Although I understand that Rhetoric and Communication go hand-in-hand, Communications is the reason Rhetoric gets its bad name today. People hear rhetoric, and just think of conflict, not necessarily argument. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Communications sometimes ignores the Ethos, Pathos, and even sometimes, the Logos of rhetoric.
Ethos: News mediums often ignore the credibility of sources and individuals. Sure, opinions are just that, opinions, but they often represent very skewed ideas with faulty reasoning. Although reasoning is obviously not ethos, the characters reporting and giving their opinions aren't much smarter in the field of politics, science, or whatever the subject, than you and I. If you want to use rhetoric, make sure you use the right people.
Pathos: This is a huge problem in Communications. Turn on the 11 o'clock news and all you see is murder here, accident there, rape over there, and etc. If humans are supposedly inherently good, then why report on all the negatives. Maybe it's good rhetoric, because the people will stay around to watch the news if they hear that there is violence, but it takes a toll on the people. Lewis Black, albeit not the best source of information, had an interesting take on this topic, when he said "Terrorism in your neighborhood? What the $%#& is that!?!"
Logos: Aristotle thought that logos was the most important. That is why it so disturbing to see it thrown away so often. It is the topic of my paper, but I thought I'd still talk about it a bit here. News, politics, and the media is full of fallacies, which is the direct contradiction to what it is meant to be. It is like using the word "literally" incorrect. By using "literally" incorrect, you are using exactly opposite of its intended meaning. That is what fallacies are. They are the direct opposite of logic!
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