Exerting effect while establishing

credibility or vice versa:

Argumentation in Serbian media texts
Credibility, Honesty, Ethics, and Politeness in Academic and
Journalistic Writing (CHEP 2018)

Jasmina Đorđević
Foreign Language Centre, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia
jasmina.djordjevic@filfak.ni.ac.rs
Ivana Mitić
Department of Serbian Language, Faculty of Philosophy, Univeristy of Niš, Serbia
ivana.mitic@filfak.ni.ac.rs
Introduction
Media shape public opinion!

1.They influence political developments (Beciu et

al., 2017; Dubrovskaya and Kozhemyakin, 2017);

2.Exert judicial power (Dubrovskaya et al., 2015) or

3.Control the meaning that an entire event may

have in the public (Zhang, 2015).
This presentation
Aim:
Explore the extent to which Serbian media are focusing on establishing
credibility to exert a certain effect – their goal is a better public image
of the main actors in the news.

Method:
The pragmatic function of headlines and the meanings of the frames
attributed to leads is analysed based on the discursive strategy of
argumentation and the identification of topoi (Reisigl & Wodak, 2001).

Corpus:
Headlines and leads from news articles published by Serbian major
online newspapers from 1 to 15 February 2018 (during the Belgrade
mayor election campaign).
Suggestions and implications for the classroom
Aspect Suggestion
Corpus Must be sizeable so that it can be defined
quantitatively – the exact number of excerpts
and source(s) must be indicated.
Context Explicit discourse analysis requires partial
analysis of some of the relevant dimensions of
the context, such the Setting (time, place),
Participants (their identities, roles and
relations), the ongoing communicative or
social Action, activity type or social practice, the
Goals of the action, as well as the (mutual)
knowledge (common ground), and even the
attitudes or ideologies of the participants. (Van
Dijk, Journal submission guide)
Approach to discourse analysis Selecting a specific approach of analysis is
crucial – relying on relevant sources is essential.
Discourse processing The aim is not to summarize, paraphrase or
repeat pieces of discourse BUT analyse them.
Credibility vs. effect
Two forms of credibility (Bucy, 2003):
1. Media credibility – perception of newsmakers’
believability.
2. Source credibility – trustworthiness and expertise
of message senders or speakers.

If the public percieve both media and source as credible,

the information presented in the news is perceived as
believable.
Main effort of Serbian media: establish
credibility and exert effect of trust in the main
actor!
 Pragmatic function and frames
Two functions of headlines (Bonyadi & Samuel, 2013; Dor, 2003; Ifantidou, 2009):
1)the semantic function regarding the referential text and
2)the pragmatic function regarding the reader (the receiver) to whom the text is
addressed.

Framing theory (Goffman, 1974) – frames influence readers’ choices regarding the
way they process that information (Chong and Druckman, 2007; Scheufele, 2000).

News articles mainly rely on attributing the frames of responsibility, conflict,

human interest, economic consequences and morality (Semetko and
Valkenburg, 2000).
Discursive strategy of argumentation
- Intentional plan of practices adopted to achieve a
particular social, political, psychological or linguistic aim
(Reisigl & Wodak, 2001)

- May justify positive and negative attributions by

providing argumentative justification for claims of truth.

- Relies on topoi - part of argument schemes that can

connect the premise of an argument to its conclusion
(Kwon, Clarke & Wodak, 2014).

- Common topoi: authority, burden, numbers,

reality, threat and urgency.
Example 1: Belgrade mayor election campaign
Tanjug, 5 February 2018

HL - Vulin: I believe in victory although money is on the side of the opponent

Lead - Minister of defence Aleksandar Vulin believes in the victory of the list
“Aleksandar Vučić – because we love Belgrade“ in the coming Belgrade election, which
his Socialist movement is supporting as well, although, as he states, the media and
money are on the side of the opponents.

Topos: authority (Vulin is a minister)

Pragmatic function: direct speech used to twist fact – money
is actually in the hands of the ruling party
Frame: conflict
Effect: Believe the ruling party as they are in a disadvantaged
position!
Example 2: Campaign (slogans) to increase birth rate
B92, 14 February 2018

HL – The Prime Ministress about the slogans: I’d do this in a different way.
Lead – The Prime Ministress of Serbia Ana Brnabić stated that slogans cannot
motivate a higher birth rate and that the most important thing is that the state
should be more efficient regarding that matter.

Topos: authority (Prime Ministress)

Pragmatic function: direct speech – she is a woman and she
should know
Frame: human interest
Effect: Believe the Prime Ministress because she is both a
woman and in charge!
The fact that the PM is a member of the LGBT adds to the
level of her credibility.
Conclusion
In the majority of the analysed articles, the
discursive strategy of argumentation is employed
to create a certain level of credibility with the
effect to discredit political opponents or to add
credibility to the person mentioned in the news
which provides realistic grounds for the current
intentions pursued by the main actors presented
in the news.
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