The Role of Language in Shaping Public Perception: A Critical Linguistic Approach to Media Framing in News Reports

Abstract

This paper focuses on the factor of language in mediating the public's perception by framing news reports. While exploring the linguistic activity practiced by different media sources, the study identifies how certain words, schemes, and appeals dictate the top-down construction of stories and populace perspective. The periodicities and strategies that give rise to framing effects are explored at length based on examining selected news articles using the critical linguistic approach. These results show that fine shades in the language can produce the difference in interconnection and peculiarity of the events for the target audience, thus stressing the importance of language in media. The study's results convey the need to employ adequate measures in media literacy and ethical journalistic practice to advance accurate and fair news coverage. In as much as it contributes to a specific research study, it is also focused on understanding the relationship between language, media framing, and perception.