| Abstract [eng] |
This master thesis examines the rhetoric of three power centers on Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic in the period from January 1, 2021 until December 31, 2021. Research problem - the media claimed that the communication of COVID-19 was poor, but in order to be able to criticize it, first of all, it is necessary to find out what it was in the first place. For this reason, a rhetorical analysis is needed to know and understand what kind of communication was used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the aim of the work is to reveal which types of persuasion are noticeable and which dominated the communication related to COVID-19 by analyzing the rhetoric of the three power centers. All the power centers discussed below are chosen because of their great influence in different spheres. Also, everyone is like representatives of institutions that act as centers of power. Therefore, the rhetoric of three power centers (administrative, political, medical) will be analyzed further in the work: political – Arūnas Dulkys, the Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania; administrative – Rolanda Lingienė, the director of the Vilnius Department of the National Public Health Center; medical – Mindaugas Stankūnas, a member of the Council of Health Experts, professor of the Health Management Department of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. In order to achieve the goal of the work, the following tasks are set: 1) after analyzing the literature that includes rhetorical appeals logos, ethos, pathos, formulate and present the theoretical basis; 2) based on theoretical assumptions, formulate and present the methodological part of the work; 3) analyze the rhetoric of representatives of three power centers – political, administrative, medical – on the Facebook social network during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the categories of logos, ethos, pathos; 4) prepare work conclusions. The analysis of Facebook rhetoric by Arūnas Dulkys revealed that the communication of a representative of the political sphere is mostly characterized by logos persuasion appeals, but other categories such as pathos, ethos and value/moral aspect are not far behind. A. Dulkys uses all categories in rhetoric about equally – about 20 percent. What is characteristic only of the rhetoric of the representative of the political center of power is the fact that there is frequent pathos - the promotion of negative emotions. The Facebook posts of Rolanda Lingienė, representative of the administrative power center and director of the Vilnius Department of the National Public Health Center, are dominated by logos (39%) and value (26%) categories. The value and moral category clearly stands out, there are many appeals to unity, empathy, hope, and friendship. This rhetoric of positive social values is often associated with personal responsibility. The rhetoric of the representative of the medical power center, Mindaugas Stankūnas, is clearly dominated by the rhetorical appeal of logos. It occupies almost half of Stankūnas' Facebook communication – 47%. Also, the dominant category in medical power center communication is ethos, occupying 33%. analyzed sources. The analyzed sources clearly reflect the tendency to promote the audience's trust in the communicator, to create feelings of persuasiveness and suggestiveness. To write an even broader analysis, it would be relevant to examine visual material, press conferences, emojis, as this would allow expanding the scope of the research. Future research could look at pandemic rhetoric through a different theoretical lens, beyond S. E. Green's theory of rhetorical diffusion. This could reveal new perspectives in examining the rhetoric of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the author of the paper does not claim that after analyzing the rhetoric of the power centers, it is possible to make large generalizations, nevertheless, this work enriches research on the social media communication of the power centers in Lithuania. |
