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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 22:2 (2023) ► pp.245–267

Identifying the discursive trajectory of social change – a systematic discourse theoretical framework

ORCID logo | Victoria University of Wellington
ORCID logo | Victoria University of Wellington

This article has two main objectives. One, to advance methodological development in both discourse theory and media and communications research by proposing an eclectic, replicable methodology. Two, to demonstrate how to apply that methodology to furnish both ontic and ontological explanations for the contingent origins of a discourse using the editorials of the Pakistani newspaper The Nation on the Pakistan Steel Mills privatization case as a case study. An earlier study had identified the surprising conclusion that this traditionally conservative paper had from the outset fully endorsed the radical opposition to the government’s suspension of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan which led to an uprising known as the Lawyers’ Movement. This article locates the origins of that shift in the newspaper’s reaction to the Pakistan Steel Mills privatization issue. The article has implications for the fields of discourse theory, media and communication studies, and political science.

Keywords: discourse theory, framing, methodological development, news discourse, Pakistan politics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse theory’s methodological progression: An overview
  • 3.Discourse, discourses, and The Nation’s editorial discourse
  • 4.Sedimentation, the logics approach, and language
  • 5.Frames, framing, and discourse
  • 6.Categories of frames
  • 7.Situating news media discourse in the social
  • 8.Context of this study
    • 8.1Historical context of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) privatization case
    • 8.2Ontological context: Why investigate The Nation’s discourse on PSM privatization case?
  • 9.Data & methodology
    • Stage I: Frame analysis
      • Step 1: Initial textual analysis
      • Step 2: Explanation of ‘frame complex’
      • Step 3: Identification of blind spots
    • Stage II: Contextualized self-interpretations
    • Stage III: Identification of logics
  • 10.Linguistic analysis
    • 10.1Characterization
      • 10.1.1Government
      • 10.1.2Supreme Court
      • 10.1.3Pakistan Steel Mills
      • 10.1.4Privatization
    • 10.2Argumentation
    • 10.3Figuration
      • 10.3.1Sarcasm
      • 10.3.2Hyperbole
    • 10.4Analysis of frame complex
    • 10.5Identification of blind spots
  • 11.Contextualized self-interpretations (journalist frame)
  • 12.Explanation of the logics
  • 13.Conclusion: Establishing the contours of a conflict
  • References
Published online: 16 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22138.sul
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