Rhetorical Analysis, Essay Example

A 2012 CNN article by Julianne Pepitone is focused on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that is currently being debated within the United States government and a planned “blackout” of several prominent websites in response to the proposed measures. Although the planned outages are mentioned in the article’s title, the bulk of this writing is concerned with the debate surrounding the legitimacy of SOPA.

The main audience of this article would appear to be the general public, as it covers several aspects of the debate. However, it is hosted on the CNN Money site, suggesting that the true intended audience for the article is those people or entities with financial interest in the outcome. The article is based on providing information rather than taking a side, although quotes from both sides of the argument are provided as well.

This assignment came with several suggestions for writing sources. The decision to choose a CNN article (web based news) was based on the availability of the material, the relevance of the topic, and the trustworthiness of the source. The article did not utilize special fonts, colors, or pictures other than a simple image at the header of the article and embedded links within the writing. This lack of flash may be due to the nature of the site, as well as the lack of a need to visually attract viewers as would be desired in print.

The author notes no constraints in writing this piece, which is expected since it is informative and not opinionated. It may be assumed that the author chose this topic due to the relevance of the topic. As a reader, I found this article to be very informative and helped in elucidating the current state of affairs as it relates to the debate surrounding SOPA. The article-viewing experience could perhaps be improved by limiting the distracting ads and other graphics surrounding it on the webpage, but this is not an issue with the writing.

Work Cited

Pepitone, Julianne. “Wikipedia, Reddit plan blackout in SOPA protest.” CNN.com. Cable News Network, 17 Jan. 2009. Web.