One Event, Two Perspectives

  These are the two articles I will be scrutinizing in this blog post. Both news outlets, Fox News and New York Times, have covered the Georgia Neo-Nazi rally that took place on Saturday. Each article uses different language, in order to make their stance seem valid and to persuade its audience.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/neo-nazi-rally-georgia.html

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/22/neo-nazi-rally-near-atlanta-remains-mostly-peaceful-officials-say.html

          From skimming both articles, they seem to be very similar. However, their titles are both different, which reveals that Fox News and NY Times evidently have different opinions on the Neo-Nazi rally. 

          In the first article, "Neo-Nazi Rally Draws About Two Dozen People and Upends a Small Georgia City", Jacey Fortin utilizes specific diction, in order to make the event appear in a negative light. The first thing that stood out to me was that in her title, she chose to use the word "upends". The dictionary definition of "upends" means "set or turn something on its end or upside down". From this, the readers can get a feel that Fortin believes that the Neo-Nazi rally left a negative impact on the small town of Georgia. Fortin also says, "Members of the National Socialist Movement, a white nationalist organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center..." By her including that this group is known as a "hate group", she is using connotation so the readers can feel some sort of resentment towards this group. She goes on to say, "... Jeff Schoep... criticized illegal immigration, skinny jeans and the removal of Confederate monuments, adding that was 'standing on behalf of white nationalism, white patriotism and our history as American people.'" By including this statement, Fortin is targeting people of color to feel anger towards his speech because "American people" can include all sorts of diverse people, not only whites. What makes someone American is not the color of one's skin, but one's dedication and love for the country. 

          On the other hand, in the second article, "Neo-Nazi rally near Atlanta remains mostly peaceful, officials say", Amy Lieu uses diction and connotation to make the rally seem more positive. Even in her title, she decided to use the word "peaceful" to describe the event. She is trying to persuade the audience that Neo-Nazi rallies do not cause major disruptions. According to Atlanta's Fox 5, "Local officials were determined to avoid the level of violence seen at similar events held elsewhere." Lieu includes this statement to convince her audience that there was limited violence at this event; she is trying to convey the message that it is safe for one to express his or her ideas freely in America. Lieu goes on to say, "A row of officers wearing riot gear formed a human shield to prevent groups from clashing." The readers can interpret this as the author saying that rallies are mostly under control, and there should not be any fear because officers are preventing any violence from occurring. This evokes the emotion of safety in the minds of readers. 

          After reading both articles, I have noticed that there are many other cases in which different news outlets have covered the same topic but have twisted the message by using different diction and connotative words. This leaves the outcome of the Neo-Nazi rally in Georgia to be interpreted in varying perspectives. It gives the readers two different points of views on the same coverage.

This is a picture of the officers setting up before the rally and keeping the groups from clashing.