Abstract

In our daily lives we are confronted with many genres of political discourse: political speeches of all kinds, televised press conferences, broadcast or televised interviews with politicians, snippets on the Internet (e.g. YouTube) or reports on political events in the press. ¹ Moreover, slogans and advertisements confront us when we are walking down the street, leaflets from political parties or interest groups are delivered by mail and during election campaigns, we are able to listen to politicians campaigning at election rallies. Political parties have their own home pages, logos and brands; we are thus able to download relevant documents and photos as well as party programmes. If we wish to contact members of parliament, or even the president of the United States, we are able to email them or chat with them on discussion forums specifically constructed for such purposes (Wodak and Wright, 2007).