While this report was based on the responsibility of the rhetor, the most notable fact of it seems to be the audience.  Every act the rhetor performs or choice the rhetor makes depends upon the audience in some way; everything relates to the reaction of this second party.  First, it is the rhetor’s and the journalist’s function to convince or inform the audience of the fact; without the audience, the rhetor was unnecessary.  Also, the presenter must use what means (methods) are available to accommodate the audience, whether it be portraying a particular character or reputation, appearing sympathetic to a certain perspective, or the choice of argument to use in each situation.  In the news media’s case, the journalist must uphold a certain reputation to remain credible, it must present stories (if not perspectives) that the spectator wants to learn about and it must choose an effective presentation method.  For example, journalists at the BBC succumbed to external evaluation to maintain their reliability.  New stations cut back airing certain devastating images in the way of September 11.  Finally, the New York Times issued a four-page apology for the Jayson Blair scandal, to prove to its readers that it meant to act in the best interest of the audience, not the employees or editors.

In addition to methods of persuasion, Aristotle advocated expressing not the personally held perception of morality, but the universal one—the one that depended upon Grecian society.  In a similar manner, the journalist often makes decisions based on the idea of good for society, whether that be exposing the complete truth of a situation—as with graphic images from the Iraq War—or withholding some evidence for a greater good—as Rumsfeld requested.  Aristotle believed that the greater good—the universal concept of good—was the ultimate achievement and inherently sought after by "normal" human beings; these normal human beings were his audience. However, the modern-day reporter is responsible to an un accredited audience, the audience being our society that often glories in its diversity.

Finally, when presenting the facts of a story, in competence or in ignorance, the rhetor is held accountable by society. We see the struggle to present the full, correct story at the behest of society. Failure to do so is condemned or forgiven—as was the case with Jayson Blair and the September 11 tragedies, respectively.  From this Website's discussion, we see that the responsibility of the rhetor is very often to the audience.