From Ethos to Logos-Appealing to Your Readers

"Visual Communications » Ethos, Pathos, Logos." Sacramento Charter High School Media Lab. February 18, 2015 http://sachighmedia.com/visual/projects/assignments/ethos-pathos-logos/

Ethos, Pathos and Logos all address the audiences that you are writing for and what message you are trying to convey to them. Ethos based writing appeals to the reader’s character and judgement. In order to provoke their feelings you must first convince them that your judgement is sound; you are knowledgeable in the subject you’re writing about and that you understand and are objective to the complex issue at hand. Pathos writing style appeals to the reader’s values by using examples and illustrations to indirectly appeal to their emotions. Logos writers are careful to ensure that they use reason and evidence to capture their audiences. Form and content is their main focus. Generally Logos writing starts with a premise, adding reasoning and evidence and ultimately ending with a conclusion.

In the chart above you can see how they show you ads that have been broken down in to each of the writing styles.

Political blogs: Teaching Us Lessons About Community/Don't Fear Twitter,

Political Blogs: 

Teaching Us Lessons About Community, Don't Fear Twitter and YouTube: The Flattening of Politics

Change is the only constant I have ever known to be true. Traditional journalists are resistant, to the idea that true journalism could come from a blog, Tweet or YouTube video. The fear of becoming obsolete is fueling their discontent for these resources.  Irony is that if they were to utilize these tools given to them they could potentially rise to become a more useful and complete journalist which in the dictionary has two definitions; 1. a person who practices the occupation or profession of journalism. 2. a person who keeps a journal, diary, or other record of daily events (dictionary.com, Jan 20, 2015).  Bloggers, YouTube(rs) and Tweeters are all a form of journalist by definition and have done what old newspapers use to, inform their communities and bring them together. The three essays have given me insight on an industry that I knew little about. The journalist show that they are human by having emotions, the ones that are true journalists will stand on top of the box to figure out how to be a better journalist and use these resources as opportunities to expand their profession and build their own communities. A lesson we all could stand to learn when faced with change.