Abstract

This work analyses first pages of American newspapers in order to identify strategies of visual rhetoric. The newspapers in question were published on June 29, 2012, the day after the Supreme Court ruling that confirmed the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, a comprehensive plan to reform the country’s healthcare system. Since Court sessions may not be photographed, reports could not have been accompanied by photographs of the event itself and newspapers had to employ alternative strategies of visual representation, such as portrayal of pro- and anti-protesters, definition of main characters, emphasis on healthcare workers and their patients, and the use of symbols. The results of the analysis demonstrate how decisions about visual elements are essential to the rhetoric strategies in mass communication. News design operates in a context of geographical, historical, and ideological situations and intentions, so text and images collaborate to shape the message, operating in a rhetorical fashion.