The evaluative language of protests in english news discourse : the case of the educational protests in Chile during 2011

Abstract

News discourse is one of the most influential media genres (Van Dijk, 1995; Richardson, 2007; Talbot, 2007) and its apparent objectivity and neutrality has been rejected by many authors (Fowler, 1991; Fairclough, 1995 and Van Dijk, 1988). In fact, ideology, evaluation, and stance of journalists are just some of the features that can be linguistically marked to show the subjective nature of language in the news. The present discourse analytical study focused on the evaluative language of protests in news discourse, especially in relation to the educational protests that took place in Chile during 2011. The linguistic elements that were analyzed in this thesis referred to the lexical choices that journalists used to portray participants in the protests. In this part, it was argued that different wordings produced different effects on the way news actors were perceived. Additionally, the analysis of passive voice constructions showed that certain elements were given more prominence by being placed in the subject position. Finally, the analysis of news sources demonstrated that the people who were quoted in news discourse influenced the view and the angle from which journalists told a story. The findings of this study can offer a broader perspective about how linguistic choices can lead the reader to understand a news event from a specific perspective.