Constructing the abortion debate: a comparative news values analysis of print media discourses in Ireland and Argentina

Abstract

ABSTRACT Socio-political transitions prompt shifts in public sphere discourses on key issues (Krzyżanowski, Michał, Anna Triandafyllidou, and Ruth Wodak. 2009. ‘Introduction’ in the European Public Sphere and the Media: 1–14. London: Palgrave Macmillan.). Opportunities to change abortion legislation constitute examples of this in stimulating renewed debates around gender and human rights. Media discourses on abortion are worthy of study for their ideological role in transmitting messages and shaping public opinion. This comparative study investigates mainstream media discourses on the Irish referendum for the legalisation of abortion (May 2018) and a similar vote in the Argentine Senate (December 2020). Using the methodological approach of Discursive News Values Analysis (DNVA) (Bednarek, Monika, and Helen Caple. 2017. The Discourse of News Values: How News Organizations Create Newsworthiness. New York: Oxford University Press.), this article explores news values in media coverage leading up to and directly after the vote in the two countries. Both corpora demonstrated a shift in news values before and after the key events although this was more pronounced in the Irish context. Mainstream media news values in Ireland promoted legislative change overall while Argentine newspapers differed in their construction of news values reflecting their opposing positions on the proposed legislation.