TY - JOUR AU - Ommen, Brett JF - Javnost-The Public TI - On the Relationship between Voice and Authority in On Message Communication VL - 17 IS - 4 PY - 2010/// SN - 1854-8377 PB - EURICOM UR - http://javnost-thepublic.org/article/2010/4/4/ N2 - On Message communication allows political authority to fill the demand for authorised speech with a stable message reinforced by uniform performances. The strategy indicates the ways in which changes in the material and institutional mechanisms of discursive practice fundamentally alter the categories by which we understand, analyse, and respond to rhetorical productions. The essay suggests that On Message communication, illustrated by George W. Bush’s administration, functions as a particular form of prosopopoeia, the verbal equivalent to wearing masks. The project charts the variable relationship between political authority and performance to suggest that On Message communication refigures the classical account of prosopopoeia and alters the relationship between publics and political authority. U1 - Print ISSN: 1318-3222 ER -