Ethnic Construction and Journalistic Discourse. A Discourse Analysis of Selected Hungarian and Romanian Newspapers in the Light of the Hungarian Status Law.

Abstract

This thesis is a discourse analysis about ethnicity. I argue that ethnic denotations and specific motifs are used for constructing ethnic groups. The case study is the public debates in segments of the Hungarian and the Romanian press concerning the Hungarian Status Law. Through this law Hungary granted ethnic Hungarians outside Hungary certain benefits. In this thesis I applied synchronic and diachronic forms of text analysis. Interviews with chosen journalists were added as a control group and as a source of information. The journalistic narrative developed by each newspaper analysed, displayed distinct characteristics regarding ethnicity, politics and law. Apparently, it is ethnicity combined with a specific concept of the nation that shows each newspaper's narrative and its specific way of constructing ethnic groups. Additionally, each newspaper's understanding of NATO#s role in the region indicates the respective newspaper's political orientation.