Chapter 7. The visual construction of political crises
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Nuria Lorenzo-Dus
Abstract
This chapter examines the visual construction of social actors (elite and non-elite) in all the news stories about political crises published by the British broadsheet The Independent between 2008 and 2014. Our findings show that the practices involved in the construction of political crises are overwhelmingly linked to oral communication. Yet the kind of oral communication through which political crises are visually rendered varies significantly according to the (non)elite status of the groups being visually framed. Whereas elite groups are visually constructed as dealing with political crises through measured, rational talk, non-elite groups are visually represented as either handling political crises in aggressive ways or as being their hopeless recipients. Our findings also support the thesis that the concept of crisis has undergone a process of ‘semantic inflation’ in postmodernity.
Abstract
This chapter examines the visual construction of social actors (elite and non-elite) in all the news stories about political crises published by the British broadsheet The Independent between 2008 and 2014. Our findings show that the practices involved in the construction of political crises are overwhelmingly linked to oral communication. Yet the kind of oral communication through which political crises are visually rendered varies significantly according to the (non)elite status of the groups being visually framed. Whereas elite groups are visually constructed as dealing with political crises through measured, rational talk, non-elite groups are visually represented as either handling political crises in aggressive ways or as being their hopeless recipients. Our findings also support the thesis that the concept of crisis has undergone a process of ‘semantic inflation’ in postmodernity.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Crisis or the media? 1
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Part I. Crisis? What crisis? Theoretical perspectives
- Chapter 1. Rehearsing the crisis 17
- Chapter 2. Reconceptualizing crisis 33
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Part II. Constructions of crisis and responsibility in the print and broadcast media
- Chapter 3. Expressions of blame for the Global Financial Crisis in US, UK and Australian opinion texts 59
- Chapter 4. ‘We – will – go – bank – rupt’ 85
- Chapter 5. “All good people have debts” 107
- Chapter 6. The image of the empty hands 127
- Chapter 7. The visual construction of political crises 151
- Chapter 8. Impending crisis in Scotland 177
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Part III. Crisis constructions in the on-line and social media
- Chapter 9. Civic voice in multimodal news narratives 205
- Chapter 10. Gender in “crisis”, everyday sexism and the Twittersphere 231
- Epilogue 261
- Index 267
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Crisis or the media? 1
-
Part I. Crisis? What crisis? Theoretical perspectives
- Chapter 1. Rehearsing the crisis 17
- Chapter 2. Reconceptualizing crisis 33
-
Part II. Constructions of crisis and responsibility in the print and broadcast media
- Chapter 3. Expressions of blame for the Global Financial Crisis in US, UK and Australian opinion texts 59
- Chapter 4. ‘We – will – go – bank – rupt’ 85
- Chapter 5. “All good people have debts” 107
- Chapter 6. The image of the empty hands 127
- Chapter 7. The visual construction of political crises 151
- Chapter 8. Impending crisis in Scotland 177
-
Part III. Crisis constructions in the on-line and social media
- Chapter 9. Civic voice in multimodal news narratives 205
- Chapter 10. Gender in “crisis”, everyday sexism and the Twittersphere 231
- Epilogue 261
- Index 267
