Discourse analysis looks and the language used in news journalism to compare and contrast the framing of different parties in a story or situation. It looks at the social semiotics and what signifiers are displayed within the linguistic choices. For example, in stories of war, where the language used by journalists often frames an attacker and a victim, although the actions of the two groups may be the same. It is often through the use of active and passive verbs that these categories are announced (“to kill” vs “to die”). In politics, this same use of active and passive often creates images of agentless change.
These linguistic choices allow the media to determine opinions of a variety of social groups, through use of phrases that have obviously negative connotations, and incite strong emotions with their audience. Discourse analysis, however, does not set out from any political opinion, so does not begin with the intention of finding a particular bias, rather simply to see if there is a bias at all. Its aim is to explore and assess the use of semiotics, and see how choice of words creates particular images and opinions of societies and social groups.