“This Virus is a Common Threat to All Humans”: Discourse Representation of COVID-19 in Selected Newspaper Editorials

Existing studies on viruses with bias for COVID-19 have mainly been carried out from non-linguistic fields. Linguistics-related studies have not examined the media representation of COVID-19 since it is a recent development. This study, therefore, identifies the representational strategies, discourse structures and discourse strategies deployed by selected newspapers in representing COVID-19 and associated participants. Data were retrieved from selected COVID-19-related editorials from four purposively selected countries and continents across the world: New York Times (USA, North America), The Guardian (UK, Europe), China Daily (China, Asia) and The Punch (Nigeria, Africa), published in the early periods of the pandemic, and precisely from January 1 – March 31, 2020. Guided by aspects of van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis on ideological discourse structures, data were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The newspaper editorials unusually converged to negatively represent an issue – COVID-19 – because it is largely negatively viewed by all. Ten representational strategies (like economic cankerworm, threat to humans, common enemy), six discourse strategies (like demonising, criminalising, condemnation) and twelve ideological discourse structures (like Actor Description, Authority, Burden) and different participant representations and roles (like solver, potential super spreader) were identified in the study. The newspapers largely set the agenda on the negative representation of the virus and its potential havoc on all facets of human endeavours, thereby giving emotional and informational appeal to all to join hands in earnestly silencing the epidemic. Keywords: COVID-19, media representation, newspaper editorials, discourse strategies, discourse structures

Reader Comments Agentive Power in COVID-19 Digital News Articles: Challenging Parascientific Information?

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an enormous stream of information. Parascientific digital communication has pursued different avenues, from mainstream media news to social networking, at times combined. Likewise, citizens have developed new discourse practices, with readers as active participants who claim authority. Based on a corpus of 500 reader comments from The Guardian, we analyse how readers build their authorial voice on COVID-19 news as well as their agentive power and its implications. Methodologically, we draw upon stance markers, depersonalisation strategies, and heteroglossic markers, from the perspective of discursive interpersonality. Our findings unearth that stance markers are central for readers to build authority and produce content. Depersonalised and heteroglossic markers are also resorted, reinforcing readers’ authority with external information that mirrors expert scientific communication. Conclusions suggest a strong citizen agentive power that can either support news articles, spreading parascientific information, or challenge them, therefore, contributing to produce pseudoscientific messages.

Echoes of Empire: racism and historical amnesia in the British media coverage of migration

This paper looks at how the British media addressed the issue of migration in Europe between 2015 and 2018, four years when the topic was high on news and political agendas, due to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the UK’s debate on Britain’s relationship with the European Union and free movement of people. Based on a sample of 400 articles from two national newspapers, The Guardian and The Times, the paper compares the content and discourse between the left-wing and right-wing press. The paper argues that media representations turn refugees into ‘migrants’ and portray them as either a threat to the national economy and security or as passive victims of distant circumstances. The study historicizes these media narratives and reveals that the discourse they employ advances the racialised mix of knowledge and historical amnesia and reproduces the age-old hierarchies of the colonial system which divided humans into superior and inferior species. Migrant voice is largely missing from the coverage. History, that could explain the causes of ‘migration’, the distant conflicts and Britain’s role in them, is also nowhere to be found. The paper considers the exclusion of history and migrant voices from stories told to the British audience and reflects on their domestic and international implications.

Situation économique des orphelins du domaine du fonds public de Versend dans la première partie du 19ème siècle

The purpose of the study. The fundamental question is what factors influenced the living conditions of the 515 orphans left in the Versend estate between 1815 and 1848. To what extent impacted the inherited wealth, the age of the orphaned child, the number of siblings, and the role of guardianship and lordship shaping the fate of orphans. Applied methods. The orphan census and orphan documents of the Versend estate formed the basis of the research. With the help of data referring to their financial conditions, it was possible to compare the types of heritage and the handling of it. On the one hand, we examined the percentage distribution of all assets, and on the other hand, we performed calculations by filtering out different groups. The conclusions drawn from the figures were confirmed by examining individual examples. In the course of the research, in addition to our previous processing of the orphans of the Pécsvárad public foundation estate, we also reviewed the works related to the orphans in France. Outcomes. Most of the orphans in Versend were very poor, and the loss of their parents made their situation much worse financially. The little more affluent only had the opportunity to learn, which mostly meant some kind of craftsmanship. Marriage also allowed orphans displaced from the family farm to get land, so orphans were married relatively early. Early deaths were affected by the scarcity of wealth, the number of siblings, the age of becoming an orphan. The fate of the orphans was basically determined by their financial situation, but its further development was influenced by the person of the guardian, their residence and circumstances, and even the solicitude of the orphan’s guardian.

Rising Oil Pollution in Nigerian’s Niger-Delta Region What About Its Framing in the Print Media?

Cases of oil pollution have become a consistent decimal over the last twenty decades in most countries. The disagreement over who is liable for the massive oil pollution seen in some oil-producing countries worldwide has magnified tensions between significant stakeholders in those countries. This paper examines the rise in oil pollution in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria and its framing by the print media through a quantitative content analysis method using news framing types developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) among three Nigerian newspapers; The Daily Sun, The Guardian, and The Punch from 2014-2018. Specifically, the study findings show that The Daily Sun used more of the frames of responsibility (57.7%), economic consequences (63.3%), conflict (50.2%), and human interest (55.6%) in their oil pollution reports in the Niger-Delta. In contrast, The Guardian and The Punch used less of these frames, probably due to their laissez-faire attitude towards holding the oil companies accountable despite glaring evidence of environmental degradation.

The Models of Narrators Whose Degrees Get Down by Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in his book“Taqreeb” from his other books: نماذج من الرواة الذين أنزل الحافظ ابن حجر درجاتهم في التقريب عن كتبه الأخرى

The science of verifying narrators credible is one of the most important result of the efforts of Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani- may God have mercy on him- He used to follow the men and judge them, and his judgment became an important reference for those who came after him from among the researchers, and indeed many of them relied on his judgment in their judgment on the narrators. However, his sayings differed in judging some of the narrators, so we find that he judges some in one book with a ruling, and he is judged by another in another book of his. Who urges me to carefully consider his method of verifying the narrators; In order to trace that difference, with an attempt to identify its causes, and to clarify the correctness of it? Through the study of five narrators, prefacing the way by an explanation of the ranks of verifying narrators according to Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, the reasons for the difference in his sayings, and the Theory for choosing the most correct saying according to him. Concluding with the most important results that I have reached from this study. At las I ask Allah to be of benefit and benefit to the writer and the reader, he is the Guardian of that and the capable of it, and praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and all his family and companions.

Por uma epistemologia da prática do jornalismo orientado à imersão

Este artigo tem como objetivo propor uma epistemologia da prática jornalística orientada à imersão. Parte-se da observação de que determinadas produções jornalísticas em plataformas digitais investem mais em recursos e estratégias para dar conta da categoria imersão do que outras. Explora-se uma abordagem metodológica qualitativa, com estudos de caso escolhidos tendo como base premiações de peças jornalísticas nacionais e internacionais. Dois produtos dos meios jornalísticos Correio* e The Guardian compuseram o corpus. Entrevistas semiestruturadas com profissionais de cada peça foram realizadas. Os resultados indicam que uma epistemologia da prática do jornalismo em redes digitais que investe na imersão tem como especificidade modos de operação e uma disponibilidade dos agentes produtivos que valorizam a experiência.

Brexit on Stage: Two Verbatim Projects in Progress

The article deals with two post-Referendum projects launched by British national organizations, the National Theatre and the Guardian with Headlong, whose task was to reflect more accurately on a broader range of current British experience. The projects were written in response to questions on whether national artistic institutions, the subsidized “complex culture,” have not been out of touch with the rest of the country, notably the post-Referendum crisis. Both projects set out to research the crisis with documentary and quasi-documentary methods, to involve in an exercise in “listening” and to focus on polarisation, voter fatigue and lack of trust. The article concentrates on the two projects as variants of political theatre and on the ways they use the verbatim method in their attempts to diagnose and understand the crisis arguing, further on, that the effects differ, leading either to populism or to empathetic understanding and reconciliation.