Divergent Discourses and Public Reactions: A Mixed-Methods Comparative Analysis of Abortion Coverage in Partisan Online News Post-Roe v. Wade Reversal

Subject Areas :

Hayder Tareq Abed Abed ¹ , Marzieh Sharifi Haratmeh ² , Basim Jubair Kadhim Al-Jameel ³ , Ehsan Rezvani ⁴

1 - Department of English, Isf. C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2 -
3 - Open Educational College, Najaf Center, Ministry of Education, Iraq, Najaf.
4 - Department of English Language, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Received: 2025-07-29 Accepted : 2025-09-17 Published : 2025-11-24

Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, Media framing, Abortion discourse, Partisan media, Post-Roe v. Wade, Ideological polarization, Public responses.,

Abstract :

 This study investigates the ideological contours of abortion coverage on partisan online news media following the 2022 Roe v. Wade reversal, with cross-comparison of Democratic-oriented (The New York Times, CNN) and Republican-oriented (The Wall Street Journal, Fox News) media. Drawing on Fairclough’s (2003) three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis, the research applies a mixed-methods approach to investigate framing strategies, syntactic patterns, and public opinion in a sample of 100 articles and 5000 user comments for the years 2023–2024. Findings show that Democratic media sources portray abortion as an issue of personal autonomy and public health with complex syntactic structures that create empathy, while Republican media sources focus on moral absolutism and legal authority using simpler declarative forms. Comments by users capture these cleavages, with Democratic platforms advocating for pro-choice, compassionate opinions and Republican platforms advocating for moral, pro-life opinions, as confirmed by chi-square tests and sentiment analysis. These differences show how partisan media facilitates polarization, shaping public opinion through ideologically crafted narratives. By illuminating the forces of language, ideology, and audience engagement, the current study improves understanding of media’s role in structuring abortion discourse in a post-Roe world with a focus on the need for critical media literacy in battling polarized online environments and informing strategies in creating reasoned public debate.

 

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