Reanimating experts and authorities: Functions of speech reporting in COVID-19 news
6
Issued Date
2024-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
17504813
eISSN
17504821
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85191981641
Journal Title
Discourse and Communication
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Discourse and Communication (2024)
Suggested Citation
Bunnag O., Chaemsaithong K., Park K.E. Reanimating experts and authorities: Functions of speech reporting in COVID-19 news. Discourse and Communication (2024). doi:10.1177/17504813241248270 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/98287
Title
Reanimating experts and authorities: Functions of speech reporting in COVID-19 news
Author(s)
Author's Affiliation
Corresponding Author(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
This study explores the incorporation of experts’ and authorities’ voices in COVID-19 news articles with respect to their distribution and discursive functions. Based on a corpus 90 articles from 2020 to 2022 in The Korea Herald, the analysis reveals that reporters rely heavily and, at times, uncritically, on biomedical voices, representing them as a homogeneous group that provides a superior form of knowledge. The discursive functions range from providing substance to the coverage, to adding negative emotional coloring, to disowning, and to deauthorizing, which appear to vary according to the dynamics of the pandemic. These intertextual practices do not simply transmit biomedical knowledge to the reader but also mediate public perceptions of the virus by defining what counts as (il)legitimate knowledge and framing it as an alarming threat and an (in)security issue. In effect, multidimensional perspectives are precluded that may also be helpful for a complex issue like the pandemic.