Analyzing Televised Presidential General Election Debates

Authors

  • Marta Rzepecka Rzeszów University, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/AdAmericam.17.2016.17.15

Keywords:

visual rhetoric, general election presidential debates, presidential debates, TV

Abstract

This paper describes how general election presidential debates have changed over the last four decades. It will trace the development of the debate format, the dynamics of visual rhetoric, and the patterns of discourse; and will compare the standards followed by John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon in the first series of general election presidential debates held in 1960, with those followed by Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in the latest series of debates held in 2012. It will also analyze debate videos and transcripts in order to identify the techniques used during both series of debates, and emphasize the similarities, differences, and effectiveness thereof. Considering the growing influence of the media on presidential campaigns over the last forty years, it is assumed that the rules and format for debates, as well as the dynamics of visual rhetoric and functions of debate discourse, have changed. This stands in contrast to the role of such debates in managing and guiding public opinion during elections, which has remained the same.

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Author Biography

  • Marta Rzepecka, Rzeszów University, Poland

    graduated from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, with a Ph.D. in American Literature. She is affiliated with the University of Rzeszów. She holds three research stipends and grants from Freie Universität, the Kosciuszko Foundation, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. She was an intern at the University of Leicester and the University of South Florida. Her main research interest has been rhetoric and the American presidency, especially the foreign policy of 20th-century presidents.

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Published

30-12-2016

Issue

Vol. 17 (2016)

Section

North American Studies

License

Copyright (c) 2016 Marta Rzepecka

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Rzepecka, Marta. “Analyzing Televised Presidential General Election Debates”. Ad Americam, vol. 17, Dec. 2016, pp. 197-09, https://doi.org/10.12797/AdAmericam.17.2016.17.15.