A functional discourse analysis of German media portrayals of virologist Dr. Christian Drosten during the COVID-19 pandemic Öffentlichkeit

Abstract

In Germany, as in most countries around the world, the politicization of the government’s attempts to respond effectively to the ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic has polarized the general public and complicated mitigation efforts. One key and often controversial figure during this time has been Dr. Christian Drosten, a renowned German virologist and Director of Virology at the Berliner Charité. Due to his expertise on novel viruses like SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, Dr. Drosten has played a key role in advising politicians and policymakers and in reporting on pandemic-related current events. In an attempt to better understand Germany’s perception of the pandemic, the present study explores the portrayal and representation of Dr. Drosten in German media across four key events of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected for the four events from reports by six German newspapers with readerships ranging from the far right on the German political spectrum to the political left. In addition to the newspaper texts, transcripts of corresponding episodes of Das Coronavirus-Update NDR podcast, on which Dr. Drosten is a recurring guest, were included to produce a total corpus of 28 texts. To analyze and distinguish the different media portrayals of Dr. Drosten, a functional discourse analysis drawing on systemic functional linguistics and its fine-grained attention to the function of language in the creation of meaning was employed. This methodology also accentuates how the three fundamental meanings achieved by structured language - ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings – are realized linguistically. Specifically, data analysis of the grammatical mechanisms for realizing these meanings (i.e., transitivity, mood, theme) reveals a polarization of representations of Dr. Drosten by political ideology, with unfavorable depictions from right-wing publications and more favorable portrayals from left-of-center and left-wing publications.

Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………….……………............. 1 

1.1 Chronology of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany ……………………........…... 4

1.2 The German Media Landscape …………..………………………………….…............. 9 

II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK …………………………..…...…….…….............……. 13

III. METHODOLOGY ………………………………,……………………………….........….… 21

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ………………………...……………..…...….......…. 28

4.1 Event 1: The Controversial Debate between the Bild and Dr. Drosten ……........ 28

4.2 Event 2: The Fall 2020 Wave of COVID-19 and the 2020 Winter Holidays …...... 45

4.3 Event 3: The January 2021 Lockdown and Vaccine Rollout ……………….........… 57

4.4 Event 4: The Spring 2021 Wave of COVID-19 ……………………….……............… 71

V. DISCUSSION …………………………………………….……..……...…...…..............…… 83

5.1 Junge Freiheit / COMPACT ……………………………………………................….….. 83

5.2 Bild ………………………………………………………………………...................…...… 85

5.3 die Zeit …………………………………………………………….................……...……... 86

5.4 der Spiegel ………………………………………………………...................…...……..… 87

5.5 die taz …………………………………………………………….......................…….….… 89

5.6 Neues Deutschland …………………………………………………..……….................… 90

5.7 Das Coronavirus-Update von NDR Info …………………………….............……..…… 92

5.8 Summative Discussion ………………………………………...............……..………..….. 93

VI. CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………................….…. 96

REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………..…....................….. 98

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	German
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Language, Linguistics Language, Modern
Stichwort	Media Discourse Systemic Functional Linguistics Discourse Analysis
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Maxim, Hiram, Emory University
Committee Members	Bans, Alissa, Emory University Buchholz, Paul, Emory University

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