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Article Title:
ATTITUDINAL FORMS OF IDEOLOGICAL POSITIONING: A JUDGMENT ANALYSIS OF FOUR EDITORIALS FROM TWO MAINSTREAM PRINT MEDIA IN KENYA
| Abstract: This article examines the application of judgment concept; a sub-system of appraisal theory’s attitude component. This concept is used to illustrate how two mainstream newspaper editorials portrayed presidential aspirants and their associates in the run-up to the 2007 general elections in Kenya. In addition, the paper analyzes how Kenya’s mainstream print media presented presidential aspirants, thus revealing the media groups’ ideological leaning about the politicians. The paper further illustrates how the judgment concept can be handy in unraveling explicit and implicit mediation processes and practices that are often unconsciously used in the evaluation of political participants in the campaign period. The article is limited to the exploration of judgment appraisal resources as used in four editorials’ coverage of presidential aspirants and their associates in the run-up to 2007 general elections in Kenya. The four editorials were selected through stratified random sampling from 38 Standard and 36 Nation newspaper editorials that had commentary on political election campaigns between September and December 2007. The study reveals that in newspaper editorials, coverage is rarely neutral. Editorials can favourably or otherwise create a particular image for a candidate by bringing out some personality traits. Since elections are significant events that determine how a country is governed afterwards, and media groups have vested interests in political activities in a country, readers of editorial newspapers need to horn their skills of critical reading to be able to make informed choices of their political leaders. By illustrating how judgment as a linguistic resource can be used as a strategy for alignment, the paper sensitizes the readers to be keen when reading newspaper editorials. The article also gives editors insight on how partiality in coverage comes about. |
| Keywords: ideology, judgment, attitude, editorial, Kenya |
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