Parker Gruebmeyer

Professor Rhoda Lukens

UWRT 1101-012
18 March 2015
The whole picture. That is what everyone looks for and wants in journalism and this is
what my two genres focus on is the whole picture in journalism. One genre is a printed
advertisement and the other is a commercial for the Guardian Newspaper. The genres convey a
message of open journalism but do both genres convey the message successfully? and how do
the targeted audiences differ between the two genres? The commercial is an ad for The Guardian
Newspaper, which is based in England and the ad promises an un-biased, truthful and complete
picture. The ad was put out by the Guardian Newspaper, which has had some controversial, uncensored articles. The second genre is a picture stating journalism means doubting
everything.so dont believe this either, which translates to never take anything for full face
value, always question popular beliefs and always seek the truth. The Genre of Journalism has
grown into a force that can bring change to any society and change the ideology of the public.
Journalism has brought down powerful figures and raised some to power. Journalism is a major
factor in our everyday lives; it forms opinions, informs the public, shapes how we see events and
powerful figures.
The ad by the Guardian Newspaper is a spin on the story of the three little pigs set in a
modern day setting. This ad targets everyone who still reads newspapers and follows current
events. The targeted communities are also people who dont follow media like CNN or FOX
news because these stations are obviously biased and most of them have political agendas. The
targeted audience wants more investigative journalism that will not be biased. The commercial
promises the whole picture, which means by definition how publications and data driven

journalists use an open source to power their newsroom and ensure information is reported fairly
and accurately. (GitHub. 2015)
Not only does the commercial promote spending time following The Guardian
Newspaper but also encourages people to get involved with the news as well. In the commercial,
there were several scenes where people were voicing their opinions on social media about the
case of the three little pigs. Social media has virtually changed journalism by media sources
going from print to digital. In the American Journalism Review, by Kevin Klose, he wrote
journalism in its purest form is about witnessing an event and recording for others to see and
read.( Klose) Social media lets anyone do that. Basically, the use of social media in journalism
has blurred the lines of the reporter and the consumer. The commercial depicts people using
social media; The Guardian wants people to express their opinions about stories they report on.
The Guardian wants people to express their opinions on social media in order to reinforce the
idea that the Guardian will keep their stories un-biased. If the Guardian does not keep their openjournalism promise social media can serve as check on that promise. The purpose of the
information presented in the genre is that the Guardian will report the news fairly and encourage
people to get involved with the news.
The genre evokes a personal connection by using the story of the three little pigs. The
Guardian must have known that everyone would know this story. Most people felt heartbroken
and betrayed. Everyone was heartbroken because in their childhoods they were told the pigs
were the good guys and the wolf was the villain. The unique spin on the story that was originally
an innocent childrens story shows how the Guardian adds a more mature, modern look to it that
betrays the original childrens story. The ad conveys these messages by shaping information
through using certain effects in the video. Throughout the whole video, the setting was always

dark and mysterious; that set a serious tone to the video. They also did not do a cartoon which is
what the original three little pigs were shown as. Then after the beginning scene, the pace of the
video sped up as to show how fast the story develops and how fast the Guardian will cover it.
The video demonstrates that the newspaper is also involved with social media by showing people
speaking out on social media in the video. The language used in the commercial is informal
language the video consisted of everyday conversation. Certain language features I noticed was
the language people used, like phrases its our job.This phrase is important to this commercial
it is one of the major messages the commercial is trying to convey. The reason that this line and
scene is important to the video is that it shows the Guardian has dedicated journalists willing to
investigate any story to any extent.
The guardian has put out articles that have been deemed controversial but were unbiased. The ad is based on a controversial story that happened in 2012, the banks in the United
States were selling horrible mortgage securities that led people to believe that they easily afford
mortgages. That eventually caused the economy to implode on itself. The banks involved were
Bank of America, JP Morgan, Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and many other banks. Over 300
billion dollars was spent on lawsuits and claims filed against these banks that year. (GitHub)
Therefore, this is enough evidence that the Guardian newspaper will not hold back no matter
how controversial the issue. The purpose of the ad is to show people that if they follow this
newspaper they will not miss big ground breaking stories.
The picture of journalism means doubting everything..so dont believe this either
targets aspiring journalist, who are attending school and looking for careers in journalism. The
picture targets the journalism community from journalism students to big shot reporters on major
networks and newspapers. This picture lets people know that everything is not what it seems and

encourages them to think outside of the box. The poster means not taking everything for the truth
and even the poster wants you to question the saying journalism means doubting everything.
The audience is likely to know that journalism will never have the definite answer on many
things. It is used more as a persuasive tool to make the public lean a certain way, so you should
somewhat doubt the things that are constantly advertised to you on the media. You should also
constantly question the information the public is fed. I do not think people need to spend much
time on this because it blatantly states the message the picture is trying to get across to its
audience. The picture conveys the information by using a yellow background and big, bold,
black letters to make the contrast of colors larger and makes it more likely for people to notice.
The color yellow is also a cautionary color used as a slowdown and be prepared to stop signal.
This poster can play to someones emotions by making them question the standard information
put out by the media.
It would also bring out certain emotions like wonder and a rebellious attitude toward
major media sources. The structure of wording in this picture adds to the message it is trying to
convey. The picture uses two separate phrases instead of using a single sentence to make two
separate points about journalism. The language used in the picture is informal but the wording
plays a major part. The First sentence is journalism means doubting everything, this first
phrase is a statement that is straight forward. The audience is likely to know that journalism is
always biased in some type of way, for products, and political agendas. The second phrase is so
dont believe this either which makes people think about how easily information can be
tampered with. The authors of the poster are suggesting they should not even be trusted.
Out of the two genres the most effective genre is the ad by the Guardian. Not only
does it back up its claim by showing the whole picture by past events. It also conveys this

information by using a childrens story that everyone has heard and connects with. Also, it is
more effective than the picture as it is a suspenseful commercial keeping people hooked with the
twist on a well-known story, versus a single statement that can be interpreted in many ways.
However, both genres do convey their messages successfully and get across to audiences that
they are targeting. The picture targets upcoming journalist and I think the picture really impacts
its discourse community because the picture inspires its audience. I can see the picture sitting in
a office of a professor or a journalist for a newspaper because the quote works really well for the
genre of journalism. The commercial affects its discourse community, not by inspiring but more
of an advertisement to people who want news from journalists who follow the saying
journalism means doubting everythingso dont believe this either.

Works cited
"Bing." Journalism Ad. Web. 24 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bing.com/images/search?
q=journalism
ad&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=9A7276E847D0703BB935B70883B54E95CDDDDBC
A
Www.theguardian.com. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2012/feb/29/open-journalism-three-little-pigsadvert>.ted sources:

"Open Journalism." GitHub. 2015 GitHub, Inc, 13 Aug. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Harper, Ruth A. "The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and
News Media Organizations." Student Pulse 2.03 (2010). <http://www.studentpulse.com/a?
id=202>
Klose, Kevin. Notes from a New Dean. American Journalism Review 31.3 (2009): 2. Print