Intercultural rhetoric analysis of the daily graphic and the New York Times: a micro-genre analysis

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze the editorials of the Daily Graphic newspaper as texts constructed in English as a Second Language (ESL) setting (Ghana) and the editorials of the New York Times of America as texts constructed in Anglo-American English speaking environment. The objective of the study is to discover the differences and the similarities that exist between the rhetorical strategies used to report the news in the two newspaper editorials. The study investigates the effect of culture on journalistic style and strategies used to present the news in the two newspaper editorials. The study seeks to find out whether there is significant micro structural variation between the New York Times as a newspaper published in the socio-cultural environment of Anglo-American English speakers and the Daily Graphic as a newspaper published in an ESL setting. The analysis focuses on the demarcation of micro-genres of the selected editorials. The study examines the micro-genres of the newspaper editorials and how the two newspaper editorials create and frame public opinion. On the basis of the categorization of expositions and media commentaries, the analysis classifies the newspaper editorials into micro-genres and traces the social functions they seek to perform. The results of the analysis of the micro-genres of the two newspapers show some similarities and differences in the way the two newspapers frame the information that they communicate to the public. The study concludes that there are significant differences in the rhetorical strategies used to present information by the Daily Graphic and the New York Times in the two socio-cultural environments. The Daily Graphic frames its editorial mainly by appealing to state institutions and individuals involved in the issues that the paper discusses while the New York Times criticizes and questions state institutions and individuals for their role in the issues that the paper discusses.

Keywords: intercultural rhetoric, newspaper editorial, micro genre, media commentaries, social functions