Article Review
1. Iran Won’t Sign a Nuclear Deal ‘at any Price’
The news article is about Iran’s disagreement to sign a nuclear deal. The associated press is the reporter of the news article, and its date of publication is August 18, 2014. Iran’s negotiators are the people who have declined signing the deal. Tehran is the place where the negotiations are taking place. Iran does not want to sign the deal because the negotiators are against paying any price for the deal. In addition, the way Iran will sign the deal is by the “other side” showing their goodwill towards the deal.
The reporter of the story gives some background information about events that surround the story. There were previous reports about the events in the background of the story. The reader should, therefore, understand the background information of the story for a better understanding. In November 2013, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5 + 1) signed an interim agreement. The reader should understand the details of the deal for a proper understanding of the current report.
The headline of the news story contains the news element of conflict. The headline shows Iran’s dissenting position on the requirement for it to sign a nuclear deal. The headline also has the value of impact. The issue of nuclear activities has a global consequence on life because the country manufactures atomic weapons.
The article’s lead has the news element of timeliness or currency. The lead shows that the event in the story is a recent occurrence (it happened on Monday). In addition, the reporter shows the element of conflict in the lead. Although Iran is committed to reaching a nuclear agreement with the world powers, it is not willing to sign such an agreement at any cost. There is also the value of prominence. Iran is famous for its nuclear activities.
The story uses a summary lead. Its lead captures the important element of the story, especially Iran’s position on the signing of the nuclear agreement. The lead shows the story’s main idea, that Iran will not sign a nuclear deal at any cost. The reporter also states that Iran has taken the position although the deadline for the agreement nears.
Prominence is the news value in the story’s headline. Iran is a well-known country because of its nuclear activities. The country has continued manufacturing its nuclear weapons over the last decade, despite the major world powers and the UN Security Council putting economic sanctions against it. Iran’s continuous nuclear activities have made it a prominent country.
A nut graph is absent from the story. There is no paragraph that explains the story’s news value (nut graph). The reason the story lacks a nut graph is that it is a hard news story. Nat graphs are common in feature stories.
The story uses long sentences with heavy post-modification. Post-modification helps the reporter to build on the ideas in the sentences. Also, there is evidence of the reporter using complex sentences, for example, paragraph twelve is a complex sentence.
The author of the story avoids the use of unnecessary, redundant, and repetitive words. The reporter also avoids using words that show his opinion on the issue in the story. The reason the author avoids such words is to achieve clarity in his community. Avoiding words that show his opinion helps him to achieve objectivity. Furthermore, the reporter avoids the use of jargon, clichés, and slang. The vocabulary is simple because the author communicates to the general audience. There are no euphemisms, platitudes, gush, exaggerations, and expressions showing conflict time of the event. The use such words and expressions would reduce the accuracy of the report. The author explains all the concepts clearly, leaving nothing to be explained further. It is not a creative peace of writing. Suspense is, therefore, unnecessary.
Students from the UK and USA relate with the side that is forcing Iran to sign the nuclear deal. UK and USA are among the P5 members of the UN Security Council. Kuwait is one of the countries that have faced the sanctions from the council in the past. Students from Kuwait are likely to sympathize with Iran.
The reporter should publish the story again because it is a developing story. On 24th November, Iran expects to sign the nuclear deal. However, the signing shall be conditional. The other side must show its good will. The reader would like to know how the story shall develop.
