Witnessing in the echo chamber: From counter-discourses in print media to counter-memories of Argentina’s state terrorism

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1036-1057
Author(s):  
Muireann Prendergast

While the importance of journalism in memory studies has often been overlooked in academic scholarship, media discourses can be considered ‘memory’s precondition’ on both active and passive levels. First, journalists record events as they happen building on narratives and testimonies. Second, sometimes decades later, these can be invoked in legal and social post-dictatorship processes. Applying the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis to memory studies, this research explores the relationship between counter-journalism and counter-memories as a response to and rejection of the ‘echo chamber’ of authoritarian discourse which dominated the mainstream media and promoted official memory during Argentina’s last dictatorship. The methodological approach of the study is mixed, combining qualitative synchronic-diachronic text analysis with a corpus analysis of concordance lines to trace strategies of counter-discourse in two newspapers which opposed the dictatorship. The motivations of their editor-journalists for challenging official discourse and institutional memory in the climate of state terrorism are framed in the context of Margalit’s ‘moral witnessing’.

Author(s):  
Peter Chierike Ikegbunam ◽  
Fabian Ikechukwu Agudosy

The relationship between online and mainstream journalism, over the years, has been critically reviewed negatively by practising journalists. Among the mainstream practising journalists, online and citizen journalism are peddlers of uncensored and junk contents. This study, though a review of reported events, looked at the relationship between mainstream and online contents. The purpose of the study is to verify whether the mainstream media mortify or certify online journalism. This study adopted the critical discourse analysis in reviewing what was reported in both mainstream and online media. The study, which made a case for the credibility transfer hypothesis, revealed that rather than spread junk contents, the online press helps the mainstream media in explaining to the world what is happening around them. Drawing from the outcome of the study, it was found that the online media and citizen journalists break the news while the mainstream media follow suit with few additional contents that give more insight into the stories of the moment. The study concluded that rather than mortify the contents of online media, the mainstream media transfer credibility to it by drawing their publications from the online materials. The study, therefore dismissed allegations from mainstream journalists against online and citizen journalists that they spread junks. It was recommended that the mainstream media journalists and media experts should desist from making some derogatory remarks about online media contents but rather, incorporate online and citizen journalisms’ contents in their mainstream reports for adequate and on-the-event coverage of issues


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Suwarno Suwarno ◽  
Wening Sahayu

Despite a myriad of studies that have been reported in analysing media discourse, few works take into account media bias. In response to this empirical gap, the present critical discourse study (CDS) aims to expose how the biggest national and international news media, The Jakarta Post and The New York Times construct the media bias in depicting Palestine and Israel regarding the latest conflicts in 2019 and 2020. The transitivity system of Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL) was adopted to examine the textual features or choice of words in the clauses of 4 news articles from each news media. The findings show that both mainstream media have similarities, as if more favors to Palestine as the victim of the conflicts rather than Israel as a war criminal nation.  However, The Jakarta Post and The New York Times have different sensitivities in constructing media bias. This empirical evidence suggests that critical discourse analysis (CDA) has a pivotal role in comprehending language used in media discourses. The last but not least, combining CDA and another theoretical approach is suggested for future studies.


Author(s):  
Robin Björkas ◽  
Mariah Larsson

AbstractSex dolls are a complex phenomenon with several diverse possible emotional, sexual and therapeutic uses. They can be part of a broad variety of sexual practices, and also function as a sexual aid. However, the media discourse on sex dolls first and foremost concerns how we perceive the relationship between intimacy and technology. A critical discourse analysis of the Swedish media discourse on sex dolls reveals six themes which dominate the discourse: (a) the definition of what a human being is; (b) a discourse on the (technological and existential) future; (c) a social effort; (d) a loveless phenomenon; (e) men’s violence against women; and (f) pedophilia. Accordingly, this discourse is very conservative and normative in its view of sexuality, technology, and humanity. Overall, the dominant themes do not provide any space for positive effects of technology on human sexuality, and if they do, it is usually as a substitute for something else.


Author(s):  
Sarah A. Adjekum ◽  
Ameil J. Joseph

This article is concerned with the employment of pathologising discourses of mental health and trauma by the mainstream media as they pertain to the treatment of migrants in detention in Canada. Using critical discourse analysis, this research contrasts mainstream media coverage of four major publications on immigration detention. It explores the media’s role in the (re)creation of refugee discourse, and as a purveyor of racial ideology, which problematises people of colour and demands state intervention in the form of mental health aid. The resulting discourse pathologises the refugee identity and simultaneously obscures the socio-political conditions and violence that necessitates their departure from their home countries. As refugee discourse is infused with biomedical understandings of mental health, it also legitimises the nation state’s practice of coercive social control for these populations through detention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-519
Author(s):  
Rajaa Hamid Salih

The incorporation of conceptual metaphor study and assessment in the broader process of critical discourse analysis represents a relatively recent development. At one level, this process can be viewed as an outcome that derives from the broader purpose and scope of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main objective of this article is to understand how metaphors may unconsciously shape people's perception of the world. It is understood that metaphors may play a prominent role in shaping public perception of important topics especially in politics, journals or media discourses. People are exposed to many more metaphors than they may even realize on a daily basis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-84
Author(s):  
Neyla G Pardo

This chapter analyzes speeches delivered by former Colombian President, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, between August 2002 and August 2009, which can be found on the official website of the presidency: ( http://web.presidencia.gov.co/discursos/ ). We attempt to identify the webs of meaning surrounding the concepts of ‘Democratic Security’ and ‘Communitarian State’ with awareness of the relationship between discourse, ideology and power. The aim is to better understand the political power of the plans, programs and projects developed by Uribe’s administration, and how this was affected by widespread deployment of the media. These policies are conditioned by a set of colonialist principles that are embodied in symbolic-discursive strategies that result in representations, by means of which mechanisms of marginalization, discrimination and polarized hierarchy are legitimized from the different social spheres. During the 7-year period analyzed there were controversial debates over the commission of crimes against humanity by national security agents, as well as corruption scandals over topics like ‘para-politics’, ‘false positives’, selective arrests, extrajudicial killings and violations of the sovereignty of bordering countries. Within this political context, we attempt to identify the inherent tensions and social conflicts. It is argued that the analyzed discourses reproduce colonialist thoughts, in relation to neoliberal principles and the application of global policies. Using the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), we explore the strategies and resources used in Uribe’s speeches and how major themes are positioned to reproduce systems of beliefs, values and attitudes.


Author(s):  
Cheryl Brown

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a cross-disciplinary methodological and theoretical approach. At its core CDA explores the intersections between discourse, critique, power, and ideology which hold particular values for those teaching in developing contexts. CDA has emerged as a valuable methodological approach in cultural and media studies and has increased in prominence since the 2010s in education research where it is drawn on to explore educational policy, literacy education, and identity. This research has intersected with the field of information systems which has explored the dominant discourses and discursive practice of how information and communication technologies (ICTs) are viewed in policy and the contradictions between rhetoric and reality. It has also been drawn on in research in developing contexts to critique the role of ICTs in education. A brief historical background to CDA and overview of the key components of the approach will be provided. How CDA has been drawn on in educational studies will be examined and research on CDA will be highlighted to explore discursive practices of students and the influence of students’ digital identities on their engagement with and experience of online learning. By focusing on four key constructs of CDA—namely meaning, context, identity, and power—the potential of CDA to critically investigate how students’ are constructing their technological identity in an increasingly digital world will be demonstrated, particularly as examples of research emanating from developing contexts will be drawn.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 561-579
Author(s):  
Ewa Bogdanowska-Jakubowska

The article discusses work ethos in American ceremonial discourse addressed to the young entering adult life. Its aim is to investigate whether the Protestant work ethic still pervades the American thinking about work. Through a qualitative analysis of the corpus of 100 randomly selected commencement addresses delivered during 2016 and 2017 graduation ceremonies in American universities, it is shown how work-related topics are employed by the speakers celebrating the graduates’ academic achievements and providing them with advice for the future. The Discourse-Historical Approach, committed to Critical Discourse Analysis, has been chosen as a methodological approach, integrating the interpretation of discourses and texts with sociological and historical research, studies on narration, stylistics, rhetoric and argumentation theory. As the discourse to be analyzed is culture-specific, I have decided to combine the Discourse-Historical Approach with Cultural Studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiia-Lotta Pekkanen ◽  
Visa Penttilä

PurposeThe study examines the responsibilisation of an ethnocentric consumer in commercial, meta-organisational discourses. In addition to nationalistic and patriotic discourses, the focus is on wider conceptualisations of consumer responsibility.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses critical discourse analysis as a methodological approach to conduct an empirical case study on the texts of two producer-driven labelling campaigns.FindingsThe campaign texts create possibilities for ethnocentric consumption with positioning, argumentative and classificatory discourses. Patriotic responsibilisation is emphasised, together with rationales to take action on environmental concerns.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the responsibility of marketers over their corporate responsibility communication, suggesting that ethnocentric promotions may have the power to alter how consumers take action on various responsibility concerns.Social implicationsThe study surfaces the tensions that responsible consumption can entail for consumers. Indeed, nationalistic and patriotic discourses may alter our understanding of responsibility issues that may seem completely separate from the concepts of nationalism and patriotism.Originality/valueThe paper shows how different organisational texts are deployed to bring about the idea of ethnocentric consumption and how this relates to responsibility discourses, nationalism and patriotism.


2020 ◽  
pp. 205789112091200
Author(s):  
Christine B Tenorio ◽  
Patrik K Meyer ◽  
Achmad Nurmandi

Rodrigo Duterte won the Philippines’ 2016 presidential elections thanks to a well-orchestrated campaign and his populist appeal among Filipinos. Soon after he assumed the presidency, he surprised and upset most of his domestic and western international audiences by pragmatically rejecting the pro-Western approach followed by the previous Aquino administration and adopting a China-friendly one. Adopting Critical Discourse Analysis, this research reveals President Duterte’s bicephalous leadership: populist in domestic policies, and pragmatic but unpopular in foreign relations. To qualitatively describe the dichotomy between the populist and pragmatic nature of Duterte’s leadership, this article surveys the Philippines’ mainstream media from 2016 to 2019. Furthermore, this analysis shows that Duterte is using a defensive neorealist approach in building Philippines-China relations and that Filipinos are willing to consider China as a constructive partner for their country.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document