Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Meta-Analysis Of Research On The Functional Theory Of Political Campaign Discourse, William L. Benoit

Speaker & Gavel

Functional Theory has been applied to a variety of election campaign messages, including candidacy announcement speeches; TV spots; debates; direct mail brochures; candidate webpages; nomination acceptance addresses; vice presidential debates; senate, gubernatorial, and mayoral debates; senate, gubernatorial, and house TV spots; and debates and TV spots from other countries. This approach argues that election messages address one of three functions (acclaims, attacks, defenses) and one of two topics (policy, character). This study reports a meta-analysis of several Functional Theory predictions: acclaims are more common than attacks (defenses are consistently the least common function and were not tested here); policy is …

Third Party Candidates In Political Debates: Muted Groups Struggling To Express Themselves, Carolyn Prentice

Speaker & Gavel

With the rise of a multitude of political parties, some campaign debate organizers are beginning to include third party candidates in their public debates. However, these third party candidates have been ignored in campaign debate literature. This study analyzed the transcripts of three campaign debates that included third party candidates, using muted group theory to understand the impact of third party candidates in campaign debates. The analysis demonstrates that third party candidates experience the communication obstacles of muted groups.

Since World War II, party affiliation among U.S. voters and straight-ticket voting has been on the decline (Miller & Shanks, 1996). …

Persuasive Effects Of Story And Statistical Evidence, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

The persuasive effects of story and statistical evidence were examined for three different message topics. Students (N = 100) read three story or statistical messages and completed post-test measures, including ones involving beliefs and cognitive responses. A two-way interaction between message topic and evidence indicated that the persuasiveness of evidence varied by message topic. Exploratory analyses revealed that statistics were rated as more scientific and less personal than stories, but these characteristics of evidence were not related to persuasiveness.

Ua37/23 Whas Broadcast No. 61, Whas, Western Kentucky University, Earl Moore

WKU Archives Records

Script for weekly WKU broadcast on WHAS radio featuring a debate between WKU and Asbury College on minimum wage. Individuals included in the broadcast were Earl Moore, Louis Salomon, Charles Crain, B.H. Henard, Julius Brasher and Charles Runyan.

Ua37/23 Whas Broadcast No. 23, Whas, Western Kentucky University, Earl Moore

WKU Archives Records

Script for weekly WKU broadcast on WHAS radio. includes letter from Henry Cherry advertising the debate program between WKU and Asbury College. Debaters were Paul Huddleston and Coy Parsley discussing the power of the Supreme Court.