Television News

The first method of development I came across was Classification. The author separated ideas into different groups, which all related back and enforced his thesis. The use of this method was excellent as it separated ideas such as news conference and competition in paragraphs 3 to 5 from “pictures” in 6-8. The news conference and competition further develops his thesis by proving that each holds a specific characteristic. For News Conference it depicts that it’s the biggest staple, because there are prepared statements and arguments. “And whether it is called by a prime minister or president, an eco-activist or native dissident, it almost always consists of a prepared statement, followed by prepared answers to prepared questions”. This directly relates back to his thesis, by proving that television has technological superiority. The second part is Competition. This section proves that all that are competing, including newspapers, radio, and television. “All of the players are competing, yet are largely content to have the same story, the same information and, in the case of TV, the same pictures.” This relates back and furthers proves his thesis that the technological superiority and popular ascendance over print is the reduction of information. When looking at “pictures”, it proves that they are similar. “The pictures are numbingly similar night after night: a head of state getting in and out of a car, surrounded by reporters, besieged on the steps of some official building or posed at a lectern in front of an obedient, orderly group of newshounds.” This further develops Cuff’s thesis by again, proving that there is preshrinking of news to serve both the corporate and political elites.
The second method of development is Argument. Throughout the essay there is a vast amount of details that convinces the reader. These details can all be directly related back to what was previously stated for classification. Throughout: News Conference, Competition and “pictures” each brings its own form of persuasion. For News Conference there was the phrase “And whether it is called by a prime minister or president, an eco-activist or native dissident, it almost always consists of a prepared statement, followed by prepared answers to prepared questions”. For Competition, “All of the players are competing, yet are largely content to have the same story, the same information and, in the case of TV, the same pictures.” Lastly for “pictures” there was “The pictures are numbingly similar night after night: a head of state getting in and out of a car, surrounded by reporters, besieged on the steps of some official building or posed at a lectern in front of an obedient, orderly group of newshounds.” All of these quotes make direct development of Cuff’s Thesis. They provide supporting details, and further advance the essay.