At the end of January 2015, the electoral victory of Syriza, a Greek political party which heavily criticizes the idea of Europe vehiculated by the Union’s institutions and its recently-adopted austerity measures, did not simply have national relevance, but aroused interest and generated a lively debate across all member countries as different European notions and narratives entered into play, often conflicting. Quite expectedly, online mass media had a strategic role on this occasion, contributing to orientating the public opinion by conveying ideological messages in favor or against Syriza and its idea of Europe. Drawing on the theoretical premise that news discourse can never offer a value-free representation of the world as news is the result of a process of discursive as well as social construction, this analysis sets out to investigate the online media coverage of the recent Greek elections in the United Kingdom, a country which seems representative of a controversial attitude towards the notion of Europeanness and reveals an insular, often self-isolating culture which holds itself unique and different from the rest of the Continent. The study examines an ad hoc-built corpus consisting of news stories, editorials and blogposts posted on the online versions of three of the most popular British newspapers (The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times) and focuses on the discursive representation of the electoral outcome, its significance on the international and local political scenario as well as of its protagonists, so as to highlight the different ideological stances at play and the concern over the possible future of the EU. A combined approach is adopted which integrates Critical Discourse Analysis with Corpus Linguistics: the former activates a “useful synergy” when utilized with the rigorous, data-based tools of the latter. The analysis reveals the presence of a common, hegemonic, and simplified framing of the general election (i.e. that Syriza's victory represents a reaction to the austerity measures implemented in Greece). Such simplified framing can be found across all the newspapers examined, which makes it difficult for the British public to challenge its validity. A clear tendency towards the personification of news also emerged in the investigation of all the online newspapers and blogs.

Constructing Syriza: the Greek elections in british online newspapers and blogs / G. Riboni. ((Intervento presentato al convegno Media and politics: discourses, cultures, and practices tenutosi a Milano nel 2015.

Constructing Syriza: the Greek elections in british online newspapers and blogs

G. Riboni
Primo
2015

Abstract

At the end of January 2015, the electoral victory of Syriza, a Greek political party which heavily criticizes the idea of Europe vehiculated by the Union’s institutions and its recently-adopted austerity measures, did not simply have national relevance, but aroused interest and generated a lively debate across all member countries as different European notions and narratives entered into play, often conflicting. Quite expectedly, online mass media had a strategic role on this occasion, contributing to orientating the public opinion by conveying ideological messages in favor or against Syriza and its idea of Europe. Drawing on the theoretical premise that news discourse can never offer a value-free representation of the world as news is the result of a process of discursive as well as social construction, this analysis sets out to investigate the online media coverage of the recent Greek elections in the United Kingdom, a country which seems representative of a controversial attitude towards the notion of Europeanness and reveals an insular, often self-isolating culture which holds itself unique and different from the rest of the Continent. The study examines an ad hoc-built corpus consisting of news stories, editorials and blogposts posted on the online versions of three of the most popular British newspapers (The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times) and focuses on the discursive representation of the electoral outcome, its significance on the international and local political scenario as well as of its protagonists, so as to highlight the different ideological stances at play and the concern over the possible future of the EU. A combined approach is adopted which integrates Critical Discourse Analysis with Corpus Linguistics: the former activates a “useful synergy” when utilized with the rigorous, data-based tools of the latter. The analysis reveals the presence of a common, hegemonic, and simplified framing of the general election (i.e. that Syriza's victory represents a reaction to the austerity measures implemented in Greece). Such simplified framing can be found across all the newspapers examined, which makes it difficult for the British public to challenge its validity. A clear tendency towards the personification of news also emerged in the investigation of all the online newspapers and blogs.
2015
Settore L-LIN/12 - Lingua e Traduzione - Lingua Inglese
Constructing Syriza: the Greek elections in british online newspapers and blogs / G. Riboni. ((Intervento presentato al convegno Media and politics: discourses, cultures, and practices tenutosi a Milano nel 2015.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/377489
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