Contrastive Narratives: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender Representation in Selected Articles from The Guardian and The Daily Mail
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Date
2025-07
Authors
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Publisher
Université Mouloud Mameri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
The significance of scrutinizing media discourse has long been acknowledged by scholars in critical linguistics. Nevertheless, limited attention has been paid to the latent ideologies embedded in mainstream news reporting, particularly regarding issues of gender and sexuality. Accordingly, this study adopted a contrastive critical discourse analytical approach to examine the representation of non-cisgender individuals in British news media, focusing on forty articles drawn equally from The Guardian and The Daily Mail. The research attempts to satisfy three fundamental objectives. First, identifying textual divergences in non-cisgender individuals’ representations across the two outlets. Second, analyzing the discursive strategies used to construct or challenge dominant ideologies. Lastly, evaluates the extent to which these representations reflect wider sociopolitical implications. The investigation is led through Fairclough’s (1989) Three-Dimensional Framework as regards the textual analysis and Van Dijk’s (1998) Ideological Square Model elaborated for the analysis of the latent level. A mixed-methods approach is followed, wherein a quantitative analysis is conducted using descriptive statistics to examine potential differences in textual and discursive patterns between The Guardian and The Daily Mail, and a qualitative content analysis is applied to systematic interpretation of textual and discursive content and uncovering underlying ideologies. The analysis revealed a marked contrast between the two outlets in both textual and discursive dimensions where The Guardian advances liberal hegemonic ideologies through inclusive language that naturalize non-cisgender identities, while The Daily Mail reflects a conservative counter-hegemonic stance rooted in cultural preservation, and resistance to ideological overreach. Based on the research findings, the integration of critical media literacy into educational curricula is highly recommended, particularly to address media materials that contradict conservative moral values, and that upholds cultural safeguarding and societal cohesion without yielding to ideological extremism.
Description
116p. ; (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
media discourse, British news media, Contrastive Critical Discourse Analysis, Ideological Square Model, non-cisgender identities, ideologies
Citation
Language and Communication