Identity Constructions Through Media Discourses

Abstract

This study applies Critical Discourse Analysis to the media discourses of two Pakistani English newspapers to study identity constructions of Malala Yousafzai during two important phases of her life, namely the “Taliban’s victim” and the “Nobel laureate”. Applying Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the study analyses the discourses formulated and propagated through relevant editorials and news reports in these newspapers, which they produced to construct Malala’s identity and to promote specific ideologies. It also integrates readers’ responses to an overall position of Pakistan’s English newspapers’ audience towards Malala. The study identifies the exploitation of “us” versus “them”, in phase one, as crucial features in delineating Malala’s identity of a child education activist, who is a victim of the Taliban’s violence. This afforded the newspapers a space to construct their identity as institutions progressive and devoted to egalitarian values. Phase two findings point to much divided opinion of the Pakistani English newspapers’ audience on Malala, largely, in contrast with the editorials’ stances. This aspect, inter alia, casts doubts on the recognised influence of editorial discourses on the readership. The findings also indicate the presence of discursively constructed alternate discourses which wield strong deleterious influence on Pakistani society.

KEYWORDS:

• audience
• Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
• identity constructions
• ideology
• Malala Yousafzai
• media discourse
• the Taliban

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We want to thank Saeed Khan and Dr Umar Farooq for advice on an earlier version of the article.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.