Abstract
Newspaper headlines constitute an essential part of media discourse, which is an important field of research in Discourse and Communication Studies. Particularly, certain features of news headlines and their role in observing and directing readers’ attention have made the interface between linguistic analysis of newspaper headlines and the opinion building of the readership. In order to explore the ideological role of print media in representation of Swiss Letter Issue which resulted nullification of an elected prime minister of Pakistan by Supreme Court and the next PM of the same political party was also facing the same challenge. Three widely distributed English newspapers (The News International, DAWN and The Nation) have been selected using purposive sampling technique. Designated time ranges between 1st July 2012 and 31st December 2012, very significant pre-election period in Pakistan. To find the coverage given to the issue by the selected newspapers, total 319 related headlines were found. The data were selected through simple random sampling technique. The obtained data has been analysed by using Faiclough’s three-dimenional model of critical discourse analysis, and simple statistical analysis as well. The findings of the study indicate that print media of Pakistan used manipulative strategies in construction of headlines on Swiss Letter Issue and represented the issue in a biased manner.
Highlights
The study critically investigates the ideological representation of Swiss Letter Issue in Pakistani print media
Newspaper headlines portrayed the issue under consideration in a way that the actual facts are seen nowhere, and it seems that both the state institutions are involved in a state of power struggle
The outcome of the discussion is rooted in the theoretical and practical aspects of the study. It has confirmed the theoretical and methodological stance of Fairclough’s (1989) model of Critical Discourse Analysis revealing the fact that media language as well as syntactic structure of the headlines is not transparent and unbiased, rather it is manipulative and discursive which has represented Swiss Letter Issue in an ideological manner
Summary
The study critically investigates the ideological representation of Swiss Letter Issue in Pakistani print media. The context of the issue is related with disqualification of Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, an elected Prime Minister of Pakistan on disobeying the court’s order to write letter to Swiss authorities to bring back national wealth from Switzerland to Pakistan. The data collected was published in the English newspapers (The News International, DAWN and The Nation) after disqualification of the first Prime Minister and holding the PM office by the other Prime Minister of the same party which has been represented ideologically. Media should portray the national events in a transparent manner. Pakistani educated public heavily rely on English newspapers to keep themselves up-dated with the incidents happening around the globe and within the country. Critical linguists have focused the issue of ideological representation ijel.ccsenet.org
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