Reply #13: This was posted by Miss Authoritiva

[stillcool]

back in December. I bookmarked it and read it every now and then..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=109&topic_id=35801

What, if anything: How to deconstruct an AP story


Incredibly, this AP story about White House Chief of Staff designate Rahm Emanuel and alleged attempts by Illinois Gov. Rod Blogojevich to “sell” Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat took two professional reporters plus an additional contributor to produce. Let’s see what we get for all that effort.


Headline: Senate-for-Sale Case Threatens New Chief of Staff

Motivating factors for story: silence* has “prompted questions”; any “hint of scandal” damages Obama and potentially could destroy his presidency before it even begins

Unique sources: 2 tangential people and an indeterminate number of anonymous aides, sources, and supporters not authorized to speak on anyone's behalf

Main rhetorical hedges: "believed to be"; "what, if anything"

Adjectives of note: troubling, friendly

Nouns of note: ties, liability

Phrases of note: troubling liability, close ties, perception of wrongdoing

First astonishing fact: A lot of people live in Chicago and a good many of them are politically active

Second astonishing fact: “a friendly rapport” or “a friendly relationship” might not constitute “a close friendship”

Moment of inscrutability: “It was not clear whether Blagojevich inferred Emanuel's motive for advocating (Valerie) Jarrett….”

Wasted-space (we have to file something) acknowledgement: "The coming days will offer the first answers about Emanuel's recent interaction with Blagojevich and discussions about filling Obama's Senate seat."

Tidy moralistic conclusion useful even if Emanuel did nothing wrong but which damns him anyway: "We're not going to end corruption in Illinois by arrests and indictments alone," the prosecutor (US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald) said. "What's going to make the difference is when people who are approached to 'pay to play' first say no, and, second, report it."

*Prosecutor-requested silence


Well, that’s it. What, if anything, did you learn that you didn’t already know before this article was even written?

By Grace Nearing @ Scriptoids