Discourse Analysis of COVID-19 News Based on Laclau and Mouffe’s Theory: A Case Study of Hamshahri Newspaper
Keywords:
discourse analysis, Laclau and Mouffe, COVID-19, Hamshahri newspaper, media representationAbstract
Media discourse analysis is one of the significant approaches in communication studies, providing the possibility of a deeper understanding of how reality is represented by the media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the media played a crucial role in shaping public perception of this global crisis. The aim of the present study is to analyze the discourse of COVID-19-related news in Hamshahri newspaper based on Laclau and Mouffe’s theory and to identify the discursive strategies employed in representing this crisis. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and the method of critical discourse analysis, examining news articles related to COVID-19 published in Hamshahri newspaper from March 2020 to March 2021. The findings reveal that the newspaper’s COVID-19 discourse employed a variety of strategies such as lexical generalization, rhetorical expressions, and excessive lexicalization. These strategies contributed to the formation of the central signifier “COVID-19 crisis management” and to the articulation of other floating signifiers around it. Consequently, the discourse of this newspaper functioned to stabilize a particular meaning of the pandemic reality, in which the authority of official institutions in managing the crisis is naturalized, and the individual responsibility of citizens in controlling the disease is emphasized.
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