The Political Spin of Conviction: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Origin of Covid-19

Abstract

Covid-19 has flared a match of accusation between U.S. and China. Both of the nations have alleged each other for the origin of the virus and the incompetence to contain it within the respective national boundary. The allegations have emerged at a critical period when the virus has infected the entire global population. The study identifies a political discourse, that is, 'Lab origin theory' out of these allegations and investigate the form, structure, and pattern of language in use following the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis. The article contends that these allegations are based not on facts but on conviction, opinions, and beliefs which are expressed in the 'spin' or turn of retaliatory responses. Forming a series of exchanges these allegations promote certain truth-claims which are, in fact, subjective interpretations and hypothetical assumptions of the origin of Covid-19. The claims of 'Lab origin' are established with certain linguistic strategies and symbolic models, and their nature can be only understood with the phenomenon of Post-truth. The concept of Post-truth has been developed against the backdrop of controversial as well as political events of Brexit vote and the U.S. presidential election in 2016. Like these events, Covid-19 is an occasion of Post-truth and its Lab origin theory is a compromise between fact and belief.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Covid-19 in Iranian and American Newspapers

“…After Covid-19 strike, a huge number of discourse analysts and experts became actively involved in identifying discursive forces and operations of the media with regards to Covid-19 and this bulk of research led to many more research projects illustrating that this area of research needs to be investigated more comprehensively (Al-Mwzaiji, 2021).…”

Ideology representation in the editorial of Koran Tempo and Kompas on COVID-19 handling in Indonesia

“…This present study offers differences from those existing previous studies. First, this study adopts different contexts and data sources from a study from Al-Mwzaiji (2021). Al-Mwzaiji (2021) examines the mass media from two countries, China, which was the first country to announce the COVID-19 case, and the United States of America, which proclaimed China as its enemies in the world economy war.…”

“…First, this study adopts different contexts and data sources from a study from Al-Mwzaiji (2021). Al-Mwzaiji (2021) examines the mass media from two countries, China, which was the first country to announce the COVID-19 case, and the United States of America, which proclaimed China as its enemies in the world economy war. Besides, the United States of America's senator and president accused that COVID-19 was originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.…”

“…

A similar investigation has been carried out in various media and countries. Al-Mwzaiji (2021) correlates issues of COVID-19's first appearance from two newspapers, the China Daily and The Wall Street Journal. These newspapers offer the same conceptualization of COVID-19, but they present different frames on COVID-19 handling.

…”

Politicizing COVID-19 Lingua in Western and Arab Newspapers: A Critical Discourse Analysis

“…According to the World Health Organization (2020) [ 2 ], more than 37 million COVID-19 cases and 1 million deaths were reported globally from December 2019 to October 2020. In terms of politics, storms of accusations started among countries relating to the origin of the coronavirus [ 3 ]. Amidst all these events, people’s attention was fixed on news headlines to know more about the disease and act accordingly.…”