Discourses of Disorder

Analyses media representations of riots, strikes and protests

Riots, strikes and protests are heavily mediatised events. Media representations thus play a crucial role in narrating instances of civil disorder for the public where they define the issues at stake, delimit frames of reference and debate, and ultimately legitimise or delegitimise the actors, actions and causes involved. From a critical semiotic perspective, drawing on insights from linguistics, multimodality and media studies, this book explores the ideological dimensions of media representation and its function in discursively constructing public understandings of, and attitudes toward, civil disorder. A range of case studies are presented which cut across time, communicative modality and genre, and geo-political context.

• 10 chapters each addressing representations of riots, strikes and protests in a different national, historical and political context
• Includes detailed case studies cutting across time, communicative mode and genre, and geo-political context
• Analysis extends beyond linguistic representation to include imagery in the form of photographs, videos and political cartoons
• includes case studies of the 1821 Baltimore riots, the 2011 England riots, the Chilean student movement, protests against the Stuttgart 21 development and strike action in Botsawana