Critical Discourse Analysis in Media and Communication Studies
Summary
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has established itself as a pivotal framework for interrogating how power, ideology and social relations are enacted, reproduced and contested through language in media contexts. Drawing on foundational theories that link text and social practice, CDA in media and communication studies examines the construction of social actors, the framing of events and the deployment of persuasive strategies across newspapers, broadcasts, online platforms and social media. In recent years, scholars have combined qualitative discourse-historical approaches with quantitative corpus-based techniques to explore large datasets, from national news archives to Twitter streams. This methodological pluralism allows researchers to map recurring lexical and syntactic patterns, reveal latent ideologies and trace shifts in public discourse on issues such as climate change, health, migration and identity. The field emphasises global reach and practical application, informing media literacy initiatives, policy critiques and interventions aimed at countering misinformation and fostering more inclusive communicative practices.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent studies have employed corpus-based discourse analysis to investigate how environmental news in major international outlets constructs national images. By analysing recurrent lexical items, concordance patterns and argumentative rules known as topoi, researchers revealed that one nation was consistently portrayed as prioritising economic growth over ecological stewardship, while simultaneously featuring narratives of governance strength. The analysis highlighted persuasive strategies in reported speech and the role of thematic emphasis in shaping readers’ perceptions. Findings advocate for enhanced transparency in environmental reporting and a more diverse set of communication channels to enable richer global dialogue on sustainability.
Critical Discourse Analysis in Media and Communication Studies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in critical discourse analysis in media and communication studies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA): An interdisciplinary method for studying the relationship between language, power and society, focusing on how texts and talks enact social inequalities.
Corpus linguistics: The quantitative examination of large collections of written or spoken texts, using computational tools to identify patterns of usage and co-occurrence.
Social agency: The capacity attributed to individuals or entities—human or non-human—to act, make decisions and influence social outcomes within discourse.
Concordance analysis: A technique in corpus studies that retrieves instances of a search term within its immediate textual context to reveal usage patterns.
Topos (plural topoi): A rhetorical commonplace or cultural maxim used to connect arguments and shape persuasive discourse by appealing to shared values.
References
- A corpus-based discourse analysis of China’s national image constructed by environmental news in The New York Times. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2023).
- Perceptions of the Agency and Responsibility of the NHS COVID-19 App on Twitter: Critical Discourse Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research (2024).
- Language, Media, and Ideology: Critical Discourse Analysis of Pakistani News Bulletin Headlines and Its Impact on Viewers. SAGE Open (2018).
- Corpus Driven Analysis of News Reports about Covid-19 in a Malaysian Online Newspaper. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies (2020).
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