Critical Discourse Analysis of a media text

This essay will analyse an article taken from the magazine ‘The Big Issue’ (No.776). This will be done using discourse theory, where three different levels of deconstruction will take place. It will analyse the article at the level of text, discursive practice and social practice; laying focus on the purpose of the article, the writer’s intent and the reader’s interpretation of the text.
The article is entitled ‘Cut It Out’ and the subject matter is climate change. It is written in English and targeted at a readership with an understanding of the English language. When analysing this article at the level of text, it is evident that syntax, lexicon and other historically formulated grammatical rules have been used. For example the text is organised into sentences and paragraphs and is written to tell a story – with a beginning, middle and end. Additionally the language used in the text follows socially established rules, such as ‘correct’ use of spelling and grammar. Each word acts as a sign that signifies an established meaning.
For example the word ‘climate’ signifies ‘the weather averaged over a long period of time’ and the word ‘change’ signifies ‘to make or become different in some particular way’. When these words are placed next to each other their meaning is enhanced. So the phrase ‘climate change’ signifies the enhanced meaning of ‘the way in which the climate of the Earth has changed over the last few centuries’. These meanings are learnt socially and every culture has its own set of linguistic signs. Although these may change over time, without a rigid structure of communication, social discourse would not be possible.
Semiotics’ theorists, John Fiske highlights the importance of signs by suggesting that: “For communication to take place I have to create a message out of signs. This message stimulates you to create a meaning for yourself that relates in some way to the meaning that I generated in my message in the first place.” (Fiske: 1990: 39) As well as this simple linguist structure, the purpose of a text can also dictate certain meanings. For example, articles have their own rules, suitable to their genre of communication, where their purpose is to inform, educate and or entertain readers. This particular text uses, a headline to grab reader attention, a standfirst to introduce the subject area, a drop cap to highlight the first paragraph, columns to help with ease of reading and graphics to illustrate points made in the piece. These media conventions help to convey meaning in the sense that they allow the reader to identify what type of discourse they can expect.
Additionally, different publications have their own house style in terms of writing. This is dependant upon the target audience. For example 60% of the readers of the ‘Big Issue’, are under the age of 44 and 75% are in the social group ABC1 (http://bigissue.com). These factors help the journalist to decide exactly what is to be put into the text and the style in which it is to be written. In the first paragraph of this article specific linguistic techniques are used to engage the reader:
“We consume energy almost all of the time, in almost every conceivable way. We’re reliant on the stuff for everything – from keeping in touch with loved ones, to keeping up-to-date with the latest news, to making sure we’re healthy and clean”
Firstly the use of the word ‘we’ places the reader in a position of equality with the writer. It is inclusive language used to make the reader feel part of the subject matter on a personal level. Additionally writing ‘we’re’ instead of ‘we are’ is colloquial language used to engage the fairly young readership on a conversational level. The writer also uses a light-hearted, humorous tone for the same purpose.
This technical deconstruction is all well and good, but analysing the use of linguistic techniques should not only be taken at face value. To truly understand and explain how meaning is transferring in this type of social discourse it is important to look at the many layers of meaning portrayed by the text. As Robert Kaplan has said in his research: “The understanding … of grammar and lexicon does not constitute the understanding…of text.” (Kaplan: 1990). In this respect we need to critically analyze the text further with a multi-disciplinary approach.
This will be done using discursive practice and social practice. Discursive practice relates to the way in which readers use their own knowledge to decode media discourse. Teun Van Dijk’s research into racism and the press uses this way of thinking. He suggests that:
“We [should be] … interested in the actual processes of decoding, interpretation, storage, and representation in memory, and in the role of previous knowledge and beliefs of the readers in this process of understanding.” (Dijks: 1991)
In other words with any social discourse a person’s memory plays a key role. Short-term memory stands to help decode the signs in a literal way, however long-term memory is the holder of “socio-cultural knowledge,” such as language, previous discourse and other forms of communication. These provide guides to help decode the layers of messages and can shape the attitudes and ideologies of a person.
This philosophical and cognitive approach to the study of discourse is helpful here as it suggests that readers may have a number different readings of a text. They could have an objectionable view, a view of agreement or a view of indifference. In this article the writer has specifically chosen to use an active voice, with sentences such as “At home we can control the amount of energy we use. “ and “The best place to start conserving power is at home.” The journalist has used this style of writing to give clear, direct constative statements to the reader. This is evidence that social processes of writing are never arbitrary, so it could be suggested that as the writer has chosen to use a particular style of writing these statements are not entirely a matter of truth, but instead just a way of presenting information.
Although the role of the media is to ‘mediate’ information and present it in a way that suits the author’s intent, this does not mean that the reader will automatically accept the ideology presented to them. When reading the examples of text given above, a reader could in fact use information they already possess before deciding whether or not they will accept these statements as truth. Using their stored knowledge could lead them to question these statements: Can we really control the energy that we use? And if so, how? As Gunter Kress suggests “discourse will be a reproduction of that previously learned” (Kress: 1990). This structuralist approach challenges the hegemonic view of the author as all-powerful. Instead it suggests that readers are “active agents” in the discourse, where they have the ability to decode the ideological messages of the text and accept or reject them.
As we have discovered language is socially constructed through learned meanings, therefore the use of a social practice model is equally as important to critical discourse analysis. Social practice focuses on social context. In linguistics, the codes and conventions of a language have become naturalized within a text, i.e. they remain unnoticed, due to familiarity or ritualization of style. When reading this article, readers expect a certain type of language and discourse. This allows the reader to gain an understanding of the ideological messages of the text instead of focusing on the literal linguistic signs.
The ideology of this particular article is an issue that has recently come into the conscience of society. Being environmentally friendly has become more important as a means of prolonging the use of limited natural resources and preventing the effects of global warming. This article has an ideological aim to change the way in which people use energy. The language used makes the reader feel responsible for the problem and persuades them to do something about it. This is achieved by using a report structure, with sub-headings to clearly identify the areas in the reader’s life than can be changed. Also introducing facts and figures give an authoritative stance to the issue and secretly persuade the reader to do as they have been informed. For example: “Our Energy consumption in the UK has gone up by 70 per sent since 1970.”
If we take the example of the term ‘climate change’ again and place it within this social context, it is evident that when seeing these words; on a discursive level the reader will be reminded of things that he/she has learned. In this respect the term may bring ideas of global warming, renewable energy resources and holes in the ozone layer to their mind. These can be considered to be ideological myths or second-order meanings of a sign. Fairclough has suggested that this type of expansion on a code links “the ‘macro’ domain of state, government and policy with the ‘micro’ domain of discursive practice” (Fairclough: 1995:87).
In conclusion the deconstruction of this piece of text using critical discourse theory has proven that language and communication within society is not only a result of a complex set of linguistic rules but many layers of meaning hidden behind what seem like simple signs. These messages are ideological in nature and can be accepted in a variety of different ways by the reader of a text. Media discourse is an important aspect of human behavior and an inter-disciplinary approach to analysis is vital to deconstructing any media text.