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This essay will analyze the article by J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur, Immersion Journalism, and the article by Edward Humes, What is an American. The common theme of these essays is implicit and implied. Both authors describe different topics and issues but construct their works on the opposition between the topic under discussion and its relations to the outside world. The elements under analysis are ritual and traditions which shape the subjects, the principle of opposition, and the idea of Americaness. The authors use such nonfiction elements as personal experience and a slice of history to unveil the uniquely American values and traditions of the nation.
Both essays are based on the personal experience of the authors and are told from the first point of view. This helps to underline the personal experience of the authors and their attitudes towards the subject matter. I suppose that this technique adds subjectivity to narration and storytelling. The nonfiction element in these stories underlines personal experience and personal opinion, as evidenced by the following quotes.
From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labor, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence (Humes). The author underlines a difference between European culture and traditions and unique American values which shape the nation. Similar to Humes, Crevecoeur states that traditions and rituals shape Immersion journalism. Traditions of this type of journalism go back to muckraking.
When a reporter crusades on an issue and decides to expose what he sees as evil, he sheds the objective stance. Implicit in the decision to write an exposé is the belief that something needs to be done about the problem or person being exposed. This, of course, represents a point of view. To muckrake in order to effect change brings to a head the larger questions of purpose and effect. That the press relies on commerce for support (as Tarbell bemoaned) but also acts as a critic of commerce is an integral part of the story of immersion journalism.
The rituals and traditions of journalism can be expressed in the objectivity which has evolved over the decades and, even today, and it has different meanings from publication to publication. However, whether it is couched in words like fairness, accuracy, or impartiality, or in phrases like separating fact from comment, there is some uniform agreement on the principles of objectivity. Let me go from the theoretical underpinnings of the concept to some of its specific attributes.
The authors use different syntax and sentence structures because of different genres and styles. Crevecoeur follows publicistic style while Hume writes in belles-lettres style. Using historical scenes and places, both essays are based on the idea of Americaness and the uniqueness of the American nation. Using his own experience, Hume explains that the American nation was shaped by historical traditions and colonization experiences.
The American lifestyle is reflected in all spheres of life, including housing and food, clothes, and communication. Similar to Humes, Crevecoeur sees immersion journalism as a unique phenomenon of the American nation. The uniqueness of this style is that: the stories we seek are private ones, for every place or character or institution, even public ones, have a private life, behind the façade, where the real business of families and governments and schools happens (Crevecoeur). Immersion journalism becomes a part of the American culture and an important tool to support and protect social victims.
This notion is closely related to Americaness as a unique phenomenon of the USA. The most important aspect of this formula is that the lead, the beginning paragraph or paragraphs, calls for a judgment about which of the facts is the most important, a judgment that, on its face, would seem quite subjective. News professionals commonly invoke time-honored definitions of news to defend their choices of leads, but this attribute is probably the least defensible and the most difficult to describe. Nonetheless, when describing why a certain story is objective, a reporter will note that it meets a certain accepted formula.
I suppose that historical elements help the authors to unveil the main features and principles of immersion journalism and an American lifestyle. Humes underlines that an American man differs from a European because of his unique worldviews and personal relations. The American ought, therefore, to love this country much better than that wherein either he or his forefathers were born (Humes).
The main difference is that Europeans take their ancestry and history for granted, while Americans value and appraise the hard work of their fathers who came to America many centuries ago. In contrast to Humes, Crevecoeur sees immersion journalism as a distinct style of traditional journalism shaped by social needs and demands.
In contrast to traditional journalism, Immersion journalists have no particular right to go where they go. (Crevecoeur). It is widely recognized that the mass media provide citizens with ample information that they then use to construct some sense of the world around them. The theoretical rationale for the notion of objectivity is that readers and listeners can best make up their minds about public policy issues when they are given verifiable facts. These facts are delivered by independent, neutral observersreporterswho provide for the reader competing versions of the truth ; in short, a marketplace where ideas do battle.
In sum, the essays by J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur, Immersion Journalism, and the essay by Edward Humes, What is an American, discuss different issues related to an American culture and immersion journalism. They reflect the personal experience of the authors and their unique point of view on the subject, attitudes towards the problems, and issues discussed in the articles.
Works Cited
Crevecoeur, H.J. Immersion Journalism. 2002. Web.
Humes, E. What is an American. 1995. Web.
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