Comparison to the Application of Political Rhetoric
Strategy
【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.
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
第 1 页
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. I. The linguistic embodiment of political rhetoric in titles
第 2 页
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.
第 3 页
Comparison to the Application of Political Rhetoric Strategy精品文档6页
