Masaryk university faculty of education
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10.RadioWoodrow Wilson, in 1917, delivered his declaration of war against Germany by speaking to the Congress, only later having his speech published in the newspapers for people to read. The onset of the radio followed soon after, so in this sense, Wilson’s speech is the last one unmarked by the effect of broadcast media. Twenty four years later, Roosevelt’s declaration of war against Japan was broadcast by radio to millions of listeners. Both speeches differ greatly not only because of the circumstances of each conflict but because “no other medium changed the everyday lives of Americans as quickly and irrevocably as radio.” (Horten, p. 1) A major milestone was the “outbreak of World War I … [which] created a powerful new dynamic in the development of radio in the United States. (Craig, p. 5) Interestingly, Wilson’s first speech broadcast via radio was the one following the declaration of war on Germany – when he spoke from a ship to U.S. troops going to war on board other ships. It was “President Hoover in the 1920s who hired the first radio speech consultant.” (Craig, p. 149) And when in 1939 people were asked whether they got most of their news from the radio or the newspaper, over “60% of respondents mentioned the newspaper and 25% mentioned the radio. By 1945, the roles had been reversed” (Horten, p. 14) The following graph (Image 4.4) documents the ratio of income and radio ownership, confirming the growing impact of radio on American audience. Image 4.4
Radio developed massively and quickly, and in 1941 “by the time United States entered World War II, the strategies and narrative devices of the renewed propaganda effort seemed all too familiar. (Horten, p.17) Radio appealed to audiences and audiences appealed to politicians, who in turn became increasingly more skilled in hitting just the right pause and finding just the right sound bite to catch the attention and the hearts of that audience. Amazingly, it was radio, which “established the basic structure of broadcasting within which television is still operating,” and which also established the speech strategies for mass media used by politicians. (Horten, p.1) 11.TelevisionWhen thinking of television, most people will imagine a visual medium, bringing us colorful pictures and movies with sound, thus perhaps discounting the importance of the actual verbal content. A study on this issue confirmed, that “the story line is the dominant element of television news,” which is however not important when discussing live coverage of a presidential speech. (Geis, p.143) What is essential though when considering mass media impact is the instant television news analysis taking place immediately after the speech is delivered and also the later editing and quoting in the news. Who the reporter is and what he or she comments on and how, makes all the difference to the viewer. Simplified comments on the president’s speech might clarify certain points, but can also confuse the viewer more than the speech itself. (Geis, p. 162) For the extent of this thesis, some of the data written about radio can be applied to television, since “Americans of the 1920s and 1930s could not imagine their lives without their radio sets any more than later generations could imagine theirs without television.” (Horten, p.2) Television came, impressed and increased the overall experience of the viewer by adding a visual stimulus, but its impact was never as massive and life-changing as with radio. That said, the speech strategies for mass media kept improving. 12.TwitterTwitter is an Internet social network created for the purpose of so-called ‘tweeting’ or sending instant messages. Obama is the first president to have an account on Twitter and his staff uses it actively to post news and updates such as the one on the bombing of Libya below. The embarrassing misspelling of the word Libya has been a source of countless jokes and criticism. Image 4.2 
Twiter functions on the basis of quick, constant updates, with a limit of 180 characters, which are sent by the user to other users that have subscribes to follow its ‘tweets’. The language is simple, short, very coloquial with frequent abbreviations, shortcuts or symbols. The following is a recent ‘tiweet’ from Obama’s White House account: Got game? Take the Obama Bracket Challenge and see how your picks stack up against the President's. While there is not real interaction between the President and the other users, the psychological effect on the young audience is significant, as is visible from all the responses visible on the website. 13.FacebookFacebook is also an Internet social network, created before Twitter, but focusing on a similar idea, which is posting messages on a website for all your friends to see. Facebook is responsible for neologisms like ‘to friend’ or ‘to unfriend’ somebody. The difference between the two social networks is that Twitter limits your message to 180 characters, whereas Facebook has no limit for data. A Facbook user creates their own website and posts photos, notes or even movies for everyone ‘friended’ to see and to comment on. For example, Obama has posted photos from his vacation or his family recipe for bean soup on Facebook. More importantly, Obama has a direct link on his website, enabling visitors to instantly donate money to his campaign, which has proved vital during his campaign. Linguistically, Facebook offers space for longer stretches of text, but its level continues to be colloquial.
In order to supply information needed for an accurate understanding of context, the following lines offer basic political, historical and cultural assessments that preceded the delivery of each speech. Lackoff and Johnson agree, that “every experience takes place within a vast background of cultural presuppositions”, which is why this section will focus on laying out important aspects, acting as possible presuppositions, that had to be considered by the speakers in order to maximize the outcome and minimize the drawback. Only basic linguistic evaluation is given, with relation to the mass media used to deliver the message. (p. 57) Further details will follow in the practical part. Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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