This web page was produced as an assignment for Gen677 at UW-Madison Spring 2009.
Comparing the newspaper to journal article reveals similar information presented in different contexts.
When writing, it is important to know your intended crowd. A piece of work must be fun to read as well as informative, so proper styling will have a big impact. Because of this, I think that both the newspaper and journal article I read present similar information just in completely different contexts.
A newspaper needs to be popular. It must be purchased by readers and subsequently enjoyed. To that end, I feel the stereotypical judgments laid out in the baldness article were required to be a successful story. People want to read about how miserable Jake is. They want to know how it truly feels to be bald and that there is no hope for the future. Based on my scientific readings, there was not a single untruthful scientific statement in the article. But because they focused in on a single person with extreme feelings and self-doubt, they presented baldness as the image ruining entity it has now become. Reader rates kept up and the next day people looked forward to new articles.
As for the science review, all information was presented with statistical evidence that backed it up. I'm sure that in reserach, extreme individuals were encountered, whose self image was very low and outlook on the future was receding. On average however, this is simply not the case. Most negative implications of baldness turned out to be moderate in effect, and actually do not alter ones life as much as they think.
The types of stories as in the newspaper persist because they are what ultimately are entertaining to read and help fund the large pharmaceutical companies. Baldness is never going to physically harm you in any way, but because of the emotional implication now associated with it you will seek treatment. Conveniently most treatments come in the form of a drug that you buy at an inconvenient price. There are no secrets to going bald, or not going bald for that matter, its all based on our social and personal interpretations and what we will make of them.
