Towards an integrated approach to ideology and metaphors in news media communication
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Keywords

journalistic metaphors
ideology
persuasive intentions
discourse analysis
etnography
journalism
DACA

How to Cite

Towards an integrated approach to ideology and metaphors in news media communication. (2026). Semas, 7(13), 29-57. https://doi.org/10.61820/s.%x2683-3301.v7n13.190

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between metaphor use and ideology in journalistic discourse by examining the metaphors employed in the coverage of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the binational newspaper El Diario. Based on a dual-method approach that integrates a corpus-based discourse analysis with ethnographic fieldwork, the study explores how the documented metaphors not only reflect the newspaper’s ideological stances, societal perspectives, and reporters’ intentions– as is commonly emphasized in existing literature –but also emerge as a product of the news production process within the studied media outlet. The analysis reveals that traditional textual methods are insufficient to fully explain the dynamics behind the selection and use of metaphors. While the notions of ideology and authorial intent play a role in the study of journalistic metaphors, it is essential to complement the analysis of textual metaphorical patterns with an ethnographic approach that examines the news production process carried out by journalists, to explore how these concepts materialize in the studied context.

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