Media and Crisis as Perceived in the U.S. Political Communication Discourse

Indeed, the media play a crucial role in the course of change in wider processes of social, cultural, political, and ideological transformations in society. In light of this, one can critically discuss the impact of media discourse on inducing a state of change. Arguably, media have a substantial effect during the time of a given crisis that may stem from the processes of change. Therefore, some communication scholars use the “critical discourse analysis” to empirically study the causality between media and the crisis. The aim of this article is to identify the core issues that may lead to the existence of a given crisis. Remarkably, the scope of the study focuses on the political communication discourse in the USA. To this end, it can be said that several core issues were raised by the USA President, Barak Obama, during and after being in office. Some of these issues led to a sort of a harsh debate between the President and his opponents, mainly in the US Congress. For example, the medical insurance coverage plan, energy, climate, and the US involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq are possible issues that affect the mainstream media discourse in the USA. Surveying the literature revealed the need for considering the socio-economic and political contexts in which the audience members can understand the political communication discourse.