The articles compare and contrast James Hetherington’s “College Student Arrested For Allegedly Raping Woman After She Attended #MeToo Rally’ and Lisa Gutierrez’s ‘Just hours after leaving #MeToo rally, woman raped on campus, Missouri cops say.’ Both articles report on the same incident, but there are differences in the way they present the topic and in the focus of the facts of the crime. Hetherington’s article uses the incident to highlight the failure of the sexual assault prevention programs in college campuses while Gutierrez’s piece aims to promote the #MeToo movement in Springfield, Missouri.
The target audience of Hetherington’s article is the administrations in colleges and higher education policymakers because gives prominence to the failure of the programs put in place to prevent sexual assaults in the campuses. On the other hand, Gutierrez’s article is directed at the general public and women in the #MeToo movement. The content of Gutierrez’s article centers on the reach and influence of the rally and use the incident as a backdrop story to show the importance of the movement (Gutierrez par 5). The facts mentioned in the articles include the location and time of the incident and persons involved (Hetherington par 1-4). As mentioned the two articles are based on one incident. The event is used to introduce the agendas and conclusions of the authors regarding sexual violence against women in campuses.
The language use in Hetherington’s article is formal and makes use of percentage figures to indicate the failure of the programs set up to prevent sexual assaults on campuses. The tone of the article is serious to express disappointment in the programs that are funded by legislation. A reference is also made to studies that have proven that sexual assault prevention programs do more harm than good (Hetherington par 8). Gutierrez uses the victim of campus rape to show that more needs to be done by the #MeToo movement to ensure that women are safe. The rape incident of the woman after attending a #MeToo rally made the rally even more popular on the news and social media. The tone of the piece is regret at having the rally publicized by an event that is the opposite of what it stands for.
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The rape story appears in the first part of both articles before the opinions of the authors regarding the incident. The incident covers about a third of Hetherington’s article while Gutierrez allocates the event half of the article. The perpetrator of the rape is named and the photo posted in both articles. Hetherington appears to sympathize a bit with the accused, as he includes the statement of the accused that indicates that he concedes that his actions were inappropriate in the article (Hetherington par 4). However, Gutierrez’s article does not include the statements of the accused and does not seem to care about the circumstances under which the rape happened. The responsibility for the event is placed solely on the accused young man.
The headline for Hetherington’s article focuses on the alleged rapist while Gutierrez’s article emphasizes the victim. The contents of the headlines reflect the content of the articles. While Hetherington is concerned about the failure of antirape programs in campuses, Gutierrez centers on the victims and potential victims of sexual violence. The second article promotes the safety of women only while Hetherington includes the welfare of all age groups. The difference in the approaches used in the articles reflects the personal opinions of the authors, which can influence the thinking of the reader.
Works Cited
- Gutierrez, Lisa. ‘Just Hours after Leaving #Metoo Rally, Woman Raped On Campus, Missouri Cops Say.’ Kansas City, 2018. Accessed 2 November. https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article219913635.html
- Hetherington, James. ‘Missouri College Student Arrested For Allegedly Raping Woman After #Metoo Rally.’ Newsweek, 2018. Accessed 2 November 2018. https://www.newsweek.com/college-student-arrested-allegedly-raping-woman-after-she-attended-metoo-1166262
