Using Discourse Analysis on News Media Content Issues and Challenges By Shan Wu

Overview Defining discourse analysis Discourse and Power Three key discourse analytical frameworks Michel Foucault Teun A. van Dijk Norman Fairclough Flaws of existing frameworks for analysis of news media texts Critique of suggested improvements

Defining Discourse Analysis Two main definitions As social action and interaction between human agents As social construction of reality that creates a knowledge system; influences our social practice and relations Effective qualitative supplement to quantitative content analysis Considers link between media content and wider sociopolitical framework

Discourse and Power Discourse linked to power and social interests Language use and social practice framed by institutions Institutions determine rules and and positions of agents

Three Key Scholars Michel Foucault’s system of representation Teun van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis

Foucault’s System of Representation Discourse as system of representation Discourse – Knowledge – Power Discursive formation can sustain “regime of truth” Subjects constructed through discourse Opposes Marxist theory of ideology Intertextuality and interdiscursivity

Foucault’s System of Representation Criticisms: No structured and comprehensive methodology Subject as mere product of discursive practices

Van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Approach Reducing textual info to fundamental themes On thematic level: Looks at overall description of text/ macrostructures Reduces complicated info to macro-propositions On schematic level: Analyse schematic structures that influence form of the text

Van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Approach Criticisms: Ignores intertextual relations Difficult to compare across large number of texts Uncritical reproduction of power relations and ideologies

Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis Discourses influence social relations and knowledge systems through language Group together to form discursive order Discourse analysis = analysis of discursive event + analysis of discursive order Three dimensions: Analysis of 1) language texts, 2) discourse practice, 3) discursive events as instances of sociocultural practice Impt terms: Discourse practice, intertextuality

Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis Criticisms: Textual-oriented approach Over-ambitious methodical frame Questionable linkage between textual description and interpretation Lack of understanding of human agency

Discourse Analysis for News Shaping presentation of media texts Professional ideology of journalists, news organizations State and corporate pressures Ownership of media Profit motivation of news organization

Discourse Analysis for News Key considerations neglected in current frameworks Origins of competing discourses Presence of divergent social accounts Influence of external factors Meaning of the text to different audiences

Discourse Analysis for News Other issues Accuracy of representations Views included/ excluded in a text Rhetoric of political stories Time-sensitivity Interaction between discourse and social realities: Circulation of meaning

Suggested Improvements Carvalho (2000) Textual analysis Language and rhetoric Discursive strategies and processes Ideological standpoints (Surface descriptors, objects, actors) Contextual Analysis Comparative-synchronic analysis Historical-diachronic analysis

Suggested Improvements Pros Intertextual and contextual Time-sensitive Accounts for journalistic intervention Cons Neglects production processes of text and audience reception

Suggested Improvements Greg Philo (2007), Glasgow University Media Group Interviews and focus groups with journalists and audiences E.g. Coverage of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the UK

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Reports on killing of young Palestinian boy Mohd Al-Durrah in Oct 2000 Images of him and his father crouched against wall widely shown

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Israelis issued statement that boy’s death was unintentional Israelis focused on “war on terror”: Israel as threatened and “responding” to attacks Palestinians rejected this account Israeli view dominant in news

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Influences on UK journalists Strong support in US for Israel Close political link between UK and US Well-organized lobbying and public relations Views of political and public figures Aim for balance: Sympathetic, acknowledge boy killed by Israelis

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Audience reception of messages Reproduced content and structure of news progs Little reference to Palestinian viewpoint Reproduced structure and sequence of accounts based on news reports Reorganized memories to give meaning to the event

Conclusion Need to analyze media texts against total system Consider processes of production, content, reception and circulation Comprehensive discourse analysis: Better understanding of generation and reproduction of social meanings through news media