A Critical Discourse Study on the Metaphors of the Arab Spring in the News Representations

Abstract

News media discourses almost inevitably reflect their social and national context. A useful text case of this may be demonstrated with a critical analysis of the discursive patterns of metaphors in accounts of the social phenomenon known as the Arab Spring. In order to analyze those patterns, this paper uses data collected from online articles in the British national daily newspaper, The Guardian and the English version of the Chinese national daily newspaper, The People's Daily. The results demonstrate how the different ideological contexts of the two national newspapers are affirmed and reinforced in the discursive choices of metaphors on the Arab Spring. These results also reveal the newspapers' discursive strategy of positive self and negative other presentation to support their respective national context in the macro structure of political power and ideology.