The Battle of the Narratives: A Narrative Analysis of the Rhetoric of Joe McCarthy, Edward R. Murrow, and Joseph Welsh in an Age of Secondary Orality

Authors

Donna Paul Flayhan, Goucher College

Abstract

With the rise in popularity of radio in the 1920s, Americans unsuspectingly embarked upon a journey that would intensify with the rise of television: a journey into an age of secondary orality (Ong, 1982). It is not surprising that a storytelling actor became President of the United States in a television age. Nor is it strange that there has been a call in rhetorical theory to utilize a form of narrative analysis in the past two decades. The shift toward narrative analysis indicates a sensitivity on the part of rhetorical scholars to a change in dominant forms of rhetorical style -- the return of some aspects of orality and story telling in highly literate societies.

Journal Title

Iowa Journal of Communication

Volume

28

Issue

1

First Page

47

Last Page

71

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Flayhan, Donna Paul (1996) "The Battle of the Narratives: A Narrative Analysis of the Rhetoric of Joe McCarthy, Edward R. Murrow, and Joseph Welsh in an Age of Secondary Orality," Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 28: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol28/iss1/5

Copyright

©1996 Iowa Communication Association