1. an approach from Critical Discourse Analysis
Analysing Newspapers
an approach from Critical Discourse Analysis
John E Richardson
Department of Language Studies, Canterbury Christ Church 14 December 2007

2. Discourse analysis: some assumptions
Discourse analysis = the analysis of texts in context.
Discourse is language in use
Discourse is necessarily situated in a context.
No practice detached from a social context, and no social context is ever wholly neutral.
Constituted/Constitutive: “language simultaneously reflects reality (‘the way things are’) and constructs (construes) it to be a certain way” (Gee, 1999: 82).

3. CDA: an approach to discourse
Language must play some part in producing and reproducing social inequalities.
In response, “CDA sees itself as politically involved research” (Titscher et al, 2000: 147).
CDA investigates, and aims at illustrating, “relationships between the text and its social conditions, ideologies and power-relations” (Wodak, 1996: 20)

4. Fairclough: three-site analysis
For Fairclough, CDA means:
‘…the analysis of relationships between concrete language use and the wider social cultural structures. […] He attributes three dimensions to every discursive event. It is simultaneously text, discursive practice - which also includes the production and interpretation of texts - and social practice. The analysis is conducted according to these three dimensions.’ (Titscher et al, 2000: )

5. 1. Text-as-discourse Fig.1 Analysis should be playful
View texts as the result of a series of many choices
We should ask: how could this have been different?

6. 2 Discursive practices Text-Linguistics is not enough: “If we see discourse as contextualised language, and take this dimension of contextualisation seriously, we shall be forced to develop a linguistics that ceases to be linguistic from a certain point onwards” (Blommaert, 2005: 235)

7. 3. Social practices - markets, ownership, advertising, government, the law, etc. - cause, consequences, social benefits/harm

8. Discourse practices, revisited

9. Discourse practice, an expanding model

10. Conclusions linguistic analysis will only ever reveal so much.
We need also to look at: the discourse processes enacted during production and consumption;
the ways that these are themselves affected by and reflect earlier texts and earlier interactions;
and the ways that newspaper discourse – as a system of systems – relates to power, ideology and social inequalities

11. References
Blommaert, J (2005) Discourse: a critical introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni Press
Fairclough, N (1995) Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold
Gee, J. P. (1999) An introduction to discourse analysis: theory and method. London: Routledge
Richardson, J. E (2007) Analysing Newspapers: an approach from critical discourse analysis. Houndmills: Palgrave
Titscher, S., Meyer, M., Wodak, R. & Vetter, E. (2000) Methods of Text and Discourse Analysis. London: Sage
Wodak, R. (1996) Disorders of Discourse. London: Longman.