Page 382 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 382
What Do We Know about the World?
commercial and of the brochure’s rhetorical situation. In the case of
the TV commercial, children count as ratified participants because, on
the one side, as TV viewers, they take part in the communicative event
(they can see and hear the message; besides, they are mentioned in the
message, both because the text points out that Xylo Mepha is available
in a specific dosage for children and because part of the visual stages
a girl playing in the snow with her mother and their dog), but, on the
other side, they are not directly in a position to positively modify the
principal’s exigency. In the case of the brochure, ratified participants are
health professionals who look through the website for some informa-
tion on health products and health professionals who subscribed to this
website and received the brochure by mail; they wish to know the prod-
uct and its advantages better. Again, since the brochure is provided on
chemists’ counters, it is plausible to think of chemists themselves as gate-
keepers of the text: they must restock the counter with other brochures
when all have been taken. No gatekeeper is identified in relation to the
press release; in fact, journalists open and close gates not to press releases
but rather to news and their content (cf. note 4 above). Press releases al-
ways reach journalists as addressees, subsequently journalists can decide
whether to write an article on that news or not.15
Apart from rules regulating the compositional structure and style
of press releases as discourse genres, no regulators in terms of stakehold-
ers are recognized. Interestingly, the brochure, the print ad and the TV
commercial hint at national norms governing advertisements for med-
ical products. According to the Swiss Ordinance on Advertising for
Medical Products only medical products without doctor’s prescription
can be advertised to the general public. Ads must not be misleading and
must not incite an inappropriate use of the product; in a print ad some
indication like “This is a medicine. Read carefully the medical instruc-
tions” must be added, while at the end a TV commercial (which can be
telecast only if it is approved by Swissmedic, the Swiss agency for author-
ization and supervision of therapeutic products) must state, “This is a
medicine. Ask your specialist for advice and read the medical instruc-
tions”.
In the rhetorical situations of these four texts no bystander can be
identified. As we already noticed, the fact that the TV commercial is tel-
ing in various exhibitions usually held during vernissages and finissages. Since they are mentioned in
the texts, the artists become ratified participants of the communicative event.
15 Since more and more frequently organizations publish press releases online, the role of gatekeeper
of the journalist is partially reduced (cf. Strobbe and Jacobs 2005).
commercial and of the brochure’s rhetorical situation. In the case of
the TV commercial, children count as ratified participants because, on
the one side, as TV viewers, they take part in the communicative event
(they can see and hear the message; besides, they are mentioned in the
message, both because the text points out that Xylo Mepha is available
in a specific dosage for children and because part of the visual stages
a girl playing in the snow with her mother and their dog), but, on the
other side, they are not directly in a position to positively modify the
principal’s exigency. In the case of the brochure, ratified participants are
health professionals who look through the website for some informa-
tion on health products and health professionals who subscribed to this
website and received the brochure by mail; they wish to know the prod-
uct and its advantages better. Again, since the brochure is provided on
chemists’ counters, it is plausible to think of chemists themselves as gate-
keepers of the text: they must restock the counter with other brochures
when all have been taken. No gatekeeper is identified in relation to the
press release; in fact, journalists open and close gates not to press releases
but rather to news and their content (cf. note 4 above). Press releases al-
ways reach journalists as addressees, subsequently journalists can decide
whether to write an article on that news or not.15
Apart from rules regulating the compositional structure and style
of press releases as discourse genres, no regulators in terms of stakehold-
ers are recognized. Interestingly, the brochure, the print ad and the TV
commercial hint at national norms governing advertisements for med-
ical products. According to the Swiss Ordinance on Advertising for
Medical Products only medical products without doctor’s prescription
can be advertised to the general public. Ads must not be misleading and
must not incite an inappropriate use of the product; in a print ad some
indication like “This is a medicine. Read carefully the medical instruc-
tions” must be added, while at the end a TV commercial (which can be
telecast only if it is approved by Swissmedic, the Swiss agency for author-
ization and supervision of therapeutic products) must state, “This is a
medicine. Ask your specialist for advice and read the medical instruc-
tions”.
In the rhetorical situations of these four texts no bystander can be
identified. As we already noticed, the fact that the TV commercial is tel-
ing in various exhibitions usually held during vernissages and finissages. Since they are mentioned in
the texts, the artists become ratified participants of the communicative event.
15 Since more and more frequently organizations publish press releases online, the role of gatekeeper
of the journalist is partially reduced (cf. Strobbe and Jacobs 2005).
