The discourse of American and British political interviews
Keywords:
media influence, political discourse, markers of influence, public opinion, corpus analysis.
Abstract
The aim is to conduct a comparative analysis of the political discourse of Great Britain and the United States, in particular the study of the speech style of the leaders, the context and the role of the media in the formation of public opinion. Methods. The study employs the method of analysis of lexical units, the linguistic method of field structures, and the method of stylistic analysis of markers. Standard methods of mathematical statistics were used, as well as Cronbach’s alpha to check the reliability of the research methods. Conclusions. The study reveals the importance of the media’s role in political discourse, especially in the dissemination of political interviews and their public perception. A comparison of UK and US political discourse reveals both similarities and differences in the communication of political leaders, and helps analyse each country’s response to common challenges and issues. Prospects. Further research could focus on gendered aspects of political speech, including the analysis of the gender’s role in shaping political discourse and identifying gender stereotypes.
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References
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Segev, E. (2020). Textual network analysis: Detecting prevailing themes and biases in international news and social media. Sociology Compass, 14(4), e12779. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12779
Seppälä, T. (2022). “No One is Illegal” As a Reverse Discourse Against Deportability. Global Society, 36(3), 391-408. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2022.2052023
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Sky News. (2023). COVID Inquiry: Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon gives evidence. [YouYube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpa7-yii6Yc
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Wodak, R. (2020). The politics of fear: The shameless normalisation of far-right discourse. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Ltd. Retrieved from https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/5019443
BBC News. (2023). In full: Boris Johnson interview. [Video] Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rm45jiPrdw
Brown, K., & Mondon, A. (2021). Populism, the media, and the mainstreaming of the far right: The Guardian’s coverage of populism as a case study. Politics, 41(3), 279-295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395720955036
Cervone, C., Augoustinos, M., & Maass, A. (2021). The language of derogation and hate: Functions, consequences, and reappropriation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 40(1) 80-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20967394
CNN Politics. (2023). Sanders: Democrats must 'make it clear' they stand with workers. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/08/27/sotu-bernie-sanders-full.cnn
Cremer, T. (2023). A Europeanisation of American politics? Trumpism and the populist radical right in the United States. Journal of Language and Politics, 22(3), 396-414. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22135.cre
Druckman, J.N., Gubitz, S.R., Levendusky, M.S., & Lloyd, A.M. (2019). How incivility on partisan media (de) polarises the electorate. The Journal of Politics, 81(1), 291-295. https://doi.org/10.1086/699912
Farhall, K., Carson, A., Wright, S., Gibbons, A., & Lukamto, W. (2019). Political elites’ use of fake news discourse across communications platforms. International Journal of Communication, 13, 4353-4375. Retrieved from https://acortar.link/AJUZNB
Feldman, O. (Ed.). (2022). Adversarial political interviewing: worldwide perspectives during polarised times. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. Retrieved from https://acortar.link/kDUcaw
Feldman, O. (Ed.). (2023). Political debasement: Incivility, contempt, and humiliation in parliamentary and public discourse. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. Retrieved from https://acortar.link/c6I3g6
Ferrara, F. M., Haas, J. S., Peterson, A., & Sattler, T. (2022). Exports vs. investment: How political discourse shapes popular support for external imbalances. Socio-Economic Review, 20(4), 1961-1989. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwab004
Gervais, B. T. (2019). Rousing the partisan combatant: Elite incivility, anger, and antideliberative attitudes. Political Psychology, 40(3), 637–655. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12532
Herndon, A. (2023). In Search of Kamala Harris. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/magazine/kamala-harris.html
Hickman, R., & Huaylla Sallo, K. (2022). The political economy of streetspace reallocation projects: Aldgate Square and Bank Junction, London. Journal of Urban Design, 27(4), 397-420. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2022.2033113
ITV News. (2023). Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, sits down with ITV News for an in depth interview. Retrieved from https://acortar.link/2NoauD
Konotop, О., Bondar, О., Terletska, L., Kyrychenko, S., & Ovsyanko, G. (2022). Methods of using digital technologies for the development of students’ listening comprehension strategies in higher educational institutions. Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers, 13(3), 247-259. https://doi.org/10.47750/jett.2022.13.03.024
Lilja, M. (2022). Theorising resistance formations: reverse discourses, spatial resistance and networked dissent. Global Society, 36(3), 309-329. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2022.2052020
Lynggaard, K. (2019). Discourse analysis and European Union politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/978-1-137-39326-5
Malnick, E. (2023). I look across the despatch box at Keir Starmer and I don’t see any principles. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://acortar.link/SprKng
Navera, G. S. (2021). The president as macho: Machismo, misogyny, and the language of toxic masculinity in Philippine presidential discourse. In O. Feldman (Ed.), When politicians talk: The cultural dynamics of public speaking (pp. 187–202). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3579-3_11
O’Grady, T. (2022). The Transformation of British Welfare Policy: Politics, Discourse, and Public Opinion. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://acortar.link/Hm1qRl
Otto, L. P., Lecheler, S., & Schuck, A. R. (2020). Is context the key? The (non-)differential effects of mediated incivility in three European countries. Political Communication, 37(1), 88-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1663324
Perreault, G., Kananovich, V., & Hackett, E. (2023). Guarding the Firewall: How Political Journalists distance themselves from the editorial endorsement process. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 100(2), 354-372. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990221084609
Pickard, S., Bowman, B., & Arya, D. (2020). “We are radical in our kindness”: The political socialisation, motivations, demands and protest actions of young environmental activists in Britain. Youth and Globalisation, 2(2), 251-280. Retrieved from https://brill.com/view/journals/yogo/2/2/article-p251_251.xml
Rangoni, S., Bedock, C., & Talukder, D. (2023). More competent thus more legitimate? MPs’ discourses on deliberative mini-publics. Acta Politica, 58(3), 531-551. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41269-021-00209-4
Richards-Gray, L. (2022). Political discourse and gendered welfare reform: a case study of the UK Coalition government. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 32(2), 358-376. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2020.1760283
Roulin, N., Lukacik, E. R., Bourdage, J. S., Clow, L., Bakour, H., & Diaz, P. (2023). Bias in the background? The role of background information in asynchronous video interviews. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 44(3), 458-475. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2680
Segev, E. (2020). Textual network analysis: Detecting prevailing themes and biases in international news and social media. Sociology Compass, 14(4), e12779. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12779
Seppälä, T. (2022). “No One is Illegal” As a Reverse Discourse Against Deportability. Global Society, 36(3), 391-408. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2022.2052023
Sievert, K., Lawrence, M., Parker, C., & Baker, P. (2022). What’s really at ‘steak’? Understanding the global politics of red and processed meat reduction: a framing analysis of stakeholder interviews. Environmental Science & Policy, 137, 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.007
Sky News. (2023). COVID Inquiry: Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon gives evidence. [YouYube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpa7-yii6Yc
Szabó, G., Kmetty, Z., & Molnár, E. K. (2021). Politics and incivility in the online comments: What is beyond the norm-violation approach? International Journal of Communication, 15, 1659-1684. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/16411
The Guardian. (2023). Liz Truss: «Freedom of speech is essential to a healthy democracy». Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/liz-truss
The Independent. (2022). Key moments from Joe Biden's CNN interview. [Video] Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvtMsMMGZKc
von Soest, C. (2023). Why do we speak to experts? Reviving the strength of the expert interview method. Perspectives on Politics, 21(1), 277-287. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592722001116
Washburn, R., Klages, A.-L., & Mazur, A. (2023). Reflections on Situational Analysis and its Use for Analysing Visual Discourses: An Interview with Rachel Washburn on the Positionality of Situational Analysis in Qualitative Inquiry. In Gauditz, L., Klages, A.-L., Kruse, S., Marr, E., Mazur, A., Schwertel, T., Tietje, O. (Eds.), Die Situationsanalyse als Forschungsprogramm: Theoretische Implikationen, Forschungspraxis und Anwendungsbeispiele (pp. 53-66). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-38714-3_4
Williams, L., & Sovacool, B. K. (2019). The discursive politics of ‘fracking’: Frames, storylines, and the anticipatory contestation of shale gas development in the United Kingdom. Global Environmental Change, 58, 101935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101935
Wodak, R. (2020). The politics of fear: The shameless normalisation of far-right discourse. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Ltd. Retrieved from https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/5019443
Published
2024-01-30
How to Cite
Salamakha, M., Semeriak, I., Solohub, L., Vynnyk, O., & Bodnar, I. (2024). The discourse of American and British political interviews. Amazonia Investiga, 13(73), 165-176. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.73.01.13
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