Analayzing Media Discourse Using Critical Discours Analysis

ABSTRACT

a critical period in discourse analysis emerged between the late 1990s and early 2000s in the field of linguistic application in various analytical and approach descriptions. the purpose of this review is to find out how the CDA plays an important role in uncovering an unseen ideology by seeing its presence of power in media discourse learning. This study looks at several journal articles to correct the ways and methods in which CDA has been used to discover social phenomena while revealing the social identity of social actors It is found that the CDA has been used extensively to unmask ideologies that discriminate against oppressed groups while presenting a positive image for the group with the highest authority

INTRODUCTION

CDA appear in the 1990s in the CDA field there are three experts who are very influential in the field of this CDA Norman Fairclough, Teun van Dijk and Ruth Wodak. They have contributed in this field through their work. Influential researchers in this field explain different approaches and theory of work concepts that are different from the methods and theories of artistic analysis. Van Dijk mepablish his first journal entitled Discourse and Society in 1990 which followed by several books that are interconnected in this field in the coming year to come. Critical Discourse The study exists before critical language analysis emerged generally known as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The CDA itself has an arena as a branch of analytical discourse that goes beyond how and why cumulative discourse contributes to the reproduction of macro structures and highlights significant cultural and ideological traces. The term 'critical' in discourse has been discussed in many ways as the use of language and the reproduction of power in society. Criticism is centered solely on the question of power, hegemony and resistance in the field of language. Mahboob and Paltridge (2013) convey their importance to examine the enforcement of forces and to understand the ways in which power is exercised by a group of dominance over the oppressed.

            CDA is applied in the multidisciplinary field not cleared as text analysis and talk (Van Dijk 2009) but consists of many analyzes and methods (Wodak and Meyer 2009). CDA bias is also called from a very interesting approach to being analyzed 'the existing social phenomena need to be complex and thus require multi-methodical closeness (Wodak and Meyer 2009). Van Dijk (2003) argues unequivocally that the CDA is a proposition aimed at how corruption of power, dominance and inequality is practiced in the discursiveness of social and political contexts. However, Jorgensen and Phillips (2002) assume that CDA as a multi-disciplinary approach analyzes the relationship between cultural 'discourse and social and cultural development' in relation to this approach, Fairclough (1995) suggests that the CDA aims to "systematically convey an opaque relationship sacrifice, incident, and text, and b) broader social and cultural structures, relationships and processes "(p.132). Another researcher from CDA, Janks (1997) looked at CDA as a form of social practice where critical theory was applied to analyze inappropriate relationships. Referring to the pre-elaborated description, the CDA trains critical theory that corrects language in relation to power and power competition that reveal the identity of the oppressor. Meanwhile, Van Dijk (2003) states that CDA focuses on how mental social groups Representations are influenced by social structures. In this event, the theme of the conversation can affect how people highlight important information in text or conversation. CDA is characterized as an interdisciplinary multi-methodological approach rather than an isolated discipline. Van Dijk (2009) asserts that CDA is a critical combination of theory and application rather than critical analysis which therefore leads to the term (critical discourse studies). Van Dijk (2009) and Wodak and Meyer (2009) sketched the objectives and principles of CDA used in reviewing the current CDA study:

- CDA is problem-oriented rather than focusing on theory or a particular discipline as its    implications are explicitly presented in layman’s term to the society.

- CDA is an interdisciplinary as it involves various theory, methods and practical application in unbinding serious issues and problem in society.

- CDA is perceived as a social research as its critical research is concerned with social problems and the understanding of human rights, social inequality, power abuse Idomains such as racism, classism, sexism, and etc.

- CDA is interested in unethical issues which investigates domination group of people whom are subjected to discursive injustice.

- CDA emphasises spontaneous assessment as the need to shed light on the phenomenon under investigation and to provide justification on why certain interpretations are effective than others.

The purpose of this review is to find out how CDA as a critical discourse analysis method plays a vital role in unravelling the hidden ideologies and scrutinise the presence of power in media discourse studies. The specific objective is to investigate the application of CDA approach in the related studies.

CDA THEORY AND APPROACHES

the review presents several different theories and approaches to CDA articulated by Van Dijk, Fairclough, and Wodak. The section below presents the various social theories and models used in CDA that outline ideological ideas.

SOCIAL THEORY OF DISCOURSE

 Social discourse theory is linguistic because it aims to analyze social and political events in society. In this theory, discourse is seen as a social practice build strength across entities. In the social theory of discourse, Fairclough (1992) put forward 3 principles namely considered a social practice. First, discourse is constitutive and fundamental, discourse says it contributes to the formation and reflection of social structures. Second, social practice building social identity and social relationships between various entities and class in society Third, social practices contribute to the system of knowledge and trust as This causes other language functions such as identity, relational and ideational functions. goals and types of social events. In line with this theory, Fairclough (1992) has formulated a three dimensional model in CDA contains texts, discursive practices and social practices. Generally, three- in introducing challenging principles because these principles are best understood today. Textual analysis is analysis of linguistic features and discursive practices (Fairclough, 1992). Like the language With a package of various linguistic features, it becomes complicated and technical to be analyzed each feature.

THEORY OF IDEOLOGY

Theory of ideology is perceived as a multidisciplinary approach which is the fundamental framework for organizing multiple ideological concepts and consumptions. Ideologies usually control the thoughts of a social group which then represent the basic social characteristics of a group based on their identities, goals, norms, values, positions and resources (Van Dijk, 1995). culture. Therefore, these principles leads to the emergence of feminist ideology. It is perceived that ideologies are acquired by members of a social group through long-term process and through other forms of social information processing (Van Dijk, 1995). Cognitive functions are the basic form of ideological properties which organise, monitor and control attitudes of a social group. Every ideological representation is accompanied by experiences of a person which is referred as models. Van Dijk (1987) proclaimed that models represent personal experiences such as particular information about each event or action which is processed in short-term memory. In other words, models are parallel to cognitive functions as they observe the thinking of a person and personal knowledge that one possesses. Models are uniquely formed as they hold the ability to control experiences of a social actor (Van Dijk, 1995) as well as being influenced by the cognitive process of other member groups in society. In relation to this, it is perceived that models are the primary unit which control the various acts of human life as multiple ideologies are discovered.

VAN DIJK’S IDEOLOGICAL SQUARE

Van Dijk's ideological theory (2000) formulates four principles that allow fine ideological analysis to be expressed various ideological attitudes. The four principles are as follows:

• Emphasize the positive about us

• Emphasize the negative things about them

• De-emphasize the negative things about Us

• De-emphasize the positive things about them

These four movements play an important role in the broader contextual strategy of self-positive representation and other negative presentations. The self-presentation discusses the individual acting as group members while expressly expressing ideological ideas. Positive Self-representation emphasizes the positive behavior of the individual as in saying positive things about Us and say negative things about them. This positive attitude is abstract characteristics of group conflict and because of interaction patterns against other groups (Van Dijk, 2000).

VAN DIJK’S SOCIOCOGNITIVE APPROACH

CDA integrates the various linguistic theories and approaches in producing a social and discursive process to highlight the assumptions made by the more powerful on the less powerful. However, Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach attempts to link cognitive theories and approaches with linguistics. Van Dijk proclaimed that critical discourse studies is a critical perspective, position or attitude within the multidisciplinary approach as it intends to shed light on covert ideologies in the social practice. He therefore proposed a triangulation of the interrelationship among discourse, cognitive and society (Van Dijk, 2009). This triangulation emphasises the cognitive phenomena which are connected to the discourse structure and ways in which social inequality, domination, and ideologies occur. In order to discover social representations, attitudes and ideologies of social actors, the connection between the structure of discourse and the structure of society should be viewed. Van Dijk (2009) pointed out that the white group domination leads to social inequality, racism and domination in certain countries. Moreover, the top-down model in CDA is focused as discourse reveals the typical form of injustice in society.

WODAK’S DISCOURSE-HISTORICAL APPROACH

Wodak presented three types of critique in DHA (Reisigl and Wodak, 2009) which disclose justification on why certain interpretation once it has been critiqued, seems valid and abstract. Her three types of critique are as follows:

1.Text or discourse-immanent critique aims at discovering inconsistencies, selfcontradictions, paradoxes, and dilemmas in the text-internal or discourse-internal structures.

2. Sociodiagnostic critique aims at demystifying the manifest or latent persuasive or

potentially manipulative character or discursive practices. Here, the analysts draw on

their contextual knowledge and social theories as well as other rhetorical models

from various disciplines to interpret the discursive events.

3. Future-related prospective critique seeks to contribute to the improvement of

communication (for instance, by elaborating guidelines against sexist language useor

by reducing ‘language barriers’ in hospitals, schools and so on).

Further research on this approach by Wodak and her team investigated discourse, text, and genre in which these three components are believed to be interconnected (Reisigl and Wodak, 2009) Texts are considered to be a part of discourse as it bridges the gap between discourse and ideological structures.Text in discourse can be referred to as a genre and it is identified through the manipulation of discourse for a specific purpose (Reisigl and Wodak, 2009) The discourse used in a social phenomenon is realised through various genres, for instance, via political debates, news reports, speeches presented in a conference and so on. The key strength of Wodak’s work is the relationship between interdiscursivity and intertextual and discourse.  Ideally, text analysis in DHA follows the three-step analytical procedure in which a) the topic of specific discourse is identified, b) discursive strategies are investigated, and the linguistic means (Reisigl and Wodak, 2009) and the specific context-dependent linguisticrealizations are examined. The following heuristic questions are used in DHA analysis:

• How are persons, objects, phenomena/events, processes and actions named and referred to linguistically?

• What characteristics, qualities and features are attributed to social actors, objects, phenomena/events and processes?

• What arguments are employed in the discourse in question?

• From what perspective are these nominations, attributions and arguments expressed?

• Are the respective utterances articulated overtly; are they intensified or mitigated?

As a result, Wodak’s methodology in CDA is abstract as it comprises complex analytical procedures. The strength in DHA is that its analytical concepts are straightforward and comprehensible to a person who is well-versed in the field of linguistics but it may be strenuous for others with non-linguistic knowledge. The deficiency of this approach lies solely on its framework as it is enormously designed and it can be crucial to interpret the analysis or concept (Reisigl and Wodak, 2009).

METHODOLOGY OF REVIEW

In conducting the review, first, the, electronic database search was executed in the ProQuest Scholarly Journal database and Google Scholar. The ProQuest database was selected in searching for related studies for this review because it is a reputable database and it provides varied information which encompasses multiple authoritative sources. Most importantly, ProQuest was subscribed by the university to provide adequate resources for the students. Keywords such as critical discourse analysis and media were used to conduct the search. Another criterion in selecting related studies for this review is based on the authenticity of the data. Initially, 30 related studies were downloaded from the ProQuest database and Google Scholar. Of these 30 studies, 14 studies were eliminated due to the absence of concrete theoretical framework. Only studies applying CDA approaches were included and reviewed. The 16 research studies were read thoroughly and the content was analysed according to major theoretical frameworks. After analysing the content of the selected studies, the major frameworks employed in the studies were organised under three major themes. The first theme is concerned with the application of CDA using Fairclough’s analytical framework, and the second and third themes are associated with the application of CDA using Van Dijk’s framework. It has been noted that within the time frame of ten years, Wodak’s theoretical framework in CDA was rarely utilised in related studies because of its complex analytical procedures. The appendix shows a summary of research studies according to authors, year of publication, research objectives, methodology, sources of data and findings.

FINDINGS FROM THE REVIEW

Studies on political ideologies, power, and discursivity in discourse have been investigated as there is an implicit connotation in every word and power behind each word in unmasking the identity of a noble or horrendous character of a social leader. It is discovered that power is often associated with the act of controlling and constraining the contributions of the non powerful participants in the society as this encounter usually takes place between the power holder and the powerless. Literally, the powerless people are refrained from commenting or debating on political issues and the rationality of an event. It is perceived that ideology has the power to blind-fold non critical discourse analysts in various ways in imposing a belief. Moreover, it is perceived that the positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation strategies were frequently employed. The discriminatory group is portrayed as the negative other-presentation as these groups are oppressed by the dominating group which possesses positive self-presentation. The studies below are organised under three major themes which are related to Fairclough’s analytical framework, Van Dijk’s ideological square and sociocognitive approach. The analytical frameworks for each studies are determined by the researchers of the particular study.

APPLICATION OF FAIRCLOUGH’S ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

In the field of applied linguistics, CDA has been used enormously in various genres analyzing the critical phenomena which leads to the emergence of a certain ideology, power relation and domination within a domain, inequality among races, genders, and social classes. It is perceived that the most crucial aspect where power and domination are exercised is in the life of the public through media. Media is an explicit domain and public is exposed to various ideologies which influence and blind-fold their mind as a certain ideology is enforced on them in their daily life. Tahmasbi and Kalkhajeh (2013) analysed TV bank advertisements using the perspective of ideology manipulation and power relation. Similar to magazine advertisements, bank advertisements are formulated to promote service and to attract audience to obtain service implemented in the banking sector. Bank commercials target a specific group of audience through discourse such as ‘Besides 201 offers to buy Peugeots 407’. Through this phrase, presupposition takes place as bank advertisers assume that viewers own a less exclusive car thus, this advertisement might be considered by the viewers in purchasing or upgrading the car. Therefore, it is patent that ad. Similar to the studies above, Bolte and Keong (2014)scrutinized the ideological representation of illegal immigrants in the Malaysia news discourse. It is perceived that discourse shapes the way a text is produced (Jorgenson and Phillips 2002, Fairclough 1992) and vice-versa. The article focuses on the Refugee Swap Deal between Malaysia and Australia that eventually did not take place. A significant ideology that is found in the media discourse is the protection of agreement that denotes a positive representation of Malaysia and Australia. Although refugees have not been commonly accepted in most countries, yet Malaysia and Australia have joined forces to provide shelter to these immigrants. Thus, the portrayal of positivity and mutuality is seen between both countries. Vertisers have created an unstable and biased discourse which has manipulated the viewers implicitly. 

APPLICATION OF VAN DIJK’S IDEOLOGICAL SQUARE

 Poorembrahim and Zarei(2013) investigated the relationship between language and ideology in the headlines of four main newspapers in America and Britain to scrutinise the image of Islam. The analysis of newspaper headlines discloses the misinterpretation, on how an issue is perceived by the social world. An example which can be depicted through this phenomena is through the headline ‘“How Islam has been corrupted”’. This headline presupposed that Islam is corrupted and in order to perceive corruption in Islam one has to accept the belief that corruption does exist in Islam. Hence, the negative ideological representation forms stereotypes which cast an unfavourable light upon the Muslim community. Another, study on news reports by Ahmadian and Farahani (2014) was carried out to investigate the ideological differences in the discourse between the The Los Angeles Times and Tehran Times utilizing Van Dijk’s ideological framework: macro-strategies which are positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation. The findings manifested various contradicting ideologies in both the newspapers as derogatory terms were used in injecting countless negative ideologies against each other. One such example which was posted against Iran is the phrase “a country which tries to develop a nuclear weapon”. This phrase gives a horrifying ideology to the society as it is seen as a threat. Thus, it is revealed that prejudice appeared to be one of the main ideology between the America-Iran relationships as the mostpowerful possesses a positive ideology meanwhile the less powerful is specified to a negative ideology.

CONCLUSION

This literature has shown that mass media play a significant role in the production of beliefs, prejudice and domination over the social context as mass media tend to marginalize Others and misconstrue an event. It was found that ever since CDA has gained popularity in the field of discourse studies, an increasing number of studies has applied CDA to investigate the discursivity of text, interaction and social context, to explore the relationship between language and ideology, and to examine how dominating ideologies oppress the less powerful. Bearing this notion, it is evident that CDA is a powerful tool in deconstructing texts as it scrutinises the intended ideological representations. To summarise, the present review has examined the various behaviours of CDA which are aimed to reveal stereotypes, presuppositions, hegemony, power and ideological stances. In conclusion, the representation social context determines the production of discourse while discourse contributes to the construction of social power. This review hopes to contribute to the existing knowledge of CDA research to increase awareness among novel researchers who aspire to carry out CDA studies.