Sarah Kuelbs
J201
Research Report
11/4/13
Word Count: 495
The Word Lab by Nicholas Lemann
discusses the way politicians gather and use buzz words to appeal to their
audiences. These phrases commonly used
by politicians are often created in “word labs”, in which words are put
together in order to create the most positive or negative reactions from voters
(depending on which way a politician would like to persuade them). These types of word labs have been conducted
by Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster. In
the focus group labs, many people have definite associations with certain words
associated with the government. From
these words, phrases used by politicians can be developed.
The
author of this article is Nicholas Lemann.
He was born and raised in New Orleans and then went to Harvard
University. He was the Dean of
Journalism at the Columbia University.
He has written several books, one of which has won an award. Because of his deep involvement in
journalism, it is probable that he is genuinely interested in these focus group
word labs, to bring light to the public on what is behind the words of
politicians. He presented this article
in an unbiased way which did not lean to the left or the right or portray one
party as a more effective user of word labs.
The New Yorker is typically a magazine
that is read almost equally by all age groups and slightly more women read it
than men. The income of the readers is
high-middle class, with the average household income at about 110,000. The New
Yorker is also known to write critiques on politics, so it is not
surprising that this type of article is in this magazine. Therefore, the readers of this article, which
40% of are professionals, are likely college educated and interested in how
politics affect their lives. As the
author said, “It becomes impossible to listen to prominent politicians speak
without being aware of how much of what you’re hearing is Word Lab
product.”
Overall,
I think that the author of this article has found a creative way to research
these types of focus groups. The New Yorker sponsored one of Luntz’s
focus groups, so Lemann was there see for himself how they operate. He published the results, as well as
interviewed other sources to compare the work of Lemann. One of the people he interviewed was Robert
K. Merton, the creator of focus groups.
Merton thought that Luntz’s focus groups were not run in the way focus
groups were originally created. This
provides context for the readers to create a full story. By doing this, Luntz has created a
transparent article on what is behind the words politicians say, which can create
a more educated population of voters.
References
Circulation
demographics. (2013).
Retrieved from http://www.condenast.com/brands/new-yorker/media-kit/print
Lemann, N. (2000,
October 16 & 23). The word lab: the mad science behind what the candidates
say. The
New Yorker, 100-109.
Nicholas
lemann. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/profile/50
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