Source Evaluation:
Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is a really hot issue in the United States for the past year, and there have been many articles written on the issue. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote for net neutrality quickly approaches and countless other smaller, related bills are being passed.This includes a bill redefining the minimum speed for broadband internet. USNews.com recently published an article about the results of the vote. The article is well constructed, but is it credible? The article’s credibility can be tested by using a five point model based on authority, accuracy, currency, coverage, objectivity, and analyzing the rhetorical properties that author chooses to use.
Authority is the most important aspect of the five point model. The article is written by Tom Risen who has reported about technological issues and US security for 11 years. He won a 1st place award for business reporting from the Maryland/ Delaware/ D.C Press Association in 2011 for an article he wrote for Ocean City Today. He is a highly qualified reporter and his area of expertise is relevant to net neutrality. The website the article is posted on is also extremely credible. USNews.com is a trusted news website that has been running for 80 years. The website tends to post about national issues more often than local issues, and net neutrality is certainly an issue on the national scale. The author and publisher definitely have the authority to make the article credible, but authority is only one piece of the model.
Accuracy is extremely important when assessing the credibility of an article. All information in the article is accurate and has been reported on by many other news websites. The author does not provide inaccurate statistics or change the result of the vote. All of the information presented also relates back to the issue. The author gives an appropriate amount of background information to the reader so the vote and its implications are easily understandable. This article passes the accuracy test with flying colors, but what good is information, accurate or not, if it is outdated?
Currency is the next item in the five point model, and it is extremely important when writing about issues on a national level. When going through the legislative process, the speed at which a bill can change or get vetoed makes them difficult to report on. A bill reported on a month ago could already be dead. Fortunately for this article, it was written only two weeks ago and all the information presented by the author is still relevant and accurate.
The final two pieces of the five point model are coverage and objectivity. Issues often have two very different sides, and making sure each side is represented fully and fairly is paramount. However, this article does not have an argument. The article is strictly about the results of the vote; the author never states whether the results were good or bad. As a result the article is extremely objective and opinion free. Risen also provides ample coverage of the vote and what the FCC had to say about the upcoming vote for national net neutrality.
The article passed all aspects of the five point model with no issues, but that still does not necessarily make it credible. Rhetorical devices are very powerful, and a skilled writer can use them against the readers to sway their opinions. This article primarily makes appeals to the readers logos, or logic. The strongest part of this article is its use of evidence to support all of the points made.
The article contains numerous quotes from important officials, such as Barack Obama and FCC members, to support his points. In addition, the quotes show the general opinion of the FCC as a whole towards net neutrality. For example, Risen quotes the commissioner of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, “I think our new threshold, frankly, should be 100 Mbps” and “I think anything short of that shortchanges our children, our future and our new digital economy.” He uses it to prove that the FCC, or at least the Democratic members, really want to push for an open and equal internet. He then uses a chart to display all the places in the United States that have limited broadband connections. The chart helps reinforce how many people will be affected by the FCC vote to increase speeds. The chart is coupled with the statistic, “The U.S. has lagged behind European nations in expanding Internet access, ranking 14th on communication development in a report by the International Telecommunication Union”, to inform the reader of how necessary the speed increase is.
The author also does a very good job of using the Toulmin method of presenting an argument. After each point Risen includes quotes or statistics like those mentioned previously to support it. The word choice used in the article is very specific to avoid making generalizations. Additionally, the author avoided using any logical fallacies to try and trick readers into siding with him.
The USNews.com article has passed all of the tests for credibility with ease. It is, without a doubt, credible and should be a high priority source for any paper written about the government and the recent changes to internet law. However, not all articles will be as flawless as Tom Risen’s. The internet is open to anyone who wants to post on it, and when searching for sources, it is easy to pick a bad source and accidentally publish false information. It is extremely important for writers to cross check information found online, use the five point method, and examine the rhetorical properties the author elects to use when searching for articles to aid with research. The freedom of the internet can truly be a double-edged sword when conducting research.
Article link: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/01/29/fcc-redefines-broadband-in-net-neutrality-prelude
