Blog #2

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/media/31ratings.html?_r=1&ref=television

From the title of my article, "For Leno and NBC, All's Right Again," this may seem like it only talks about Jay Leno and "The Tonight Show" that he hosts, but it is actually about all of the late-night talk show hosts, their competitions, audience age ranges and their ratings. The overall trend with all hosts of these shows is that their ratings have steadily dropped within all age groups, but particularly the 18-49-year-olds, mainly because "more and more people play recorded programs in those hours," but Leno is currently leading the pack. Conan O'Brien, however, holds the strongest numbers in late night with the youngest age group of all, with his viewers' ages averaging to 31.1 years old. This article is written by Bill Carter, but he pulls most of his information from very reliable sources such as Aaron Cohen (executive vice president for advertising purchases for Horizon Media), Michele Ganeless (president of Comedy Central), and Brad Adgate (director of research for Horizon Media). I believe all of these sources to be qualified to make this argument considering their job titles. They work in television and are the very people that most of the statistics in this article come from. The intended audience are viewers of these late-night shows or people who occasionally view these shows and know who the prime time hosts are. I myself happen to be a big fan of Jay Leno, so this article caught my eye. Because of this, it was easy for this article to inform me that Mr. Leno is at the top of the charts, and to convince me that he is predicted to stay there in the near future.

Blog #1

The title of this article says it all: "Oscar de la Renta Advises Against Wedding-Dress Shopping With Your Mom." He argues in this article that the "idea of the mother and the idea of the girl" when picking out the dress "are two very different things!" Oscar de la Renta is the person making the argument, and being the incredibly famous fashion (and wedding dress) designer that he is, I would definitely consider him to be a credible source on the subject. However, I also consider this to be a "non-academic" source simply because I don't think he has a degree, just a lot of experience in the fashion business. I do think that all of his experience and the fact that he is a very prestigious and well-known designer will win him over with his particular audience though. I'm a big fan of his and trust his opinion so I know I'm definitely persuaded. The intended audience are all of the engaged women planning their weddings and looking for the perfect dress, and de la Renta assumes that these brides-to-be think it's okay to bring their mothers along and accept their opinions, when they should really just go with their own.