News Example

Explanation

This article is by FOX news. The main message shown in this article about US asking China to stop their deals with Iran is that the Chinese government is supporting Iran in their missile program. It makes the Chinese sound bad because they are supporting the missile program and generally makes it sound like they shouldn’t. By saying things like, “Chinese companies are violating United Nations sanctions against Iran,” it makes them sound terrible. It makes the US sound good because it emphasizes that they are “asking” the Chinese to stop their deals. I think that this article is targeted towards an American person who is patriotic. The article creates patriotic feelings, by making it out that China is going against America’s wishes. It stirs up the audiences because they have a lot of pride for their country and don’t want other countries to not listen.

The type of propaganda used in this article is faulty cause and effect. The writer of this article uses faulty cause and effect by making it sound like China is wrong to go against the UN and against America. In this article they also don’t have a lot of evidence, they’re just mainly saying some stuff they know and then backing it up with stuff that people said, though a lot of the information is from anonymous people, it still uses words like “significant”, not the exact amount so it could be many or just a few. It jumps to conclusions and makes it out to sound like China is deliberately going against the UNs orders and there for they are bad. "Iran says it is ready to talk," Crowley said. "Now it needs to commit to a date. Iran knows the phone number. We are awaiting Iran's formal response." This quote makes it sound like the US is completely fine with talking and they are the good side and that Iran is secretive and hiding things from everyone.

This “spoke” to me because it made me think that they are trying to make China sound bad.

Analysis

This article is sending out the message that China is going against the UN, and that they shouldn’t. It puts America in a good light and it makes the US seem very superior to China for asking them to stop their deals. It appeals to them emotions of a patriotic American because it makes it seem like China’s going against their country and doing something even if their country asked them not to. It makes people believe that Iran and China are going against the UN by making nuclear weapons and that they should stop.

This article certainly doesn’t give you the whole story of what is going on. It always used words like several to describe how many banks gave money and supplies to the Iran missile program. This can be misleading to the target audience, because it doesn’t tell you how many companies and banks gave Iran money. Several could be a lot or only a few but it sounds like a lot because an official made the claim and they are well trusted. It also doesn’t tell the reader that China denied the claims that the US made. It leads readers to believing that China had gone against the UN, even when they claimed that they didn't.

This propaganda has negative and positive effects on the viewers. The positive message is that you should support the United States and help you country, which is good because it positively promotes the country. It does this by making it seem like the US is the good country, because they are trying to do well by stopping China from their deals with Iran. Another positive effect that this message has on the viewers is that it makes the United Nations look good. A negative message that this article gives is that it makes China and Iran sound bad, because they are using nuclear weapons and going against the UN.

If people believe this propaganda without questioning it, it can have many effects on society. Firstly, it could negatively affect society because people read this article and think that China isn’t good and China is going against America and the United Nations. It could make America less trusting of other countries like china and Iran if they believe everything that is said in this article. It could also create an environment with little diversity in cultures, if people show hatred for China, just based on what this article has told them, and just because they are told that China is helping Iran with nuclear weapons, which goes against the UN. A positive effect of this article is that it could create support for the United Nations because the article is making going against it look bad. People could show more support on their views and issues in the world. People might follow the example of the United Nations in trying to stop wars, if rebelling against it is looked down upon. Another positive effect that this article could have on society is that there could be more awareness on stopping the production of missiles and nuclear weapons. If people see that the United States is against Iran making weapons, they might support the US in their efforts to stop them. The effect that this article had on me was that it made me thinks that it was obvious that the article was trying to point out that China should listen to the US and stop the deals with Iran. I believe that overall this article uses negative propaganda, because it could lead to less diversity and hatred for other countries such as China and Iran if society believes this article without questioning it.

Report: U.S. Presses China to Stop Iran Deals

Published October 18, 2010

WASHINGTON -- The United States has asked Beijing to do more to stop Chinese companies from providing assistance and expertise to Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons and more powerful missiles, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

According to the newspaper, the Obama administration believes several Chinese companies are violating United Nations sanctions against Iran. An anonymous U.S. official told the paper that Robert Einhorn, the State Department official who oversees the enforcement of sanctions against Iran, gave a "significant list" of such companies and banks to Chinese officials last month.

A Chinese Embassy spokesman said his country would investigate the U.S. charges.

The U.S. official did not name any of the Chinese companies or say how many were on the list. But he told the Post that U.S. intelligence believes several Chinese companies and banks were involved in providing restricted technology to Iran, mostly for its missile program.

A second official, also speaking anonymously, told the Post that Chinese companies had been discovered selling Iran material that could be used to make better centrifuges. Those are used to enrich uranium that could be used in a nuclear device.

In June, the U.N. imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday endorsed the idea of new talks with the international community over his country's nuclear program, but warned that negotiations would fail if the West does not clearly come out against Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal.

"They have come and said, 'We will negotiate,"' Ahmadinejad said. "We say, 'All right, we will negotiate with you."'

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it was up to Iran to set a date.

"Iran says it is ready to talk," Crowley said. "Now it needs to commit to a date. Iran knows the phone number. We are awaiting Iran's formal response."

Bibliography:

Report: U.S. Presses China to Stop Iran Deals, FOX News, October 18, 2010, FOX News, 10/26/10.