A Critical Discourse Analysis of the U.S.- Canada Tariffs’ News Narrative: Affiliation or Patriotism?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol21.Iss4.1204Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis, CDA, U.S., Canada, Tariffs, tension, Media and Ideology.Abstract
This study critically analyzes the discursive representations of the 2025 U.S.-Canada tariffs crisis in two American news outlets, namely: MSNBC and Fox News. It aims to investigate three reports from each outlet to shed on how their narratives represents the 2025 tariffs crisis with Canada. That is, it attempts to figure out whether the narrative of each outlet favors national loyalty or the contrasting ideological affiliation. In order to achieve its aim, the research relies on Fairclough’s (1995) Three-Dimensional Approach for the qualitative analysis, and Halliday’s (1994) Transitivity Framework for the quantitative analysis in examining the selected data. The results suggest that the narrative of each channel shows a clear division. That is, MSNBC adopts a critical narrative toward economic and experts’ analyses to undermine the act, and Fox News stresses national security and sovereignty, largely echoing the narrative of the state. This divide contributes to the framing of media as mostly partisan, wherein ideological affiliation overrules unified patriotic stances.
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