1

Iberri-Gutierrez
Jonathan D. Iberri-Gutierrez
Zack De Piero
Writing 2
October 12, 2015
Kunduz Hospital Attack!
In todays world we encounter many different types of genres that many do not even
know is a genre: Science-Fiction, Mystery, and even memes. These are just a few genres we have
seen more often than others, even if we did not realize it. One of these is the news. News comes
in many forms, from being spoken on T.V. or written as a news article on a news website or
newspaper but they all belong to the universal genre of news. However, even if they fall under
the same genre not all of the articles may adhere to the proper conventions of the genre. Through
the use of various literary techniques, conventions and rhetorical features the articles separate
themselves from one another but, at the cost of credibility. I will be focusing specifically on the
fact-based news article sub-genre in this piece.
There are many conventions for the fact-based news article sub-genre. One of the primary
conventions is that the news article must be based on legitimate facts. An example of this seen
within the articles with them stating how many children were killed in the attack for example,
12 local staff members of Doctors Without Borders and at least seven patients, three of them
children, were killed. (Griffin 1) Some may ask, so what, who cares about this information
and why does it matter (Birkstein and Graff)? The inclusion of facts like this is an essential
convention for this genre since it allows articles to keep some credibility that it may lose from
the writers actions. The articles also begin with an eye-catching headline in order to first lure in
readers. The headline also typically contains information related to the topic in order to give the

2
Iberri-Gutierrez
reader an idea of what the article is about. The news articles also contain emotionally charged
words to keep readers interested. While the articles are based on facts they must use pathos in
order to keep the audience interested in the story. However, through using pathos the articles lose
credibility if the writer allows their own views to be seen through their writing. An example, of
this is seen in Fox News article where they state that defense officials stated that they they
regret the loss of innocent life. (Griffin 1) It is seen in this phrase that the writer allows their
criticism of the government to be seen by using quotation marks around regret the loss as if the
using them in a sarcastic way.The articles also contain pictures that pertain to what the article is
describing. The articles also contain quotes from people that were either at the scene of the event
or have some sort of relation to the event. The news articles are also professionally written but
they are written to be able to be understood by the general population.
First off all of the articles start off with the literary technique of the emotionally charged
headline. For example, with CNN they headline their piece, How U.S. should investigate
hospital attack. This headline grabs the attention of reader because the words hospital attack
are emotionally charged. This can also be said for the headlines from Fox News and MSNBC as
well. US officials investigate airstrike in Afghanistan that killed at least 19 at Doctors
Without Borders hospital and Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz hit by
apparent US strike respectively. These titles all are examples of exigence. In her article
Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis, Laura Bolin Carroll describes
exigence as the circumstance or condition that invites a response. (Carroll 59) This type of
attention grabbing headline is common for all news articles not just the ones mentioned but it
does sometimes have a cost of credibility depending how it is used. While this literary technique
does grab attention for these articles they word the headline in a way where it seems to blame the

3
Iberri-Gutierrez
United States. This may cause readers to believe the article may have biased information. This
can also lessen the likeliness that the articles will be accepted as credible sources.
Another, technique that is used by the articles is diction. The writers all choose words that
will elicit an emotional response from readers. Writers use these emotionally charged words to
while presenting the facts in order to keep the audience enraptured in the piece. This is seen in
the quote from CNNs piece, 12 of those staff, and 10 patients including three children lost
their lives. (Mariner 1) The writer for CNNs article included the part that three children lost
their lives in the attack in order to try and get their readers to react emotionally since many.
audience members may have children and may imagine their children being killed. Another
example of diction is seen in the headlines of three articles. Each headline contains words that
state that the hospital was attacked. In using these words in combination with stating who is
believed to have performed this attack. This may cause the audience to direct their scrutiny
towards the United States military and government. This once again causes the credibility of the
articles to decrease since they essentially state the United States is to blame for the attack. This
notion is supported by the quote from Fox News piece, While defense officials told Fox News
they regret the loss of innocent life, they say the incident could have been avoided if the
Taliban had not used the hospital as a base, and the civilians there as human shields. (Griffin 1)
This quote shows the bias of the news article in order to appeal to their audience but this makes
less credible as an impartial source.
We can infer from the techniques mentioned above that the writers used them in a way to
appeal to their personal intended audience. The writers while writing the articles in a way that t
could be used by the general public, showed that their piece was truly meant for likeminded

4
Iberri-Gutierrez
audiences This causes the articles to take a hit in impartial credibility but keep it in the minds of
their personal audience.
With the rhetorical features of the three pieces there are similarities and dissimilarities.
One major dissimilarity is the audience in which they are aimed towards. The Fox News piece is
geared towards more an audience which has a more critical view of the current government. Fox
News uses a quote from a witness to support their critical view, We cannot accept that this
horrific loss of life will simply be dismissed as 'collateral damage. (Griffin 1) In this quote Fox
News uses the witness statement to imply that the United States government would typically
write a situation like this as collateral damage. CNN provides a more impartial view but it is still
opinionated due to the writer. It is geared towards a more general audience and not just one
specific group of people. However, it loses credibility as an impartial source because it contains
the writers opinion. MSNBCs article is geared more towards an audience that is more
sympathetic towards the government. This is seen in the quote from their article, "may have
caused collateral damage to a nearby health facility. (Rahim 1) While the other article state the
United States caused the damage this piece says it may have caused the damage. While it may
have more gain more credibility by not stating who is too blame the article also loses credibility
because it seems to sympathize with the government.
One rhetorical feature that is the same for all three article is their informative and
professional tones. All three pieces base their claims on factual statements for example, 12 of
those staff, and 10 patients including three children lost their lives. (Mariner 1) This quote
from CNNs article is seen across all three pieces albeit in a different manner but it is there.
Another similar feature between the three is genres intended audience. The fact-based news
article subgenre is intended for the general public which these three piece are but they are more

5
Iberri-Gutierrez
likely to be read by an audience who holds similar views as the news company. In his article
Navigating Genres, Kerry Dirk reiterates, that many people do not identify a piece based solely
on formal features. (Dirk 21) This is true for these piece but the aforementioned features are all
essential to their respective pieces albeit at the cost of credibility as an impartial news source.
These three pieces share many surface-level features. First, they all have headlines that
catch someones eye. Each start off with stating what has occurred. All three pieces also give the
number of people killed in the attack. They are also structured professionally, with quotes to
support information that is stated. Also, all three contain photos of the building after the air
strike. With each piece being based on legitimate information with supporting quotes, it hints to
the fact that each piece to the fact-based news article genre.
People should learn genre because genres are everywhere. The books we read, even the
things we tweet belong to a genre. Learning about genre will allow someone to be successful
because if one makes a mistake in writing a piece it can cost them a job, a friend or loved ones,
Genre is important for anyone who intends to succeed academically and in the business world. If
you do not know genre, your school papers may suffer in turn causing you too suffer as well. For
example, when many people prepare to write an essay they had to determine what this essay
might look like. (Dirk 250) Knowing about genre makes any person who has to write an essay
life way easier. The reason? There are already similar essays out that have been written.
With the many literary techniques, rhetorical features and conventions used to write the
three articles that were mentioned, the articles lost much of their credibility as impartial sources.
The writers allowed their own bias to influence their writing making their pieces less like news
but more like a political judgment. The articles while following the general conventions of the
sub-genre, fall victim to their writers own views.

6
Iberri-Gutierrez
Works Cited

1. Mariner, Joanna. "Afghan Hospital Attack: How U.S. Should

Respond (Opinion) - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 7 Oct.

2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
2. Griffin, Jennifer, Lucas Tomlinson, and The Associated Press. "US
Officials Investigate Airstrike in Afghanistan That Killed at Least 19
at Doctors Without Borders Hospital." Fox News. FOX News
Network, 03 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
3. Rahim, Fazul, and Jason Cumming. "Doctors Without Borders
Hospital in Kunduz Hit by Apparent US Strike." Msnbc.com. NBC
News Digital, 03 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
4. Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on
Writing. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor, 2010. N. pag. Print.
5. Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward
Rhetorical Analysis." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. West
Lafayette, IN: Parlor, 2010. N. pag. Print.