A JOURNALISTIC GENRE NEGLECTED BY PRESS THEORY – THE OPEN LETTER

An obsolete journalistic genre is experiencing a startling revival (especially in multimedia). This was possible through two distinctive Print media aspects: 1. spoiling of the main opinion press genres (commentary, notes, analysis) and 2. emancipation of the “letter” by suspending some central characteristics  such as: the notoriety of the sender or the alleged friendship between the two actors of this fictional dialogue. The present analysis focuses on some argumentative specific devices of this standalone press genre, placed between the pamphlet and polemic discourse.