Studies in the Linguistic Sciences

Volume

27,

Number

2 (Fall 1997)

CONSTRUCTING IDEOLOGY: A CRITICAL LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

Su Jung Min
University of Illinois at Urbana-Charripaign

s-min@students.uiuc.edu
This study examines the linguistic structures used for propagating specific ideologies through which discourses of a U.S.

newspaper
used to exin

construct ideological representations of political events and situations

in

South Korea

to the readers. Critical linguistic analysis

is

amine the

New

York Times coverage of 'the massive labor strikes'

South Korea. The analysis contributes to the understanding of the ideological role of language within news discourse in constructing
representations of the social world. Such research has important implications for teaching awareness of the constructive and functional nature of

language

in general,

and news discourse

in particular,

in

and

out of a school setting.

0.

Introduction
to critical linguistics

Approaches
ships

have identified several dimensions

o\'

relation-

among

language, ideology, and power. Critical linguistic analysis aims at

sues,

uncovering the role of language in constructing social identities, relationships, isand events. Its central concern has been to examine the socio-political na-

ture of the texts

and discourses through which

these discourses maintain

social reality

is

constituted and

investigate

how

power through

their ideological prop-

erties (Fairclough 1989;

Fowler 1987).

&

An increasing number of studies from various disciplines (Caldas-Coulthard Coulthard 1996; Chilton 1982; Curran 1977; van Dijk 1988a, 1988b, 1991, 1993; Fairclough 1989; Fowler 1991; Hall 1985; Hartley 1982; Hartmann et al., 1974; Tuchman 1978) has demonstrated that, due to the nature of news itself, news cannot be a totally value-free reflection of facts. News-producing processes
comprise selection,
interpretation,

and

presentation

of events

to

audiences,

thereby constructing reality in a manner corresponding to the underlying ideologies of the presenters and their intended audience. Anything that is said or written about the world
is

articulated from a particular ideological position.

it

news

report imposes a structure of values on whatever

represents,

and so inevitably

news

reports produce meanings that construct ideological representations of the

social world.

Recent studies on media discourse from the perspective of critical discourse Bruck 1989; Clayman 1990; Dunmire 1997; van Leeuwen 1995; Wodak 1991; Wodak & Matouschek 1993) have demonstrated how the Western news media linguistically construct ideological representations of different groups of people and different countries, and how these representations
analysis (Brookes 1995;

148

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

little

exercise a great deal of power in shaping our interpretation of the world. But
attention has been paid to U.S.

Such an analysis is important for the further understanding of how discourses of U.S. news reports construct ideological representations of socio-political events in South Korea to the readers and how these representations contribute to the shaping of common beliefs and value systems in readers. It is the claim of this study that the ideological representations of a picture of events in South Korea can be discerned by
reports about South Korea.

news

analyzing the
linguistics.

New

York Times coverage of a particular socio-political issue

'the

in

South Korea called

massive labor strikes

in

South Korea'

in

terms of

critical

In this study
strikes in

will

examine the ideological representation of

critical

'the

labor

York Times reports. I will argue that news reports by the capitalist news media construct an ideological representation that is pro-government and pro-corporation, which consequently is anti-labor. This representation is achieved through linguistic structures and processes at various levels. It is hoped that studies like this one will create an awareness of the constructive and functional nature of language
linguistic analysis of the

South Korea' through a

New

within news discourse.

1.

Theoretical and analytical framework

theoretical

The

framework of

this

study comes from the perspectives of

critical

linguistics (van Dijk 1988a, 1988b, 1993, 1994; Fairclough 1989, 1992;

Fowler

1991; Halliday 1985; Halliday

&

Thompson

1984). Unlike formal linguistics,

its

Hasan 1989; Hodge & Kress 1988; Kress 1989; whose aim is to study only linguistic
and to

form without
reveal the

social function, the aims of critical linguistics are to explore the

social function of language, to describe linguistic processes in social terms,

'ideological and political investments'

is

(Fairclough 1992:315). Lanin

guage study

means of understanding

the

manner

which society works

(Thompson

1994). Uncovering the social function of language entails interpreting

language and meaning within a social context: Language can be explained only
as the realization of meanings that are inherent in the social system (Halliday

1985). One aspect of meaning worth studying is what is called 'ideology' or 'the ways in which meaning serves to sustain asymmetrical relations of power' (Thompson 1984:4). 'The workings of ideology' thus can be discerned through
linguistic anlaysis. This

concept of ideology

is

adopted

in this

paper because

it

provides a more explicit link to the position of language

in society.
.

Consistent with the above conceptualization, the method of systematic textual analysis

uncover the way in which discourses oper- | ate in society comes from the unified discursive framework proposed in Fairclough 1989, 1992. As Fairclough (1989:129) suggests, an ideology of the poweradopted
in this study to
ful class is

turned into a universal belief through the process of 'naturalization'

role in naturalizing these

and the media plays an important

Thus

critical

language study

is

a proper approach in language studies to

in the

dominant ideologies. uncover

underlying power relationships

use of language that are normally hidden.

Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

A critical linguistic analysis

critical linguistic analysis:
first,

149
de-

Fairclough 1989 identifies three stages of

scription of the text; second, interpretation of the relationship

interaction; third, explanation of the relationship

between

text

and

between interaction and

social

context.

The

first stage,

description of the text,

is

the level of textual analysis.

The

second and

third stages are the integration of contextual analysis

and interpretive

analysis. Thus, the

tion of these three levels of analysis.

method of analysis employed in this study will be the interacEven though Fairclough presents the stages
of discursive analysis, social analysis,

of analyses

in a linear fashion, the stages

and interpretation and explanation are often simultaneous processes. Therefore,

the analysis to be presented in this paper will integrate
all

three stages. This

is

done

to

achieve a unified analysis of

how

the ideological
in

and

political interests

underlying accounts of the massive labor strikes

constructed
in the

South Korea are linguistically

New

York Times.

Simultaneously with the above sociological approach, the socio-cognitive

framework
course.

is

necessary to examine the ideological construction within news disthe socio-cognitive angle, ideologies are

From

conceived as 'basic frame-

works

that organize social representations in the

is

minds of social group members'

(van Dijk 1994:1). Ideology

therefore conceptualized as a mental

schema con-

sisting of various categories such as identity/membership, task, goal, norms, positions, all

of which define and shape the ideology of a group. In these cognitive

its

structures of ideology and

social manifestation the role of attitudes plays a

central part. Attitudes are manifested in discourse via values accorded

and con-

tained in linguistic items, and the identity membership that underlies the well

known

'us vs.

them' categorization

is

found

in

many

attitudes (van Dijk 1994).

Thus, the fact that attitudes form such a central part in the internal structure of

ideology emphasizes the intensity of attitudinal orientation and values

in

embedded

news

reports and accentuates the need to identify and study them. Following
it

this

approach,

can be argued that the

New

York Times reports about the labor

that
is

strikes in

South Korea create the 'fixed

attitude'

coherently shared by
in

relevant group
the

members.

It is

argued

in this

paper that the ideology embedded

in

New

York Times coverage of the labor strikes

'us vs.

South Korea ascribes positive

and negative values by the

them' dichotomy via linguistic choices that

create and sustain positive attitudes toward the 'us' category while creating con-

sequent negative attitudes towards the 'them' category. Therefore, the approach
of socio-cognitive analysis (van Dijk 1994)
it

is

also adopted in this study

attitudes.

because
York

establishes the link

is

between ideology and

Since the purpose of this

in the

study

to

examine the inherent ideological

attitude

embodied

New

Times

reports, the cognitive

framework

is

very important along with the detailed

discursive

framework provided by Fairclough.

in this

The model adopted

the

study, in short, synthesizes the external manifes-

tation of ideology in discourse with the internal cognitive effects

on the reader of
in

New

York Times news reports about the massive labor strikes

South Korea.

150
2.

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

Data
is

This study

based on the analysis of data from the

in

age of 'the massive labor strikes

South Korea'. The

New York Times news coverNew York Times was se-

lected because of its status as a national newspaper in the United States. Four months' (August and September 1994, December 1996, and January 1997) coverage of the relevant events was surveyed. The period of coverage selected covers roughly the peak of the duration of the issue. The data comprise every news item (a total of 29 articles) from the New York Times. In collecting data, coverage

by outside sources
Times.

AP, UP, Reuters News Agency was excluded.

news stories discusses show how they underpin

All of the

data analyzed in this study are written by the correspondents of the

New

York

A critical

discourse analysis of the

specific textual

patterns in the presentation of

news to the ideological meanings of text, and shows how specific linguistic structures and styles are employed to construct political interests underlying news accounts and to show the 'us' vs. 'them' dichotomy in operation.
3.

Critical discourse analysis

3.1

Headlines
the first step in the textual analysis of 'the massive labor strikes in South

As

Ko-

rea', the headlines of all articles are analyzed.

Headlines show the most prominent

and relevant information of main event of the story and

gether with the
lead,

the

news

discourse. Headlines simply abstract the

are therefore entirely derivable from the story. To-

the

headline forms the

its

summary of
...

the
this

report,

which

'strategically serves as the expression of

macrostructure

macrostructure

or thematic structure
tioning as an
initial

is

best recalled by readers'

(van Dijk 1988b:226). Funcin the press

summary, headlines define the situation reported

and provide preferred reading and interpretation for news text to readers (see Bell 1991; van Dijk 1988; van Dijk & Kintsch 1983). Since readers often read and recall only headlines and the leads, they construct not only preferred meanings for the news texts for the readers but also the most prominent ideological view of the texts. In order to investigate the most prominent and specific ideological frameworks in news discourse on 'the massive labor strikes in South Korea', therefore, the headlines are examined. The headlines of all articles on the massive labor strikes in South Korea in the New York Times of August and September 1987, and December 1996 to January 1997 are given in the Appendix, and are analyzed below.

Macroproposition

A
is

A general
shown by
strikes in

ideological picture of 'the massive labor strikes in South Korea'

the topic analysis of

news items (Hartmann

et

al.

1974; van

Dijk

1988a). Unlike the subject denoted by a single concept

(e.g.,

the massive labor

South Korea), topics are propositions contained

in a subject.

Topics are
(van Dijk
text.

'routinely expressed in the ideal headline of a single

news

report'

1988a: 170), and therefore, are the most important information expressed by a

For instance, under the subject of the massive labor

strikes,

both headlines Strikes

Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

A critical linguistic analysis

in

mounting

in

South Korea and Thousands gather

Seoul

to

mark democratic

gain are topics.

for at an overall, more global and sentence connections; they should be identified at the level of 'semantic macrostructure' which makes explicit the overall topics. Thus, macropropositions are derived by macrorules of

The

topics,

however, should be accounted

level than the microlevel of words, sentences,

generalization, selection, and construction that semantically

map

proposition se-

quences to a macroproposition
tions describe the gist of the

at

a higher level.

Because semantic macroproposimacropropositions

is

news

reports, the analysis of

crucial for understanding the properties of headlines. Therefore, in order to

show

the

most prominent meanings of the news

all
1

texts, the

macropropositions or topics

shows the macropropositions of the 29 headlines are analyzed. Table headlines of the New York Times for 'the massive labor strikes in South Korea'.
of

The

analysis of macropropositions of the headlines reveals the following scripts

and situation models (van Dijk 1988b) associated with the reports of the massive labor strikes in South Korea.

Table
Macropropositions of headlines
in the

New

York Times coverage of the

massive labor

strikes in

South Korea. August and September of 1987,

to

December 1996
Macropropositions

January 1997.
Total

Number
7

Striking workers are violent and uncontrolable

Labor Labor

strikes cause national

economic

loss

strikes cause social unrest

4
3

Government backs democratic process Workers are motivated by self-interest Management is cooperative
Strikes are controlled by leftist students

2
1
1

Workers are not justified Koreans (both government and strikers) cannot negotiate Labor strikes are a labor-management dispute South Korean government and strikers are not democratic

are a

According to the New York Times reports, the labor strikes in South Korea labor-management dispute, not a political issue related to labor law and the freedom of labor activities. The labor strikes cause huge economic losses, which
result in national losses

because the companies involved in labor strikes represent economic development of the nation. The labor strikes also cause social unrest. The striking workers are violent, uncontrollable, and motivated by selfinterest (higher wages). They are controlled by leftist students and dissident groups, and consequently run counter to democracy, thus their action cannot be justified. As a counterpart of workers in the conflicts, corporate management shows an effort to resolve the problem. Neither the South Korean government
the

nor the workers are able to negotiate because of a lack of democratic tradition.

152
However,

Studies
the South

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

is

Korean government

attempting to be democratic as a me-

diator trying to solve the labor-management dispute in a democratic

way and

is

credited for that role.

Lexicalization

The choice of words

preting events.
It

is

important

in

providing readers with cues for inter-

can define

how we

perceive the actions and the intentions of

the participants in events, and thereby convey the

message

that the

producer of

the text intended readers to receive. Lexical items construct particular ideological

representations of experiences or events. Apart from this experiential function,

vocabulary has expressive value implying the producer's negative or positive evaluation of actions, participants, and events. Therefore, the structure of vocabulary can be regarded as ideologically based. The selection of word-meanings

through lexicalization

is

one of the major dimensions of news discourse fashioned

by ideologies.

Where an unusually
lated terms that are near

high degree of wording, often involving clusters of rethis

synonyms, occurs,

overwording or overlexicalization
that

often indicates a key concept or particular preoccupation

gives certain

meanings the producer of texts intends to convey (Fairclough 1989; Fowler 1991). Overwording around the concept of violence, through the repetition of words such as 'strikes mounting', 'violence', 'pressing', 'protest', 'crisis', 'unrest', 'grip', and 'clashes' and the use of interrelated terms such as 'killed',
'death', 'paralyze', 'exports off, point to an area of intense preoccupation with

violence and social unrest caused by labor strikes in South

Korea: Koreans

warned on labor violence

test (23

(6 September),

Worker

is

killed in

South Korea pro-

August), Clashes
strike in

350,000 on

in Seoul as strike widens its grip (29 December), South Korea as unrest spreads (28 December): Workers

pressing for higher wages (12 August).

By taxonomic

organization of vocabulary, lexical structure also has a catestrictly

gorizing function, sorting concepts into

defined categorial relationships

between classes of concepts. The vocabulary dichotomizes social processes into two groups, 'democratic' on the one hand and 'anti-democratic' on the other. The sort of structural opposition of words such as 'violence', 'threaten', 'paralyze' on the one hand, 'democratic gain', 'democratic process', 'democratic give and take' on the other has an effect of the reproduction of ideology: Labor
strikes are violent

and threatening, therefore go against the times of democracy:

Koreans warned on labor violence (6 September), Strikers threaten to paralyze Seoul (30 December), Government backs union: crisis tests commitment to democratic process (18 August), South Korea's... Kim and strikers unschooled in democratic give and take (30 December).

The reformulation of events through

esting

the relexicalization of terms has inter-

These include the naturalized reformulation of 'Hyundai' as 'Korean Symbol' which gives an impression that the Hyundai company represents South Korean industry, thus labor strikes cause heavy national
ideological
effects.

Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

losses:

A critical linguistic analysis

153
vio-

lence;

Hyundai Korean symbol (20 August), and Koreans warned on labor Car exports off sharply (6 September).

The choice of verbs has established expressive value. Verbs are used to eior invalidate the participants. The concrete processes 'seize', endorse ther 'threaten' are used to signal the actions of workers: Workers seize Hyundai plants in South Korea (18 August), Strikers threaten to paralyze Seoul (30 December). The negative evaluation of the writers is implicit in these verbs. On the contrary, the material or verbal processes 'backs', 'agrees', 'mollify', and 'yields'

Korean government and company: Government backs union: Crisis tests commitment to democratic process (18 August), South Korean company agrees to recognize union (20 August), To mollify labor groups, South Korean leader yields a bit (22 January),
are used to signal actions or statements of the South

where these verbs give

relatively positive evaluation.

Participants and processes

The analysis of
to

participants and processes has to

do with the ways

in

which

choices between different grammatical processes and participant types are

made

be ideologically significant. The particular selections are from the system of

transitivity. Transitivity refers to

how meaning

is

represented in the clause by

reality.

how

text producers

encode
in

in

language their mental picture of

Halliday

1985 explains transitivity

of reality
is

terms of processes: 'Our most powerful conception

that

it

consists of "goings-on".

These goings-on are sorted out

in

the

semantic system of the language and expressed through the grammar of the
clause' (101).

Two

main components of the semantic processes expressed by

itself and participants involved in the process. Sebetween process types has an effect of highlighting or backgrounding agency, and such choices are ideological because the motivated obfuscation of agency results in leaving attributions of causality and responsibility unclear.

clauses are the verbal process

lection

The
them
esses:

South
in the

Korean

government

and
is

companies

are

constructed

as

agents/doers

New

York Times. This

to resolve

achieved grammatically by placing

as participants functioning as actors or speakers of material

and verbal procafter-

Seoul

in switch,

moves
to

a labor dispute (19 August), South Kowithin the nominalized processes:

readers

rean

company agrees

recognize union (20 August), Seoul seeks calm

classifiers

worker's death (24 August); or as

Hyundai Korean symbol (20 August), where

which represent
the state

draw upon the socio-

cognitive representation to interpret the roles of the government and

company

economy: They are agents and actors endeavoring to resolve the disputes in a democratic way and taking a firm stand against violence caused by workers. In this way, the South Korean government and companies are represented as agent/actor and workers as patient/receiver.
Workers
bal processes.

are grammatically put both as agents,

i.e.,

i.e.,

as actors, speakers

affected participants,

in the

sense of being 'done

to'

and as and as receivers of ver-

Workers

are grammatically structured as actors

esses such as violence:

Workers

seize

Hyundai plants

and direct agents of procin South Korea (18

154

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

,

August), Shipyard strike nears end in Korea: Workers who mourn the death of a laborer, must accept a pact (27 August), Strikers threaten to paralyze Seoul (30 December), or as classifiers in the nominal group where processes have been
nominalized: Workers pressing for higher wages (12 August), Kim and strikers unschooled in democratic give and take (30 December), South Korean workers
to limit their strike to once a

week (19 January), 350,000 on

strike in

South Ko-

rea as unrest spreads (28 December), where strikers are represented as motivated by self-interest and not being able to behave in a democratic way. In the last ex-

ample, the rhetoric of numbers is used to achieve credibility with the reader. This has an effect of stressing the preciseness and truthfulness of the text.
talks, the agency of worker backgrounded by attenuation or omission. The effect of attenuation is prominent where the relational verb is omitted and the circumstantial elements, which are normally grammatically subordinate in status to the process, are included: Talks on draft constitution intensifying in Seoul (25 August).

When

describing processes of negotiation and

is

participants

Workers
ted,

also appear as affected participants,

the use of middle clauses where causality and agency

workers are construed

,

as

to'. Through backgrounded or omitagent and affected participant at the same time:
i.e.,

being 'done
is

Workers who mourn

struction

the death of a laborer, must accept a pact (27 August).

in the subject position in a

As
in-

affected participants, workers are put

passive conis

where agency
is

is

omitted and, instead, the circumstantial element

cluded:

Worker

killed in South

Korea protest (23 August), where

the death of

the worker appears to be engendered by the workers' protest, attributing responsibility to

them. Workers are receivers of verbal processes by the government:

strikes

South Korean
January).

expand as president delivers appeal

to

labor unions (7

For the question about what important

part of the

message the grammatical

construction constitutes for the participants, and what ideological and social

meanings result, the above analysis suggests that the role of the South Korean government and corporations is primarily a positive one. The South Korean government and corporations participate predominantly as actors involving actions and decisions regarding the labor dispute and the behavior of workers. They are represented as protecting democracy from the violent strikers who cause social unrest and national losses. The role of workers, on the other hand, suggests they
are passive participants in the labor disputes; they are misled by the
left,

moti-

vated by

self-interest, and,

consequently, cause national economic losses. They

are represented as actors involved in actions of violence, causing unrest in South

Korean

society. Therefore, the representations of participants are

capitalist relations: the

according to the
are in 'our'
tation.

dichotomized government and capitalist corporations positive self-representation and workers in 'their' negative represen-

Thematization

The theme is what a text most important information in

is

about and, apart from the focus of the clause, the

It

the clause.

appears in the fust part of the clause.

Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

A critical linguistic analysis

what

155
in-

The

analysis of the thematic patterns of the headlines not only reveals

formation the writer considers would catch the eye, but also gives insight into

common

assumptions taken for granted about social

reality.

The thematic patterns in the headlines are oriented either to participants: Workers seize Hyundai plants in South Korea (18 August), or to processes in the
reduced form of nominalization: Clashes
December).
in

Seoul as strike widens

its

grip (29

Workers and
sitions

leftist

students occupy the highest proportion of thematic po-

29). They are predominantly presented in relation and violence, or they are thematized as passive participants, though less often. The South Korean government and police are the nextmost thematized participants (21%, 6 among 29). References to the South Korean government are in relation to its role of mediator and its commitment to the demo-

(59%,

that

is,

17

among

to processes of clashes

cratic process,

and references to police are in relation to control. Corporate management occupies a relatively small proportion of thematic positions (7%, 2 among 29). However, it is thematized as the symbol of economic development in South Korea and in relation to its effort to solve the labor disputes.

The consistent thematic positioning of workers,

volved
the
in strikes,

the

number of workers
evoke

in-

and nominalizations involving clashes and violence foreground

in

the violent nature of strikes. These thematic foregroundings of workers

mind of readers

the

common

assumptions and beliefs about labor

losses,

strikes' restrik-

sulting in social unrest

and national

and negative impressions about

ing workers.

On
in

the contrary, the frequent foregrounding of the South

Korean
manage-

government

thematic position in relation to processes involving legitimate me-

diation and democratic problem-solving, and thematization of corporate

ment suggest

a preoccupation with their positive roles in contrast to the violence

of strikes as a direct threat to the nation. The themes thereby contribute to the
naturalization of the workers' role as violent strikers causing national losses, the

government
motivating

as a mediator

force

through linguistic

and guardian of democracy, and corporations as the development. This naturalization is achieved transformations because it is the most effective way of drawing
for

national

the picture of social reality

in the

pro-government and pro-corporation/anti-labor

New
York Times reports about the
specific textural structures in

mind of

readers.

3.2

The news

texts

The following
the

are the discourse analyses of the

in

massive labor strikes

South Korea

to

show how

news

texts are used to generate particular ideological meanings,

and

to inter-

pret the textual pattern at the socio-political level. This part of textual analysis fo-

cuses on two significant features: the representations of participants and processes,

and quotations.

Participants and processes

I

have already shown

that

an analysis of participants and processes through

a transitivity system expresses certain

meanings by foregrounding and others by

156

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

backgrounding through
ticipants' roles

linguistic structures. Analysis reveals similar representa-

tions of the roles of participants in the headlines.

The representations of

the par-

and processes are

not,

however, so prominent as

in the headlines,

news texts of the labor strikes in December 1996 and January The massive labor strikes in December 1996 were set off by the new labor laws that made it easier for companies to lay off workers and delayed for three years the authorization of labor unions. The strikes differed from the previous labor unrest represented in the news; the news reports made them appear to be more about making gains in wages and working conditions. Therefore, while
particularly in the

1997.

maintaining the positive representations of the government and corporate man-

agement and downgrading workers as revealed in seem to moderate the dichotomous representations.

the headlines, the

news

texts

The negative
achieved

representations

of workers

involved

in

labor

strikes

are

at the level

of global schematic structure by the strategic positioning,

descriptions, background information, explanation, and evaluation, as well as the

negative lexical choices for a participant's action. For examples, workers are foregrounded not only through occupying thematic position at the level of the clause but by appearing in the lead paragraph (in 18 among 29 issues). Along with the headlines, the lead is a summary and focusing act with the headlines. Thus, the lead foregrounds the roles of workers that the text producer regards as most relevant. All references to workers in the leads are in relation to processes involving social unrest, violence, clashes, demands for higher wages, and death of the worker killed in protest. This systemic foregrounding in the lead positions

them

as central players in labor disputes centered around violence.

The negative

representations of workers are also achieved through the rhetoric of juxtaposition

so that positive actions or intentions to form unions freely by workers are put side

by side with the descriptions of violence and

pictures of workers are apparently downgraded.

social unrest. Therefore, positive

The

positive representations of the South Korean

tions are also achieved at the level of global schematic structure

government and corporaby the strategic

positioning, descriptions, as well as positive lexical choices for a participant's ac-

For example, the South Korean government and corporations are foregrounded not only by occupying the thematic position at the level of the clause, but by appearing in the lead paragraph (10 and 2, each) and by the evaluation of events at the key points in the text. Their statements are credited as evaluating and confirming events. And the rhetoric of violence defines workers negatively
tion.

as in '...wide spread labor unrest helped to persuade the military to step in' (12

August), but makes a positive representation of South Korean government and

corporations in 'Waiting patiently', 'the government had acted so far with admi-

new labor law unfavorable to workers and sticking to the anti-union policy, the South Korean government is credited for economic development and changing policies.
rable restraint' (12 August). While passing the

The representations of
Headlines are
initial

the participants' roles and processes

by

transitivity

structures of the sentence are not, however, so prominent as in the headlines.

summaries of news texts and therefore foreground what the

Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

A critical linguistic analysis

57

producer considers relevant. Headlines construct therefore the most prominent

ideological view of the texts as well as preferred meanings for the
contrast, the

news

texts are

guided by

'the journalistic
total

(Brooks 1995:482) and consequently the

appropriate.

news texts. In news value of objectivity' downgrading of workers is not

Quotations

An analysis of quotations (direct and indirect) in the news texts shows that South Korean government officials, business leaders, and a western diplomat are represented as important and reliable. In terms of dichotomous source usage, a
wider variety of participants are quoted as sources and evaluate events: estimates, the Korean Labor Minister, anonymous analysts, business
leaders, international labor groups,
official

leaders,

spokespersons, a western diplomat, and western businessmen. Workers, labor

and opposition party leaders are merely

state-

ment-makers.

There is some difference in the number of quotations (direct and indirect) between participants for the government and corporations on the one hand, workers and labor leaders on the other. While participants for the government and corporations appear as news sources, explain and evaluate events 97 times in whole issues, workers and labor representatives are quoted 41 times and 37 times, respectively. Table 2 shows the number of quotations for each side. The number of quotations are divided into two groups, pro-government and corporation vs.
pro-workers.

Table 2 shows that the South Korean government and corporations are

quoted more than workers and labor marked. The difference, however, is
quoted.

leaders,
in

how

even though the difference is not the two sets of participants are

Table 2

Number

of quotations in the

New York Times

coverage of the massive

labor strikes in South Korea.

Quotations

158
'insist'.

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997

neutral words, 'say'

However, the more workers and labor leaders.

and

'said'

are often

used for

The statements of workers

e.g., in the text

are used to discredit the actions of other workers,

of 29 August following the headline Koreans fail to

a

make martyr
is

of worker, a family member of

worker

killed in a clash with the police

de-

scribed as discrediting the workers' action: 'Mr. Lee's uncle,

family's fight for a private burial, had nothing but bitter

ers

who had led the words for the way work-

handled the funeral. "It's definitely against the moral tradition of the people and the nation," he said, "It's definitely against humanism,'" which appears at the end of the news texts and consequently has an effect of totally discrediting the actions of workers. Another example is in the news texts of 17 January, 1997, following the headline Thriving, South Koreans strike to keep it that way, where
several workers are quoted to discredit labor unions:

'"Now

dislike the labor

union. During the strikes,

to

lost a lost

of money...

It

(labor law issue) has nothing

do with

us," he insisted.'

following information
ments,

in the

The statements of workers are also discredited by the news texts, which undermines the workers' state-

e.g., in the news texts of 29 December, 1996, following the headline Clashes in Seoul as strike widens its grip, a worker's voice is undermined by the following information and the statements of a government official:

'This strike will

go on

indefinitely,'

Park

Moon

Jin,

a leader of

the Democratic Federation, said today, pausing on a Seoul street cor-

ner after giving a speech to workers. She had been roundly applauded

when she shouted into a bullhorn, 'We Young Sam regime at once!'
Not
all

should smash

down

the

Kim

the

members

of the union alliances are on strike, and there

are huge variations in estimates of the

number of workers taking

declining.

part.

Chung
were

Ji

Won,

a Labor Ministry official, said today that about 120,000

that the

striking

and

number was

Another example is in the news text of 30 December, 1996, following the headline South Korea's immovable objects, where the statements of a worker who complains about the government's undemocratic repression are negatively evaluated by the reporter:
...

said

Cho

Chul, 36, a hotel cook

who

carried a banner at a

la-

bor rally today. 'There's physical oppression, as there was before, and

now

in addition there's legal

and economic repression as

well.

So

it

is

tougher than before.'

racy
that

Such assertions seem vastly overstated. There is far more democthan there was under the dictators, and the best evidence for is that people like Mr. Cho cheerfully give their names to a re-

now

porter.

This

is

the most frequent form of discrediting workers in the

are also discredited by quoting

New

York Times.

Workers

previous statements and actions that

contradict their present statements and actions, e.g., in the text of 8 January, 1997,

following the headline South Korea labor leader manages strike and awaits ar-

Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

rest, the

A critical linguistic analysis

159

labor leader

Kwon Young

Kil

page
But

is

reported as saying 'At a rally on

against President
in

Kim and worked

the

coordinated the largest work stopMonday, Mr. Kwon screamed invectives anger of the crowd with his sharp rhetoric.

who

an interview today he was soft-spoken and affable, hardly the image of a

radical.'

Statements of workers and labor leaders include unreasonable, violent, and emotional expressions: 'She had been roundly applauded when she shouted into a bullhorn, "we should smash down the Kin Young Sam regime at once!"' (29

December, 1996);
'overthrow the

'Striking South

Korean workers threatened

to paralyze Seoul',
it

Kim Young Sam

government!', 'she added that

was acceptable

for the opposition to use

undemocratic steps because the governing party had

gained a majority only by manipulating' (30 December^ 1996). These statements are often quoted in the reports of violent strikes and agitation by workers.

The

leaders of the opposition party are less prominent, but

usually

are

quoted as credible sources. While they are usually dissatisfied with the government, they sometimes give a positive evaluation of the government and events. When they became too extreme against the government, their statements are sometimes undermined by information on their previous actions in the news texts,
e.g., in the

news

text of

groups. South Korean leader yields a

sition party is discredited

22 January, 1997, following the headline To mollify labor bit, the statement of the leader of an oppoby information on previous actions of opposition lead-

ers that contradict the current ones:

But a spokesman
leader,

for the

second largest opposition party, whose

attended the meeting, said there was
still

Kim Jong

Phil, also

'huge gap between the ruling and opposition parties' and that the
President 'was not sincere at
all.'
...

Opposition parties have also been

somewhat

cautious. During

much

of the strike the parties declined to

on the new labor law, waiting to see which wind was blowing and happy to see President Kim stew in his juice. Only recently, as public opinion became clearer, did opposition leaders step up their campaign against the labor law and seek to
clearly state their opinions

way

the

strengthen ties with labor leaders.

The major function of statements of various participants on the side of the government and corporation is not only to describe and give information, but also to confirm and evaluate events in terms of the losses of companies and the whole
South Korean economy caused by
strikes, e.g., in the

news

text of 12 August,

1987, following the headline Strikes mounting in South Korea, South Korea's Labor Minister is quoted warning strikers of the economic losses: 'Korea's Labor

warned today that the Government might move in if the unand he estimated that the disputes had already cost $125 million in lost production opportunities and $55 million in exports,' where the statement is represented as a fact without verification and consequently gets credit for judging strikers. Following this, business leaders are quoted in the same text to show their concern about national losses: 'Business leaders have expressed conMinister, Lee

Hun

Ki,

rest did not subside,

160

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

late deliveries

cern that plant shutdowns and

the

could hurt not only their

panies, but also South Korea's image as a powerful exporter.'

own comThe statements of

strikers

government

officials are

quoted to justify their actions against

e.g., in the

define strikes as inter-organizational conflicts,

news

text of

and to 20 August,

1987, following the headline South Korean

the

company agrees

to

recognize union,

Deputy Labor Minister is quoted as saying 'Mr. Han told reporters this afternoon that Hyundai's labor dispute was an internal affair ... but when social disorder occurs, the Government will step in and mediate fairly.' These statements are not re-interpreted by the news report. Therefore, there is no clear boundary between the voice of the news reports and spokespersons of the government and
corporation.

The statements of
issues), e.g., in the

participants

are often quoted at the end of a

on the side of the South Korean government news text as credible and overall evaluation (in 7
western

news

text of 12 August, 1987, following the headline Strikes

mounting

in

South

Korea,

a
if

businessman

is

quoted

as

saying

'Businesses are not really hurt

things are settled in a short time, because they

have enough excess capacity and inventory to make it up', he said. 'In the long run, company expenses will go up, but that's the price you pay for democracy.' Another example is in the news text of 30 December, 1996, following the headline South Korea's immovable objects, where a government official is quoted as saying 'This government is fully committed to reform,' the official said. 'But sometimes you find that reform is more difficult than revolution.' Their statements give an overall evaluation of the events: while striking workers cause national losses, the government is doing its best to resolve the issues because that is the cost for democracy. These evaluations are not re-interpreted by the news reports,
consequently they are transformed into seemingly objective accounts that merely
reflect social reality.

4.

Conclusion
critical linguistics

The models of

texts with an analysis of the coverage of

combine an analysis of the socio-political connews events in order to deduce the ideological framework of news media. An examination of the New York Times news reports on a socio-political issue, called 'the massive labor strikes in South
Korea', demonstrates

how

the political and ideological interests underlying the

newspaper reports are naturalized through linguistic constructions as presupposed sensible accounts of social reality. An analysis of the news reports on the labor strikes in South Korea by capitalist mass media manifests capitalist ideologies that are pro-government and pro-corporation, and reveals the 'us vs. them'

news framework
talists'

in representing the events.

The news
interests,

reports transform the capi-

interests into

presupposed national

marginalizing the rights of

workers, class conflict into cultural pluralistic consensus, and power into neutral

The government and corporate management belong and workers are put in the 'them' sphere.
authority.

to

an

'us'

sphere

The New York Times pays attention to ment and foregrounds the government's role

the interests of corporate

manage-

as a neutral authority struggling to

Su Jung Mjn: Constructing ideology:

create

A critical linguistic analysis

The
rights

democracy and having

the capacity to solve the issue within the existing

system, and minimizes the history of violent repression of labor.

and

demands of workers are undermined, the nature of bor-management dispute, their political perspectives
strikes are against the

strikes are routinized as a la-

are minimized even when the government's new labor law, and the violent nature of strikes is highlighted. Although they are the largest group in society, Korean workers have never had any political representation. Workers have human needs and wants beyond higher wages and agreeable working conditions. They need

an institutional forum to articulate and press for their human, not just worker,
terests. Better

in-

wages and

limited unionization, therefore, will not provide

an en-

during solution to the labor unrest. These complex sets of political reasons are totally

ignored

in the

New

York Times coverage.

Cultural translation of the labor strikes are ideologically important.

tributing the labor strikes in South
style

By

at-

Korea

to

'the

old-fashioned management'
stories

and against cultural traditions such as Confucian morality, the news minimize the political significance of the underlying issues.
At the textual
torical
level, linguistic

analysis of participant roles and processes in

transitivity structure, thematic patterns, macroproposition, lexicalization,

and rhe-

devices reveals a transformation of ideological and political interests into

social reality.

The news discourse

cannon of

in the

New

York Times

is

seemingly guided by

the journalistic

objectivity, balance,

and

neutrality, while

seeming arhe-

torical linguistic structures

mask

its

persuasive rhetorical function constructing

representations of events.

The New York Times

reports of the massive labor strikes in South

show

that there

is

not a wide range of views that

but views within narrow ideological

Korea news media make us believe, frames through which the reality of every1978; Kress 1996).

day social
5.

life is

constituted (Hall et

al.,

Implications
is

This study

a contribution to the area of critical sociolinguistic research in that

the theoretical and methodological

framework

language

in the

news

reports in sustaining relations of power. Thus,

have adopted reveals the role of it belongs in

the

the category of critical language study: a language study that 'places a broad

conception of the social study of language

(Fairclough 1989:13).

at

core of language

study'

This study links ideology and social practice. In her recent book, Hasan

(1996:1 13) argues that 'ideologies live through the

both verbal and non-verbal of

consciously about
it'.

a host of social

common everyday actions actors who are far from thinking

is

Considering that reading newspapers

is

a fixed automatic
in the

part of our daily routine, the pervasive role of ideology

most evident

newspaper

that this study deals with.

out, 'critique of the

Another implication of this study is that, as Fairclough (1989:235) points media has hardly ever been attempted due to the lack of a

general access to

modes of

analysis.' This study attempts to

make

it

possible for

162

Studies

in

the Linguistic Sciences 27:2 (Fall 1997)

the marginalized parties to

assume the

right to reply to those represented in the

newspapers.
This study has implications for teaching language awareness to adults as
well as students in and out of a school setting, and opens

new

directions of recritical

search that would devise strategies and methods of achieving

language

awareness. Newspaper readers cannot easily read through a newspaper disinterestedly, and be aware of what is biased. What we really need is an educational

program

in critical reading within

which

critical linguistics

would be

new meth-

odological input.

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Su Jung Min: Constructing ideology:

A critical linguistic analysis

65

APPENDIX
The

New

York Times headlines of 'the massive labor strikes in South Korea' August and September 1987, December 1996 to January 1997.

1.

Strikes

mounting

in

South Korea; Workers pressing for higher wages: Together

with the right to form unions (12 August)

Thousands gather in Seoul to mark democratic gain (16 August) Workers seize Hyundai plants in South Korea: 40,000 return to work: Government backs union Crisis tests commitment to democratic process ( 8 August)
2. 3.
1

4.
5.

Seoul, in switch,

moves

to resolve a labor dispute (19

August)

Hyundai Korean symbol (20 August) South Korean company agrees to recognize union (20 August) 7. Worker is killed in South Korea protest (23 August) 8. Seoul seeks calm after worker's death (24 August) 9. Talks on draft constitution intensifying in Seoul (25 August) 10. 6 South Korean students held on political charges (26 August) 11. Shipyard strike nears end in Korea: workers, who mourn the death of a laborer, must accept a pact (27 August) 12. Koreans fail to make martyr of worker (29 August) 13. In Seoul, colleges are open and students protests begin (2 September) 14. 20,000 workers in South Korea resume strike against Hyundai (2 September) 15. South Korean police seize 200 strikers (5 September) 16. Koreans warned on labor violence: car exports off sharply (6 September) 17. 350,000 on strike in South Korea as unrest spreads (28 December) 18. Clashes in Seoul as strikes widens its grip (29 December) 19. South Korea's immovable objects: Kim and strikers unschooled in democratic give and take (30 December) 20. Strikers threaten to paralyze Seoul (30 December) 21. In South Korea, the strikers take a break for New Year's (31 December) 22. South Korean strikes expand as president delivers appeal to labor unions (7
6.

January)

Korea labor leader manages strike and awaits arrest (8 January) Korean police search union offices (10 January) 25. Thriving, South Koreans strike to keep it that way (17 January) 26. Thriving, yet insecure, South Koreans strike to hold onto their gains (17 Janu23. South 24. In battle over strikes. South

ary)

27. South
28.

Korean workers

to limit their strike to

once a week (19 January)

To

mollify labor groups. South Korean leader yields a bit (22 January)

29. Seoul leader fails to halt labor strife (23 January)