Genre Analysis

Hector Mejia

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Introduction

The topic of inquiry is governmental corruption. Everybody

at one point or another has heard of such a controversial and
outspoken topic like corruption. Most people believe nowadays
that the American government has deep seated roots drenched
with corruption. It has happened here in El Paso as well,
concerning the alteration of test scores for his own financial gain
in the education sector by the Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia and
11 employees. I selected two specific genres one being the
newspaper and the other live interviews, due to the deep
involvement and coverage it receives with such an outspoken
topic as this one. The genres that were chosen have great
involvement with the chosen topic. The newspaper communicates
itself through written texts with information they received or

investigations they made. The author Merrill Hope briefly

discusses the topic and left her own opinions. The live interview
with Claudio Sanchez deals with the story on how the
superintendent changed the test scores for his own gain. The
interview deals with the accounts of governmental employees or
people involved with the government and provide with
information on how and why the government behaves incorrectly.
The live interview is not open to interpretations since there is a
person there explaining in great detail why there is corruption.

Audience and Purpose

The audience for both genres are the people interested in

the topic. It appeals to both young and old citizens of the united
states. Both genres also have very similar purposes and that is to
inform the audience on the EPISD scandal that affected the
students scores. When it comes to the audience knowing about
the scandal is that there is in fact governmental corruption and it
is at large. What the audience wants to learn however is the exact

details on the scandal. Where is the corruption most present, why

is there corruption in more states than others, who are the players
that facilitate and participate in said activities.

Most of the time people will spend around 30 minutes to 1

hour when it comes to reading or watching the interviews
because most people like to digest the information of such a
frivolous scandal slowly, so that they can comprehend what is
going on. The purpose of the newspaper is to inform the readers
on what is happening and mostly give their own opinion on the
matter. The live interview is also used mostly to inform but with a
slight twist, that twist is in the form of persuasion. What the
people being interviewed are trying to do is convince you on their
point of view. On why their decisions were made and executed.
For example, the superintendents defense was that he cared for
the students scores and he wanted the school district to seem
academically above the rest, that way the district would receive
more funds which in turn could go into his pockets. His main

selling point was to persuade you that his actions were

understandable.

The language is mostly formal on both the newspaper and

live interviews due to the formality and way they are trying to
bring across the information. The conclusion is that when one
compares both the live interviews and newspapers, the live
interviews are much more formal since they deal with important
people such as the superintendent and his employees involved in
the scandal giving their own accounts on what was going on,
therefore they must present their information as formal as
possible. The language is easy to understand and it doesnt
contain any hard to understand information or terms that the
audience wouldnt comprehend. Sometimes the newspaper even
tends to draw political cartoons to make the situation seem
comical and the governmental employees look inept.

When it comes to live interviews there are no specialized

vocabulary except for the day to day governmental terms that

deal with laws, such as misappropriation, financial gain, etc. and

anything else pertaining to the governments function. The
newspaper has no specialized vocabulary it makes their stories
more accessible and understandable to the public. For the
newspaper they use special features to catch the readers
attentions, such as big bold letters and dark font to appeal to the
readers attention. Said font gains a lot of attention because its
black and large. The live interview dealt mostly with information
and the accounts of the people involved in the scandal. The whole
point of the interviews structure is to make the person being
interviewed feel at ease and be able to respond to the questions
without any sort of hindrances.

Rhetorical Issues: ethos, pathos, logos

The genres use its rhetoric very efficiently and there is a

reason for that, that is their credibility. How will people even read
and take their information seriously if their stories and facts are
not backed by concrete evidence? Therefore, their credibility is

the lifeline of both genres and they need it with the outmost
importance. The emotions that the genres are trying to evoke
from their readers depends on the topic they are discussing.
When it comes to governmental corruption so close to home
however it tends to evoke feelings of anger and betrayal. The
whole point is to make the readers aware of what Is happening
while pushing them to take action. To force the superintendent
and fellow employees involved with the scandal to resign. Also to
further pursue criminal charges and take them to court to pay for
their crimes. The evidence that both genres use is mostly derived
from important sources such as from the TEA or Texas Education
Agency which handled the audit and discovery.

The live interviews gain their credibility from simply having

the people involved speak in front of the camera. The emotions
that the interviews are trying to evoke are the purest because
there is a human connection. That connection lets you see what
the person feels and how they act when certain questions are
asked, so that makes the people gain a certain feel of

trustworthiness. Making them feel more inclined to listen to what

they have to say even if they are skeptical. The evidence
presented is obviously trustworthy since it comes from the people
involved itself, such as records where there were 77 students who
had alterations in their student transcripts. The most alarming
one however was the creation of the TAKS or Texas Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills that forced students out of school and kept
Mexican students from enrolling in schools (Breitbart, Merrill
Hope).

Structure and Delivery

For the newspaper the information is laid out strategically.

Normally they place an explosive headliner that immediately
attracts the attention of the public, then they follow with the facts
and information on the scandal. They want to attract your
attention as a fast as possible therefore they tend to use
defamatory and explosive terms. Especially when it comes to a
governmental scandal involving corrupt officials. For the

interviews however they tend to leave the juicy questions for the
last part of the interview. They start off with something interesting
that grabs the audiences attention then work their way up. Such
examples include words such as scandal, alterations, cheated,
stole, personal gain, etc. The foremost example is the EPISD
scandal which revolves around altering scores, such news is
something that interviews love to take in and talk about.

When it comes to limitations placed on both the newspaper

and live interviews there are no clear limitations except for the
fact that they cant place lies on their articles because if the
newspaper or live interviews begin to lie their credibility will be
shot and wont be trusted. The advantage however is the freedom
to express what they want to express from the most mundane to
the most controversial topic.

Conclusion
When one mentions scandal everybody wants to know where
it happened, who were the players involved and why. Both genres

effectively use their different set of skills to bring information to

light. However, when one compares the newspapers and
interviews the most effective one is the interview. Although the
newspaper is excellent at distributing the information in a rapid
manner, the information given leaves doubts and questions.
Thats where the interview comes in, the people involved are
questioned they give their reasons for doing so. That way people
learn everything pertaining to the EPISD scandal that involved so
many schools and damaged the trust the community had on the
school district and its achievements.

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REFERENCES
Hope, M. (2014). Texas Takes Action against 11 for El Paso ISD
Cheating Scheme.
Retrieved from
Http//www.breitbart.com/texas/2014/04/22/texas-takes-actionagainst-11-for-el-paso-isd-cheating-scheme/

Sanchez, C. (2013). El Paso Schools Cheating Scandal: Whos

Accountable? Retrieved from
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/10/176784631/el-paso-schoolscheating-scandal-probes-officials-accountability