passenger benefits.

Paper 1 introduction

In this comparative commentary, ' Squatters Take On Developers' by Benjamin Shors and ' The Great White Fleet' advertisement will be compared and contrasted. Although one text is a informative article and the other one is a descriptive advertisement, they still obtain a common theme, travel and tourism. The theme of both the texts is travel and tourism, however the content of both texts differ. The article addresses the ongoing issue's that are occurring on the Caribbean Islands, whilst at the same time it is informing the developers, investors and the general public what is currently on going in the Caribbean's. Whereas the advertisement is informing the higher/middle class people about cruise and convincing them of the quality of the cruise through the use of feasibility and benefits of the cruise.

Four corner reflection

The term propaganda refers to the concept of information, ideas or rumours reshaping an individual's ideology. This is done so through the use of exaggerated statements being displayed upon the general public, hence leading to the transformation of ideologies. The prompt that I have chosen to discuss is ' The term propaganda always refers to a negative message'.

I personally disagree with the statement ' The term propaganda always refers to a negative message', in my opinion in order for a concise decision to be made on whether or not a particular propaganda is negative or not all depends on the context. Throughout the years propaganda has continued to leave it's mark on people, meaning it has either influenced their opinions negatively or positively. When it comes to deciding about how we feel regarding a particular propaganda we must consider the reason as to why it exists in the first place. We must ask ourselves why was it created, who is it targeting and who created it, through answering these questions we will be able to have a better understanding as to why we are and have been presented with such information on a poster, commercial, etc..

When propaganda is viewed as having a “negative” message it could mean a couple of things. The first thing that could cause someone to think a particular propaganda is negative could be that they are the one's being targeted in this particular piece of propaganda, just like In the ' Why Fight For Russia ?' handout the Russian's were the ones who were being targeted by the British and were set out to look like a murderous, unreliable country. Now if the Russian's got their hands on this leaflet do you think they would view this as something positive? Of course not because their country as a whole has been set up to be looked at in a negative light. This ties in with the ' Control Room' documentary and the ' A Son's Death, a Mother's Agony, A Country's Shame' article, these two sources obtain opposing message's yet at the same time they relate to one another.

The ' Control Room' documentary revolved around the Iraqi war and here it was explained how the American Army and the Al Jazeera news station had been portraying one another in their news coverage. The opposing sides had both stated that they believed that they had been portrayed in negative lights this was due to the fact that they had both been coming from a subjective point of view as opposed to an objective one. They were both doing what they thought was best in order to inform the general public about what was occurring in their world, in this case both sides of the story needed to be projected.

In terms of the ' A Son's Death, a Mother's Agony, A Country's Shame' article it was about how a former American football player had traded in his football helmet for an army one. Pat Tillman was a  soldier in the United States Army, unfortunately Pat had been killed in action. Now it was not how he died that was covered rather how his death was covered up.  The truth was that Pat Tillman was shot by an American soldier not an Afghan soldier, that was the story that was presented to the public that Pat Tillman had been shot by the enemy. His mother was the one who got to the bottom of the case and in the end the truth was set free, the story of how Pat Tillman actually died was revealed to the world. Now this made the United States Army be frowned upon and viewed in a negative light, displaying the lengths that they would go to cover up an accident. 

Although both of the cases I presented had contradicted my statement it occurred due to the fact that these cases were set out to be presented as negative from the very beginning. When presenting any form of news one must always take into account the consequences of what might occur once information is released. The key here is to always speak the truth, no matter how frighting or shocking it may be the truth must always be set free.

Media Bias and Ideology Rewrite - President Won't Talk

' President Won't Talk' is the headline of the article I have chosen to discuss. The main issue at hand that is discussed within this article is about how the current Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is denying to take part in the United nations negotiation discussions. Hence portraying Hadi in a negative light, I aim to present him in a positive light where I display the article through a more unbiased perspective.

Bias by headline:

'President needs more time to consider ongoing events in Yemen', through the use of this headline the public will be able to view the situation in a more understanding manner as opposed to straight away bashing the president for not fulfilling his presidential duties and obliging to the rules of being a president to a country.

Word choice and tone:

The article's word choice is not one that would portray Hadi has being an ideal leader for his country, rather it presents him in a negative light where he is frowned down upon by the world and most importantly his own people. Rather than using such poor words like “Won't talk, refuses, not participate, etc...” various other words could be used such as “Need's more time, accepts, meeting” could be used to get across a more positive message where the president is a man who is taking various factors into consideration prior to presenting his final decision.

Bias by source control:

In terms of this particular article certain information could have been withheld in order to ensure that Hadi was depicted in a negative light rather than a positive one. Regardless of whatever reasons majority of the time things are bias due to the fact that as humans we know what we like and what we do not like. In general everyone depicts things in their own manner, their perspective may not be something that everyone agrees with but that is how that  certain person has viewed a particular situation.

Bias by photos, captions and camera angles:

The following photograph was placed alongside the article. This photograph makes Hadi seem cold, arrogant, calculated and unlikeable. Due it being taken from a certain angle all of these negative traits are automatically associated towards him. For all we know Hadi could be warm hearted, thoughtful, kind and likeable.