Scott Morrison’s political discourse during crisis: A narrative-semiotic analysis

Title
Scott Morrison’s political discourse during crisis: A narrative-semiotic analysis
Publication Date
2024-08
Author(s)
Akhib, Mohammed
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5506-5459
Email: makhib@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:makhib
Marsen, Sky
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Sage Publications Ltd
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1177/1329878X221129922
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/70830
Abstract

This study explores communication strategies and techniques in the political discourse of the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, during crisis. Twelve public speeches and statements made during media conferences, from April 2019 to May 2020, are analysed as sample data. These consist of three contexts, starting from the election campaign, followed by the bushfires that ravaged the nation and the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The study identifies the prominent themes and most frequently occurring features in the data set. The election campaign communications and COVID-19 crisis communications are observed to have similar use of discourse features and emphasis of themes. Comparatively, the bushfire crisis communications showed low levels of technique usage and a low significance of themes. The speeches are grouped into four political discourse clusters for further analysis using actantial modelling. The models provide a visual representation of various actants to draw comparative insights. The study highlights that communication needs to be viewed as a discursive activity that can have variations to the contexts, and the need to attribute sufficient significance for public issues using discourse features is critical.

Link
Citation
Media International Australia, 192(1), p. 34-50
ISSN
2200-467X
1329-878X
Start page
34
End page
50

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