KB Journal: The Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society Apr 2021 web Open Access

“Scientific Rhetoric”: Kenneth Burke’s The War of Words and the Detection of the Conscious and Unconscious Biases of the Mainstream News Medi

Jim A. Kuypers ; Virginia Tech

Abstract

In The War of Words Burke uses the term scientific to describe the news “in the sense that it deals with information” but is also rhetorical since “it forms attitudes or induces to action.” In this essay I outline Burke’s major ideas in his “Scientific Rhetoric” chapter; present for consideration Burke’s assumptions about the press; and conclude with comments about how one might productively extend Burke’s insights into future studies of the news media.

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KB Journal: The Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society
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2021-04
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