A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of the reporting on corporate fraud by UK newspapers, 2004-2014
This thesis examines how British newspapers reported corporate fraud between 2004 and 2014. A corpus of approximately 85,000 news articles was collected from seven major daily and three major Sunday British newspapers and examined using corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis. This analysis follows principles set out by Fairclough (2015). The costs of corporate fraud are financial and intangible (Punch, 1996), including the corporate tax gap (HMRC, 2015), the undermining of democratic processes (Punch, 1996), and global wealth inequality (Slater and Kramers, 2016; Kramers, 2017). This thesis draws on Sykes and Matzaâs (1957) âtechniques of neutralisationâ, which asserts that those accused of having committed deviant acts employ a specific set of arguments to negate them. Newspapersâ use of these techniques creates a narrative in which corporations are generally relieved of their alleged responsibility for acts of fraud. Corporations are presented as being forced to perform acts that are not always in line with (the spirit of) the law. Responsibility is transferred to regulators and investigators, who are represented as simultaneously too harsh, potentially stifling business growth, and too lenient,
Ras, Ilse Astrid
A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of the reporting on corporate fraud by UK newspapers, 2004-2014. This thesis examines how British newspapers reported corporate fraud between 2004 and 2014. A corpus of approximately 85,000 news articles was collected from seven major daily and three major Sunday British newspapers and examined using corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis. This analysis follows principles set out by Fairclough (2015). The costs of corporate fraud are financial and intangible (Punch, 1996), including the corporate tax gap (HMRC, 2015), the undermining of democratic processes (Punch, 1996), and global wealth inequality (Slater and Kramers, 2016; Kramers, 2017). This thesis draws on Sykes and Matzaâs (1957) âtechniques of neutralisationâ, which asserts that those accused of having committed deviant acts employ a specific set of arguments to negate them. Newspapersâ use of these techniques creates a narrative in which corporations are generally relieved of their alleged responsibility for acts of fraud. Corporations are presented as being forced to perform acts that are not always in line with (the spirit of) the law. Responsibility is transferred to regulators and investigators, who are represented as simultaneously too harsh, potentially stifling business growth, and too lenient,
corpus_assisted critical_discourse_analysis report corporate newspaper examines british newspaper_report corporate corpus news_article collect major daily three_major sunday british newspaper examine use corpus_assisted critical_discourse_analysis analysis follow principle set fairclough cost corporate financial intangible include corporate tax gap undermine democratic process global wealth inequality draw techniques assert accuse committed deviant act employ specific set_argument negate them newspapers use technique creates narrative corporation generally relieve allege responsibility act present perform act always line spirit law responsibility transfer investigator represent simultaneously harsh potentially business growth