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In:Expanding Horizons in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Interdisciplinary applications, multimodality, and theoretical advances
Edited by Claudia E. Stoian and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 80] 2027
► pp. 41–62

Chapter 2
Systemic Functional Linguistics and news literacy

The potential of SFL to unveil bias and fake news

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This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Fake news is a phenomenon as old as news itself. Likewise, the effects of news bias have been exploited for centuries to push hidden agendas and spread ideologies. These commonplaces were not only ignored by those in power but willingly abused in the pursuit of their own interests. With the rapid advent of the social media, which have by and large escaped public regulation and can now be (ab)used by anyone, things have started to change. There are now urgent calls from governments and educational authorities to better equip citizens with critical media literacy skills. This paper explores how established methods of SFL can be used to unveil editorial bias in newspapers: the systemic analysis of modal expressions in news texts helps to unveil Authorial Orientation and the pretence of objectivity; the thorough analysis of Judgement and Engagement — two categories from Appraisal Theory — allows students to explore evaluative stance and editorial bias.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Fake news
    • 2.1What is fake news?
      • 2.1.1News fabrication
      • 2.1.2Photo manipulation
      • 2.1.3Propaganda
    • 2.2Approaches to identifying fake news
  • 3.SFL and news bias
    • 3.1Authorial orientation
    • 3.2Appraisal theory
      • 3.2.1Judgement: Evaluating behaviour
      • 3.2.2Engagement: Positioning against alternative voices
  • 4.News bias in obituaries
    • 4.1Authorial orientation
      • 4.1.1Beckenbauer
      • 4.1.2Pilger
    • 4.2Judgement
      • 4.2.1Beckenbauer
      • 4.2.2Pilger
    • 4.3Engagement
      • 4.3.1Beckenbauer
      • 4.3.2Pilger
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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