News Discourse of Education Censorship

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Discourse Analysis: The Politics of Censorship, Book Banning, and COVID-19 Research (Table 2)

Abstract

Utilizing critical discourse techniques, informed by a theoretical framework of elite capture and high conflict, (N = 170) newspaper articles were analyzed to understand the discourse of education censorship. Findings reveal political divisions, lack of debate or consideration of counter-arguments, and dominant culture war narratives. A deeper analysis in concert with theory reveals concerns of the political Right that extend well beyond critical race theory, yet discourse on the political Left often reduces censorship to themes of oppression. In a push to move beyond dichotomous Right vs. Left discourse, the discussion moves toward the complexity of education censorship, and the contemporary relationship to local values of school choice, parents’ rights, curricula transparency, and the emerging critique of progressive education reform.

Author

• Brandon Mitchell, Norfolk State University