Portrait of a Prime MinisterPortrait of a Prime Minister

Caroline ClarkUniversity of Padova

CADS conference Bologna

September 2012

Using CADS to analyse Using CADS to analyse how British quality how British quality

papers portray papers portray Berlusconi Berlusconi

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Background

• Periods in office overlap for 3yrs 6mths (May 2008 – Nov 2011)

Merkel - November 2005 to ?Sarkozy - May 2007 to May 2012Berlusconi - May 2008 to Nov 2011 (as well as previous terms)

• They are generally considered to be situated centre right

• They are leaders of the major EU countries (therefore, with similar status as far as the British readership is concerned)

… and all three are 5ft 5ins tall

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Question....

• How is Berlusconi presented to the British quality paper readership?

• Is this representation different from other leaders?

• Is there a difference between papers?

How to empirically account for evaluation, in particular the dynamic build-up of evaluative meaning over time.

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corpora

• All articles mentioning BER, MER and SAR were downloaded from Lexis Nexis for the years 2010 and 2011, ie when all were in office.

• separate corpora compiled for each leader (BER, MER and SAR) and each of the papers

The Daily Telegraph (TEL)

The Times (TIM)

The Guardian (GUA)

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Mentions of BER, MER and SAR

Total 8864 articles15893 mentions (1.8 per story)

Corpora 4.25m words

BER2102 articles

(av. 402 words)4166 mentions845,631 words

MER2792 articles

(av. 489 words)3958 mentions

1,364,060 words

SAR3970 articles

(av. 515 words)7769 mentions

2,043,832 words

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According to the papers

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Gua10 Tim10 Tel10

BER

MER

SAR

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400

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BERMERSAR

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LemmasBerlsuconi Berlusconi's Berlusconian Berlusconizazzione Berlusconiani Berlusconised Berlusconism Berlusconise Berlusconisation Ital* prime minister Ital* PM Ital* leader etc

Merkel Merkel’s Merkels Merkelism

Sarkozy sarkozys sarkozy's Sarkosy’s Sarkozys Sarko Sarko’s sarkobaby sarkoboy sarkozilla sarkozyism sarkozyitis Sarkozyism sarkozian sarkozyste

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keywords BER MER SAR Alleg* accus* Prosecutor* trial prostitute* Bunga Sex Girl Party Scandal Dancer Lawyer Bribe Hair Buy offer

Scandal Crime Private life Legal predicament Wealth individual

Bank Debt Market Eurozone Crisis Bond fund Rate Default Financial Rescue Bailout Economy Investor Finance Currency Treaty State Policy Term

Economy International relations

Rebel Libya Woman Wear Military Carla Arm Force Reserve Tripoli Worker Regime Civilian Wife Muslim Weapon Ban Kill Attack Rumour resolution

French relations North Africa Private life

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Neg KWs

BER BER MER MER SAR SAR Eurozone Finance Crisis Financial monetary currency Stability Transaction inflation Unpopular Happiness Must Should Could Integration Sovereignty Membership

Economy International relations Modal verbs conflict

Revenge Evidence Guilty Smear Arrest Conspiracy Sleep fake Behaviour dignity Conflict Combat Attack Sex Women Prostitute Girl scandal

Deviance Conflict Scandal

Eurozone Default Bailout Bond bank Austerity Market Bunga Dancer Prostitution sex

Eurofinance Scandal

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content

Content analysis – looking at articles regarding each leader ONLY

• BER 45% politics 55% deviance (30% material, 25% moral)

• MERAlmost totally politics and economy,

• SARMostly European affairs, limited reference to family/wifeGenerally hints at incompetence

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Appraisal theoryaffect

Appraisal of experience in affectual terms, the pos and neg emotional effect of an event, state of affairs, etc.

I feel very x

judgement Meanings which appraise human behaviour according to set of norms

It was x of him to do that

appreciation Attitudes about texts, performances and natural phenomena

I consider it x

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explicit evaluation• Italy's embattled prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is

heading for a do-or-die, double showdown in parliament today

• The embattled Italian Prime Minister, facing three fraud and corruption cases,

• The embattled Italian Prime Minister, who is mired in a criminal investigation into his alleged liaisons with call girls

• sex, modern pop music and the disgraced Italian prime minister

• joy at the disappearance of the idiotic Berlusconi• our ridiculous prime minister." As Italy waited to see if

Berlusconi would resign, a screwball comedy rife with foul also billionaire…

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behaviour

• Mr Berlusconi's behaviour has "offended the dignity" of all Italian women.

• Berlusconi's behaviour may well be legal, if not acceptable, and he denies any of the wrongdoing alleged by Italian prosecutors.

• In a nation that has Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister, errant and erratic behaviour is far from unknown.

• to protest against Berlusconi's behaviour and call for his resignation.

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Accus*• Merkel was accused of dithering and making a bad

situation worse• Merkel was accused of failing to realise

• Sarkozy was accused of stoking anti-Muslim feeling

• Sarkozy is accused of acting on impulse and ignoring ambassadors

• Mr Berlusconi is accused of bribing David Mills• Silvio Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex

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affect• Never has Berlusconi looked more vulnerable.

• Berlusconi looked so lost. I felt a tenderness towards him

• he looked so dismayed and lost.

• Mr Berlusconi's age - he has looked weary at times

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“Dog-whistling”

- i.e., apparently neutral language which can be interpreted negatively by target readers who have been primed over time.

- The billionaire Italian Prime Minister said that he did not pay for sex with the 17-year-old Moroccan runaway, but agreed to give her €60,000 (£53,000) to buy a hair-removal laser

- Italy's prime minister Mario Monti wants to replace a backdrop used by predecessor Silvio Berlusconi, above, for press conferences with a plain drape. The image is a reproduction of an 18th-century painting by Tiepolo featuring a woman with a bare breast (digitally covered)

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Combined methodology

BER MER SAR corpus

KW

Concordance Single text

BER only

Limited appraisal

results

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Bottom-up

Contexts revealed by cordancing of BERMERSAR corpusPolitics – Italy, demise, euro-economy,

Deviance – corruption, scandals, behaviour

Analysed in single text: Hallelujah: crowd cheers the end of a reviled ruler (TIM 14 nov 2011)

• These results checked against BERonly corpus previously analysed appraisal areas

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Results so far…

Stance towards BER similar in all papers

Explicit evaluation – very limited results

Implicit evaluation - a deeper level using concordancing, clusters, etc

‘dog-whistling’ – difficult to identify

A CADS analysis is limited in revealing evaluation based on a primed readership.

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CADS, cads and Merkel

MER – respected.

No ‘behaviour’, no private life, dependable, ‘in charge’, responsible.

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CADS, cads and Merkel

SAR – tolerated.

Private life limited to family. Behaviour a bit ‘french’ at times. Slightly incompetent. Local politics.

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CADS, cads and Merkel

BER – mocked.

Political demise, incompetent (economic situation), scandalous behaviour, corrupt, morally bankrupt, pervert, inflated ego, etc

Recurring threads:How did Italy put up with him so long?

The bane of the educated female vote.

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