What’s in a name? The representation of illegal actors in the internal conflict in the Colombian press

Abstract

This article examines the linguistic patterns associated with the forms of representation of Marxist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries, the main illegal actors in the internal Colombian conflict, on the reporting in the Colombian press of their violent actions. The analysis is based on a 300,000+ word specialised corpus of hard news reports on the conflict from four major Colombian newspapers. The analytical tools used are Van Leeuwen’s network for the representation of social actors and an adaptation of Hasan’s cline of dynamism. In addition, the epistemic modality of ownership of the crimes reported is examined. The results reveal remarkable differences in the reporting of the actions of both groups.