TOW #15: Nonfiction

In the piece entitled “Spreading Corruption in Sports” by The Editorial Board at The New York Times, a successful newspaper company trusted and praised by millions across the globe, the issue of performance enhancing drugs being enforced in sports is brought up.  Through the usage of both references to real life examples as well as suggestions to the author's own views on what should be done to condense the issue, The Editorial Board succeeds in trying to convince an audience of both sports enthusiasts and sports officials to side with the agreement of enforcing higher restrictions on performance enhancing drugs.  One example in which the author references frequently within the article is the drugs ongoing usage in the sport of track and field.  In the beginning of the opinionated piece, the editorial board introduces the problem by stating how “A report released Thursday by the World Anti-Doping Agency painted a dismal picture of top officials in the ruling body of global track and field, the International Association of Athletics Federations, helping conceal doping or blackmailing athletes who were caught” (para. 2).  By introducing the topic with a recent event event in the news, the editorial board emphasizes how this is an ongoing issue that has now left the world of competitive sports.  Not only that, but the author also references the Olympics in order to show the audience how widespread and unnoticed/tolerated some of these performance enhanced drugs can go.  Towards the end of the essay, the author explains that “The way to change that culture is to prosecute and punish officials who encourage and profit by it” (para. 6).  this gives the audience a reason to side with the author due to the author having a solution as to how to resolve the issue. Because of this, I believe that The Editorial Board at The New York Times succeeds in convincing the audience to side with their beliefs of on stopping the spread of corruption in sports.