Symbolic constructions in the media discourse: Bucharest, Universităţii Square protests, 22 years after

Camelia CUȘNIR

Abstract:

The current study proposes an analysis of 2012 Universitatii Square media coverage as a media event characterized by liminality, favorable to use symbolic and mythological constructions in media discourse. The aim is to identify these symbolic constructions. As in 1990, when covering a media event which exceeds the daily journalistic routine, journalists are usually employing binary representations in order to understand the reality. Their media reports are usually structured on oppositions: between protesters and police forces, between Raed Arafat and Traian Basescu, between protesters and the cold weather. This new episode is confrming the Universitatii Square special statute in the symbolic geography of Bucharest.

Keywords: media coverage, media event, 2012 Universităţii Square protests, symbolic constructions

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