Arguing Security: The Role of the Media Environment for Threat Legitimation.

This paper studies the process of gaining public consent about a security threat, or threat legitimation. Threats require legitimation because they are 'social facts' and not objective truths or subjective perceptions. Threat legitimation occurs in the public discourse through rhetoric. Political and social actors deploy rhetorical resources and strategies to construct, reproduce, and change narratives about a threat. Unlike previous rhetorical studies, this paper also argues that the influence and power of rhetoric depends on the media environment. The first section of the paper outlines threat legitimation and the role of rhetoric and the media environment. The second section investigates four cases within two different media environments, radio and television. Through these four cases, the paper demonstrates the importance of rhetorical strategies for threat legitimation in US foreign policy, and how the media environment affects the use of rhetoric. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]