Faking, lies, and hypocrisy in the press: The rhetoric of accusations and rivalry

Abstract

This article examines the rhetoric of rivalry in the British press, and the way that news reports are self-indexical, constructed to show the newspaper reporting the story as doing its proper job of news reporting and success at bringing unbiased neutral reports to its readers. In contrast, and within the same report, the newspaper depicts its rivals as failing to do the same. In a discourse analysis of media texts I examine occasions when media misinformation becomes an issue for the newspaper making the report, and how this works rhetorically within the news item itself. In much the same way as breaches in normal order give us an understanding of how rules and norms are enforced, this article examines how explicit accusations of faking and hypocrisy give us the opportunity to examine how normative descriptions of journalism work. Rules' of reporting and categories of truth are discursively managed issues which turn out to be flexible, rhetorical, and actively constructed by the newspaper making the accusations. By addressing misinformation the newspaper is able to position itself as factual information provider, and to display its own commitment to the pursuit of truth while scoring points over its competitors.