Arlini binti Alias
School of Psychology and Social Sciences, IMU University, Malaysia
DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmra/v7-i04-23Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT:
This research explores how selected local and foreign news outlets depict speculative discourse in their coverage of the MH370 tragedy through corpus-based critical discourse analysis. It begins by contextualising the prevalence of speculative language in modern journalism and its potential impact on journalistic principles, drawing on previous research to highlight the rise of interpretive journalism and its association with speculative reporting. The MH370 incident serves as a case study, revealing how imbalanced news coverage has led to the emergence of rumours, speculation, and conspiracy theories, particularly in the shifting narrative surrounding the Malaysian government's response. The study focuses on linguistic patterns of speculative discourse, employing Wiebe et al.'s (2001) framework for classifying speculative language to analyse news headlines and reports from selected local and foreign news outlets. By examining the presence and utilisation of speculative language, the study sheds light on how journalists convey uncertainty and speculation in their reporting, influencing public perception and understanding of the MH370 tragedy. The findings confirm the widespread presence of speculative discourse in both local and foreign news coverage of the MH370 tragedy, with journalists from both spheres employing subjective interpretation in their reporting. The analysis highlighted a significant usage of hedging strategies such as modal verbs expressing probability, particularly in foreign headlines, which exhibited less certainty than local ones. Both local and foreign headlines commonly featured hypothetical questions and unnecessary quotation marks, amplifying uncertainty in reporting on MH370. Notably, 64% of MH370 news headlines were identified as speculative, emphasising the prevalence of speculative language in influencing public perception and encouraging contemplation of multiple assumptions and uncertainties surrounding the tragedy. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how speculative discourse shapes news coverage and public discourse surrounding major events like the MH370 tragedy.
KEYWORDS:Speculative discourse, news coverage, corpus-based analysis, critical discourse analysis
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