Ideological Language in Newspapers. A Comparison of Presentations of the Petraeus-Case

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,7, Free University of Berlin (Institut für Anglistik), course: Sprachpraxis, language: English, abstract: Newspaper headings like 'David Petraeus: run to ground' and 'For Petraeus, echoes of other warrior David' raise the question: Why are there different ways to report on the same event? Both headlines emphasize different aspects by giving more or less importance to particular words. These differences in reporting on the same issue reflect on distinct ideologies various newspapers represent. How is ideology expressed through language? The French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault considers language as 'discourse', which implicates that language is always something mediated, it is a discursive practice. Language which is used to express knowledge and to mediate information is always determined by the ideology of the authority using it. In order to capture the predominance of ideology in newspapers being expressed through language and content aspects, four articles from different newspapers dealing with the resignation of the former CIA Director David Petraeus on November 9, based on an extramarital affair with his biographer, will be compared.