Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis studies the role of language in the construction of ideological stances in newspapers\nfrom different countries representing the Ukraine political crisis. The events in Ukraine in 2013-\n2014 resulted in a confrontation of world views on the crisis, mainly of the US and the EU, and\nRussia that are reflected in a selection of articles taken from four different online news portals.\nThese news portals are The New York Times, Deustche Welle, The Moscow Times and Russia\nToday. The articles selected correspond to the three prominent events in the crisis: the\nannexation of Crimea, the Malaysian airplane crash and the sanctions introduced by the West\nagainst Russia. A Critical Discourse Analysis is adopted as a method of analyzing data.\nDiscursive strategies as well as linguistic means that assist in framing texts of similar content\ninto different ideological perspectives are identified and discussed. A comparison of the selected\narticles shows the different ways the news outlets set about to shape the public’s opinion. The\nmain findings of the study are that political and economic power groups tend to have an impact\non political decisions and that these decisions are also driven by the economy of a country.\nAlso, the investigated news texts serve as a means of legitimization of these political decisions\nand actions. Finally, language plays a crucial role in constructing ideological perspectives on\nevents, which may be later naturalized and, therefore, transformed into common sense ideas and\nbeliefs.
Authors: Hanna Klimava, Melissa G. Moyer
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2946850896