Discursive Practices in the Portrayal of Political Speeches in English Newspapers.

Abstract

CDA is used in social research for the purpose of depicting the discourse surrounded by complex socio-political issues, and it aims to investigate social inequality as how inequality is expressed and signaled, and how it is constituted and legitimized through discourse. CDA analysts consider Media as an important discursive space. With reference to Pakistan, the role of media in developing public perception regarding the political parties is important. As such, the media has attained a powerful position from where it establishes certain practices and is capable of moulding public opinion in the process of political representation. The speeches of prominent leaders of leading political parties were selected to be reflected through leading newspapers of Pakistan. Three newspapers namely The News, Dawn and The Express Tribune were selected for representation. This study critically analyses news reports of the selected political speeches of prominent political leaders of Pakistan. Following an eclectic approach, the study uses the relevant features from the established CDA models for data analysis. The theoretical framework surrounds the concept of power of discourse in shaping the realities. This study has revealed some significant tendencies and patterns in the media discourse related to political speeches in the context of Pakistan. For instance, the order of the contents of speeches is normally not followed in the reporting of the speeches. A significant difference in the selection of lexical choices is identified in the representation of different political leaders. Different newspapers adopt their preferred setting of arguments in the speech representation of various leaders. The study concludes that exclusion is a very significant feature of the Pakistani newspapers’ reporting style. Moreover, quotations are used as a strong tool in changing or creating perception in political reports. All in all, diversity in the reporting of same contents confirms that practices of newspapers generate different perceptions about various political leaders and /or parties.