Citizens’ Consultations – Public Spaces of Argument Evaluation? A View from Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The article applies a recently developed framework for the reconstruction and evaluation of arguments based on practical reasoning (Fairclough and Fairclough 2012) to the analysis of a public consultation session organised by the Romanian Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2011, which made partial use of digital media. The session is concerned with the Environmental Impact Assessment report in a case of public notoriety in post-communist Romania: the goldmining project at Roșia Montană. The findings indicate that the critical questioning by the public is aimed at rebutting the corporation’s main claim and proposed course of action, but its final outcome is conditioned by the institutional context and the steps that follow the consultation session.