Richard Vatz
Encyclopedia
Richard Eugene Vatz is a professor in the Department of Mass Communication and Communication Studies at Towson University
. Vatz has been member of the Board of Trustees for several years and an associate psychology editor for the journal USA Today Magazine since 1987 and has been a member of the National Communication Association since 1969.
Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties. He blogs for Red Maryland. He is the longest serving member of Towson University's University Senate (35 years at the end of his current term).
, The Washington Post
, and the Los Angeles Times
and over hundreds of academic publications and paid lectures. He has appeared on Crossfire
, Larry King Live
, The Phil Donahue Show
, William F. Buckley's Firing Line
and many other radio and television outlets. He most frequently appears as a guest on WBAL
Radio in Baltimore and has also appeared frequently on WBFF-TV, WMAR-TV, primarily on their talk show "Square Off" hosted by Richard Sher, Maryland Public Television, WJZ-TV, and WBAL-TV.
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 published a follow-up piece to the "Myth" article in the National Communication Association's January, 2009, Review of Communication. The article was titled "The Mythical Status of Situational Rhetoric: Implications for Rhetorical Critics’ Relevance in the Public Arena." Vatz argued there that the "Myth" perspective was the appropriate rhetorical approach to the study of persuasion, and that the perspective offered in "The Rhetorical Situation" was anathema to the academic status of rhetorical study, as it implied that situations caused the production of rhetoric rather than high-ethos rhetoricians' choices causing what audiences perceived as dominant situations and their meaning.
He is a conservative blogger for Red Maryland (www.redmaryland.blogspot.com) and blogs about 20 pieces a year on national conservative perspectives on rhetorical theory, media criticism and contemporary political issues.
With co-author Lee S. Weinberg, Vatz contributed a chapter to Jefferson Fish
's book How to Legalize Drugs.
Towson University
Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S...
. Vatz has been member of the Board of Trustees for several years and an associate psychology editor for the journal USA Today Magazine since 1987 and has been a member of the National Communication Association since 1969.
Awards
He has won Towson’s "President’s Award for Distinguished Service" (the University’s highest honor), the 2009-10 first Towson Student Government's "Faculty Member of the Year," the 2002 Towson University "Teacher of the Year Award," the Towson University Alumni Association’s 2003 Faculty Volunteer Service Award, and four Towson University Outstanding Teaching Awards in the five years they were awarded (1976–1980), the most of any faculty member at the university. Vatz has won the Thomas SzaszThomas Szasz
Thomas Stephen Szasz is a psychiatrist and academic. Since 1990 he has been Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. He is a well-known social critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry, and of the social...
Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties. He blogs for Red Maryland. He is the longest serving member of Towson University's University Senate (35 years at the end of his current term).
Works
Dr. Vatz has written a book on psychiatric rhetoric, has a new one that just recently came out (2012) titled The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall-Hunt) and has published numerous articles on political rhetoric and media criticism in publications including The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and over hundreds of academic publications and paid lectures. He has appeared on Crossfire
Crossfire
A crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
, Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
, William F. Buckley's Firing Line
Firing Line
Firing Line was an American public affairs show founded and hosted by conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. Its 1,504 episodes over 33 years made Firing Line the longest-running public affairs show in television history with a single host...
and many other radio and television outlets. He most frequently appears as a guest on WBAL
WBAL (AM)
WBAL is a news-talk radio station located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. WBAL broadcasts on a clear channel frequency with 50 kilowatts of power. Owned by the Hearst Corporation, WBAL's tri-mast transmitters are located in Randallstown, Maryland...
Radio in Baltimore and has also appeared frequently on WBFF-TV, WMAR-TV, primarily on their talk show "Square Off" hosted by Richard Sher, Maryland Public Television, WJZ-TV, and WBAL-TV.
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
Lloyd Bitzer
Lloyd Bitzer is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science. As a rhetorician he is best known for the concept of "the rhetorical situation." Marilyn Young has characterized him as "one of the most respected rhetoricians of the latter half of the...
'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 published a follow-up piece to the "Myth" article in the National Communication Association's January, 2009, Review of Communication. The article was titled "The Mythical Status of Situational Rhetoric: Implications for Rhetorical Critics’ Relevance in the Public Arena." Vatz argued there that the "Myth" perspective was the appropriate rhetorical approach to the study of persuasion, and that the perspective offered in "The Rhetorical Situation" was anathema to the academic status of rhetorical study, as it implied that situations caused the production of rhetoric rather than high-ethos rhetoricians' choices causing what audiences perceived as dominant situations and their meaning.
He is a conservative blogger for Red Maryland (www.redmaryland.blogspot.com) and blogs about 20 pieces a year on national conservative perspectives on rhetorical theory, media criticism and contemporary political issues.
With co-author Lee S. Weinberg, Vatz contributed a chapter to Jefferson Fish
Jefferson Fish
Jefferson M. Fish is a professor emeritus of psychology at St. John's University in New York City, where he previously served as Chair of the Department of Psychology and as Director of the PhD Program in Clinical Psychology....
's book How to Legalize Drugs.