Positive Self-Representation and Negative Othering: A Critical Discourse Study of a Pakistani Political Press Briefing

Discourse serves as a powerful vehicle for the construction and dissemination of political ideologies, often reinforcing dominant perspectives through strategic linguistic choices. The present research aims to analyze how ideologies are constructed by the powerful through media discourse to legitimate their actions, and how this motivation becomes a guiding principle in terms of constructing negative other-representations and positive self-representations. To this end, one of the press conferences of the former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Pakistan has been selected. Van Dijk's socio-cognitive Model has provided the theoretical framework, and CDA has been used as a methodology to analyze the data. The thorough analysis of the discourse structures reveals the usage of various discursive strategies by the Minister to associate the ideologies of Tahir-ul-Qadri with those of a dictator. Through strategies such as argumentation, lexical choices, presupposition, and irony, the discourse constructs a clear ideological contrast between democracy and dictatorship.