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News Rhetorics



News often use rhetorics because they need to set themselves apart from the rest of the internet. I chose two news articles and compared their news layouts: NBC News and The Washington Times. They both are articles about conflicts with Russia.

A very common trend I see with these two news sources and many others is their placement of ads. Both NBC and Washington Times place ads on the very top of an article, to the right of an article, within the article, and below the articles. That's a lot of ads!

Something else I noticed that they both do similarly is use color schemes that match their political perspectives. According to AllSides, NBC is slightly leaned left and the Washington Times leans right. Interestingly, NBC's color choice on their website is blue and white (left perspective colors). Washington Times uses red and white (right perspective colors) in its layout.

One thing NBC does that the Washington Times does not is use questions in the headline as a rhetorical device. NBC's headline is "Is Russia intentionally targeting Ukraine's cultural landmarks?" A question in the headline spark's the audience's attention, making them more likely to click on the article to find the answer to the question.

Finally, something that the Washington Times does in their website layout that NBC doesn't is include a trending section on the top with trending topics. This was likely deliberately placed on top of the page to make it among the first things a reader sees.


Works Cited:

“Allsides Media Bias Chart.” AllSides, AllSides.com, 15 Mar. 2022, https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart.

“Is Russia Intentionally Targeting Ukraine's Cultural Landmarks?” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal, 28 Mar. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-intentionally-targeting-ukraines-cultural-landmarks-rcna21604.

Taylor, Guy. “Russian, Ukrainian Delegations to Talk Tuesday as More U.S. Troops Head to Europe.” The Washington Times, The Washington Times, 28 Mar. 2022, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/mar/28/russian-ukrainian-delegations-talk-tuesday-more-us/.


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