Metaphor in the Journalistic Language of Politics

According to Thompson “Fish need water to be fish; humans need metaphors to do and think about politics” (Thompson 1996: 185). One of the main elements of political communications is the ability of politicians to use various symbols and metaphors which aim is to shape the political minds of citizens. Not only are metaphors used by politicians themselves, but also by journalists who want to pay attention to their material and influence the way in which readers perceive certain political issues or events.

Metaphor is a conceptual phenomenon, not necessarily tied to any one particular linguistic expressions. In the process of metaphorization a source domain is evoked as a basis for the understanding of a target domain. The result of such a process is a virtual, blended, hybrid-type structure, which inherits the properties of both source and target domains. Metaphor can be thus described as the understanding of one domain of experience in terms of another - a mapping between a source domain and a target domain. There are many types of metaphor that can be distinguished e.g. orientational, ontological, structural, generic and specific.

The language of sport is often used in political context. Herbeck stated that “the language of sport permeates public discourse in the United States. Sports metaphors routinely find their way into our politics, literature, and advertising” (Herbeck 2004:123). During elections in 2012 after the Olympics it was especially noticeable. One of the examples is the ELECTIONS ARE RACE metaphor. In the online newspaper telegraph.co.uk one of subheading reads: “US President Barack Obama has warned supporters that he is no Usain Bolt, and that his re-election bid would be a fight all the way to the finish line, not an easy jog to victory.” (telegraph.co.uk, Aug 13, 2012). Below the subheading there are excerpts from Barack Obama’s speech in which he referred to sport and to the Jamaican legend who has won the 100 meters and 200 meters sprint...