Discourse Positions, Power Relations, and Ideological Contestation in the Finance Bill 2023 Coverage of the Finance Bill 2023
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Newspaper discourse becomes an invaluable battleground where political actors, institutions, and social groups negotiate meaning, power, and legitimacy. The Kenyan Finance Bill 2023 triggered heated political and public contestations over taxation, revenue collection, cost of living, and even the overall direction of economic governance. This study analyzes discourse positions and power relations in relation to ideology in Kenyan newspaper coverage of the Finance Bill 2023. Drawing on CDA, particularly Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the study examines texts published by the Daily Nation and The Standard between March and July 2023. The analysis focuses on the positioning of government, citizens, opposition politicians, civil society actors, and other stakeholders, as well as the ideological meanings and power relations constructed through their representation. The findings indicate that newspaper discourse primarily positioned the government primarily as the principal policy-making and economic decision-making authority, while citizens were frequently constructed as taxpayers and recipients of the consequences of government policy. Opposition politicians and civil society actors were positioned as critics and sources of counter-discourse, challenging the proposed taxation measures’ legitimacy and consequences. The coverage consequently constructed an ideological contest between the Finance Bill as an instrument of economic reform and fiscal recovery and the Bill as a source of economic burden and political discontent. The study further demonstrates that power relations were manifested through unequal access to institutional authority, competing claims to legitimacy, and the ability of different actors to define the policy’s meaning and consequences of the policy. The study concludes that newspaper discourse constituted a significant site of ideological contestation in which existing power relations were reproduced and alternative positions were also articulated and challenged.
Institution: Machakos University
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7225272000