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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 15:6 (2016) ► pp.790–817

Representations of power

A critical multimodal analysis of U.S. CEOs, the Italian Mafia and government in the media

| University of Nebraska-Lincoln
| University of Arizona
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Politics of Media Discourse and Crime
    • 2.1Language, politics, crime and media
  • 3.Method
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Similarities in the texts
      • 4.1.1Institution/organization for individuals
      • 4.1.2Profession/position for person
      • 4.1.3Abbreviated name or nickname or last name for closeness/ familiarity/ intimacy/trust
      • 4.1.4Simplified event for complex sub-events (with mitigation)
      • 4.1.5Accusation of committing a crime as a result of alleged commission of the crime [A subtype of RESULT FOR ACTION]
    • 4.2Similarities in image and its relation to the text
    • 4.3Interaction of metonymy and metaphor in text and image
      • 4.3.1Metaphor: Government investigations/operations are war or natural disasters
      • 4.3.2Metaphor: CEOs/mafia are family
  • 5.Differences between how CEOs and Mafia groups are represented
    • 5.1Portrayal of the government and government figures
    • 5.2Use of English, reference to Hollywood films, ties to youth (popular) culture for “coolness”
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 February 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.15.6.07cat
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