A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis on Newspaper Coverage on War on Drugs in the Philippines: Merits and Demerits

The main purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze the use of different modes of communication in Philippine newspaper coverage of the war on drugs. The research also sought to identify the linguistic organization of these modes of communication, how it presents the merits and demerits of war on drugs, the perspective of Filipino readers, and the types of ideological appeals depicted. Guided by Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) theory on multimodality, the researcher analyzed 31 news articles published from 2016 to 2018. The results indicated that verbal, visual, and spatial modes were frequently employed. In addition, articles strategically employed headlines, evaluative language, photographs, and visual emphasis to frame the war on drugs in ways that either reinforced or challenged dominant state narratives. Moreover, key themes that emerged were public safety, rehabilitation programs, human rights violations, media bias, public fear, and class disparity, among others. Findings also highlight how the use of multimodal discourse in newspaper coverage can either justify or question the government-led campaign, specifically, it can enhance clarity and engagement, but also risk of reinforcing ideological bias and simplifying complex socio-political issues surrounding the Philippine war on drugs.