Chapter 13. Victims, heroes and villains in newsbites
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Isabel Alonso Belmonte
Abstract
This chapter explores, from a systemic-functional perspective, the role that emotional meaning plays in the press representation of news actors in the Spanish housing crisis. By drawing both on the Appraisal framework and on the transitivity distinctions made in Systemic Functional Linguistics, 139 newsbites published in the Spanish newspaper El País and tagged with “desahucios” (“forced evictions”) were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the results. Findings show that: (a) El País triggers emotional responses from their audience by representing social actors in the eviction crisis as emotionally suffering victims, as sympathetic heroes or as dehumanized financial and political villains, and (b) journalists strategically use emotional meaning as encoded in verbal processes to highlight the differences in the press representation of the main news actors in the Spanish eviction crisis. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the social issue under analysis and are discussed in relation to previous literature in Critical Media Discourse Analysis.
Abstract
This chapter explores, from a systemic-functional perspective, the role that emotional meaning plays in the press representation of news actors in the Spanish housing crisis. By drawing both on the Appraisal framework and on the transitivity distinctions made in Systemic Functional Linguistics, 139 newsbites published in the Spanish newspaper El País and tagged with “desahucios” (“forced evictions”) were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the results. Findings show that: (a) El País triggers emotional responses from their audience by representing social actors in the eviction crisis as emotionally suffering victims, as sympathetic heroes or as dehumanized financial and political villains, and (b) journalists strategically use emotional meaning as encoded in verbal processes to highlight the differences in the press representation of the main news actors in the Spanish eviction crisis. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the social issue under analysis and are discussed in relation to previous literature in Critical Media Discourse Analysis.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements xi
-
Introduction
- Chapter 1. Emotion processes in discourse 3
-
Section I. Emotion, syntax and the lexicon
- Chapter 2. The multifunctionality of swear/taboo words in television series 29
- Chapter 3. The syntax of an emotional expletive in English 55
- Chapter 4. Interjections and emotions 87
- Chapter 5. Expressing emotions without emotional lexis 113
- Chapter 6. The value of left and right 139
-
Section II. Pragmatics and emotion
- Chapter 7. A cognitive pragmatics of the phatic Internet 161
- Chapter 8. Humor and mirth 189
- Chapter 9. My anger was justified surely? 213
-
Section III. Interdisciplinary studies
- Chapter 10. Emotion and language ‘at work’ 247
- Chapter 11. The effects of linguistic proficiency, Trait Emotional Intelligence and in-group advantage on emotion recognition by British and American English L1 users 279
- Chapter 12. Rethinking Martin & White’s affect taxonomy 301
-
Section IV. Emotion in different discourse types
- Chapter 13. Victims, heroes and villains in newsbites 335
- Chapter 14. Promoemotional science? 357
- Name index 387
- Subject index 395
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements xi
-
Introduction
- Chapter 1. Emotion processes in discourse 3
-
Section I. Emotion, syntax and the lexicon
- Chapter 2. The multifunctionality of swear/taboo words in television series 29
- Chapter 3. The syntax of an emotional expletive in English 55
- Chapter 4. Interjections and emotions 87
- Chapter 5. Expressing emotions without emotional lexis 113
- Chapter 6. The value of left and right 139
-
Section II. Pragmatics and emotion
- Chapter 7. A cognitive pragmatics of the phatic Internet 161
- Chapter 8. Humor and mirth 189
- Chapter 9. My anger was justified surely? 213
-
Section III. Interdisciplinary studies
- Chapter 10. Emotion and language ‘at work’ 247
- Chapter 11. The effects of linguistic proficiency, Trait Emotional Intelligence and in-group advantage on emotion recognition by British and American English L1 users 279
- Chapter 12. Rethinking Martin & White’s affect taxonomy 301
-
Section IV. Emotion in different discourse types
- Chapter 13. Victims, heroes and villains in newsbites 335
- Chapter 14. Promoemotional science? 357
- Name index 387
- Subject index 395
