Two days in the life of leaders: world-modelling potential of political event

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of representation of a political event – the 2017 G20 summit in American, British, and Australian media. It is argued that the political event described in the texts of mass communication represents a discourse world, or a dynamic system of meanings that is created by journalists and interpreted by readers under the influence of a wide range of extra-linguistic factors. World-modelling potential of the political event is studied in close connection with the notion of discourse world as a conceptual representational structure of discourse, emerging around one of the major political and economic events of the past year in the totality of texts, united by the theme of summit. Discourse world of the discussed political event serves as background, against which the concept LEADER is foregrounded. The discourse-acquired characteristics of the concept are systematized. The world-modelling potential of the political event is realized as representation of the relationship between leaders-participants of the summit. It draws on relevant fragments of the context that specify frames, organized around the concept LEADER in American, British and Australian media communication. It is proved that the creation of a unique focus of the frame depends on the ideological vision of the political event by the agents of discourse.