Argumentation in the Pandemic Media Discourse: Decoding Rhetoric Practice

Abstract

Purpose. The paper examines argumentation in the pandemic media discourse. Within the concept of decoding rhetoric, argumentation is considered a procedure for effective text formation acting as an instrument of influence.Method. The research method used is argument reconstruction based on the following parameters: a thesis, types of arguments, and argumentation structures. The material has been selected according to the criterion of an addressee  of the media discourse, where the addressee is a politician, a doctor, or a publicist.Results. Media texts about the pandemic demonstrate that politicians propose orthodox theses, whereas doctor (D. Protsenko) proposes prescriptive ones and publicist (D. Bykov) – paradoxical ones.Politicians use the universal system and rational arguments based on statistics. The influencing message of D. Protsenko’s media text is formed due to personal empirical argumentation. D. Bykov relies on collective empirical argumentation.Concerning the argumentation structures, coordinate argumentation dominates in the media texts of politicians, making it possible to defend their opinion in the most revealing way. D. Protsenko combines coordinate argumentation with the subordinate one, creating opportunities for interpretation. The text of D. Bykov does not show any steady tendencies for argumentative structuring, reflecting a creative approach to text formation.Conclusion. The argument reconstruction reveals mechanisms of text formation and decodes the pragmatic motives of the speakers in the pandemic media discourse.