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3 unusual facts about Richard Vatz


Rhetorical situation

An important response to Bitzer's theory came in 1973 from Richard E. Vatz.

Richard Vatz

His seminal article, “The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation,” written in the journal Philosophy and Rhetoric when he was 26 years of age, critiqued Lloyd Bitzer's 1968 article "The Rhetorical Situation" in the same journal and has served as the basis for his world view on persuasion; namely, that rhetorical study is conceived most advantageously for the field through a model of competition for salience/agenda and meaning/spin.

Vatz has won the Thomas Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties.



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