A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Articles About A Palace Official’s Controversial Remark Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis (Research Paper Sample)

A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Articles About A Palace Official’s Controversial Remark Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
ENGL 623: Sociolinguistics
Submitted to:
DR. BENEDICT V. OMBLERO
Subject Teacher
Submitted by:
CANDICE FAYE KRISTEN C. LLESES
Master of Arts in English
March 21, 2020
Abstract
Media institutions often present themselves as agents of neutrality and objectivity (Fairclough, 2000). But numerous scholars have contended that the widespread ideal of a neutral, objective, apolitical mass media is simply an ideal (Van Dijk). The results of the discussion are complementary with earlier claims of critical discourse linguists with regards to ideologies being reflected and constituted within news discourse (Joye, 2010; Van Dijk, 2013). We saw that the news articles reflects and constitute the socio-cultural difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’, in this case the Government and the Masses, as well as articulating national power hierarchies and a division of the Philippine society in zones of ‘poverty and prosperity, danger and safety’ (Joye, 2010; Baker, et. al., 2008).
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………...….4
Rationale ………………………………………………………………………………...5
Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………………………..5
Research Questions ……………………………………………………………………6
Theoretical Lens ………………………………………………………………………..6
Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………7
Definition of Terms ……………………………………………………………………..7
Delimitations and Limitations ………………………………………………………….8
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE ……………………………… 9
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………..…13
Research Design …………………………………………………………………...…13
Role of the Researcher ……………………………………………………………….14
Research Materials ………………………………………………………....……...…14
Data Collection ……………………………………………………………..…………16
Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………….…16
Trustworthiness …………………………………………………………………….…17
Ethical Consideration …………………………………………………………………17
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS…. ………………………………………………………………… 18
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………….….32
Implication for Practice ………………………………………………………………33
Concluding Remarks …………………………………………………………………34
Recommendation ………………………………………………………………….…34
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………….35
APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………………….39
Chapter 1
Introduction
The escalation of the COVID-19 virus has launched the Philippines into a nationwide state of crisis, with schools suspending classes, companies allowing their employees to work at home and government units suspending mass transportation systems to help combat the spread of the said virus. So much so that the national government decided to put the country into a state of calamity on March 15, 2020, 6 weeks after the country confirmed its first case.
A statement regarding the issue of scarcity of basic goods for the masses in the National Capital Region (NCR) for the duration community quarantine uttered by Salvador Panelo, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Spokesman, uttered on the same day the state of calamity was declared drew mixed reactions in social media after being reported by mass media outlets.
Consequently, it is not uncommon for government officials, institutions and even royalty to be under fire on the bases of remarks they say on air when reported by media outlets (Suzuki, 2019). Considering growing incorporation of the internet in the communication system (McChesney, 2016), controversial statements can be under public scrutiny, shared and reproduced to a larger audience via social media, all in a tap of a screen.
Media institutions often present themselves as agents of neutrality and objectivity (Fairclough, 2000). But numerous scholars have contended that the widespread ideal of a neutral, objective, apolitical mass media is simply an ideal (Van Dijk). In a political sense, Cook (200) further posits that the media, in and of itself, is a political institution integral to the operations of the three branches of a democratic government (Cook, 2007)
Numerous studies have also reported that mass media, whether deliberately or not, embed ideology and perspective in their reader’s perceptions (Duanprakhon, 2012). Furthermore, these ideologies influence indirect control of mental representations that form the basis of interpretation, as well as contextual embeddedness of discourse and its underlying structures (Van Dijk, 1995). Interestingly enough despite the relatively free and democratic nature of the press in the Philippines, very few studies have been done in CDA contextualized in how ideologies are reflected and constituted in the mass media.
The aim of this study is to investigate how the articles from different news media with different used language differently, therefore reflecting and constituting ideology, when reporting and interpreting the same event. This paper investigated the peculiarities in the linguistic aspects of news articles in relation to the ideological constructions of each article using Norman Fairclough’s framework for Critical Discourse Analysis by comparing 4 articles published online documenting the same source and main content, specifically that of a Palace Spokesperson regar...