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Article published In:
International Journal of Corpus Linguistics
Vol. 29:2 (2024) ► pp.189–212

Political framing of Covid-19

From metaphor to moral panic

ORCID logo | Linguistics Consultancy Center of Canada
The present study is a corpus-based discourse analysis of the metaphorical framing of Covid-19 in American political discourse. Drawing on data from a corpus of the White House briefings and statements, the study investigates the corpus profile of war and virus and illustrates how the Coronavirus is primarily represented as an enemy to go to war with, rather than a public health crisis to control and mitigate. The study further situates the militaristic framing of Covid-19 within the theoretical framework of moral panic and examines the discursive features that ultimately bridge the metaphorical representation of the pandemic and the construction of moral panic. The study points to nuanced discourse strategies used in the White House press briefings that reconstruct the enemy and regroup the Coronavirus with other so-called enemies of the United States, such as the Communists, as well as the Islamic radicals and the Latin gangs and cartels.
Keywords: American political discourse, hegemonic discourse, discourse of legitimization, war metaphor, moral panic
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metaphor, war and health
  • 3.Moral panic
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1The corpus
    • 4.2Data analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1The war on the virus
    • 5.2The construction of moral panic
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22087.moh
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