Discourse of Economy and Inflation: An Investigation into Pakistani English Print Media Articles

Abstract

Print media discourses are considered as one of the best sites for ideological investment. They mirror existing sociopolitical trends of a particular context. The present study critically decodes economy and inflation related discourses of the articles of Dawn daily. The data for the study has been collected from the mentioned English daily newspaper. The time span for data collection ranges from 2020-2025. The present study employs Fairclough’s (1995) three-dimensional model of discourse analysis. The levels of analysis of this particular model include text, interpretation and explanation. The present study has also used a questionnaire to know general perception about the social issue of economic crisis and inflation. This has been done to incorporate general perception of public in the findings of the study. The qualitative findings highlight that highly loaded lexical items in the form of the simile, metaphor, persuasive language, use of passive language and different types of political rhetoric have been employed to represent inflation and economic problems as a glaring issue. The quantitative findings highlight that 62 %respondents are of the view that such issues are self-created and class specific. This is how the findings of the present study have been supported qualitatively and quantitatively. Besides, it contends that print media discourses are one of the best sites for ideological investment and to propagate a desired version of reality to target audience.