Political Bias on BBC, CNN, and Fox News - Doria

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49.3 percent of 69) have the entities in the Theme and 30 (or 43.5 percent) in the Rheme. Five mention neither. What is notable here is how often the entities appear in Rheme position (23.1 percent for BBC, 31 for CNN, and 43.5 for Fox News) because this suggests that the Occupy movement and the protesters are considered the New more often by Fox News than by the other two websites. It can be argued, then, that Fox News aims instead to highlight authorities such as the police in Theme position. Most headlines with some version of either Occupy Wall Street or protesters occurring in the Theme position do not indicate any manner of bias. Of the 18 BBC headlines with the specified entities in Theme position, only two (or 11.1 percent) can be seen as tentatively biased: (46) Occupy LA protesters defy eviction deadline (47) US Occupy protesters clash with police at Oakland port The former example includes the word defy which can be analyzed as a sign of anti- OWS bias because defying something can be considered negative, and the fact that the protesters are identified as the Actor in the process attaches this negativity to them. Defying can just as easily be considered a positive thing, however, if BBC aimed to highlight that the eviction deadline should have been defied. The latter example is perhaps slightly more revealing. Because the protesters are identified as the Actor in the process instead of saying, for example, protesters and police clash, it can be argued that the protesters are pointed to as the guilty party. In this instance, then, BBC seems to be slightly anti-OWS and, therefore, slightly right-leaning. Progressing to the CNN headlines in this group, of the 24 headlines that have some rendition of the OWS movement or the protesters in Theme, five (or 20.8 percent) can be analyzed as biased - again in support of the hypothesis that CNN is liberal. These headlines include topics such as the movement's fight against foreclosures and support for an injured war veteran - both acts being viewed very positively in the U.S. context. Furthermore, one headline explicitly highlights the police as the Actor: (48) Protesters arrested, challenged as police confront Occupy activists 56
The lack of such explicit presence of the Actor in the first clause does weaken the impact of the analysis somewhat, but it can be argued that the identified Actor in the second clause also reaches the first clause due to the subordinating conjunction as. As regards the 34 Fox News headlines in which OWS or the protesters appear in Theme, three (or 8.8 percent) can be considered pro-OWS: (49) Wall Street Protesters Energized By Park Decision (50) Occupy Protesters Disavow Oakland Violence (51) 'Occupy Wall Street' Protesters To Be Forced Out Of New York Park During Cleaning Headline (49) can be regarded as an encouraging one that may positively charge the readers to be happy for the protesters. Example (50) points to the protesters not condoning the violence that has been present at most Occupy encampments and protests. In both examples, the protesters are identified as the active participant in the process. These headlines suggest a liberal stance. Example (51) can be considered pro-OWS because of the verb force. The word choice may signify objection to the fact that they have to leave, describing it as a situation in which they are forced instead of, for example, one in which they must or have to leave. However, considering that the police are not implicated as the Actor in the process (which they must be because no non-authority could force the protesters out), it can be argued that the headline presents an anti-OWS view. Six other headlines further support the view of Fox News as anti-OWS, because the protesters are described as angry and the protests themselves as places plagued by reports of sex attacks. What is also interesting about Fox News headlines as opposed to the other two websites is the repetitive mention of violence in the group where the protests or protesters are in Theme position. While CNN only has one such headline (or 4.2 percent of 24), Oakland, NYC occupiers see violence, legal action, Fox News has six (or 17.6 percent of 34), five of which imply that the protesters or the protests themselves are violent. Examples (52), (53), and (54) demonstrate this: 57
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"It's Barack Obama Who's Soft" <str
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Table of Contents 1 Introduction...
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1 Introduction In the past two deca
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2 The news media The news is often
Page 9 and 10: 2.2 An outline of media discourse a
Page 11 and 12: ecomes clearer how newsworthiness (
Page 13 and 14: 3 Critical Discourse Analysis In th
Page 15 and 16: (Wodak 2001: 4). The key linguists
Page 17 and 18: grammatical and lexical analysis of
Page 19 and 20: 3.3 Critical Discourse Analysis and
Page 21 and 22: In addition to the distorted view t
Page 23 and 24: it can be argued that her own inter
Page 25 and 26: One type of conservatism, classical
Page 27 and 28: In their study, Covert and Wasburn
Page 29 and 30: percent respectively; Morris and Fr
Page 31 and 32: transitivity and Theme are not defi
Page 33 and 34: BBC is part of the establishment, a
Page 35 and 36: the United Nations in 1997; ibid.).
Page 37 and 38: initial methodology, an appropriate
Page 39 and 40: in the headline analysis when the s
Page 41 and 42: The popularity of Hallidayan SFG pa
Page 43 and 44: Lexis in general as well as colloca
Page 45 and 46: 8.1.1 Theme in the headlines The ge
Page 47 and 48: As the above examples demonstrate,
Page 49 and 50: Verbal processes result in two Them
Page 51 and 52: CNN, and 8.8 on Fox News (numbers w
Page 53 and 54: all four CNN headlines refer to the
Page 55 and 56: The topic of illegal immigrants 12
Page 57 and 58: highlight the connection between th
Page 59: The fact that the headline includes
Page 63 and 64: Instead, when the police are identi
Page 65 and 66: Finally, to provide a comprehensive
Page 67 and 68: Another aspect of Theme to discuss
Page 69 and 70: Starting with the Theme structure a
Page 71 and 72: When considering the way the law is
Page 73 and 74: trillion in savings over the course
Page 75 and 76: ing in more revenue by spurring eco
Page 77 and 78: mentions taxes 11 times, which cons
Page 79 and 80: While the BBC article does not cont
Page 81 and 82: easy access to all types of birth c
Page 83 and 84: does not refer to the drug in this
Page 85 and 86: Beyond the instances of supporters
Page 87 and 88: at all. It could be argued that if
Page 89 and 90: was not expected to be present at a
Page 91 and 92: hidden agendas varied considerably,
Page 93 and 94: irreplaceable, the additional suppo
Page 95 and 96: maintain, however, that the methods
Page 97 and 98: Primary sources BBC Online. 116 art
Page 99 and 100: Chilton Paul and Wodak Ruth (eds) 2
Page 101 and 102: Harris Paul 2006. OJ 'confession':
Page 103 and 104: Schoetz David 2010. David Frum on G
Page 105 and 106: Appendices Appendix 1. Table detail
Page 107 and 108: Cedillo called Saturday's signing "
Page 109 and 110: Appendix 3. Finnish summary - suome
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ideologian käsitteisiin (Blommaert
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(Democrats 2008: i). Konservatismii
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kaikenkattavimpia, puolueettomimpia
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(Halliday ja Matthiessen 2004: 64-6
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Obamasta enemmän kuin Fox News (16
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keskuudessa. Yleisesti ottaen demok
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mahdollista tämän tutkielman puit
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Political Bias on BBC, CNN, and Fox News - Doria

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