Recommandé
Contenu connexe
Tendances
Tendances (19)
En vedette
Similaire à Hope Keynote Address
Similaire à Hope Keynote Address (19)
Dernier
Dernier (20)
Hope Keynote Address
- 1. The Hope and Promise of Political Communication in the 21st Century Trevor Parry-Giles University of Maryland NCA Institute for Faculty Development “Hope” Institute, 2011
- 2. (Re)Assessing Political Communication American political discourse is often detailed and specific in its focus on policy. American political discourse is generally successful at producing high quality leaders and leadership. American political discourse is increasingly democratized. Rhetorical politics works to the benefit of the American political community.
- 3. The Clinton Model Clinton embodied and performed the policy emphasis of contemporary political communication in 2000. American judgments of Clinton manifested the sophistication of voters on issues of leadership. Clinton made full use of technology and alternative media to expand and democratize political communication.
- 4. The Clinton Model “Well, you know, sometimes during this campaign, I hear people criticize the 1990's and that's fair, you know, it's a campaign and people can criticize each other, but I'm always wondering when I hear that criticism, well, what part of the 1990's didn't they like? The peace or the prosperity? Because I thought we were on the right track.”—Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2008
- 6. Effects
- 7. Ethics
- 8. Virtue
- 9. Civility
- 19. Voter Turnout
- 20. (Re)Assessing Political Communication American political discourse is often detailed and specific in its focus on policy. American political discourse is generally successful at producing high quality leaders and leadership. American political discourse is increasingly democratized. Rhetorical politics works to the benefit of the American political community.
- 22. A “Rhetorical” Politics “…‘rhetorical’ refers to a general way of existing in the world—approaching the world as a rhetorical being who understands that few things in life are given or inalterably determined; one who understands that most things are amenable to choice and to selection from among several competing choices; one who understands that the power to use symbols carries with it the power to both build and to destroy; one that believes that all of life is the domain of the rhetorical, not merely those formal occasions that call for speech or discourse; and one who comprehends that the truly important questions in life seldom lend themselves to clear-cut answers that can be held with absolute certainty.” Martin J. Medhurst, 1996
- 23. Themes of Hope for a Rhetorical Politics Emergent themes from this week’s proceedings are critical, it seems to me, in the articulation of a programmatic revisioning of critical and pedagogical approaches to political communication. They offer normative and prescriptive guidance toward the achievement of a “rhetorical” politics through our study and teaching about political communication.
- 24. Context A “rhetorical” politics demands a commitment to context and history—a recognition that political communication does not occur in a vacuum. Resistance to presentistexceptionalism that often characterizes political communication scholarship.
- 26. Effects & Efficacy Careful attention to both the attribution of effect and the measurement of the effects of political communication. Voters vote the way they do (and citizens act the way they do) for many, many complicated reasons that often are not measurable or attributable to political communication. Political communication must be sensitive to the proclivities of populations and subjects—and citizens.
- 27. Ethics & Character Attention to character and ethics recognizes that a rhetorical politics is often and significantly about questions of leadership and personal capacity. Political communication falls prey to what McGee (1980) called a “treacherous piety” that ignores the personal for the policy, the image for the issues. Political theorist Ronald Beiner notes wisely that personal judgments are significantly relevant to political ones.
- 28. Civic Virtue The sublimation of personal gain and selfish satisfaction for a greater public good is a model of civic virtue. A construct that offers an ethical manifestation of political communication with an eye toward both social justice and public comportment. A way to ground and enhance instruction in issues of civic engagement and governance.
- 29. Progress A rhetorical politics is progressive in a small “p” sense of hoping for and embodying progress, development, enhancement, and improvement. Political communication scholarship engages with this progress through public intellectualism as well as via the progress of our scholarly and pedagogical endeavors.
- 30. Hope At the root of it all is hope—a powerful and palpable belief in a better tomorrow. Performing that hope as scholars, as teachers, and as citizens enhances our achievement of a “rhetorical” politics to the betterment of our collective enterprise.
Notes de l'éditeur
- Thank yous—Ted and Joan, NCA, the participants, etc.Americans hate politics, and by extension, political communicationIt’s both axiomatic and also evident in practice—after elections, during contentious political debates, etc.Not the case with other disciplines—the public and scholars like literature, art, philosophy.Even in COMM, the public and scholars like to communicate interpersonally, organizationally. Media scholars like TV and film, even rhetoricians like rhetoric and celebrate, analyze and criticize the best of it. Not so with political communication.
- About ten years ago, a friend asked for a forum piece to appear in A&A.Optimistic reassessment of political communication in the wake of the Clinton years, heading into the 2000 election.Four basic claims about the state of political communication.Rooted in the Clinton Model.
- Clinton embodied policy focus—a president steeped in policy who valued deliberation and debate about public policy matters.Sophisticated voters on issues of character and leadership.Expanded deliberation via technology and media-Clinton on Arsenio Hall, MTV, Larry King, the Internet, etc.
- General Clinton successes—job creation, debt, international success, approval ratings, even in the midst of Lewinsky scandal.Highest approval ratings of any president since they started taking these numbers with Harry Truman.HRC quotation.
- Concerning the state of political communication and its practice, were we right 10 years ago? Are we still right today?How can we assess and determine the quality and state of political communication for the 21st century and what do such assessments tell us about how to teach and study this domain of human communication behavior?Hope themes from Keynotes: Context, Effects, Ethics, Virtue, Civility, Progress.Rather than focus on a single political era (the Clinton era), I suggest another means for assessing the quality and state of political communication is achieved through a more historical approach.Generational elections. “Most important election of our lifetimes”
- 1908 and the rhetorical presidency A. 1908 represents the first modern occasion of a president actively, publicly, and overtly selecting a successor (previous examples of note: Jackson with Van Buren). The strategy typically doesn’t work that well. B. TR’s role in the campaign speaks to the increasing power of the rhetorical presidency: 1. Republican platform: “In this greatest era of American advancement, the Republican party has reached its highest service under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt. His administration is an epoch in American history. In no other period since national sovereignty was won under Washington, or preserved under Lincoln, has there been such mighty progress in those ideals of government which make for justice, equality and fair dealing among men.” 2. Contrast with other platforms: a. 1900: “We indorse the administration of William McKinley. Its acts have been established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home and abroad it has distinctly elevated and extended the influence of the American nation.” b. 1904: “We cordially commend the policy pursued in that direction by the administrations of President McKinley and President Roosevelt. c. 1912: “We invite the intelligent judgment of the American people upon the administration of William H. Taft. The country has prospered and been at peace under his presidency.” C. Taft confronts the TR legacy: 1. NYT article of July 29, 1908: “Pledging anew his allegiance to the policies of President Roosevelt, Judge William Howard Taft to-day formally accepted the Republican nomination for the Presidency. He declared that the chief function of the next Republican Administration will be to clinch what has already been accomplished by the present occupant of the White House.” 2. Acceptance speech: “The man who formulated the expression of the popular conscience and who led the movement for practical reform was Theodore Roosevelt.” 3. TR’s role in the campaign—active campaigning—Republican campaign text-book reprints a letter from TR and was widely and publicly circulated to support WHT. TR offered behind the scenes advice—urged WHT to more actively campaign, to challenge Bryan more, to change style and personality as a candidate. 4. Democratic response speaks to this new incumbent role: NY’s David Hill endorsed WJB by saying “I sincerely believe he (Bryan) will be President himself and will not be led around with a string like a caged bear.” Couldn’t wholly refute TR on policy grounds because of WJB’s general agreement with much of the progressive/reform agenda. 5. Visual imagery: Lots of TR morphing; one cartoon as TR holding a baby WHT on his shoulders.
- V.O. Key1. Critical elections generate high levels of voter turnout.2. Critical elections upset or reverse a previous balance of power between competing parties.3. Critical elections produce durable changes in the compositions of voter coalitions.Radio—Issues—Prohibition; Economic prosperity; Smith’s Catholicism
- Issues: Cold War—Taft-Hartley; do-Nothing Congress; Civil Rights; Changes in communication: first presidential debate between Stassen and Dewey in Oregon; first presidential television ad by HST; newsreels for both Dewey and Truman; whistlestopping; televised conventions, speeches, etc.Spectacular failure of polling; prognostication.
- Issues: Vietnam; civil rights; law, order, and stabilityNews was increasingly mediated—journalism was televised; conventions, etc. The Whole World is Watching.Political advertising had matured—repackaging of Nixon—Selling of the President
- No real issues: Pledge of allegiance; Boston Harbor; prison furloughs; Iran-contraRise and sophistication of political advertisingAdvent of 24 hour news; national news (USA Today); early talk radioInstitutionalization of presidential debating
- Big issues—Wars; globalization; economic collapse; rising debt/deficits; extension of civil libertiesIncreasing sophistication of campaign information, news dissemination, etc.Frank and open discussions of character and leadership.
- Voter turnout as an imprecise marker of the quality/capacity of political communication
- Campaign examination that, in that context, default judgments about the impoverished quality of U.S. political communication are misplaced and hasty.“Perhaps it is the existing puritanical impulses of the American psyche that motivated the incessant carping about political discourse in the United States. Maybe it is this lingering perfectionist, elitist tendency that seeks to drive out the base and popular for that which is arcane and idiosyncratic. But criticism of political discourse that relentlessly follows this path runs the profound risk of eliminating from our analysis and teaching the power of political symbols to create a better, more democratic society for its citizens."Rather than indulge the perpetual denigration of political communication, it is perhaps more useful to dedicate our research and teaching toward a more appreciative inquiry, a more overt recognition of the need to continue promoting a rhetorical politics.
- Contrast with C-SPAN survey—top ten presidents in “public persuasion.”FDR, Lincoln, Reagan, TR, Washington, Kennedy, Jackson, Jefferson, Wilson, Clinton