TOPIC ASSIGNMENT

Critical Discourse Analysis of Editorial Text from Discourse Magazine

Presented to: Dr. Faraz Ali Bughio By:

Ayaz Ali S/O Umer Daraz Mahar

Class:

M.Phil (English Linguistics)

Critical Discourse analysis of the editorial of Discourse Magazine.

Introduction

According to He (2003: 428), the word discourse involves a big D and a small d. The big D relates to the general ways of viewing the world and general ways of behaving (including speaking), whereas the small d concerns actual language use. CDA, on the other hand, is used to clarify how sociocultural knowledge is related to the performance of what have been called speech acts. To achieve this, various approaches have been developed, some of which investigate the production and interpretation of everyday action through conversation whereas others look at texts in terms of their internal organization. In both cases, discourse analysis is non-critical because it is concerned only with the description of discursive practices and forms of oral and written interaction (2003). Halliday (1978: 142), taking his inspiration from the work of Firth, adopts another approach in which he proposes

that language is a social semiotic and that linguistic form is affected systematically by social circumstances. He points out that every cultural group has its home-based discourse and this discourse marks its identity. Van Dijk (1996:86) claims that discourse types are influenced by social power exercised by a dominant group over the actions and minds of another group. Such power limits their freedom, and influences their knowledge, attitudes, ideologies and speech. Fowler (1996:4) argues that the goals of discourse analysts should be in general terms .Fair Clough commonly regarded as the founding father of CDA was one of the first linguists to assert the relationship between language and power and to claim that discourse is a social practice. His framework is critical in that it depends not only on the description of discursive practices but also on the interpretation and explanation of how discourse is shaped by relations of power and ideologies. According to this view, critical discourse analysis demonstrates the constructive effects discourse has upon social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge and belief, none of which is normally apparent to discourse participants.

Fair Cloughs frame work for CDA:

Fair Clough (1992: 110-12) proposes that the critical discourse analysis of a text should pass through the three stages of description, interpretation of the relationship between text and interaction, and explanation of the relationship between interaction and social context. In this approach, he distinguishes between three types of value that formal features of a text may have. The first is the experiential value in which the text producers experience of the natural and social world is represented through the content in the form of personal knowledge and beliefs. The second is the relational value in which the social relationships are enacted via the text in the discourse, and the third is the expressive value in which the producer of a text

evaluates an aspect of reality or social identities. Fair Clough points out that the choice of vocabulary, grammar and textual structures to make up the formal features of a text is determined by these values. Though Fair Clough is not the only writer to assert the social nature of language, his key insights are that discourse is shaped primarily by power relations in society, and that discourse shapes social relations, as well as being shaped by them. He argues that language serves to construct particular political positions, which entail unequal relations of power. Literature Review:

According to Van Dijk(1991), the mass media have nearly exclusive control over the symbolic resourses needed to manufacture popular consent, especially in the domain of ethnic relations(p.43). According to Terry Locke(2004)LNewspapers can be thought of as compendia o f particular genres. Of these news stories, headlines,editorials,opinion pieces, columns,political cartoons and feature articles can be prime loci for the discursive deployment of these symbolic resourses. A newspaper editorial is charachterized by its privileging in terms of location, its (p.69).typical anonymity to convey the newspapers weighed viewpoint on a topical issue.It uses various means to establish the authority of its argument, for example, by recourse to statistics and the views of others and concludes with a judgement or call to action.(p.69).Norman Fairclough writes (1996)the examples so far have been of face to face discourse, but a not inconsiderable proportion of discourse in contemporary society actually involves participants who are separated in place and time. This is true of written language generally, but the growth area for this sort of discourse has been the mass media-television,radio, film as well as newspapers.Mass media discourse is interesting because the nature of the power relations enacted in it is often not clear, and there are reasons for seeing it as involving hidden relations of power.(p.49).Norman Fairclough

says(1996)media discourse is designed for mass audiences, and there is no way that producers can even know who is in the audience.(p.49).

Critical Discourse analysis of the editorial of Discourse Magazine:

The text (appendix 1) is an editorial from Monthly Magazine Discourse and it is 431 words long. This is a magazine published from SPARC it is an NGO that works for the childrens right all over the world. It criticizes Pakistani governments on the ignorance of child rights and violation against them. It also criticizes Frontier Crimes Regulations. The editorial blames the government as well as FCR as a notorious law which is responsible for the violation and depravation of child rights indicating towards an official statistics. The editorial supports the country constitution and other laws because they are in favour of child rights. However, It opposes the FCR and urges the present government to abolish this notorious law. In this editorial it is tried to create the pressure through power politics on the the then government to remove or amend FCR. In this editorial some members of National assembly as well as Senate have also been encouraged and mobilized to work for the removal of FCR.

Editorial Headline and underlying ideology:

The headline of the editorial The Curse of FCR implies a critical point of view. FCR is written in capital letters. The ideology behind this may be that the whole editorial focus is made on FCR and it has been severely criticized through out the editorial. As the ideology and objective of SPARC is to work for child rights that is why editorial feels that it is against its ideology. Keeping in view the ideology of the SPARC and the magazine and official statistics about juvenile prisoners have also been discussed to support their ideology. All the previous governments and the then governments partially have been criticized not working for child rights. However, some members of National assembly and Senate have been encouraged and appreciated because they have to some extent supported the ideology of the magazine. The headline is a clear example of the relation between media and power relations as claimed by Fair Clough(1992), since it reflects the relational values of the text.

Reiteration: According to Winter (2001:46), reiteration is the repetition of certain lexical items used either for the confirmation of the discussed idea or because they relate to the same lexical set of the discussed topic. Applying this idea we have some words in the text that have been repeated through out the text. For example: The term FCR is used seven times. The word children is repeated eleven times. The repetition of FCR and Children indicate that these are those core issues in the eyes of the magazine. They are more important than any government and official. They are the major issues. The editorial uses hidden power of journalism to penetrate into the minds of readers to mobilize and motivate them to be a part of its campaign to build up pressure over the government to make amendments in the FCR because it is against the rights of children. In this editorial following verbs have been used as synonyms to give prominence to the ideology of the magazine and importance of the issue. Show Depict Demonstrate Fairclough concentrates on the relation between the choice of language and the social power underlying it(fairclough,1992:120). In this editorial the journalist choice of words and tenses reflects a certain ideology and a social background. Some examples are cited here: Most of the sentences in the editorial are active sentences. The reason behind this may be that the editorial writer tries to bring the all the stake holders into the limelight. Whether it is government, FCR or SPARC.

Positive and Negative sentences have also been used. Positive sentences support the ideology and struggle of the magazine and negative sentences pressurize and denounce the governments. Use of present simple talk about permanent facts. For example: According to the official statistics, there are 94 juvenile prisoners mostly imprisoned under the collective responsibility clause of the notorious Frontier Crimes Regulations(FCR) 1901. Imprisoning infants and children is a total violation of all humane norms and is a blemish on the conscience of the government and the people.

Some other features in the text: An official statsistics that is given in the editorial text gives prominence to the critical situation of the violation of child rights due to FCR in tribal areas.

Hidden power of journalism: When we read this editorial we dont know who is the actual writer or author of this editorial. The magazine here uses hidden power of media to exercise its authority on the government and its readers to take them to its side.the authority here is more impersonal and most difficult to question. Thus taking the advantage of hidden power of journalism the author frankly criticizes the governments and FCR to support his or her ideology.

The claim and counter claim approach: According to McCarthy(1991:81), the claim and counter claim approach is used to show contrasting points of view. In this editorial text we find that all the claims have been made from the magazine and no claim has been discussed by the government. Therefore, this text

lacks balance and authenticity in it. Efforts have been made by the writer to satisfy the readership of the magazine. Conclusion: My choice of this editorial text from the Discourse magazine is not random. As I have earlier discussed that this Discourse is managed by SPARC. It is an international NGO. I have discussed here that how power relations are maintained in media and how hidden power of media is exercised to show authority of media on government and its readers. In this assignment I have used different tools of CDA in analyzing the editorial text. References: He, A. W. (2003) 'Discourse Analysis': in Aronoff, M. and Rees-Miller, J. (eds.) The Handbook of Linguistics. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing Co. (Ch. 17: PP. 428-445) Halliday, M. A. K. (1978) Language and Social Semiotics. London: Edward Arnold. Van Dijk, T. A. (1996) 'Discourse, Power and Access': in Caldas-Coulthard, C. R. and Coulthard, M. (eds.) Texts and Practices: Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Routledge. Fowler, R. (1996) 'On Critical Linguistics 1': in Caldas-Coulthard, C. R. and Coulthard, M. (eds.) Texts and Practices: Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Routledge. Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. London, Polity Press, (P. 110-111). Gee James Paul (1999), An Introduction to Discouse Analysis, Teory, Canada,Routledge, Appendix The original text of the editorial In general , successive governments in Pakistan have shown little concern on issues such as child rights or human rights violations. It is therefore important to call their attention to this worst form of child rights violations being perpetrated against children in the tribal areas today.

Children as three years old have been convicted by name and sent to prisons for crimes allegedly committed by their fathers or other extended family members. According to the official statistics, there are 49 juvenile prisoners mostly imprisoned under the collective responsibility clause of the notorious Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) 1901.this is excluding those who have crossed 18 years of age behind bars in different jails of the North west frontier province. Unfortunately, there are at least 15 children, girls and boys, who are less than 10 years of age wasting away their precious lives behind bars. They are being denied the right to a free , healthy and normal life as promised by the countrys constitution as well as by the convention on the rights of the child.

Imprisoning infants and children is a total violation of all humane norms and is a blemish on the conscience of the government and the people. These violations of rights of the children and the meaningful silence of the people at the helm of affairs depicts the apathy of the government towards the tribal areas and demonstrates that as a nation we have become immune to meaningless deaths and gross violations of human rights.

However, there is a ray of hope. Some national assembly and senate members have taken notice of this issue. They have tabled adjournment motions in the national assembly and in the senate against this inhuman act. The senate committee on human rights in its last meeting observed that oppressive sections of the FCR should be amended and made humane and civilized. The committee recommended that the relevant authorities should look into the reports on women and children imprisoned under the FCR and facilitate their release. SPARC feels that this is not enough and this is not going to work. The committee should call for immediate release of these innocent women and children. The government should make all the required changes in the FCR without further delay. Clear instructions should be issued

to the political administrations in tribal agencies that no women or children or male relatives of the alleged criminal will be detained under collective responsibility clause of the FCR. Maximum number of children, imprisoned under the FCR, should be release from all jails of the province immediately and the government should extend the juvenile justice system ordinance to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.