Krig, medier og individ - NotatWiki

Resuméer
The thesis’ third theorist is Jean Baudrillard. Whereas Paul Virilio was concerned with
“the total war”, Baudrillard is focussing on the visualisation of war and the tendencies which
his critical writings are devoted to. In The Gulf war did not take place Baudrillard deals with
war as an event controlled by the media. He comprehends war as an event, which is defined
as well as directed by a technologically superior power. Thus, the sign simulations are
constructing a story about a war that is not one in the real sense of the word.
The methodological section is concerned with Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse
analysis which is an extension as well as a development of Michel Foucault’s scientific
approach to the world. We have used parts of Fairclough’s discourse theory but have also
permitted ourselves to improve the method in a way that fits our purpose. While Fairclough’s
critical discourse analysis is abstractly comparative due to the text’s link to discourse, we are
following another route, basing our method on a comparative study of two “texts”. The result
of the comparative analysis is thus an analytical product, which is considerably easier to
contextualise with the “discursive practise.
Therefore the analysis is divided into two parts in the subsequent section, which gets
down to the linguistic level of DR’s supplementary broadcasts on the Gulf and Iraq War. The
linguistic analysis reveals that there is no considerable difference in language use, despite the
gap of ten yearslying between the broadcasts and the major developments in the media. Both
newsreaders use markers such as “vi” and “jeg” that are marking two communicative
situations similar to each other. These markers are mainly used when the editorial staff is not
briefed by telegrams from outside.
The greatest difference is noticed there, where technological development has influenced
the broadcasts. This can among other things be seen in the use of graphics. While during the
Gulf War graphical bottom lines were used to introduce newsreaders and guests, the TV
screen was filled with a considerably greater amount of signs under the War in Iraq, where
the bottom lines, or news tickers, were used to communicate more news parallel to the
newsreader’s oral presentation.
Another obvious difference is the interior of the studio itself. During the Gulf War the
broadcast’s participants are presented in a traditional news studio, where the newsreader
sitting behind a half moon shaped desk is talking directly to his guests. During the War in
Iraq the newsreader is not directly facing the viewers, but is positioned diagonally opposite