Lyndon C S Way
Biographic Data
| ID | 1602952 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lyndon C S Way |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lyndon C S |
| FAMILY NAME | Way |
| SIGNATURE | WAY L C S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Liverpool |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0481-4891 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Muddying the waters on climate change
Fighting authoritarian populism with populism in polarised Turkey
Globally, populism is on the rise. Studies demonstrate how populism is a ‘thin’ ideology that is articulated with ideologies ranging from authoritarianism to its challenges. Here, we examine how two politicians who, at similar times in their careers, represented themselves as inclusive and democratic, yet articulated different incarnations of populism. One of these (Turkish President Erdoğan) has since become an authoritarian populist and the oth…
Government nation building and memetic reactions
The UK government uses news conferences, press releases, official websites, mainstream and social media to provide advice and information about the COVID-19 pandemic. This information has become ‘source material’ for social media users to react to government announcements in ‘digital popular culture’; that is, memes and short videos shared on social media. Close examinations of both reveal how different views of the nation are articulated whilst …
Scroll culture and authoritarian populism
News consumers are more likely to inform themselves through digital news outlets and social media 'newsfeeds' than physical newspapers [Ofcom. (2022). News Consumption in the UK: 2022. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/241947/News-Consumption-in-the-UK-2022-report.pdf]. Guided by our thumbs, we scroll through news outlets' homepages and down newsfeeds for information (and entertainment) in what Way. (2021. Trump, memes and the …
From more to less ‘Civil’ borderline discourses in mainstream media and government
Between the civil and uncivil lie ‘borderline’ discourses where speech that appears civil is laden with uncivil ideas, norms and discourses that normalise anti-pluralist, nativist and exclusionary views. Such discourses are found in videos and websites of far-right groups and in some mainstream media. Here, we argue that Turkey’s government and mainstream media use similar discursive strategies. We examine both speeches and media representations …
Anti-populist populism
Populism is a discursive construct that represents popular interests and values by 'pretend[ing] to speak' for the people who are constructed separate and opposed to a powerful elite. Yet populism, in its various forms and accents, 'can adapt flexibly to a variety of substantive ideological values and principles'. This is manifested in 'the people' not being a prefixed natural category, but a signifier that acquires meaning through discourses and…
Trump, memes and the Alt-right
Internet memes are the most pervasive and malleable form of digital popular culture (Wiggins 2019: vii). They are a way a society expresses and thinks of itself (Denisova 2019: 2) used for the purpose of satire, parody, critique to posit an argument (Wiggins 2019, see also Ponton 2021, this issue). The acts of viewing, creating, sharing and commenting on memes that criticise or troll authority figures have become central to our political processe…
Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media
(2021). Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media: the challenge for critical discourse studies. Social Semiotics: Vol. 31, Political Ideology In Everyday Social Media Use. Guest Editors: Gwen Bouvier and Lyndon Way, pp. 345-364
Populism in musical mash ups
For many of us, social media is our preferred option when we want to be informed and entertained. Though memes, mash ups and other forms of digital popular culture are dismissed by some as “just a bit of fun”, scholars have shown how these can be political (Denisova 2019; Wiggins 2019; Way 2021). It is precisely through popular culture where we most experience politics “as fun, as style, and simply as part of the taken for granted everyday world …
Analysing news discourse
This chapter offers a qualitative approach to critical media research from a discourse-analytical perspective. In terms of news discourse and journalism, textual features are all seen to occur through decision-making processes in their cultural and professional contexts. The chapter begins with critical linguistics (CL), which accounts for the social production of language in news texts. It reviews how frameworks in CL developed into models of cr…
The importance of memes
Slogans
Discourse, music and political communication
Political communication is expressed in politicians’ speeches, campaign advertisements and government statements. Politics are also articulated in music, in both traditional political contexts such as anthems and party political broadcasts as well as less traditional contexts including songs, promotional videos and live performances. There is a wide spectrum of opinions as to exactly what are relations between music and politics, though most scho…
Music video as party political communication
Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness, limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the two has seen music and politics “reduced to their lowest common denominator” (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popul…
See no evil, read no evil’
On 15 July 2016, a group of soldiers tried to wrestle political control of Turkey from the elected government. The ‘coup attempt’ was declared over within approximately 10 h, but not before more than 300 civilians, police and soldiers had died. This paper examines how Turkish newspapers which are known to be ‘oppositional’ represented events of the night and the following few days before a state of emergency was declared which silenced almost all…
Coverage of bombings for political advantage
On 17 February 2016, a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 28 people and injuring another 61 in the “heart” of Turkey’s capital Ankara. A few hours after the attack, the Turkish government blamed Salih Neccar from the (mostly) Kurdish-Syrian People’s protection Unit (YPG). Two days later, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility and named the bomber as Abdülbaki Sömer a Turkish citizen. The bombing is part of a resumption of v…
Visuals in Turkish pop
Globalisation brings with it fears of cultural imperialism and a global mass culture from the West. This article contends that global imagery in the promotion of Turkish popular music actually enhances difference within Turkey. Global images are employed alongside Turkish ones to create an array of cross-cultural hybrids which Turkish viewers may read as expressions of cultural, political and social difference. A social semiotic approach is used …
Protest music, populism, politics and authenticity
Political discourses are found not only in speeches and newspapers, but also in cultural artefacts such as architecture, art and music. Turkey’s June 2013 protests saw an explosion of music videos distributed on the internet. This paper uses these videos as a case study to examine the limits and potential of popular music’s articulation of popular and populist politics. Though both terms encompass what is “widely favoured”, populism includes disc…
YouTube as a site of debate through populist politics
During and immediately after the 2013 anti government protests in Turkey, while there was almost complete state control over mainstream media, anti government pop videos posted on Youtube became a symbolic rallying point for protest movements and attracted vast amounts of posted comments. These were widely shared and became sung in public places and during clashes with the police. These videos and the comments posted below them can be examined in…
Orientalism in online news
This article considers how news stories about piracy off the coast of Somalia reflect E. Said’s concept of Orientalism, that is, the West representing the Rest in ways beneficial to the West. Critical discourse analysis is applied to news stories from the international BBC news website to reveal strategies used to represent a non-western ‘other’ in need of control by a successful West. This legitimates the West’s military presence and actions whi…
Discourses on Somali Piracy
Piracy off Somalia's coast has gained the imagination of the public and the attention of the media. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper considers stories about Somali piracy on the international BBC news website. A twin analysis is undertaken to determine how those involved in piracy and their actions are represented as well as how macro-discursive strategies of legitimation are employed. An historical contextualisation of Somalia and p…
Discourses of popular politics, war and authenticity in Turkish pop music
Turkey and the United States (US) have had a close mutually beneficial political and military relationship since the end of World War Two. However, this relationship came under pressure when the US government and Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) tried to cooperate closely in the 2003 military invasion of Iraq. AKP's leadership failed to persuade Turkey's parliament to accept the deployment of US troops and equipment in Turkey p…
The local news media impeding solutions to the Cyprus conflict
This paper, drawing on data from a news production study, carries out a critical discourse analysis of two stories produced by the Turkish Cypriot national news agency (TAK) and the stories produced by three local radio stations based on these texts. Both TAK and the three stations are partisan and used by owners and the elite for political self-promotion that supports what are broadly two different kinds of economic interests. One seeks to benef…
Protest music, populism, politics and authenticity
Political discourses are found not only in speeches and newspapers, but also in cultural artefacts such as architecture, art and music. Turkey’s June 2013 protests saw an explosion of music videos distributed on the internet. This paper uses these videos as a case study to examine the limits and potential of popular music’s articulation of popular and populist politics. Though both terms encompass what is “widely favoured”, populism includes disc…
Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media
(2021). Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media: the challenge for critical discourse studies. Social Semiotics: Vol. 31, Political Ideology In Everyday Social Media Use. Guest Editors: Gwen Bouvier and Lyndon Way, pp. 345-364
Coverage of bombings for political advantage
On 17 February 2016, a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 28 people and injuring another 61 in the “heart” of Turkey’s capital Ankara. A few hours after the attack, the Turkish government blamed Salih Neccar from the (mostly) Kurdish-Syrian People’s protection Unit (YPG). Two days later, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility and named the bomber as Abdülbaki Sömer a Turkish citizen. The bombing is part of a resumption of v…
See no evil, read no evil’
On 15 July 2016, a group of soldiers tried to wrestle political control of Turkey from the elected government. The ‘coup attempt’ was declared over within approximately 10 h, but not before more than 300 civilians, police and soldiers had died. This paper examines how Turkish newspapers which are known to be ‘oppositional’ represented events of the night and the following few days before a state of emergency was declared which silenced almost all…
YouTube as a site of debate through populist politics
During and immediately after the 2013 anti government protests in Turkey, while there was almost complete state control over mainstream media, anti government pop videos posted on Youtube became a symbolic rallying point for protest movements and attracted vast amounts of posted comments. These were widely shared and became sung in public places and during clashes with the police. These videos and the comments posted below them can be examined in…
Discourses of popular politics, war and authenticity in Turkish pop music
Turkey and the United States (US) have had a close mutually beneficial political and military relationship since the end of World War Two. However, this relationship came under pressure when the US government and Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) tried to cooperate closely in the 2003 military invasion of Iraq. AKP's leadership failed to persuade Turkey's parliament to accept the deployment of US troops and equipment in Turkey p…
Populism in musical mash ups
For many of us, social media is our preferred option when we want to be informed and entertained. Though memes, mash ups and other forms of digital popular culture are dismissed by some as “just a bit of fun”, scholars have shown how these can be political (Denisova 2019; Wiggins 2019; Way 2021). It is precisely through popular culture where we most experience politics “as fun, as style, and simply as part of the taken for granted everyday world …
Music video as party political communication
Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness, limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the two has seen music and politics “reduced to their lowest common denominator” (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popul…
Discourse, music and political communication
Political communication is expressed in politicians’ speeches, campaign advertisements and government statements. Politics are also articulated in music, in both traditional political contexts such as anthems and party political broadcasts as well as less traditional contexts including songs, promotional videos and live performances. There is a wide spectrum of opinions as to exactly what are relations between music and politics, though most scho…
The local news media impeding solutions to the Cyprus conflict
This paper, drawing on data from a news production study, carries out a critical discourse analysis of two stories produced by the Turkish Cypriot national news agency (TAK) and the stories produced by three local radio stations based on these texts. Both TAK and the three stations are partisan and used by owners and the elite for political self-promotion that supports what are broadly two different kinds of economic interests. One seeks to benef…
Scroll culture and authoritarian populism
News consumers are more likely to inform themselves through digital news outlets and social media 'newsfeeds' than physical newspapers [Ofcom. (2022). News Consumption in the UK: 2022. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/241947/News-Consumption-in-the-UK-2022-report.pdf]. Guided by our thumbs, we scroll through news outlets' homepages and down newsfeeds for information (and entertainment) in what Way. (2021. Trump, memes and the …
From more to less ‘Civil’ borderline discourses in mainstream media and government
Between the civil and uncivil lie ‘borderline’ discourses where speech that appears civil is laden with uncivil ideas, norms and discourses that normalise anti-pluralist, nativist and exclusionary views. Such discourses are found in videos and websites of far-right groups and in some mainstream media. Here, we argue that Turkey’s government and mainstream media use similar discursive strategies. We examine both speeches and media representations …
Anti-populist populism
Populism is a discursive construct that represents popular interests and values by 'pretend[ing] to speak' for the people who are constructed separate and opposed to a powerful elite. Yet populism, in its various forms and accents, 'can adapt flexibly to a variety of substantive ideological values and principles'. This is manifested in 'the people' not being a prefixed natural category, but a signifier that acquires meaning through discourses and…
Visuals in Turkish pop
Globalisation brings with it fears of cultural imperialism and a global mass culture from the West. This article contends that global imagery in the promotion of Turkish popular music actually enhances difference within Turkey. Global images are employed alongside Turkish ones to create an array of cross-cultural hybrids which Turkish viewers may read as expressions of cultural, political and social difference. A social semiotic approach is used …
Discourses on Somali Piracy
Piracy off Somalia's coast has gained the imagination of the public and the attention of the media. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper considers stories about Somali piracy on the international BBC news website. A twin analysis is undertaken to determine how those involved in piracy and their actions are represented as well as how macro-discursive strategies of legitimation are employed. An historical contextualisation of Somalia and p…
The local news media impeding solutions to the Cyprus conflict
This paper, drawing on data from a news production study, carries out a critical discourse analysis of two stories produced by the Turkish Cypriot national news agency (TAK) and the stories produced by three local radio stations based on these texts. Both TAK and the three stations are partisan and used by owners and the elite for political self-promotion that supports what are broadly two different kinds of economic interests. One seeks to benef…
Orientalism in online news
This article considers how news stories about piracy off the coast of Somalia reflect E. Said’s concept of Orientalism, that is, the West representing the Rest in ways beneficial to the West. Critical discourse analysis is applied to news stories from the international BBC news website to reveal strategies used to represent a non-western ‘other’ in need of control by a successful West. This legitimates the West’s military presence and actions whi…
Discourses on Somali Piracy
Piracy off Somalia's coast has gained the imagination of the public and the attention of the media. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper considers stories about Somali piracy on the international BBC news website. A twin analysis is undertaken to determine how those involved in piracy and their actions are represented as well as how macro-discursive strategies of legitimation are employed. An historical contextualisation of Somalia and p…
Discourses of popular politics, war and authenticity in Turkish pop music
Turkey and the United States (US) have had a close mutually beneficial political and military relationship since the end of World War Two. However, this relationship came under pressure when the US government and Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) tried to cooperate closely in the 2003 military invasion of Iraq. AKP's leadership failed to persuade Turkey's parliament to accept the deployment of US troops and equipment in Turkey p…
YouTube as a site of debate through populist politics
During and immediately after the 2013 anti government protests in Turkey, while there was almost complete state control over mainstream media, anti government pop videos posted on Youtube became a symbolic rallying point for protest movements and attracted vast amounts of posted comments. These were widely shared and became sung in public places and during clashes with the police. These videos and the comments posted below them can be examined in…
Visuals in Turkish pop
Globalisation brings with it fears of cultural imperialism and a global mass culture from the West. This article contends that global imagery in the promotion of Turkish popular music actually enhances difference within Turkey. Global images are employed alongside Turkish ones to create an array of cross-cultural hybrids which Turkish viewers may read as expressions of cultural, political and social difference. A social semiotic approach is used …
Protest music, populism, politics and authenticity
Political discourses are found not only in speeches and newspapers, but also in cultural artefacts such as architecture, art and music. Turkey’s June 2013 protests saw an explosion of music videos distributed on the internet. This paper uses these videos as a case study to examine the limits and potential of popular music’s articulation of popular and populist politics. Though both terms encompass what is “widely favoured”, populism includes disc…
Coverage of bombings for political advantage
On 17 February 2016, a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 28 people and injuring another 61 in the “heart” of Turkey’s capital Ankara. A few hours after the attack, the Turkish government blamed Salih Neccar from the (mostly) Kurdish-Syrian People’s protection Unit (YPG). Two days later, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility and named the bomber as Abdülbaki Sömer a Turkish citizen. The bombing is part of a resumption of v…
See no evil, read no evil’
On 15 July 2016, a group of soldiers tried to wrestle political control of Turkey from the elected government. The ‘coup attempt’ was declared over within approximately 10 h, but not before more than 300 civilians, police and soldiers had died. This paper examines how Turkish newspapers which are known to be ‘oppositional’ represented events of the night and the following few days before a state of emergency was declared which silenced almost all…
The importance of memes
Slogans
Discourse, music and political communication
Political communication is expressed in politicians’ speeches, campaign advertisements and government statements. Politics are also articulated in music, in both traditional political contexts such as anthems and party political broadcasts as well as less traditional contexts including songs, promotional videos and live performances. There is a wide spectrum of opinions as to exactly what are relations between music and politics, though most scho…
Music video as party political communication
Relations between political parties and music are fraught with issues over effectiveness, limitations and opportunities. On the one hand, political parties and movements use the appeal of popular music to attract audiences who otherwise may not be attentive to their views. On the other hand, mixing the two has seen music and politics “reduced to their lowest common denominator” (Street 1988, 50). Here, I examine how political parties employ popul…
Analysing news discourse
This chapter offers a qualitative approach to critical media research from a discourse-analytical perspective. In terms of news discourse and journalism, textual features are all seen to occur through decision-making processes in their cultural and professional contexts. The chapter begins with critical linguistics (CL), which accounts for the social production of language in news texts. It reviews how frameworks in CL developed into models of cr…
Trump, memes and the Alt-right
Internet memes are the most pervasive and malleable form of digital popular culture (Wiggins 2019: vii). They are a way a society expresses and thinks of itself (Denisova 2019: 2) used for the purpose of satire, parody, critique to posit an argument (Wiggins 2019, see also Ponton 2021, this issue). The acts of viewing, creating, sharing and commenting on memes that criticise or troll authority figures have become central to our political processe…
Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media
(2021). Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media: the challenge for critical discourse studies. Social Semiotics: Vol. 31, Political Ideology In Everyday Social Media Use. Guest Editors: Gwen Bouvier and Lyndon Way, pp. 345-364
Populism in musical mash ups
For many of us, social media is our preferred option when we want to be informed and entertained. Though memes, mash ups and other forms of digital popular culture are dismissed by some as “just a bit of fun”, scholars have shown how these can be political (Denisova 2019; Wiggins 2019; Way 2021). It is precisely through popular culture where we most experience politics “as fun, as style, and simply as part of the taken for granted everyday world …
Scroll culture and authoritarian populism
News consumers are more likely to inform themselves through digital news outlets and social media 'newsfeeds' than physical newspapers [Ofcom. (2022). News Consumption in the UK: 2022. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/241947/News-Consumption-in-the-UK-2022-report.pdf]. Guided by our thumbs, we scroll through news outlets' homepages and down newsfeeds for information (and entertainment) in what Way. (2021. Trump, memes and the …
From more to less ‘Civil’ borderline discourses in mainstream media and government
Between the civil and uncivil lie ‘borderline’ discourses where speech that appears civil is laden with uncivil ideas, norms and discourses that normalise anti-pluralist, nativist and exclusionary views. Such discourses are found in videos and websites of far-right groups and in some mainstream media. Here, we argue that Turkey’s government and mainstream media use similar discursive strategies. We examine both speeches and media representations …
Anti-populist populism
Populism is a discursive construct that represents popular interests and values by 'pretend[ing] to speak' for the people who are constructed separate and opposed to a powerful elite. Yet populism, in its various forms and accents, 'can adapt flexibly to a variety of substantive ideological values and principles'. This is manifested in 'the people' not being a prefixed natural category, but a signifier that acquires meaning through discourses and…
Government nation building and memetic reactions
The UK government uses news conferences, press releases, official websites, mainstream and social media to provide advice and information about the COVID-19 pandemic. This information has become ‘source material’ for social media users to react to government announcements in ‘digital popular culture’; that is, memes and short videos shared on social media. Close examinations of both reveal how different views of the nation are articulated whilst …
Muddying the waters on climate change
Fighting authoritarian populism with populism in polarised Turkey
Globally, populism is on the rise. Studies demonstrate how populism is a ‘thin’ ideology that is articulated with ideologies ranging from authoritarianism to its challenges. Here, we examine how two politicians who, at similar times in their careers, represented themselves as inclusive and democratic, yet articulated different incarnations of populism. One of these (Turkish President Erdoğan) has since become an authoritarian populist and the oth…
Political science (21 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Media studies (19 works) · Politics (18 works) · Law (16 works) · Law (14 works) · Media Studies and Communication (11 works) · Art (9 works) · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies (8 works) · Social Media and Politics (8 works)