Analyzing Media Rhetorics Part 1: Print Media

Looking back at the past 100 years, the mediums people use to get news information have significantly evolved. The question that pops up is: How have media rhetorics changed in delivering information to people as such mediums evolve? In my following three blogs, I will explore three mediums and their rhetorical strategies: print media, broadcast news, and social media. 

The first medium of rhetoric I will be exploring is newspapers. A 2022 article by Albert Agbesi Wornyo, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, shows evidence that common rhetorical strategies used by global newspaper editors to initiate an issue include "expressing worry about political actions and social issues" and "question[ing] political and social issues, criticiz[ing] the actions taken." Those are the most critical lines of the paper, as they indicate the author's stance and are the first words that the viewer glances their eyes across. Furthermore, to urge the readers of newspapers to take action, editors tend to state "directives…offering a suggestion or expressing a necessity" in the article's conclusion (Wornyo).

Other rhetorical strategies that newspaper editorials use to persuade their audience are building the credibility of sources (ethos), using statistics of events (logos), and expressing emotion through front-page pictures and word choice. To persuade readers, the most crucial element of writing for an editor or an author is their word choice. According to an article by Dr. Farahman Farrokhi from the University of Tabriz, Iran, the rhetorical devices of metonymy and hyperbole were the most frequently used in newspapers when appealing to readers.

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