Author(s): Hanna E. Morris

Abstract

Through a critical discourse analysis, this study finds that both The New York Times and Wall Street Journal portray the Green New Deal as a dangerous policy proposed by a cohort of extremist Millennial “Others.” Agonistic media pluralism is stunted. Instead, a uniform and moderate perspective guides reporting, analyses, and commentary. In place of a detailed and robust discussion of the Green New Deal through a multitude of different perspectives, the discursive strategies of “positioning,” “de/legitimization,” and “naturalization” cast supporters of the policy as a dangerous threat within an already rattled, post-2016 United States political landscape. Through this image of threat, the market-based carbon tax is elevated as the best and only way forward. Ultimately, this study finds that the construction of a threatening Millennial “Other” is leveraged to discredit the viability of the Green New Deal and to suppress a diversity of political perspectives.