T. Andrew Barefield 1602
Prof. Charles Henley
ENGL2989-020
26 June 2013
“Social Status, Binge Drinking, and Social Satisfaction among College Students”:
As Reported by ABC News, TYT University, and Reddit A paper presented by the American Sociological Association (ASA), entitled “Social Status, Binge Drinking, and Social Satisfaction among College Students,” caused quite a stir when it was released in August of last year. It’s findings were that undergraduate students “who report binge drinking also report being happier than their non-binge drinking peers” (Chao). Although many news outlets, chat rooms, forums, YouTube channels, et cetera covered the topic, ABC News, TYT University, and Reddit cover the same material in vastly different ways. ABC News’ slogan, “See The Whole Picture,” shows them as middle of the road or typically non-biased. TYT University is a spin-off of The Young Turks, a progressive political commentary YouTube news show, which is a primarily college-oriented show covering topics from academics and study tips to relationships and drinking. Reddit, often seen stylized as simply reddit (no capital ‘R’), is a social and entertainment website covering every topic imaginable with all information being provided by Reddit users, sometimes referred to as a worldwide bulletin board, then commented and collaborated on by their peers, known as redditors. The ABC News article was posted August 20th, 2012, the day that the paper was presented by the American Sociological Association in Denver. It is just over two pages of short paragraphs with several quotes from other sources. The author was Dr. Tiffany Chao with the ABC News Medical Unit. In contrast, The TYT University video was published to YouTube on August 29th, 2012. It runs for about three minutes and is a presentation of the information with discussion of the topic blended throughout by the two hosts, Lisa Ferguson and John Iadarola. As was true with the ABC News article, the Reddit post was created on the 20th as well. It was well discussed and linked to another article for the redditors to view. With the same topic, the higher standard to which ABC News must hold itself as a national news source, the progressive and primarily college-aged audience of The Young Turks (TYT) University, and the social/entertainment nature on a worldwide scale of Reddit results in compositional differences in arrangement, style, and delivery, rhetorical changes using ethos, pathos, and logos, and genre specific variations. Despite their similarities, each uses compositional features that are specific to their own genres. The overall look of the news article is that of a straightforward textual piece. By keeping a simplistic yet sophisticated layout, ABC News is trying to convey its trustworthiness and factuality. If there is too much going on in the text apart from the writing itself, the audience, which has come to expect upfront and honest news articles, may not take the text as seriously and may see it as being less informative than intended. On the other hand, the TYT University video uses visuals and a two-host system to disseminate the information. Also discussing the findings, the hosts cause the viewers to appreciate the multiple arguments and opinions that are made in stride with the text itself. Also providing some background information below in the description section of the video, they give a thesis and precursor questions to their text so as to give the audience an idea of what to expect:
Binge drinking doesn't just lead to projectile vomiting, it actually leads to students who are HAPPIER [sic], on average, than students who do not drink alcohol as often or in such large quantities, according to a study by the American Sociological Society…John Iadarola and Lisa Ferguson discuss on TYT University. Did binge drinking make YOU [sic] feel better during college? Is it a good way to integrate different races, classes, religions, etc.? Or does this study seem fishy? (Ferguson).
By doing so they, like ABC News, try to present the text as trustworthy by giving pertinent information about themselves, the hosts, and the YouTube channel. Conversely, Reddit makes no attempt to provide any level of trust of the contributors, but rather expects the readers to take what is presented at face value. The redditors are provided a link to the press release by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and then are free to comment and discuss whatever they wish. This allows for more opinionated responses which are equally as valuable as those presented by the other texts because they are unfiltered and get down to the “nitty gritty” of the information. That alone makes Reddit a reliable source.
ABC News presents their credibility almost from the start. Following the title, the audience learns that the article is written by “Dr. Tiffany Chao, ABC News Medical Unit” (Chao). Immediately, the audience greets the article with a sense of trust knowing that a doctor with years of medical experience is going to give them the truth rather than spin the story into something it is not. No later than the second paragraph, Dr. Chao presents the numbers behind the study stating, “Researchers asked undergraduate students at a Northeastern liberal arts college to fill out a survey on their drinking behaviors…Fifty-eight percent of the students responded for a total of 1,595 undergrads” (Chao). Doing so gives light to the size of the study and presents logically that this size group would be a good reflection of the greater population. Having already used and continuing to use ethos and logos by providing relevant information from the study, her own opinion, and the opinions of other credible sources, Dr. Chao lacks any pathos which is likely attributed to the straightforward and primarily informational nature of the article. She has no use for bringing up an emotional response in her text because she has no need of action or reaction on her audience’s part.
Reddit, like ABC News only employs the use of two of the three rhetoric choices. Reddit is teeming with logical points made by the contributors and emotional responses due to the discussions and comments section of the text. The top rated comment on the thread was posted by a redditor named “mindaika.” They sarcastically claim, “Well, this correlation is certainly related to the drinking, and not to the stronger social networks that binge drinkers tend to have since binge drinking is predominantly a social activity” (Binge). By undermining the validity of the point made by the study, the sarcasm serves to point out their belief that binge drinkers are not happier because of the alcohol alone. While directly replying to a fellow redditor who commented on her comment, mindaika creates a logical argument that there is a progression involved in the binge drinking happiness. They explain, “People binge drink at parties. People who go to parties usually have a lot of friends. People with a lot of friends are happier” (Binge). This explanation along with further conversation between mindaika and several other users is prominently placed atop the post, making it clear that their use of pathos and logos made the audience believe their points were the most credible and important.
In contrast to the other two text sources, TYT University’s video presents all three rhetorical tools. In order to project themselves as being credible, they must provide some way up front to show trust. As mentioned before, they provided relevant information in the description section. By giving references, sources, and the names of the hosts, TYT University shows that they have nothing to hide and that their audience can trust them. The logical arguments that the hosts make only serve to boost their own opinions that they provide throughout the run of the video. John Iadarola, in response to Lisa questioning why college students would binge drink so often when they know the health risks, argues, “when did health risks stop college kids from doing anything: driving drunk, having unprotected sex, and of course, binge drinking” (Ferguson). One big difference in TYT University and that of ABC News is the use of pathos with specific regard to diction. In the ABC News article, Dr. Chao explains that the students who reported being happiest were “wealthy, white, male, heterosexual and/or Greek-affiliated students” (Chao). This is the politically correct way to describe the group. On the other hand, TYT University host Lisa Ferguson describes the same group from the findings as “high status students, i.e.; wealthy, white frat boys” (Ferguson). By making her own interpretation of the findings, the host is trying to turn the straightforward findings into a more emotional and biased fact. By doing so, she is able to draw in her audience on both sides of her statement. Those who fall into the category get excited that they were found to be the happiest while those who do not take offense to it and want to hear more.
So all three texts were about the same information, but were all inherently different. Whether it came from the needs of the audience, the goals of the author, contributor, host, et cetera, or was simply because of generic expectations from any side of the text. Just because the information is the same, doesn’t mean it will be shown or received the same way in different places at the same time. Each text coming from its own genre, composition and rhetoric changes the way the text is written, presented, and received. A news article needs more credibility and logic. A Reddit post lends itself to more emotion than credibility since the reader doesn’t know who the commenter, poster, etc. is, but still uses logic to make arguments stick. All the while, a TYT University video must make use of ethos, pathos, and logos to really drive home the information, but also make the opinions of the hosts valid and trustworthy.

Works Cited

"Binge Drinking College Students Are Happier than Their Non-binge Drinking Peers." Reddit.
/r/psychology, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 June 2013.

Chao, Tiffany. "Binge Drinking College Students Report Being Happier." ABC News. ABC
News Network, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 June 2013.

Ferguson, Lisa, and John Iadarola. "Binge Drinking College Students HAPPIER? [Study]."
YouTube. TYT University, 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 June 2013.