analysis
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014). This paper follows the style guidelines in the MLA Handbook, 8th ed. (2016).
Argument Paper, MLA Style (Jacobs)
Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.
Jacobs 1
Sam Jacobs
Professor Alperini
English 101
5 November XXXX
From Lecture to Conversation:
Redefining What ’s “Fit to Print”
“All the news that ’s fit to print,” the motto of the New York
Times since 1896, plays with the word fit, asserting that a news
story must be newsworthy and must not exceed the limits of the
printed page. The increase in online news consumption, however,
challenges both meanings of the word fit, allowing producers and
consumers alike to rethink who decides which topics are worth
covering and how extensive that coverage should be. Any cultural
shift usually means that something is lost, but in this case there
are clear gains. The shift from print to online news provides
unprecedented opportunities for readers to become more engaged
with the news, to hold journalists accountable, and to participate
as producers, not simply as consumers.
Guided by journalism’s code of ethics—accuracy, objectivity,
and fairness—print news reporters have gathered and delivered
stories according to what editors decide is fit for their readers.
Except for op-ed pages and letters to the editor, print news has
traditionally had a one-sided relationship with its readers. The print
news media’s reputation for objective reporting has been held up as
“a stop sign” for readers, sending a clear message that no further
inquiry is necessary (Weinberger). With the rise of the Internet,
however, this model has been criticized by journalists such as
Jacobs provides background in opening sentences for his thesis.
Jacobs does not need a citation for common knowledge.
Thesis states the main point.
4/16
Hacker-Jacobs-MLA-Arg-01.indd 1 02/05/16 1:56 PM
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
Jacobs 2
Dan Gillmor, founder of the Center for Citizen Media, who argues
that traditional print journalism treats “news as a lecture,” whereas
online news is “more of a conversation” (xxiv). Print news arrives
on the doorstep every morning as a fully formed lecture, a product
created without participation from its readership. By contrast,
online news invites readers to participate in a collaborative
process—to question and even help produce the content.
One of the most important advantages online news offers
over print news is the presence of built-in hyperlinks, which
carry readers from one electronic document to another. If readers
are curious about the definition of a term, the roots of a story,
or other perspectives on a topic, links provide a path. Links
help readers become more critical consumers of information
by engaging them in a totally new way. For instance, the link
embedded in the story “Credit-Shy: Younger Generation Is More
Likely to Stick to a Cash-Only Policy” (Sapin) allows readers to
find out more about the financial trends of young adults and
provides statistics that confirm the article’s accuracy (see fig. 1).
Other links in the article widen the conversation. These kinds of
links give readers the opportunity to conduct their own evaluation
of the evidence and verify the journalist’s claims.
Links provide a kind of transparency impossible in print
because they allow readers to see through online news to the
“sources, disagreements, and the personal assumptions and
values” that may have influenced a news story (Weinberger). The
International Center for Media and the Public Agenda underscores
the importance of news organizations letting “customers in on the
often tightly held little secrets of journalism.” To do so, they
Jacobs clarifies key terms (transparency and accountability).
Transition moves from Jacobs’s main argument to specific examples.
Hacker-Jacobs-MLA-Arg-01.indd 2 02/05/16 1:56 PM
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
Jacobs 3
suggest, will lead to “accountability and accountability leads to
credibility” (“Openness”). These tools alone don’t guarantee that
news producers will be responsible and trustworthy, but they
encourage an open and transparent environment that benefits
news consumers.
Source is cited in MLA style.
Sources: The Denver Post; article by Rachel Sapin, special to the Denver Post; graph courtesy of PEW Research Center.
Fig. 1. Links embedded in online news articles allow readers to
move from the main story to original sources, related articles, or
background materials. The link in this online article (Sapin) points
to a statistical report by the Pew Research Center, the original
source of the author’s data on young adults’ spending practices.
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014).
Jacobs 3
suggest, will lead to “accountability and accountability leads to
credibility” (“Openness”). These tools alone don’t guarantee that
news producers will be responsible and trustworthy, but they
encourage an open and transparent environment that benefits
news consumers.
Source is cited in MLA style.
Sources: The Denver Post; article by Rachel Sapin, special to the Denver Post; graph courtesy of PEW Research Center.
Fig. 1. Links embedded in online news articles allow readers to
move from the main story to original sources, related articles, or
background materials. The link in this online article (Sapin) points
to a statistical report by the Pew Research Center, the original
source of the author’s data on young adults’ spending practices.
1
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
www.pewresearch.org
$15,473
$30,070
$21,912
$32,543
Younger than 35
35 and older
2010 2007
29% decline
8% decline
Percent change
83 84
78 75 77
75
73 75 74
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
2001 2004 2007 2010
%
Younger than 35
35 and older
All
Young Adults After the Recession: Fewer Homes, Fewer Cars, Less Debt By Richard Fry
OVERVIEW
After running up record
debt-to-income ratios during
the bubble economy of the
2000s, young adults shed
substantially more debt than
older adults did during the
Great Recession and its
immediate aftermath—
mainly by virtue of owning
fewer houses and cars,
according to a new Pew
Research Center analysis of
Federal Reserve Board and
other government data.
From 2007 to 2010, the
median debt of households
headed by an adult younger
than 35 fell by 29%,
compared with a decline of
just 8% among households
headed by adults ages 35 and
older. Also, the share of
younger households holding
debt of any kind fell to 78%,
the lowest level since the
government began collecting
such data in 1983.
Debt reduction among young
adults during bad economic
Median Total Debt of Households, by Age of Head, 2007 and 2010 in 2011 dollars
Note: The median is calculated among all households, including those without any debt.
Source: Pew Research Center tabulations of Survey of Consumer Finances data
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Share of Households with Any Debt, by Age of Head, 2001-2010 %
Source: Pew Research Center tabulations of Survey of Consumer Finances data
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Hacker-Jacobs-MLA-Arg-01.indd 3 02/05/16 1:56 PM
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
Jacobs 4
Not only has technology allowed readers to become more
critical news consumers, but it also has helped some to become
news producers. The Web gives ordinary people the power to
report on the day’s events. Anyone with an Internet connection
can publish on blogs and Web sites, engage in online discussion
forums, and contribute video and audio recordings. Citizen
journalists with laptops, cell phones, and digital camcorders have
become news producers alongside large news organizations.
Not everyone embraces the spread of unregulated news
reporting online. Critics point out that citizen journalists are not
necessarily trained to be fair or ethical, for example, nor are they
subject to editorial oversight. Acknowledging that citizen reporting
is more immediate and experimental, critics also question its
accuracy and accountability: “While it has its place . . . it really
isn’t journalism at all, and it opens up information flow to the
strong probability of fraud and abuse. . . . Information without
journalistic standards is called gossip,” writes David Hazinski in
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (23A). In his book Losing the
News, media specialist Alex S. Jones argues that what passes for
news today is in fact “pseudo news” and is “far less reliable” than
traditional print news (27). Even a supporter like Gillmor is willing
to agree that citizen journalists are “nonexperts,” but he argues
that they are “using technology to make a profound contribution,
and a real difference” (140).
Citizen reporting made a difference in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina in 2005. Armed with cell phones and laptops, regular
citizens relayed critical news updates in a rapidly developing crisis,
often before traditional journalists were even on the scene.
A vivid example helps Jacobs make his point.
Opposing views are presented fairly.
Jacobs counters opposing arguments.
Jacobs develops the thesis.
Hacker-Jacobs-MLA-Arg-01.indd 4 02/05/16 1:56 PM
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
Jacobs 5
In 2006, the enormous contributions of citizen journalists were
recognized when the New Orleans Times-Picayune received the
Pulitzer Prize in public service for its online coverage—largely
citizen-generated—of Hurricane Katrina. In recognizing the paper ’s
“meritorious public service,” the Pulitzer Prize board credited the
newspaper ’s blog for “heroic, multi-faceted coverage of [the
storm] and its aftermath” (“2006 ”). Writing for the Online
Journalism Review, Mark Glaser emphasizes the role that blog
updates played in saving storm victims’ lives. Further, he calls the
Times-Picayune ’s partnership with citizen journalists a “watershed
for online journalism.”
The Internet has enabled consumers to participate in a new
way in reading, questioning, interpreting, and reporting the news.
Decisions about appropriate content and coverage are no longer
exclusively in the hands of news editors. Ordinary citizens now have
a meaningful voice in the conversation—a hand in deciding what ’s
“fit to print.” Some skeptics worry about the apparent free-for-all
and loss of tradition. But the expanding definition of news provides
opportunities for consumers to be more engaged with events in their
communities, their nations, and the world.
Conclusion echoes the thesis without dully repeating it.
Jacobs uses specific evidence for support.
Hacker-Jacobs-MLA-Arg-01.indd 5 02/05/16 1:56 PM
Source: Hacker/Sommers (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, 2014).
Jacobs 6
Works Cited
Gillmor, Dan. We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People,
for the People. O’Reilly Media, 2006.
Glaser, Mark. “NOLA.com Blogs and Forums Help Save Lives after
Katrina.” OJR: The Online Journalism Review, Knight Digital
Media Center, 13 Sept. 2005, www.ojr.org/050913glaser/.
Hazinski, David. “Unfettered ‘Citizen Journalism’ Too Risky.”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 13 Dec. 2007, p. 23A. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/.
Jones, Alex S. Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds
Democracy. Oxford UP, 2009.
“Openness and Accountability: A Study of Transparency in Global
Media Outlets.” ICMPA: International Center for Media and the
Public Agenda, 2006, www.icmpa.umd.edu/pages/studies/
transparency/main.html.
Sapin, Rachel. “Credit-Shy: Younger Generation Is More Likely to
Stick to a Cash-Only Policy.” The Denver Post, 26 Aug. 2013,
www.denverpost.com/ci_23929523/credit-shy-younger
-generation-stick-cash-only-policy.
“The 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Public Service.” The Pulitzer
Prizes, Columbia U, www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by
-year/2006. Accessed 21 Oct. 2013.
Weinberger, David. “Transparency Is the New Objectivity.” Joho
the Blog, 19 July 2009, www.hyperorg.com/blogger/
2009/07/19/transparency-is-the-new-objectivity/.
Works cited page uses MLA style.
List is alpha betized by authors’ last names (or by title when a work has no author).
Access date is used for a Web source that has no update date.
Hacker-Jacobs-MLA-Arg-01.indd 6 02/05/16 1:56 PM