Week 8

Terrance Smith made the argument that war coverage with new high-tech media equipment and embedding of journalists in the troops is worthwhile yet dangerous and with possibly lessen the objectivity of journalism.  The format of his argument, a roundtable interview/discussion, is incredibly effective.

Ethos is relied upon heavily through the use of the opinions of many high ranking individuals in the media, such as Dan Rather, Walter Rodgers, Ted Koppel, and Donald Rumsfield.  In this type of formatting, the audience can trust that no one's words are being twisted, because their full quotes are being directly stated. 

Terrance Smith would give background information about each topic, and then the others would voice their opinion.  This helped the audience to understand the context of the other's statements.  Sometimes, however, the statements did not seem to be from the roundtable discussion, but rather from actual wartime.  For example, after Terence Smith describes journalist Walter Rodgers embedded in troops who came under enemy fire in Kuwait, a quote from Rodgers thats seems to be during the attack is placed in the same manner that the other speakers, who make statements during the discussion, is placed. At this point I do not fully understand the formatting, but it adds to the pathos of the argument because recalling that time when an American journalist was under fire evokes our emotions.