Misrepresentation of ‘Corona Virus’ in Donald Trump’s Media Talks: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Authors

  • Muhamamd Afzaal Institute of Corpus Studies and Applications Shanghai International Studies University, China
  • Swaleha Bano Naqvi Foundation University Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Dr Hammad Mushtaq National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21015/vtess.v10i1.903

Abstract

The present study intends to study the image of China presented in media talk of Donald Trump in the description of COVID-19, “Corona Virus Outbreak’. The study is of utmost significance as it would show what sort of representation of China, based on its linguistic manoeuvring and linguistic mechanism employed in his discourse has been presented to the world and it unearths not just the longitudinal development in this representation but also the biases inherent therein. Data pertaining to COVID-19 was collected from an official recording of press conferences of Donald Trump available on C-SPAN. The study employs Wodak’s approach to 'Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) as a theoretical framework. The results reveal misrepresentation of reality through lexical choices, empowering stance through the modality, and non-committal statements in the discourse of Donald Trump. In addition, results also highlight nebulosity, and the dominance of indeterminacy in his discourse to shift the reporter’s attention from the consequences of COVID-19 to the “Chinese virus” during press conferences. Finally, Trump makes a negative representation of China to get a positive impression of people over his steps taken to curb virus spread in the USA.

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Published

2022-03-16

How to Cite

Afzaal, M., Naqvi, S. B., & Mushtaq, D. H. (2022). Misrepresentation of ‘Corona Virus’ in Donald Trump’s Media Talks: A Critical Discourse Analysis. VFAST Transactions on Education and Social Sciences, 10(1), 90–98. https://doi.org/10.21015/vtess.v10i1.903