Critical approaches

Abstract

This chapter outlines a set of 'critical approaches' to media analysis by looking specifically at how the language of the media has been approached within the research tradition described as Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). The common ground that exists between different approaches in CDS allows the critical discourse research tradition to be anchored in–and indeed centered on–a number of central interpretive concepts. The notion of power is another concept that helps to understand how CDS sees language in society, and thereby in the media. CDS is an interdisciplinary research tradition comprising several research trends or 'schools' evolving from earlier CDA and critical linguistics frameworks. The social-semiotic approach in CDS is often aligned to multimodal critical discourse studies. If the aim of CDS is to reveal discourses and challenge ideologies it is important to understand how texts relate to power interests and also how the discourses they carry are taken on by audiences.