Analysis of the Use of Rhetoric Techniques in Reporting

One of the crucial parts in the daily interaction is the ability to indulge with people of different groups in different circumstances and having the ability to discuss topics in a way to convince them into reasoning with your view. The same is witnessed in various articles where authors tend to focus on making their presentation appealing to the minds of their readers to successfully transfer their ideas and achieve the goal of the reporting. Through the analysis of two different articles, we can establish the use of rhetoric techniques in writing to appeal to the audience.

Background

In this paper, we shall focus on the discussion of the use of drone strikes and the US efforts appertaining to the war on terror particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. We shall use two articles that focus on the topic and establish how they use rhetoric techniques in discussing the subject and the effectiveness of the methods used. The first article is “Uncomfortable Truth: US is Often Unsure About Who Will Die” by Scott Shane. The article by Shane delves into the wars that were inherited by Barak Obama during his presidency, and despite his promise to lead the American troops out of the war in Iraq, he introduced a new measure that involved the use of drone strikes to neutralize targets. The other article which we shall use in this analysis is ”Why Drones Work: The Case for Washington’s Weapon of Choice” by Daniel Byman. Bryman focuses on the topic of the use of drone strikes in the war terror by the US government and tries to focus on the aspects surrounding this measure compared to the strategies used by previous administrations and the success of the use of drones.

Rhetoric Techniques Analysis

In a platform where there is the need to indulge and educate a target group through the use of articles, there is need to focus on the use of specific strategies to communicate the topic with the expected level of clarity. We can establish this concept through the use of appeal to authority as part of the rhetoric framework used in the reporting as per the identified articles. An author seeks to engage his or her audience, and one of the largest audience is that of the authority. When an author engages with the authority, this raises the level attention of the audience regarding the topic of discussion. By appealing to authority, an author is regarded to have a proper grasp of this increases the level of trust the viewers have regarding the topic discussed. In the article, we can see Shane use the technique of appealing to authority where he mentions the statistics relating to drone strikes and quotes the administration in their reporting of drone strike successes. The author also asks questions such as ”does the endeavor amount to the due process as required by the constitution” which is meant to communicate to the audience. In the article presented by Bryman, we can see the author deviates from this technique where he engages the audience directly as opposed to appealing to authority.

The use of rhetoric techniques such as persuasion is crucial in reporting and the use of this concept requires the additional use of evidence to ensure the audience can establish the validity of the information provided. In the article provide by Shane, the author uses statistics on the number of drone strikes during the Obama administration to assist the audience to understand his description of the increase in the number of drone strikes between the Bush and Obama leadership periods. The use of evidence in persuading the audience is a critical rhetoric technique especially in a topic which is considered to have a great significance to the audience. Apart from the use of data obtained from reliable sources, we can see the use of quotations of government leaders which acts as proof to the information provided by the author. Bryman also uses evidence as a technique for persuading his audience where he leans towards direct reporting which involves using raw data such as ”US drone strikes killed an estimated 3,300 al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other Jihadist operatives in Pakistan”. In such an instance, the author has opted to use the figures to convey his message to the audience who usually trust a source that offers actual statistics.

The authors in the articles have also focused on the use of logical appeal to the audience in their efforts to convey their information regarding the use of drones by the government. The concept is applied by Shane where he quotes one of the aides in Obama administration mentioning ”let us kill those who try to kill us” which the audience can perceive as a realistic point of view where there is the expectation that the government should deal with the enemies with force. The same concept is seen in the article presented by Bryman where he suggests ”drones have undercut terrorist’s ability to communicate and train recruits” which is a fact known to the audience and the mentioning of the case assist in reassuring them of the point. Therefore, the use of rhetoric techniques by the authors has enabled a proper appeal to the audience and effective communication.

Work Cited

Shane, Scott. “Drone Strikes Reveal Uncomfortable Truth: U.S. Is Often Unsure About Who Will Die.” NYTimes, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/world/asia/drone-strikes-reveal-uncomfortable-truth-us-is-often-unsure-about-who-will-die.html. Accessed 30 October 2018.

Byman Daniel L. “Why Drones Work: The Case for Washington’s Weapon of Choice.” Brookings, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-drones-work-the-case-for-washingtons-weapon-of-choice/. Accessed 30 October 2018