Comparison to the Application of Political Rhetoric Strategy

of+Mass+Media

【Abstract】The application of political rhetoric strategy of mass media is relevant with the political standpoint it has， and the ultimate goal of mass media is to support respective political party. This article takes The Guardian and The Sun for example to discuss the different utilization of political rhetoric strategy of mass media.

【Key words】political rhetoric strategy； mass media； The Guardian； The Sun

Theresa May spoke in defense of her revolution on social care after announcing her manifesto last week， while days later she has altered the plan into a surprising U-turn when launching the speech in Wales. The pledge that the Conservative had in the manifesto demonstrated that they will change the funded policy for the old， such as forcing elders who are capable of affording the costs of health care and canceling winter fuel allowance for well-off pensioners. However， this action has not brought support of public， on the contrary， has reduced the leading rate of Conservative Party. Under the circumstance of being questioned by the public， Theresa May has done an U-turn on the affair of social care， which has aroused the widespread attention among British mass media.

Mass media offers paramount platform for political parties to propagandize their values and opinions for the sake of winning more trust of public. Meanwhile， mass media differs with the comment on affair according to respective political standpoint. Between the two reports of The Guardian and The Sun on Conservatives planning on social care， The Guardian who supports Conservatives and The Sun who in favor of Labour adopt distinguishing political rhetoric strategies. This article aims to analyze the comparison to the application and effect of political rhetoric strategy of mass media.

On behalf of the left wing， The Guardian is a newspaper which belongs to Liberal Democrat with readers of the young and higher intellectuals. In the field of European intellectual， The Guardian occupies the most influential place and no one newspaper are able to exceed it. In contrast to The Guardian， The Sun is inclined to the right wing and supports Conservatives for years. Besides， The Sun has the greatest sales volume among British newspapers and favored by readers from middle class.

Rhetoric is a kind of art of speaking so that the strategy used by political rhetoric is connected with the application of political language. To some extent well-used political language facilitates the spread of information and the promotion of communication. However， it can also instigate the negative emotion even hinder the normal proceeding of information conveying.endprint

I. The linguistic embodiment of political rhetoric in titles

The Sun chooses the title “What is ‘dementia tax and why has Theresa May done a U-turn？ Conservative social care funding plan explained”. By posing question for the meaning and reason， the newspaper attempts to draw great interests of readers and control the main values by themselves. Furthermore， this also provides good introduction of the affair for those who are unfamiliar with the fact and the party. The rest content of the title shows that the newspaper stands for Conservatives and spread its social care plan to the public.

Compared with the long title taken by of The Sun， The Guardian summarizes the title in a more direct and sharp way. The application of short words not only saves the editorial space but also directly attack the shortcoming of opponent side with ironical linguistic style. The newspaper only uses eleven words to unveil the consequence of Conservatives plan and expresses the negative opinion with the title “The Guardian view on the social care debacle：weak and wobbly”.

II. The political rhetoric strategy and the choice of writing style

At the beginning of the article， the newspaper directly poses criticism on the solution of Conservatives to strength the emotional significance by purpose to apparently shows the support to Labour. By means of disclosing the fault of Conservatives with plentiful satirized words， The Guardian attempts to shake up the root of legality of governing party to mobilize the public turn to vote for Labour.

The ironical style is used through the whole article. The Guardian also lists the previous mistakes in combination with this affair to criticize the “dim prospect” of Conservatives and question its leading ability. What is worse， the formal name of Conservatives even disappears in this article while is replaced by “strong and stable party”， which is emphasized several times when explaining the affairs that has not been well dealt with by Conservatives. The article is ended with “Not so strong and stable， more weak and wobby”， which echos the beginning and earlier passages.

Compared with the entirely criticism and satire of The Guardian， The Sun reports the affair more neutral and radical. Based on the third person point， the newspaper first explain the fundamental content and the controversial reason of Conservatives plan to restore the fact. In addition， the newspaper cites the opinion of people form various parties and original words of the Premier Minister to provides the news with objectivity and realness. However， the integral style of The Sun to analyze this affair can show the preference to Conservatives.endprint

III. The application of political rhetoric and the construction of political partys image

The good image of the political party plays an crucial role in maintaining the recognition and measuring the leading rate among severe competitions. The leader of the party on behalf of the important figure of the whole party， leaves the partys impression on public as his own behavior， decision and speech. This is why many critical newspapers focus on unveiling and enlarging the fault of the leader. The Guardian to great extent attributes to this controversial affair as the responsibility of the leader Theresa May for her making decision without consulting with others and insisting on arbitrary style of acting. Whats more， the newspaper illustrates some inactive interview on current secretaries to prove that there are many disagreements existing in the opponent side and attack its image. Nevertheless， the report of The Sun adopts a more conservative way to explain the matter without criticizing the adversary but strives to build up a good public image for Conservatives.

In conclusion， the application of political rhetoric strategy of mass media has the capacity of attracting the attention of readers， expressing own opinion， propagandizing the advantages of respective party and bringing shame on another side. Through analyzing the skill of political rhetoric strategy people can know the comparison of political standpoint among different mass medias.

References：

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[2]劉文科.政治權利運作中的政治修辭-必要性、普遍性和功能分析[J].學習與探索，2008，（4）：64.

[3]孫景峰，陳倩琳.政黨形象：概念、意義與建設路徑[J].探索， 2013，（3）：9.

作者簡介：馬藝瑋（1997-），女，漢族，黑龍江鶴崗人，哈爾濱工程大學外語系，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。endprint