Engagement strategies in online opinion articles : analysis of the dialogistic positioning adopted by the authors of news articles about the attack on the Capitol in CNN and Fox News

Abstract

We live in a media-saturated world. Television, newspapers, radio, social networks and other widely available communication forms play an important role in society. As Matheson (2005) posits, “the shared world of a culture—what its members think is real, interesting, beautiful, moral and all the other meanings they attach to the world—is partly constructed by each member and partly by institutions such as newspapers or radio stations...” (p. 1). Mass media exerts a considerable impact on people’s perceptions of the reality that surrounds them. What individuals see, read or hear in the media may profoundly influence their own judgement and lead them to construct certain viewpoints. Allan reaffirms this idea by stating that “media discourses lend shape to so many of our everyday experiences” (Allan in Matheson, 2005, p. ix). However, even though most people are aware of this phenomenon, they tend to process and accept the information published in different media sources without critically analysing it, regarding it as objective facts which do not need to be put into question.