Mining Media and Menacing Discourses

MINING MEDIA AND MENACING DISCOURSES

AN ANALYSISDr Pamela Schulz

School of Communication International Studies and Languages

MINING TYPICAL VIEW

Discourse Analysis?• A way of understanding and decoding how language is constructed and brings about meaning to community of readers and viewers within a culture

• Major theorists from around the world consider this as a major form of research

• Language is a most powerful research tool

Discourse and Media Theorists• Altheide USA ( Fear Discourses)

• Fairclough UK (Media Discourses)• Teo Aust (Immigration and multicultural) • Schulz Aust ( Justice and Courts and Law)• Schulz and Cannon Aust ( Sentencing)• Wodak (USA) power and community• Schiffrin ( USA) Community and survivors• Shenhav ( Israel) Tradition politics and power

• Van Dijk ( Netherlands) power and media • Beck (USA and Germany) Risk• Gitlin (USA) Supersaturation and time issues

• Hall and Holmes (UK) Celebrity

Some discursive elements

Commentary on language• “Language not money or force provides legitimacy” (Saul

1993)• “Something does not exist until it is named” (Spender 1974)• “ Most of the legal disputes in the world arise from words”

Lord Mansfield (1773)

• “..Chief functions of our courts is to act as an animated and authoritative dictionary” Lord McMillan (1937)

• “Words are our basic tools of trade”“Words are the vehicle by which the law must necessarily be conveyed”

• Chief Justice JJ Spigelman 16/3/07 Sydney NSW

• Media hunt in packs like feral beasts….. tearing down reputations….. and institutions… using words (Tony Blair June 12 2007)

• Discourses can make or break reputations: (Fairclough 2008)

Language and Control• “Uncontrolled words are infinitely more dangerous to established authorities than those who are armed” [forces or anything else?] John Ralston Saul 1993

• “Those who exercise power through language must consistently struggle to defend their position” (Fairclough 2002)

• Media power rests in framing devices (Mac Lachlan and Reid 2004)

Media frames defined• To frame is to select some aspects

of perceived reality and make them more salient in the communicating textas a part of news or reporting and especially in headlines ( Hallahan 1999; 2009) . So judges and courts and tax payer funded authorities are scrutinised and framed!

Framing devices• History and tradition• Conflict• Winning and Losing• Emotion• Fear• Power• Fault attribution and blaming• Time as a measure

PROTEST

Typical headlines on mining

Greed explained

Personal power $$$ and greed+ mining leases

Environmental threats

Corruption even Aust Mining agrees!

Media disapproval discourses model

1. Discourse of Disapproval aided by mediaAnd political

rhetoric4. Discourse of

DirectionMedia DrivenResponses by Politicians “we have heard the people” 3. Discourse of

Diminution Media Questions and diminishes

authority figures

2. Discourses

of Disrespec

tDebate and Discord ProtestMedia Reports

Media drivenMedia driven

!

Disapproval of mining displayed

Disrespect Magnates “TWERK” as entertainment

(cult of celebrity)

Media focus: personalities not business or laws

Rallies serve notice to Governments

Result: political responses media directed

outcomes

Discourse Elements considered

• LEXIS CHOICES OF WORDS IN DESCRIPTIONS

• ANAPHORA (REPETITION)• METAPHORS CONFLICT MOVEMENT ETC• COLLOCATION• LACUNAE (WHAT IS MISSING)

Some Media Examples: Lexis

M INING HEADLINES NEW S DISCO URSES

05101520253035

LEXICAL CHOICES

FREQ

UENC

Y

Mining now fully colonised by discourses

Problem accepted; described by group and as major

focus of attention

Modify behaviours

and concession to media appoint media

officers!

Debates ensue

within on comms

planning; review and

renew focus

Responses include

“working with”

those who disapprove such as

the media

Change outcomes from outside and media driven

Examples of what community hears and reads daily collocations

affect public opinion Collocations noted in m edia re M ining Threat

Dam ageFIFO problem sUpset GreedCorruptionProtestsBoom TaxesJobsProductivityH igh CostsBoonEconom yBenefitsCom m unity unrest

Fracking is bad! Homoteleuton

•Prose Rhyme remembered !

Cult of Celebrity weighs in

Emotion used to seal community support against

miners

Enlightenment not working?

Successful campaign to avoid mining tax unpopular why?

Reviewing discourses and elements

• Framing of stories and information• Framing of news and social media• Understanding how discourse works to apply and persuade a point of view

• Media theories revisited• Celebrity and wealth of mining magnates downplayed

• Understanding community angst