There is a major problem in El Paso that has requires the attention of the

community. The government corruption issue in El Paso is constantly being discussed

using different genres. Each genre used to discuss this issue has different ways of
approaching the information that must be expressed about the issue. Two genres that
explain different situations about the government corruption issue would include a
YouTube video and a newspaper article. The YouTube video was posted by Talk Radio
115 and it is a recording of a Press Conference. The newspaper article was printed in
the El Paso Times on December 25, 2013 and was written by Adriana M. Chavez. The
title of the article is Ex- El Paso county judge Anthony Cobos expected to get 4 years in
prison. Both of these genres are used to convey information about the political
corruption in El Paso, however the way in which each genre conveys its information is
very different.
A newspaper genre and a YouTube Press Conference are both used to give out
the most accurate information about the topic they are discussing in order to inform a
community. When looking at these two specific genres, the biggest similarity is the fact
that both of these genres main purpose is to inform and to bring awareness to an issue.
Both of these genres are reporting facts or information about a current event. The
intended audience of these genres are looking at these genres to gain new accurate
information and facts.
When looking at the intended audience and discourse community for these two
genres, differences between the genres start to emerge. The intended audience for the
newspaper article genre is the community for which the newspaper writes for. This
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article writes for the El Paso county area. The discourse community for the genre of a
newspaper article would also be the El Paso county area. The audience who is reading
through this newspaper article, would spend about ten minutes to fully go through the
article and learn what information it is giving. The newspaper article is written using
formal language and law specific terms. The article isnt too formal or technical so that it
is easy for the readers to fully understand the message being brought forward. When
looking at the YouTube Press Conference, the intended audience is for members of the
press in the community and anyone who wants to know information that the press
conference produced but wasnt able to attend the Press Conference. The discourse
community the YouTube Press Conference was intended for would be the press that
reports to the community of El Paso. When watching the Press Conference, most of the
audiences will take about fifteen minutes. However, anytime watching a recorded Press
Conference, the time will vary based on how long the Press Conference actually is. The
Press Conference is very formal and full of specialized language. For example, during
the Press Conference the main speaker states, The indictments includes 6 charges of
specifically mail fraud (TalkRadio115, 2010). This type of language involving specific
court judicial terms is used throughout the Press Conference. The Press Conference
explains the current public corruption case in great detail using very technical language.
These two genres are used to inform the community, which means they must
have some type of creditability to show their readers or watchers that they are reliable.
The newspaper article uses facts and quotes from different sources to provide credibility
to their information. For example, the author of the article, Chavez states, According to
the factual basis filed in Cobos and Aguilars case, Ruiz and Aguilar became friends
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and business associates in the 1990s (Chavez, 2013). This technique is very effective
since the author of the article states where she got her facts before stating the actual
facts. All the evidence is used to support claims made in the article. The claim that
predicting the sentence of one of the criminals, is appropriate and as accurate as
possible because the author used evidence to support it. The Press Conference
showed its credibility through the introductions of the speaker. Each speaker that gave
out information during the Press Conference stated their name and position before
speaking about the case. Also each name and position that was stated was posted in
text at the bottom of the screen during the speakers introduction. This proved that
experts were giving out the facts about the case. With the use of experts to describe the
information given out during the Press Conference, credibility was added to the
information being stated. The evidence presented in this Press Conference is straight
from the source of the investigation making claims authentic and appropriate. These two
genres are able to establish creditability but they are not meant to evoke emotions
about government corruption. Nevertheless, by learning about these cases, emotions
can be evoke such as patriotic feelings or feelings of anger. These feelings are possibly
created because the impact these crimes will have on the people who belong in the
discourse communities these genres are directed towards.
When looking at some of the structural features of the genres, differences
between the two genres are discovered. The newspaper article is structured so that the
most current event is explained first then the article continues to explain how the past
events lead up to the current situation the article is describing. By using this structure,
the newspaper article is able to report on the event it is explaining then go further into
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detail by adding a cause and effect order to explain what lead up to the event. However,
this newspaper genre does have its limitation when looking at the structure and content
within it. The structure of the article must be well organized and easy to follow since it is
published in a professional field. The information presented in this genre is limited by
the fact that this is an informative genre. The writers opinion must be hidden due to the
constraints of this genre. This genre is also meant to be as up to date and accurate as
possible. The information must have a source to prove its authenticity and cannot be
created. The newspaper article is written in 10-12 font black simple font text. The tittle is
larger and the author name is printed underneath the title with the name. The design
structure of the newspaper article is meant to be easy to read and find information about
the article itself.
When looking at the Press Conference genre, the structure is similar to a
newspaper article genre but they are not exactly the same. The Press Conference starts
off with introductions of the speaker to establish the credibility of the information that will
follow. The information is structured by first giving the current situation the subject of the
Press Conference is discussing. Once that statement is given then the information
behind the subject is explained starting from the beginning events leading up to the
current situation. This genre takes place in a very professional setting using many
specialized terms. The way this genre is presented and written adds limitations to its
content. The content of a Press Conference must be made of facts about the subject,
each one as accurate as possible. The content should not be opinionated and it is
possible for the information itself to be limited depending on what information is being
released to the public. The design behind the recording of the Press Conference and
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the Press Conference itself is very professional. The speakers are dressed in suits
standing on a small stage with a plane blue curtain as the background. The speakers
are speaking at a podium with a microphone. The group that posted the video added
the text in white 24 simple font. This allowed the text to be readable and stand out
during the video. The design of this genre helps the genre achieve its purpose by
making it look much more creditable.
Each genre used to describe the current government corruption issue in El Paso
has different ways of displaying information. The newspaper article and Press
Conference are both informative genres with the purpose of bring awareness and
information to their intended audience. There are many difference between these two
genres ranging from their use of ethical appeals to the way the information they are
presenting is structured. In the end, both these genres have their weakness and
strengthens when compared but the newspaper article genre is more effective in
conveying its message. The newspaper genre is easier to understand and explains the
current situation using all information available to the author instead of the Press
Conference where the information is from one specific case file. In spite of this, both of
these genres are excellent sources of information when researching the serious
problem of government corruption in El Paso.