37.882, Books: Constructions of Risks to Life in News Media: Alibri (2026)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-882. Wed Mar 04 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.882, Books: Constructions of Risks to Life in News Media: Alibri (2026)

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Date: 25-Feb-2026
From: Lucy Trotter [lucy.trotter at bloomsbury.com]
Subject: Constructions of Risks to Life in News Media: Alibri (2026)


Title: Constructions of Risks to Life in News Media
Series Title: Corpus and Discourse
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
           http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/
Book URL:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/constructions-of-risks-to-life-in-news-media-9781350530638/

Author(s): Rakan Alibri

Hardback, ISBN: 9781350530638, Price: £95.00

Abstract:

This book investigates the construction of risks through discourse to
provide new insights into the relationship between risk discourse and
society.
It explores how British newspapers used language to discursively
construct four different types of risks to life, namely terror
attacks, earthquakes, road accidents, and heart attacks, between 2017
and 2020, examining what makes some risk events newsworthy, and how
this relates to the way they are perceived.
The author offers new insights into risk reporting by using an
approach combining theories and methodologies from corpus linguistics
and critical discourse studies focusing on news values and risk
perception. Through a focus on risks to life, related social actors,
and consequences, he demonstrates salient discursive strategies found
in risk reporting, including dramatisation, naturalisation,
impersonalisation, blame, responsibility, and risk management. These
strategies contribute differently to the construction of the risks and
can potentially be linked to how the media amplify or attenuate risk
perception in society, a consequence of media language use.
This interdisciplinary book goes beyond linguistics to engage with
discussions related to media studies, e.g. the concentration of media
ownership in the UK, and news values; risk literature, e.g. risk
perception, sociological theories of risk, and risk communication; and
the relationship between media and risk perception, and studies
related to each risk.

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Computational Linguistics
                     Discourse Analysis
                     General Linguistics




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