1. Language and Institutional Encounters: Hidden Power
The idea of power behind discourse is that the whole social order of discourse is put together and held together as hidden effect of power (Fairclough, 2001: 46).

2. Status and Authority Not neutral forces of nature
Produced and reproduced:
--coercion and consent
Discourse agent of ideology
Discourse and social control

3. Institutional Settings and Discourse
Educational, health, judiciary, the media, etc.
Transmit and maintain societal structures
Involves participants separated in place and time
Involves hidden power relations

4. Differences: face-to-face discourse and media discourse
1. One-sided nature of media discourse
--sharp division: producer and audience( interpreter)
--no room for contestation
2. Lack of close interaction in media discourse
--adaptability of face-to-face discourse
--mass media design for mass audiences

5. Why do we need to understand media discourse?
Influence of media unquestionable
Construct and reconstruct particular realities
Aura of partiality of media is deceiving
Expressed bias: they highlight some items and ignore others

6. The assumption of neutrality: Media DiscourseTV
Sustained by form and content
Form: familiarity
Familiarity creates a sense of trust
Printed Media
Neutrality by anonymity
Language control: institutional control
Language devices: nouns, verbs, etc

7. Syntactic Constructions and Media Discourse
Agents of actions and subjects
Example:
--Anna ate a pizza
--The pizza was eaten by Anna
Shifting focus from agent of action to recipient of action
--The pizza was eaten

8. Two headlines: The Times and the Guardian
RIOTING BLACKS SHOT DEAD BY POLICE AS ANC LEADERS MEET
Eleven Africans were shot dead and 15 wounded when Rhodesian police opened fire on a rioting crowd of about 2,000 in the African Highfield township of Salisbury this afternoon.
POLICE SHOOT 11 DEAD IN SALISBURY RIOT
Riot police shot and killed 11 African demonstrators and wounded 15 others here today in the Highfield township on the outskirts of Salisbury.

9. TV, Film Similar hidden messages Focus on particular topics
Sounds influences moods
Organization of images

10. Summary The nature of mass media is often not clear
There are differences between face-to-face interactions
Lack of feedback
Media discourse designed with mass audiences in mind: construction of ideal subject
Involves grammatical constructions, vocabulary and language

11. Study Questions

12. Guardian