Critical Discourse Analysis on News Articles of the US’s Budget Cut to the World Health Organization
Introduction
The world is experiencing an ongoing pandemic of a disease called the Covid-19 coronavirus since the early months of 2020. The epicentre of the outbreak is in Wuhan, China. In the US, the number of infections has skyrocketed to over a million as of writing this essay. The World Health Organization (WHO) is working on the frontlines of the world to fight the pandemic as well as developing a vaccine. The WHO has also been working closely with China to combat the coronavirus outbreak. However, US President Donald Trump disagrees with their close cooperation and has been threatening to cut their funding to the WHO. Trump expressed the reason for this decision was due to “mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus” (BBC 2020). There have been reports where China had originally covered up the emergence of the virus since the end of 2019 and punished whistleblowers. China has been facing political backlash, especially from President Trump. In addition, Trump stated the WHO believed in China’s assurance and justified China’s actions, and their mistakes have risked both the lives of many people and caused global economic damage.
Therefore, this essay will use Critical Discourse Analysis on a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news article titled “Coronavirus: WHO chief urges end to 'politicisation' of virus” regarding Trump’s cutting of funds to the WHO to uncover the opaque and transparent instances of power and ideology that manifests in the language of the article’s text.
Literature review
1. Critical Discourse Analysis
According to Fairclough (1993), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is a branch of discourse analysis that focuses on analysing opaque and transparent structural relationships of discrimination, dominance, power and control that are present in the language. It concerns with systematically evaluate often opaque relationships of determination and causality between (a) texts, events and discursive practices, as well as (b) wider cultural and social processes, relations and structures in order to explore how texts, events and practices are ideologically shaped and arise by relations of power and power struggle. It is also to examine how the opacity of the above-stated relationships between discourse and society is a way to secure hegemony and power.
Similarly, Dijk (1998) states that CDA aims at analyzing and studying spoken and written texts to expose the discursive sources of inequality, bias, power and dominance. It investigates how these discursive sources are reproduced and maintained within distinct political, social and historical contexts, which focuses on examining critically social inequality as it is expressed, constituted, signalled, legitimized, resisted and so on in discourse. Dijk (2015) also expressed that CDA could be considered as a social movement by discourse analysts who are politically committed. He mentioned that CDA is not a single direction of study among multiple others in discourse studies., but a critical perspective that could be found in all areas of the study of discourse. Other general properties describe CDA as multidisciplinary in terms of critical analysis of social issues, and that it describes structures of discourse and explains the description in terms of social interaction properties as well as social structure.
According to Fairclough and Wodak (1997), they have summarized the main principles of CDA. There are eight tenets. The first tenet is that CDA addresses social issues. The second tenet is that power relations are discursive. The third tenet is that discourse constitutes culture and society. The fourth tenet is that discourse does ideological work. The fifth tenet is that discourse is historical. The sixth tenet is that discourse is mediated between society and text. The seventh tenet is that CDA is interpretative and explanatory. The last tenet of CDA is that discourse is a type of social action.
2. Medical discourse
According to Jones (2015), medical discourse explores multiple aspects of health communication. This includes health and risk constructions in the media, the discursive negotiation of everyday life health and risk, health promotion texts discourse, and physician-patient interaction. Discourse analysis in terms of communications in health and risk are influenced by medical anthropology, medical sociology and cultural studies. Medical anthropology examines the explanatory models of illness and danger in people can be different based on their cultures, while medical sociology studies how health and risk communication are embedded in social structures, and cultural studies explore the ideological and disciplinary quality of biomedical discourse. Furthermore, the approach of discourse analysis to health and risk examines the language in use in discourse as a device to make social actions. Discourse analysis equips resources of its analyses to aid people of healthcare and scholars to understand that the way people make meanings in health and risk, as well as the way people ‘do’ health through everyday embodied and discursive practice. The objective of discourse analysis approach in communications of health and risk is to uncover the complexity of the relationship of textual and spoken text and what is actually ‘done’.
3. Political discourse
According to Wilson (2015), political discourse studies political language where it focuses on the aspects of language structure because it makes up and displays certain political functions. Political discourse as a term can also refer to various types of text and talk. It could refer to a political production as a type of discourse, such as political interview, debate, speech and policy documents, and it could also refer to any form of text or talk that is either politically motivated or concerning political subjects. Moreover, some argue that almost all language is political discourse because all language is seen to be “inherently political” and could also mean family talk about political events is political discourse. Political discourse revolves around linguistic analysis, and it can cover from semiotics to lexis. Thus, political discourse is language-centred.
Methodology
This essay will use Fairclough’s three-dimensional model (1992, cited in Phillips and Jorgensen 2002) to analyse a news article from BBC. The main objective of using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model is to bring an analytical framework for discourse analysis. According to Fairclough, all instances of language is considered as a communicative event and they are comprised of three dimensions. The first dimension is that it is a text. The second dimension is that it is a discursive practice. The third dimension is that it is a social practice. The model is a framework used for empirical analysis of communication and society. The analysis would then focus on, firstly, the text’s linguistic features. Secondly, the process that relates to the text’s production, distribution and consumption. Thirdly, the broader social practice where the communicative event fits in; whether the discourse practice restructures or reproduces existing orders of discourse and the effect it has for the wider social practice. In Fairclough’s model, the discursive practice and text are two different dimensions should be analysed separately (Phillips and Jorgensen 2002).
This paper will use Fairclough’s Analysing Discourse: Textual analysis for social research (2003) as the basis for textual analysis, focusing on assumptions.
Analysis
1. Description
Selected text:
a) Coronavirus: WHO chief urges end to 'politicisation' of virus
b)The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged unity, as the agency comes under continued fire from US President Donald Trump.”
c) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the WHO's work and called for an end to the politicisation of Covid-19
d) The Ethiopian also said that he had received deaths threats and has been subjected to racist abuse.
e) Mr Trump said he would consider ending US funding for the UN agency.
f) He (Trump) accused the WHO of being "very China-centric" and said they "really blew" their pandemic response.
g) Dr Tedros has now dismissed the comments, insisting: "We are close to every nation, we are colour-blind."
h) Mr Trump's attacks on the WHO come in the context of criticism of his own administration's handling of the pandemic, especially early problems with testing.
i) Dr Tedros said that he had been at the receiving end of racist comments for the past two to three months.
Assumptions:
Existential Assumptions
In (c), an existential assumption is found in ‘the politicisation of Covid-19’ due to the article ‘the’ as a linguistic trigger. This shows the author has identified that the politicisation of the disease exists.
Also, in (c), possessive in ‘the WHO’s’ is a linguistic trigger which shows that the WHO has made efforts to eradicate the virus. This applies similarly in (f), the possessive ‘their’ in terms of WHO’s response to the pandemic shows that they have worked to eradicate the virus.
In (d), it can be seen that there is a linguistic trigger, the demonstrative ‘that’, which precedes the Dr Tedros’ receiving of death threats and racial abuse. It means that the author recognises the existence of racial abuse and death threats directed at the WHO’s chief.
In (h), there is the possessive ‘Trump’s’ for his attacks to the WHO as well as the possessives ‘his’ (Trump’s) and ‘administration’s’. There is also the article ‘the’ for the pandemic. Both the possessives and the article are linguistic triggers for existential assumptions. Respectively, the possessive in ‘Trump’, ‘his’ and ‘administration’s’, as well as the article ‘the’ for the pandemic recognises that the attacks to WHO, criticism to Trump’s administration’s handling of the virus and the pandemic exist.
In (i), the demonstrative ‘that’ as a linguistic trigger shows that the existence of the racist comments is identified.
Value Assumptions
In (a), there are linguistic triggers that point to the value assumption that to ‘end’ is desirable to what is undesirable which is the ‘‘politicisation’ of the virus’. However, the opposite is true for (e) as ‘ending’ the US’ funding to the WHO is undesirable. This shows that value assumptions are dependent on the context. Fairclough (2003) states that value assumptions’ interpretation of texts is dependent on one’s recognition and knowledge of such value systems.
Moreover, in (a), ‘urge’ is also a value assumption that points to ending the politicisation of the virus desirable. This is because ‘urge’ has a more positive connotation in the semantic field of requesting. This means the author has a positive attitude towards the proposition that follows after the verb ‘urge’.
In (b), ‘under continued fire’ is a linguistic trigger for undesirability.
In (c), ‘defended’ is seen to be desirable in the context of resisting Trump’s critique of the WHO’s efforts to eradicate the virus.
In (f), the word ‘accused’ is undesirable. This shows that to be at the receiving end of being called "very China-centric" by Trump is not desirable for the WHO.
In (g), ‘dismissed’ and ‘insisting’ are desirable value assumptions, hence it assumes that dismissing Trump’s comments and insisting that the WHO being closed to all nations and are colour-blind are desirable.
In (h), ‘attacks’ is another linguistic trigger that shows undesirability. It recognises that Trump’s attack on the WHO is undesirable.
In (i), ‘receiving end of racist comments’ is seen to be undesirable as a value assumption.
Propositional Assumptions
The factive verb ‘urge’ is used in (a) and (b), where it precedes ‘end to politicisation of virus’ and ‘unity’. It is a linguistic trigger assumes that the virus’ politicisation should end as well as assume that there should be unity to move away from disagreement, thus it is a propositional assumption. In (c), ‘called’ is another factive verb that assumes that the politicisation of the virus should end.
The verb ‘defended’ in (c) is a changed of state verb. It is a linguistic trigger for propositional assumptions. Hence, there is an assumption that the WHO is to be defended.
In (g), ‘dismissed’ is a change of state verb, thus a linguistic trigger for propositional assumptions. It is assumed that Trump’s comments to the WHO are to be dismissed.
Also, in (g), ‘insisting’ is a factive verb, hence it works as a linguistic trigger that assumes the WHO is close and impartial to all countries.
In (h), ‘attack’ is a propositional assumption as it is a factive verb, a linguistic trigger. It assumes that Trump criticizes the WHO.
2. Interpretation
Based on the textual analysis made on linguistic assumptions, there are three types of assumptions identified in the text. The assumptions are existential assumptions, value assumptions, and propositional assumptions.
In terms of existential assumptions, the text uses linguistic triggers that present ideas and information in a way that they are facts and reality. The few that has been highlighted in the textual analysis are the politicisation of Covid-19, the WHO has made effort to eradicate the virus, the death threats and racist abuse to the WHO chief, Trump's attacks to the WHO, the criticism towards Trump's administration as well as the pandemic itself. This means that at the existential assumption level, the readers of this news article will perceive the information as fact and reality.
In terms of value assumptions, the text uses linguistic triggers that help the reader process whether the meaning of the text is desirable or undesirable in relation to the context of the information. The textual analysis identified that the words urge, defended, dismissed and insisting are desirable, whereas under continued fire, accused, attacks and receiving racists comments are not. This could lead the readers to comprehend what is considered desirable and undesirable in the text. However, as Fairclough (2003) mentioned, the value assumptions depend on the reader's recognition and knowledge of the value systems, which was the reason why there is a polarisation to the meaning of 'end' as both desirable and/or undesirable.
In terms of propositional assumptions, the text uses linguistic triggers to give the readers assumptions of what is, can be or will be the case of an idea or information. For instance, based on the textual analysis, it was found that the linguistic triggers feed the readers assumptions that the politicisation of the virus should end, any disagreements towards the WHO's actions should end, the WHO should be defended, Trump's comments should be dismissed, the WHO is and close and impartial towards all countries, and that Trump has criticised the WHO. These propositional assumptions extracted from the text can influence how the readers understand the information the news is trying to convey.
3. Explanation
As mentioned earlier in the essay, the BBC article covers the news of Trump’s cutting of funds to the WHO. This is due to, according to Trump, the WHO’s “mismanagement and covering up the spread of the coronavirus”. It is important to note that the BBC is a news media institution where they report left-wing news. Therefore, they are more critical towards Trump’s decision as well as for anti-racial discrimination, which could be the reason for the meaning-making of the text, embedded assumptions that were described and interpreted. If it were a right-wing news media, the setting of how the information would be written could be more pro-Trump and so forth. Their motivation would be solely to report news that aligns with their political opinion, and it is possible that they are masking their opinion as a fact. According to Fairclough (2003), there is ideological significance in assumed meanings, and that texts can be considered as making ideological work in its assumptions as it takes a stance as an unquestionable and unavoidable reality. As the BBC is an institution that imparts information to the masses as well as carrying ideology in that information, they hold significant power.
In context to the situation of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, both Trump and his administration as well as the WHO are working in their own way to tackle it. Both have had issues in the performance of their response. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had problems with their testing kits while the WHO did not seek to properly evaluate the outbreak by sending their medical experts to China and to criticise China’s lack of transparency. Additionally, for the WHO, the organization receives funds from nations to operate, and they receive $450 million from the US alone. However, the cutting of US funds that Trump has planned reduces as much as only $40 million, likely on the basis that the WHO “favours” China more and that China also $40 million to the WHO. Moreover, in context to the political situation between the US and China, they are not in good terms for reasons such as the China–United States trade war and the alleged intellectual security threat from China’s Huawei smartphones.
Taking in the context of both the situation external to the news article and the article itself, there exists some form of economic power and power struggle between Trump’s administration and the WHO respectively. The WHO relies on their operations from funds and it directly affects them and the efficacy of their work to eradicate the virus. Trump’s threat to cut a significant amount of funding to the WHO illustrates that he has economic dominance, especially since the impartation of funds is from Trump’s side. In order to alter that balance of power, there are instances where the WHO’s chief tries to resist that power by urging to end disagreements in their work with China.
Racial abuse is seen to be a theme to the news article as well. The WHO chief, who is an Ethiopian, takes a stance against racist comments and death threats. In terms of the mentioning of ‘colour-blindness’ in the article, it could be a form of intertextuality to Trump’s racist remarks about referring to the Covid-19 virus as the “China virus”. However, it seems that the sources of the racial abuse stem from Taiwan, hence there is no direct correlation that Trump is the cause of the racial abuse.
Conclusion
This paper has attempted a CDA approach on a BBC news article. Other alternative forms of textual analysis may uncover more instances of power and power struggle that contribute more to the research of the texts. As the data is rich, not all assumptions are analysed, but only the ones that required more attention.
References
BBC News. 2020. US To Halt Funding To WHO Over Coronavirus. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52289056> [Accessed 23 May 2020].
BBC News. 2020. WHO Chief Calls For End To Virus 'Politicisation'. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52224183> [Accessed 23 May 2020].
Dijk, T. 1998. Opinions and Ideologies in the Press. Paper Round Table on Media Discourse, Cardiff, July 8-10. Published in Allan Bell and Peter Garrett (Eds.), Approaches to Media Discourse. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fairclough, N., 1993. Critical Discourse Analysis and the Marketization of Public Discourse: The Universities. Discourse & Society, 4(2), pp.133-168.
Fairclough, N., 2003. Analysing Discourse: Textual analysis for social research, Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge.
Fairclough, N., Wodak, R., 1997. Critical discourse analysis. In Teun A. van Dijk, ed., Discourse as Social Interaction: Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, vol. 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 258– 84.
Tannen et al., 2015. The Handbook of Discourse Analysis 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.