Media Language Analysis

Media texts — newspapers, magazines, news websites, television broadcasts, social media — are among the most important sites of linguistic representation. The language of the media does not simply report reality; it constructs particular versions of reality through systematic choices at every language level. This lesson examines the key frameworks and features for analysing media language, with particular attention to how media texts represent people, events, and issues.

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Why Media Language Matters

The media is the primary source of information about the world for most people. We rarely witness the events reported in the news directly — we encounter them through mediated accounts. This means that the language choices made by journalists, editors, and media organisations have an enormous influence on how we understand the world.

The critical linguist Roger Fowler (1991), in his book Language in the News, argued that there is no such thing as a neutral or objective news report — every report involves selection, emphasis, and framing, all of which are achieved through language.