Page 33 - English in Media Discourse

PART SEVEN
MEDIA DISCOURSE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

A. Analysis of media discourse on social issues (e.g., climate
change, mental health, poverty)

The analysis of media discourse on social issues, such as
climate change, mental health, and poverty, reveals several
significant insights:
1. Climate Change and Mental Health: Media exposure to
climate change has been linked to increased anxiety and
emotional difficulties, impacting mental health and psycho-
social well-being. Extreme weather events and natural
disasters, as well as exposure to climate change news, have
been associated with a general increase in mental illness and
emotional difficulties 70.

2. Mental Health Discourse on Social Media: Research has
focused on mapping the mental health discourse on Twitter
and analyzing the mechanisms of cultural power through
which certain mental health topics gain prevalence. The
cognitive focus of mental health discourse has seen a
decline, indicating that it has become fuzzier, with
emotional energy and discursive variability playing a
significant role in engaging audiences and creating online
solidarity 71.

3. Discourse Analysis of Climate Change: Discourse
analysis of climate change is an important area of
environmental and social psychology. It explores how
social actions are justified, legitimized, and normalized
through talk and text, providing insights into the social
dynamics of climate change 72.

4. Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Climate change is
deeply intertwined with global patterns of inequality,
posing challenges for millions of poor people in terms of