Meghan Markle in the British Tabloid Press: A Corpus-Based Critical Discourse Analysis
Venäläinen, Venla (2022)
2022
Kielten maisteriohjelma - Master's Programme in Languages
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-05-05
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202204163256
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202204163256
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis is to study the discourses and representations of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, in the British tabloid media after her and Prince Harry’s announcement to step back from their royal duties in 2020. Known for her tense relationship with the tabloids, Markle has been a subject of unwanted media scrutiny throughout her relationship with Prince Harry, and it has been speculated whether the problematic tabloid reporting was behind their decision to leave the royal family. This thesis is motivated by the desire to explore the nature of the tabloid media representations of a controversial public figure.
The data for this thesis consists of 160 articles from two tabloids of different political leanings - the Daily Mail and the Mirror. The articles reporting on Meghan Markle were downloaded from the Nexis Uni online database, compiled into two corpora, and uploaded to the corpus analysis tool AntConc 4.0.3. Previous studies have observed that the Daily Mail has portrayed Markle in a negative light, but the results have been based on qualitative approaches only. Employing two different tabloids as well as mixed methods of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study attempts to provide a balanced research frame for studying the discourse around Markle. First, the collocates that co-occur with the forms of address used for Meghan Markle are examined. The analysis is then expanded into the surrounding elements of the collocates for more discursive context. The discourses and representations are compared with each other for the purpose of identifying possible parallels and differences.
The results indicate that the majority of the discourses create negative representations in both tabloids. The discourses often lack factual evidence to support their claims and are instead constructed by using diverse rhetorical techniques, such as vague and evaluative adverbs and reporting verbs that contribute to negative framing of Meghan Markle. Notwithstanding the overall tone of the findings, some subordinate or even conflicting discourses to the dominant discourses were found in both tabloids. In addition, some of the representational differences that the tabloids displayed may be related to their own political leanings.
The data for this thesis consists of 160 articles from two tabloids of different political leanings - the Daily Mail and the Mirror. The articles reporting on Meghan Markle were downloaded from the Nexis Uni online database, compiled into two corpora, and uploaded to the corpus analysis tool AntConc 4.0.3. Previous studies have observed that the Daily Mail has portrayed Markle in a negative light, but the results have been based on qualitative approaches only. Employing two different tabloids as well as mixed methods of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study attempts to provide a balanced research frame for studying the discourse around Markle. First, the collocates that co-occur with the forms of address used for Meghan Markle are examined. The analysis is then expanded into the surrounding elements of the collocates for more discursive context. The discourses and representations are compared with each other for the purpose of identifying possible parallels and differences.
The results indicate that the majority of the discourses create negative representations in both tabloids. The discourses often lack factual evidence to support their claims and are instead constructed by using diverse rhetorical techniques, such as vague and evaluative adverbs and reporting verbs that contribute to negative framing of Meghan Markle. Notwithstanding the overall tone of the findings, some subordinate or even conflicting discourses to the dominant discourses were found in both tabloids. In addition, some of the representational differences that the tabloids displayed may be related to their own political leanings.