Critical Discourse Analysis of Political TV Talk Shows of Pakistani Media

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the relationships between language and ideology and how such relationships are represented in the analysis of spoken texts, following van Dijk’s Socio Cognitive Model (2002). In this study, it is tried to show that political talk shows broadcast by private TV channels are working apparatuses of ideology and store meanings which are not always obvious for readers. Through the analysis of two episodes of a very popular talk show of a private television channel of Pakistan, the researchers attempt to reveal how the ideologies are represented in these shows. It also suggests that these talk shows mystify the agency of processes by using various strategies. In other words, critical text analyses reveal how these choices enable speakers to manipulate the realizations of agency and power in the representation of action to produce particular meanings which are not always explicit for all readers.