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Racist Discourse: The Role Of Racism In The Media

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In the last few months, the current situation of asylum seekers has caused an increment of racist remarks in the news. The migrant crisis is currently considered a hot topic in the press, what implies that those events are considered newsworthy (NewsBank, 2015; Van Dijk, 1991, p.3). Actually, the press has always been a significant tool to spread ideologies, being racism one of them (Van Dijk, 1991, p.10). Consequently, racism in the press is an interesting topic of research for many sociolinguists, as the linguistics’ professor Teun A. Van Dijk. In his book Racism and the Press, Van Dijk affirms that ethnics are usually negatively portrayed in the press (1991, ix). Moreover, Van Dijk defines this negative representation of the Other as a racist …show more content…

Specifically, Van Dijk claims that racist opinions are represented through racist statements made by the dominant ethnic group (2004, p.351). According to Van Dijk, the racist discourse may be presented in two different ways (2004, p.351). Consequently, it may be either “directed at ethnically different Others”, or “about ethnically different Others” (2004, p.351). Furthermore, Van Dijk affirms that these representations of racism may be disguised by using disclaimers as “I am not a racist, but…” (2004, …show more content…

Previous Works 2.2.2. Racism and the Press. Racism and the Press is a book written by Teun A. Van Dijk, and first published in 1991. In his book, the professor Van Dijk discusses the appearance of racism in the press. One of Van Dijk’s main points is that a racist discourse can be identified through the location and choice of the words (1991, p.53). Consequently, Van Dijk claims that the relation between words can demonstrate the racist implications in the text (1991, p.58). 2.2.3. “Racist Discourse”. The article “Racist Discourse” was written by Van Dijk in 2004. In this article, Van Dijk discusses the nature of the racist discourse. In particular, the professor claims that racist discourses can be classified in three different topics, which are difference, deviance, and threat (2004, p.352). In particular, this classification is made base on their portrayal of the Other (Van Dijk, 2004, p.353). With this in mind, the acts of the events are emphasized or mitigated (Van Dijk, 2004,

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