TY - JOUR AU - Humaira Riaz, AU - Tariq Khan, AU - Ihsan Ullah, PY - 2022/03/22 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Coronavirus Rhetoric in Pakistani Media: A ‘Solution Aversion’ Pandemic Situation JF - Erevna: Journal of Linguistics and Literature JA - Erevna VL - 5 IS - 2 SE - DO - UR - https://journals.au.edu.pk/ojserevna/index.php/erevna/article/view/223 SP - 1-11 AB - <p>Pandemics are natural threats. Coronavirus not only<br>threatened human lives around the globe in the 21st century<br>but also exposed human preparedness and behaviour against<br>natural calamities. The present study attempts to highlight<br>reinforcement strategies of Pakistani news channels during<br>Coronavirus pandemic persuading the public to adopt<br>preventative measures. Unfortunately, population of a third<br>world country such as Pakistan reflected a degenerated moral<br>response to pandemic compared to West and America. ‘Stay<br>home stay safe’ being the sole solution and prevention against<br>Coronavirus could not mould Pakistani citizens at large<br>during the lockdown. ‘Solution-aversion’ attitude of Pakistani<br>citizens completely refused social distancing due to illiteracy,<br>poverty, religious extremism, ignorance and most of all<br>population. Pakistani media adopted various persuasive<br>strategies to convince people for social distancing during the<br>pandemic. This paper examines headlines from three popular<br>Pakistani news channels ARY, GEO and Samaa TV from<br>March 7 to April 30, 2020, broadcast at 9. p.m, prime time for<br>television viewers in Pakistan. The main interest is the<br>insightful assessment of media rhetoric in the backdrop of the<br>pandemic. The study is non-linear i.e. it does not follow a<br>fixed sequence of headlines rather it discusses appeals as an<br>emphatic media strategy for persuasion. It encounters the<br>traditional rhetoric appeals, bathos, ethos, logos and to a<br>limited extent kairos as a descriptive model of media picture<br>in the news headlines invoking listeners’ emotions for a<br>purpose in the context of the Coronavirus outbreak. As Media<br>rhetoric in Pakistan (March 7-April 30 2020) unfolds, the<br>headlines are contextualized, culminating in an extensive<br>analysis of the sum of their parts by way of conclusion.<br>However, worth anticipating argument is the power of<br>the persuasive language used strategically to develop<br>consciousness and awareness in a situation where the public<br>show aversion to the solution consequently causing threat to<br>the lives around.</p> ER -