Teen Pregnancy: Genre Analysis of a Website and a YouTube Video

    There are a lot of common trends in the United States today but there is one dangerous trend that is slowly increasing again in the United States. For teens, having unprotected sex or not being abstinent until you’re married can be considered “cool” but it can also lead to teen pregnancy. Many have considered teen pregnancy as not a serious matter to worry about but if we don’t take action now it might worsen in the future. Although, there are different perspectives on this issue such as sex education classes may decrease pregnancies vs. sex education have no effect on teen pregnancies. However, there are also different ways to communicate to influence these perspectives on this issue, such as genres. Genres are a form of communication that can cause or influence perspectives and opinions to change. Two genres that will be analyzed here are pregnantteenhelp.org, which is a website, and a YouTube video with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers called “Teen Pregnancy Increasing.” Through the process of analyzing these two genres, one will be able to determine the influential of the information being presented to the viewer from the two genres being discussed here.


Audience and Purpose

    The purpose of the pregnantteenhelp.org website is to inform readers about teen pregnancy preventions, but also give an insight of teen pregnancies and statistics in the United States. The website also provides information about the consequences of being a teen mom, ways to prevent teen pregnancy, such as spreading the message of abstinence, and even offer options such as finding help if you are a teen that is pregnant. It briefly provides information of free counseling or inexpensive counseling that can be able to be located around your area. Overall, this website provides positive aspects for viewers for those who are pro sex education. However in contrast with the YouTube video with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers, this video primary focuses on teen pregnancy. The purpose of this video is to also inform readers about the rise of teen pregnancy and dangerous aspects of it. The interview also informs viewers of the consequences of being a teen mom. For example, in the video we get to see a young mother who is a drop-out from high school struggling to make a living as she lives in poverty.
    
Comparing the two genres, it can be confirmed that the audience from both genres is intended mainly between young and middle-aged women. For the pregnantteenhelp.org website, it can be assumed that the audience for this particular website might be interested in seeking out information of this issue or looking for help because this genre needs to be search for. The audience of this genre would have some knowledge about teen pregnancy and prevention programs. In contrast, the YouTube video with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers also targets an audience that would also have some background information about teen pregnancy. This audience for this genre would have to be able to know how to reach YouTube and be able to know how to navigate YouTube. This genre can also have audience seeking out information of this issue or be recommended to. Although both audience reactions might be different for each genre, it will also depend on the audience’s background, such as their age or religion.

Rhetorical Issues: Ethos, Pathos, Logos

      The information provided on the website pregnantteenhelp.org is to inform readers about certain aspects about teen pregnancy and to provide a better understanding on the issue of prevention programs. It establishes its credibility by the professionalism and the way the information provided in the website is categorized in six groups. The introduction of the main page also offers its credibility because you can see that the sources they have gathered their information come from organizations that are reliable, such as the National Institutes of Health. However, many users might find the rhetorical purpose of having this website is to evoke emotions from the viewers by feeling sympathy towards teens that are pregnant. Although, it mainly depends on the viewer of this website because if it was teen, who was pregnant, were to read the consequences that may result from teen pregnancy they might feel anxious and otherwise think about other options to do. For example, if a teen that was pregnant were to read “teen mothers often give birth prematurely, but teen mothers are greater risk of postpartum depression,” a teen would probably be overwhelmed by stress (Pregnant Teen Help, 2005). Overall, the emotions being evoked from this website can vary depending on the audience. However, the audience might find the evidence being supported from these claims helpful because this website also has a lot of evidence, such as statistics, to back up its claims. The audience can also find the rhetorical purpose on this issue because of the logical evidence being supported. For example, “According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy at least 75 percent of unmarried teen mothers end up going on welfare within 5 years of their first child’s birth” (Pregnant Teen Help, 2005). This is logical evidence that can help the audience. Overall, this website establishes its rhetorical issues and purposes.

            In contrast, the YouTube video with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers focuses more on the issue of teen pregnancies increasing in the United States and how most teen moms end up in poverty. This genre credibility relies on CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers and that fact that she a reporter from CBS means she has the knowledge to be able to research and talk about the video on “Teen Pregnancies Increasing.”  This also establishes ethos because many videos on YouTube is just for entertainment and viewing this video you can see that it is reliable. However, the rhetorical purpose of this video is to evoke emotions from the viewers by alerting them on the rise of teen pregnancies. It also allows the audience of this genre to have a sense of awareness and be observant about this matter in the United States. Another rhetorical purpose that is being presented in this video is the logical evidence Cynthia Bowers provides in the video. For example, in the video Cynthia Bowers says “Fewer than 50% graduate from high school and only 2% who were moms by the age of 18 will graduate college by the age of 30” (Bowers, 2009). This provides logical evidence for many viewers to get a more insight of today statistics in the United States about teen pregnancy. Overall, this video establishes logos, ethos, and pathos.

Structure

          Based on the fact that pregnantteenhelp.org is a website, it has more information that they could provide as much as they want and how much information they are capable of providing to audiences based on their theme. They have more freedom and space to provide necessary information about their topic being talked about on teen pregnancy. This gives viewers to find the information needed for them. The information is organized in conveying its message to viewers by providing enough information for each topic and section for viewers. They also have a great advantage of using rhetorical strategies effectively because of the amount of space there is on a website than a video.

            In contrast, the YouTube video with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers has limitations on the information that can be provided. Since YouTube videos are not capable of being long videos, this limits the time for Cynthia Bowers to talk about an increase on teen pregnancies. Although, you can freely express anything on YouTube, which gives viewers an advantage in searching topics related to teen pregnancy or likewise. However, the rhetorical strategies that are needed to persuade the audience are limited because of the time. As a result, this genre is a disadvantage to reporters and interviews. However, this structure facilitates its purpose for audiences who do not wish to sit long to watch videos.

Style and Language

          The information presented on the website pregnantteenhelp.org is informative to the audience, so the language in this website can be considered formal. The website’s style is to be simple. The colors used on this website consist of white and light blue colors. There is also a picture of a young pregnant teen and the text is provided in black so viewers can be able to read. This website’s style also gives off a sense of tranquility. Specialized vocabulary that is presented in the websites are words such as National Institutes of Health, SAMHSA, teenage pregnancy, pregnancy preventions programs, or other words related to teen pregnancy and prevention programs.

            Reporter Cynthia Bowers, in the YouTube video “Teen Pregnancies Increasing,” uses a casual, but an alert tone of voice that catches the viewer’s attention. This video also provides additional video clips and an interview with a teen mom and other professionals while the reporter is talking in the background to keep the audiences attention while watching this video. Since this video is also informative, it can be considered that the language is formal. Some specialized vocabularies used in this video are words such as increase, rates, pregnancy, poverty, teen moms, and others. In addition, to ensure viewers that this video is educational the logo of CBS news is located on the bottom right corner, which means everything being told in this video is reliable.

Conclusion

            Both genres provided information that was informative for the audiences and portrayed teen pregnancy to be increasing in a steadily rate that needs to be able to be prevented now for the future’s sake by prevention programs. However, pregnantteenhelp.org website provides unlimited amount of information for audiences of this genre. They also have the ability to use stronger rhetorical issues effectively and positively. In contrast, the YouTube video with CBS reporter Cynthia Bowers is limited. This genre is limited in given information to provide for the audience because the limit on the time on YouTube videos. Reporter Cynthia Bowers only had a limit amount of time to achieve the key points of the YouTube video “Teen Pregnancies Increasing,” which affects and limits rhetorical strategies. In conclusion, many will be able to conclude that typography genre, such as the website being explained in this analysis, provides the stronger, more effective mode of communication for audiences.

References


Pregnant Teen Help (2005). Teen pregnancy prevention. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/articles2.html

Bowers, C. (2009). Teen pregnancies increasing. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnX-md9pfYc