Critical discourse analysis of President Akuffo-Addo’s news stories on in the Daily Graphic Newspaper

Abstract

The study sought to analyse the discourse features of President Akufo-Addo’s news stories on galamsey in the Daily Graphic Newspaper from January 2021 to May, 2021. The study sought to identify power and ideology employed by President Akufo-Addo in the discourse of galamsey in the Daily Graphic Newspaper and to examine the issues communicated by the President’s use of some grammatical constructions. Using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis as a framework, the study found that Nana Addo projected himself as a man who is committed to changing the status quo in the fight against galamsey. The study also found that, power is exhibited in the news stories on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo through the use of modal auxiliary verbs such as must, should and will. This signifies the call on audiences to duty in the fight against galamsey. The study concluded that language, which is the fundamental means by which to engage in socio-political discourse, can be viewed as a complicated tool having many uses. Again, the study affirmed the assertion that language has an ideological dimension and this dimension is not explicitly stated but implied. The study recommends that a critical attention should be given to language and power in the fight against galamsey and other political discourses. Again, it was recommended that politicians should move from rhetorics and talk about the effects of galamsey on the ordinary Ghanaian.