Rhetoric Review Oct 2022

Students’ Social Media Disclosures: Reconsidering the Rhetorics of Whistleblowing

Sarah Riddick Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

This article examines how whistleblowing evolves as a rhetorical genre alongside emergent media. By analyzing three events involving student disclosures on social media, this article argues that students’ social media communication can qualify as whistleblowing, just as whistleblowing can qualify as rhetoric. Notably, whistleblowing’s current conventions, which are heavily based in business and organization studies, suggest otherwise. This article introduces a concept called kinderuption to facilitate rhetorical analyses of whistleblowing. Approaching whistleblowing events as kinderuptions invites critical attention to audience engagement and influence, and a reconsideration of underlying themes like intention, harm, and care.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2022-10-02
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2022.2109400
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Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism genre theory social media
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

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    From Spectators to Participants: Rhetorical Approaches to Digital Nonviolent Re…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Lunsford et al. (2024)
    Activist Orientations: Wayfinding, Writing, and How Alumni Effect Change in the World
    Rhetoric Review

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