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The Rhetoric of Public Dialogue

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The Rhetoric of Public Dialogue Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture Volume 22 (2003) No. 1 IN THIS ISSUE The Rhetoric of Public Dialogue Rob Anderson Saint Louis University Kenneth N. Cissna University of South Florida Meghan K. Clune Saint Louis University A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH ISSN: 0144-4646 Communication Research Trends Table of Contents Volume 22 (2003) Number 1 http://cscc.scu.edu The Rhetoric of Public Dialogue . 3 I. Introduction: Published four times a year by the Centre for the Study of The Timeliness of Dialogue in Public . 4 Communication and Culture (CSCC), sponsored by the A. Informal Definitions . 5 California Province of the Society of Jesus. B. The Scope of the Essay . 6 Copyright 2003. ISSN 0144-4646 II. Dialogue as a Hinge Concept in Recent Public Life . 7 Editor: William E. Biernatzki, SJ, PhD A. Tuning a Rhetorical Perspective . 7 Managing Editor: Paul A. Soukup, SJ 1. The Rhetoric of Access and Space . 8 2. The Rhetoric of Difference and Voice . .11 3. The Rhetoric of Deliberation . .15 Subscription: 4. The Rhetoric of Civility . .17 Annual subscription (Vol. 22) US$45 B. The Special Case of Public Journalism . .18 1. Dialogic Justifications for Payment by check, MasterCard, Visa or US$ preferred. a Public Journalism . .19 For payments by MasterCard or Visa, send full account 2. Evaluations and Critiques of Public number, expiration date, name on account, and signature. Journalism Philosophy and Practice . .20 III. Enhancing the Prospects for Public Dialogue: Checks and/or International Money Orders (drawn on Projects and Programs of Dialogic Response . .23 USA banks; for non-USA banks, add $10 for handling) A. General Models and Applications should be made payable to Communication Research of Public Dialogue . .23 Trends and sent to the managing editor 1. Public Conversations Project . .23 Paul A. Soukup, SJ 2. National Issues Forums . .24 Communication Department 3. Study Circles Resource Center . .25 Santa Clara University 4. Public Dialogue Consortium . .26 500 El Camino Real B. Content-Specific Public Dialogue Programs . .27 Santa Clara, CA 95053 USA 1. Race Relations . .27 2. Religion . .28 Transfer by wire to: Bank of America, 485 El Camino 3. Environment . .29 Real, Santa Clara, California. 95050, Account 00425- 4. Arts . .29 14510, Routing #121000358. Add $10 for handling. 5. International Relations . .30 C. Other Programs of Public Dialogue . .30 Address all correspondence to the managing editor at the 1. Uniting America . .20 address shown above. 2. Future Search . .31 Tel: +1-408-554-5498 3. Bohmian Approach to Dialogue . .31 Fax: +1-408-554-4913 4. Cafés . .31 email: [email protected] 5. Utne Reader Salons . .32 6. Yankelovich . .32 The Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture IV. Conclusions . .33 (CSCC) is an international service of the Society of Jesus Editors Afterword . .34 established in 1977 and currently managed by the References . .35 California Province of the Society of Jesus, P.O. Box 519, Journals Received . .37 Los Gatos, CA 95031-0519. Featured Book Review . .38 Book Reviews . .40 2 VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 1 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS The Rhetoric of Public Dialogue Rob Anderson, Kenneth N. Cissna, and Meghan K. Clune [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] You stand in the back of the room as a difficult organize volunteers into work teams. Several people public meeting unfoldssay, in Indianapolis, Indiana, begin animated conversations, affirming how good it U.S.A. In a nondescript community center in a lower feels to be doing something at last, to be making a middle-class urban neighborhood, two dozen or so difference, to have the issues defined for us, to well-meaning parents have gathered, most of whom are have a leader. Weve talked enough, one man said. worried about their children remaining in an aging Now is the time for action. Off to the side, some oth- school where mold appears to present a health problem. ers are silent, and appear perplexed. Several school district administrators, also sincere, It is hard to be neutral about childrens safety, or have been invited to address the issue. They assure the about the power of entrenched interests that often parents that the threat is probably minimal, and that oppose grassroots citizen action. Observers might be they dont want to take action now before they get justified in asking some pointed questions, however. Is definitive evidence. The district obviously doesnt this striking example of skillful individual speaking want negative publicity. Further, the administrators also a good example of effective communication? remind the group, although the district can finance a Activism is affirmed, and a voice previously unheard health risk study, closing the school even temporarily has been raised. Something will get done; the light of now would be a costly move that the district could not public opinion will shine on what may be a bad condi- affordespecially because voters have consistently tion. Yet, in the language of the enthusiastic man who voted down bond issues. wanted more action and fewer words, when have we Some of the parents are very worried, but in this talked enough? Are there conditions in which per- working-class community they have few resources suasion and polarization can be disruptive and more and little timewith which to protest. They know the nuanced processes of public dialogue might be more district is underfunded and doesnt have the money for helpful? an extensive cleanup program. Others dont know This kind of public meeting sketches the opportu- enough about the mold, or about district finances, to be nities of dialogue in public, but also the dilemmas of deeply concerned, but they think the problem bears concerned citizens participating in the public sphere. watching and want to be kept informed. Some African- The issues of our hypothetical yet recognizable event, American parents are convinced that administrators in fact, are those that characterize a wide range of citi- wouldnt have tolerated such a health hazard for a sin- zen options in democratic decision-making: How do gle day in an all-white school. A small group, both we act in concert on significant issues, inviting and black and white, seem to be passionate and ready to hearing relevant voices, while still recognizing the march on the school district headquarters if necessary. need to translate talk into social action? What is the A dynamic and charismatic woman rises to per- relationship between individual leadership and group suade the group to mobilize, to contact the newspaper decision-making? How, as we consider both public and local television stations, to march on the district speaking and public listening, do participants hold their headquarters, and to begin to organize a strike by hold- own ground while remaining open to the new insights ing their children out of school. The powers that be, others may bring? What is the relationship between she argues, have victimized our children for the last deliberation and information, and how can media in time. We cant let our children get sicker and sicker generaland journalism in particularclarify that while the school board delays and delays. Make them relation? What kinds of dialogic tensions are intro- treat our children like the rich white suburban districts duced when minority groups must also encounter a his- treat their children! The excitement of the moment, tory of nonrecognition and diminished identity in the combined with the frustration of inaction, generates public sphere? What are the realistic sites and bound- enthusiastic responses from most of the audience. The aries of public talk, and how can we skillfully clear the woman volunteers to be the media spokesperson and to physical and psychological spaces for realistic dia- COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 1 3 logue? Which decisions are amenable to democratic identified with individual achievement or with rapid deliberation, and which must rely on deeper and per- action. Nor is it as readily associated with the goals of haps more expert testimony? social persuasion as they have been traditionally The radical ambiguity of such a context illustrates defined. Aristotles well known definition of rhetoric some crucial differences in how Western society, at as the art of finding the available means of persuasion least, respectsand even conceptualizescommuni- in a situation has been expanded in recent years to cation. For example, many would assume that a public include more invitational and facilitative rhetorical meeting held in the absence of full scientific or techni- styles and more inclusive rhetorical goals. If tradition- cal information about a subject would be pointless or, al persuasion advanced the goal of changing minds and at best, merely cathartic. Others might just as naturally attitudes, then that clearly applied to many communi- assume that the meeting should be an arena in which cation plans. Also relevant was Kenneth Burkes various interests are not only expressed but confronted (1967) reminder that rhetoric depends as well upon with competing interests in a winner-loser format. social processes of identification. Yet such perspectives Public gatherings are commonly treated as sites for could also leave unexamined those communication individual persuasion, individual resistance, individual encounters in which minds and voices meet collabora- tolerance, and individual rhetoric. Communication is tively to shape perspectives that might not have devel- imagined to be what one person, group, or argument oped by individual effort alone. Further, although dia- does to another. A speaker who mobilizes sentiments in logue is hardly a new concept, more theorists and favor of her perspective is generally presumed to be practitioners than ever are now concerned with tracing engaging in effective communication. its processes and values through the demands of diffi- In an alternate and rapidly emerging perspective, cult and confrontive public communication settings.
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