| Summary: | Newspaper editorials have been found to follow the same structure across cultures but tend to vary in how they realize their rhetorical strategies. Contextual factors are said to influence rhetorical strategies of editorials. This study examines the rhetorical strategies used in the editorials of the Daily Graphic of Ghana and the New York Times of the United States. The study is based on the theory of intercultural rhetoric which proposes that texts vary across cultures. Using the concept of genre analysis, the study was carried out within the classification of newspaper editorials into three schematic structures: namely, the introduction, the body and the conclusion. The results show that the editorials of the Daily Graphic mostly employ the rhetorical strategies of expressing worry about political actions and social issues and proposes a solution to the issues. The New York Times editorials on the other hand question political and social issues, criticize the actions taken and express a necessity for the issues to be addressed. The rhetorical strategies mostly used by the Daily Graphic are attributed to the traditional norms of communication in the Ghanaian society which does not permit criticism of authority while those mostly used by the New York times are attributed to the exercise of freedom of the press in the American society. The paper concludes that rhetorical strategies mostly used by the Daily Graphic have implications for instruction in journalism and media practice in Ghana.
|
|---|