Operation military representation: A critical discourse historical analysis of the United States military in the news

Clark, Sarah Ann

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121990 Copy

Description

Title

Operation military representation: A critical discourse historical analysis of the United States military in the news

Author(s)

Clark, Sarah Ann

Issue Date

2023-11-27

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Bhatt, Rakesh

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Bhatt, Rakesh

Committee Member(s)

• Yoon, James
• Sadler, Randall
• Calfas, George

Department of Study

Linguistics

Discipline

Linguistics

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Sociolinguistics
• Military Studies

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to identify and examine the sociolinguistic elements of news-media discourses mobilizing the production of difference between the US military and the US civilian sector. The research is grounded broadly in critical discourse studies to examine themes of ideology, institutional awareness, and discursive influences on social thought in civil-military relations, specifically as it relates to the formation of the civil-military divide in news media from 1972 - the Global War On Terror. Using a modified version of the Discourse Historical Analysis, I textually analyzed two institutionally contrasting new sources, The New York Times (NYT) and the Stars and Stripes, during specific time frames spanning four different military operations. My findings confirmed the existence of a large amount of representational productions of difference between the media sources but also a non-insignificant amount of overlap and intertextually. In the civilian/NYT data, these productions of difference or instances of overlap occurred in a varied pattern across the total time frame of the study in conjunction with societal views, public endorsements or objections to military action of the corresponding era. The exo-construction in the NYT data of military representation also varied in accordance with public opinion on the military’s conflict activities. In contrast, I found that the military consistently constructed an institutionally positive endo-representation in the Stars and Stripes publication’s data set regardless of the public’s view outside of the institutional boundary. Overall, this study and its findings do support my claim that media discourses, due to their sociolinguistic contrasts, do construct some level of divide between the institutions. The views expressed in this dissertation do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense or the United States.

Graduation Semester

2023-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Sarah Clark

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