Language and Institutional
Encounters: Hidden Power
• The idea of power behind discourse is
that the whole social order of discourse
is put together and held together as
hidden effect of power (Fairclough,
2001: 46).
Status and Authority
• Not neutral forces of nature
• Produced and reproduced:
--coercion and consent
• Discourse agent of ideology
• Discourse and social control
Institutional Settings and
Discourse
• Educational, health, judiciary, the media,
etc.
• Transmit and maintain societal structures
• Involves participants separated in place and
time
• Involves hidden power relations
Differences: face-to-face
discourse and media discourse
• 1. One-sided nature of media discourse
--sharp division: producer and audience(
interpreter)
--no room for contestation
• 2. Lack of close interaction in media
discourse
--adaptability of face-to-face discourse
--mass media design for mass audiences
Why do we need to understand
media discourse?
• Influence of media unquestionable
• Construct and reconstruct particular realities
• Aura of partiality of media is deceiving
• Expressed bias: they highlight some items and
ignore others
The assumption of neutrality:
Media Discourse
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TV
Sustained by form and content
Form: familiarity
Familiarity creates a sense of trust
Printed Media
Neutrality by anonymity
Language control: institutional control
Language devices: nouns, verbs, etc
Syntactic Constructions and
Media Discourse
• Agents of actions and subjects
• Example:
--Anna ate a pizza
--The pizza was eaten by Anna
Shifting focus from agent of action to recipient of
action
--The pizza was eaten
Two headlines: The Times and
the Guardian
• RIOTING BLACKS SHOT DEAD BY POLICE AS
ANC LEADERS MEET
Eleven Africans were shot dead and 15 wounded when
Rhodesian police opened fire on a rioting crowd of
about 2,000 in the African Highfield township of
Salisbury this afternoon.
• POLICE SHOOT 11 DEAD IN SALISBURY RIOT
Riot police shot and killed 11 African demonstrators
and wounded 15 others here today in the Highfield
township on the outskirts of Salisbury.
TV, Film
• Similar hidden messages
• Focus on particular topics
• Sounds influences moods
• Organization of images
Summary
• The nature of mass media is often not clear
• There are differences between face-to-face
interactions
• Lack of feedback
• Media discourse designed with mass audiences in
mind: construction of ideal subject
• Involves grammatical constructions, vocabulary
and language
Study Questions
Guardian