| Late-night talk shows have always been intended for entertainment. However, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is more like a news program. For 16 years, the anchorman, Jon Stewart, has stuck to weighting in every night on the issue of the day, deconstructing the absurdity of media coverage and calling politicians on their hypocrisy. Although he has repeatedly claimed himself a comedian actor broadcasting "fake news", he was acknowledged as the most trusted newsman in America, and his show a legitimate source of credible news. The success of the program is rooted in the successful use of rhetorical appeals.Scholars at home and abroad have studied the show from the perspectives of Mass Communication Study, Psychology, Linguistics, and Sociology, and research from the perspective of western rhetoric mainly focuses on its use of satire and humor. In an attempt to conduct a more well-rounded rhetorical study, the author intends to analyze the show based on the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos with data collected from such fields as politics, media, and social affairs. The purpose of this study is to explain why a self-claimed "fake news" program became a reliable news source for a majority of audience, and its anchorman was listed the most trusted newsman in America. The present study found that the show and its anchorman established their ethos through personal charm, authority and goodwill, that pathos appealed to humor and seriousness and that logos appealed to the self-evident argument and "self-effacing" demeanor. A study of the skillful use of rhetorical strategies here will not only offer an answer to the question raised above, but certainly help us Chinese audience better appreciate the culture and art of English language with the implication for the combination of information and entertainment in news report programs in mass communication. |
PDF Full Text Request