CONSTRUCTING NATIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH FLOOD CRISIS REPORTING: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI PRINT AND DIGITAL MEDIA

Abstract

The study examines discursive mapping of Pakistani national identity combining print and online news of flood crisis reporting in the English language. This paper will utilize Critical Discourse Analysis and apply the Three-Dimensional Model by Fairclough and his concepts of the Socio-Cognitive Approach by van Dijk, the Discourse-Historical Analysis by Wodak, and the Systemic Functional Linguistics by Halliday to examine how the twelve websites, Dawn, The Express Tribune, The News International, ARY News, and Geo News, reported on the floods. The discussion shows the manner in which media discourse naturalizes political leadership, narrates the victimhood in the climate, legitimizes the authority of the state and creates a sense of a cohesive national identity based on the representation of crises. Results indicate that flood reporting serves as an ideological mechanism which establishes Pakistan as a climate-affected victim and the co-existence of the efficacy of state and leadership roles in the process, thus strengthening specific power dynamics and socio-political hierarchies in the national imaginary.