Us political discourse and US media1

Abstract

The United States is reputed to have freedom of the media and yet there are so few signs of that precious commodity. In a country with essentially three political currents (right wing, extreme right and fascist right) one would not expect anything but a right wing bias. However, the problem is more the all-over bias also shared by much of the rather marginal US left: 'the way the issues are cut'. In this article, some of the current US political discourses are analyzed. Not simply out of fascination, but out of major concern about the way in which many sophisticated theories and books on discourse analysis nowadays only seem to be heading for literary criticism, with texts and sub-texts for their own sake, in the same sacrificial spirit as the former generation of text analists were sacrificed on the altar of significance levels. The obvious exception is formed by those figthing for a subjugated discourse, the women, the blacks, the suppressed of all kinds (often referred to as "minorities" although together they are the clear majority). The implications of authors' own position (discourse control = power = politics and discourse critique = power struggle = counterpolitics) are briefly discussed.