The gulf of mexico oil spill a corpus based study of metaphors in british and american media discourse 1

CHAPTER GENERAL OVERVIEW 1.1 Introduction Language has not only been referred to as a “clear window”, but also as a “refracting, structuring medium” (Fowler, 1991). This statement is especially apt in the context of media discourse where ideologies abound through the political stances and editorial perspectives adopted by the respective owners and advertisers. This idea is clearly encapsulated by Charteris-Black’s (2004) assertion that since political and media discourse aim to offer an idealised vision of the social world according to the dominant political viewpoint, metaphor choice is likely to be overt and intentional. Furthermore, when language is consumed as a Bakhtinian chain of full texts, the repetition of messages and message structures have a “habituating effect”, causing ideas to become normalised, eventually affecting the social attitudes and beliefs shared both by the audience and the producers of the mass media (Hodges & Nilep, 2007). According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), metaphor shapes the people’s responses and perceptions. Each metaphor highlights selected perceptions of reality and ignores others, thereby causing one to focus on the desired consequences of favoured representations or policies as determined by the parties in power. In other words, each metaphor can be manipulated as a subtle way of highlighting what those in positions of power want the masses to believe while avoiding inconvenient facts that they not wish to face. Thus, metaphors used by successful political leaders exploit both conscious and unconscious emotional associations in order to project particularly compelling representations of the speakers themselves or the nations/groups they lead and can be seen as an “engine for language change” (Charteris-Black, 2004, p.3). Chilton (1996) goes as far as to refer to metaphor as a “constitutive part of thought and society” as metaphorical thought is a universal property of the mind where abstract ideas are represented in an experientialist framework for purposes of communication and understanding (p.39). This research focuses on the metaphorical framing of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill that transpired from April 20 to July 28, 2010 in both American and British Online Newspaper Discourse. In other words, a discourse-analytical approach that is interdisciplinary and encompasses the linguistic, conceptual and socio-cultural is mooted (Steen, 2010, p.49). This research aims to examine the evaluative stance of the issues and actors involved in framing a conflict between traditionally staunch allies. The assumption is that this evaluative stance will be manifested through the metaphors conveyed in the analysis. This thesis is inspired by Hardie, Koller, Rayson and Semino’s (2007) research in exploiting a Semantic Annotation Tool found within WMatrix (Rayson, 2008) for metaphor analysis. In other words, this thesis aims to further describe and proposes to further modify the exploitation of integrated online concordancing tools for the systematic identification of metaphorical patterns in large datasets through the use of a new framework for metaphorical analysis. This can be seen as an attempt to potentially extend and triangulate intuition-based manual analysis and the concordancing of pre-selected search strings as a basis for discourse-analytical metaphor studies such as those carried out by Krennmayr (2011), Semino (2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011), Koller et al. (2008), Hardie et al. (2007), Baker (2006), Bednarek (2006), Deignan (2005), Charteris-Black (2004, 2005), Musolff (2004a; 2004b), Cameron and Low (2003), Partington (1998) and Chilton (1996, 2004). Hence, this thesis aims to build on the existing cognitive-linguistic approach to metaphor advocated by Lakoff & Johnson, and re-situate it in a more encompassing theoretical framework that takes these three inter-related aspects into account (Steen, 2011, p.27): 1. A novel adaptation of the linguistic approach (Pragglejaz Group, 2007; Krennmayr, 2011) 2. The cognitive approach via conceptual structures e.g. crossdomain mappings (Kovecses, 2011) 3. The communicative/social approach (Chilton, 1996, 2004; Charteris-Black 2004; 2005; Mulsolff, 2004a; 2004b) This will be done through the in-depth semi-automated analysis of a representative newspaper corpus via the use of a new proposed framework for metaphor identification and analysis. 1.2 Research Objectives The methodology adopted in this thesis amalgamates the corpus linguistic approach with conceptual metaphor theory and critical discourse analysis. This means that the use of a representative corpus in tandem with concordances and its relevant statistical correlations and frequencies are used as an empirical platform for the further analysis of the relations between entities, social meaning and discourse. This is due to the fact that many recent studies have shown that the systematic analysis of metaphorical patterns in naturally occurring and representative data “raises further questions and leads to further insights into metaphor as a linguistic and cognitive phenomenon” (Hardie et al., 2007, p.2). This thesis aims to extend existing corpus methodology in the examination of conceptual metaphors in large datasets through the use of two separate integrated online concordancing platforms. This methodology involves the use of semantic annotations in WMatrix software (Rayson, 2008) and the use of the Word Sketch function in Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff et al., 2004) in a procedure referred to as the IntegratedApproach to the Identification of Conceptual Metaphors (IICM). This new proposed methodology has the potential to expand the identification and analysis of conceptual metaphors beyond the premise of manual intuition and pre-determined search strings. At this juncture, it is important to acknowledge that earlier studies that utilise intensive manual analysis of representative data have made significant contributions to the advancement of discourse-based metaphor studies – and remain valuable and lauded references in the field. However this new proposed methodology potentially enables the field to move towards the “scalable investigation of open-ended sets of metaphoric expressions” (Koller et al., 2008). The key proposed advantage of this discourse-analytical framework is that it is likely to be more productive than traditional methods of metaphor analysis and provides an inductive, empirical springboard to the mining of metaphors in a large representative data-set. Hardie et al. (2007) assert that their preliminary research shows that this method “yields two to three times more analysis than manual analysis” and that it is “no more time-consuming than a purely manual analysis” (p.11). Finally, this thesis also aims to add to a growing body of research on metaphor in actual contexts of use in a genrespecific comparative study. 1.3 Background: The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (20 April – 28 July 2010) Beyond Petroleum (BP PLC) is a British international oil and gas company based in London. Founded in 1908, BP operates in more than 80 countries across six continents, providing its customers “with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products” (BP, 2012). It is the third largest oil company in the world, with 83,400 employees worldwide as of December 2011, sales of $375,517 million in 2011 and a market value, even after the recent losses, of more than $100 billion. It is has a market capitalization of £81.4 billion and is the fourth largest company in the world listed on the London Stock Exchange as of July 2012. It has branded itself as “Beyond Petroleum”, an environmentally conscious energy company that aims to “work in ways that will benefit communities and habitats and earn the world’s respect” by identifying and growing low-carbon businesses (BP, 2012). However, its image and its future financial prospects have been negatively impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig leased by BP on April 20, 2010. A rupture in a pipe a mile into the sea spewed an estimated five million barrels of oil, making it “the largest accidental oil spill in history” (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2010). According to research by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (2010) (henceforth PEJ), most disasters covered by the media generate an initial significant burst of media attention before dropping out of the headlines. But the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill was a disaster that captured the public’s attention and far exceeded the usual media attention span. From April 20 to July 28, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill dominated every other story in the mainstream media in terms of salience and frequency. It accounted for 22% of the news covered in America, dwarfing the coverage of the next most salient issue, the economy at 12%. Furthermore, the Gulf saga registered as the number one story in the mainstream news agenda in nine of those fourteen weeks—and it never fell out of the top three (PEJ, 2010). According to PEJ (2010), the coverage of the key storylines examined the following: 1. The environmental and economic impact of the spill 2. The examination of BP’s role and responsibility in the disaster 3. The US government’s actions and responses during the crisis—with much of the focus on the Obama administration The narrative in the press focused on BP’s culpability in the spill as well as the way its executives responded to the aftermath. BP’s lack of transparency in its estimates of the damage, the attitude of its then-CEO, Tony Hayward as well as its immediate responses to the needs of the Gulf residents accounted for most of the negative media coverage. Other legal repercussions as a result of these measures included a 50% loss in value of BP shares, the initiation of possible criminal and civil charges against BP pertaining to the spill, the resignation of Tony Hayward as BP’s chief executive and the promotion of his subsequent replacement, American Robert Dudley. It is important to note that this thesis is meant as a synchronic analysis or a snapshot of the metaphorical evaluation of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill as expressed through American and British media discourse. This is due to the specific timeframe of the disaster in 2010, ranging from April 20, the day the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, to July 28, the day BP CEO; Tony Hayward’s departure was announced. Online newspaper articles were collected from 20 April up till 31 December 2010 in order to capture the full range of metaphorical sentiments expressed pertaining to this disaster during this period. This was because the event was viewed as one of the most significant events in 2010. 1.4 Data Collection: The Broadsheets In order to investigate the range of metaphors and the metaphoricity of the texts, 250 separate articles directly related to the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico were collected from each online newspaper database. These articles came from electronic versions of the respective newspapers collected from Factiva between 21 April and 31 December 2010. Even though the oil spill was fully capped on 28 July, newspaper articles were collected till 31 December in order to fully capture the entire range of sentiments pertaining to the oil spill as it was widely viewed as one of the most significant events in 2010. The corpus collection was carried out by utilizing the Boolean search function on Factiva where all instances of the keywords containing “BP” or “Beyond Petroleum” and “Gulf of Mexico” or “Deepwater Horizon” were identified and surfaced in a chronological listing (see Fig. 1.1-1.6). In a procedure that is similar to Bednarek’s (2006) selection process for the analysis of evaluation in newspaper discourse, articles were eliminated if the key words within them were incidental and peripheral instead of being central to the topic itself. Newspaper Headlines, the Deck (secondary headline containing additional information on the story), Captions (under key photographs related to the oil spill) and the textual content were collected for further metaphorical analysis. As such, due to the extensiveness and reliability of the Factiva search engine for each broadsheet, the corpus sample is of sufficient size, breadth and synchronic range to identify metaphors and conceptual metaphors used throughout the duration of the disaster. Hence, the corpus collection process involves a selected cross-section of all oil spill stories from 21 April through to 31 December 2010. The news stories were considered to be oil spill stories if 50% or more of the story was on that topic. Fig.1.1 Screen Shot for Search Builder on Factiva: ‘Guardian‘ Fig.1.2 Screen Shot of search results on Factiva: ‘Guardian‘ Fig. 1.3 Screen Shot for Search Builder on Factiva: ‘New York Times‘ Fig. 1.4 Screen Shot of search results on Factiva: ‘New York Times‘ Fig. 1.5 Screen Shot of search results on Factiva: ‘Washington Post‘ 10 Fig. 1.6 Screen Shot of search results on Factiva: ‘The Daily Telegraph‘ 1.4.1 The Corpus Even though British and American broadsheets are seen as “the fourth estate”, where the newspaper owners and advertisers are, in principle, free from government interference, it is important to note that news proprietors have the “power to influence the content, the political stance and the editorial perspective of the paper” through the appointment of senior editorial staff. The proprietors also tend to exercise their rights to “greater or lesser degrees” (Bednarek, 2006, p.13). Hence, the metaphorical evaluation carried out in this thesis aims to capture the effect that differing cultural perspectives and political affiliations assert on the use of metaphor. It is important to note that while the range of metaphors obtained from these 250 articles per broadsheet might not be wholly encompassing, I believe that this preliminary aggregate 11 metaphorical analysis done via the IICM-framework surfaces the relevant evaluative trends pertaining to the issue under study. The corpus for analysis consists of a total of 250 news stories EACH taken from FOUR established British and American national broadsheets sourced from Factiva. From the British perspective, 250 articles were collected from the Guardian out of a possible 598 for a liberal perspective. Another 250 articles were collected from the Telegraph out of a possible 870 for a conservative viewpoint. From the American perspective, 250 articles were collected from New York Times out of a possible 713 for a distinctive liberal stance whilst another separate 250 articles were collected from the Washington Post out of 519 articles for a conservative stance. A quick overview of the four sets of corpora can be seen in the screen capture below (Fig. 1.7). Fig. 1.7 Screen Shot of the four corpora on Sketch Engine: An Overview Articles were collected from Britain and America respectively in order to capture the effect that differing cultural perspectives assert on the use of metaphor. The subject matter was kept constant for the necessary establishment of a comparable corpus. The scale of the selected topic, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill by BP, was deemed to be central to society as it was 12 significant enough to be covered in all available newspapers and online broadsheets for the entire duration of the disaster and beyond. 1.4.2. The American Broadsheets (New York Times & Washington Post) The New York Times (NYT) is a prime candidate for this research for several reasons, with the key factor being the sheer size of its readership. According to the NYT company website, it has over 30 million unique visitors in December 2011 making it the most visited online newspaper website, with more than twice the number of unique visitors as the next most popular site. The NYT Company also labels itself as a leading global, multimedia news and information company with 2011 revenues of $2.3 billion with the core purpose of enhancing society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment. The NYT is continuing to make the change from “an enterprise that is operated mainly in print to one that is increasingly multiplatform in delivery and global in reach” (NYT, 2012). The NYT Company, owns a total of 18 newspapers, television stations, more than 50 websites and two radio stations. This tremendous corporate presence allows the NYT an almost unlimited amount of resources for gathering and reporting the news. It has 27 bureaus within the US and 26 foreign news bureaus. The NYT has won 108 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization and is long regarded as the “newspaper of record” within the industry. It is also known for its overtly liberal political stance in its reporting of key issues and ideas. For the purpose of comparison, 250 articles were also collected from 13 the Washington Post (WP). The Washington Post is owned by the Washington Post Company, a diversified education and media company whose principal operations include educational services, newspaper print and online publishing, television broadcasting and cable television systems (Washington Post Company, 2012). The WP is a very different newspaper from the NYT due to its overtly conservative stance. It hails itself as a “uniquely independent voice in journalism”. The Washington Post is Washington D.C.’s largest newspaper and its oldest, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, the WP has a particular emphasis on national politics. The WP has won 25 Pulitzer Prizes since 1991, more than half of the paper's total collection of 47 Pulitzers awarded. This includes six separate Pulitzers awarded in 2008, the second-highest record of Pulitzers ever given to a single newspaper in one year. The WP is generally regarded among the leading daily American newspapers, along with the NYT. It has one of the highest market-penetration rates of any metropolitan news daily and is one of a few U.S. newspapers with foreign bureaus located in Baghdad, Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Islamabad, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Kabul, London, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, Paris and Tokyo. According to Wikipedia, the WP's editorial positions on foreign policy and economic issues have seen a definitively conservative bent in the way it has steadfastly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warmed to President George W. Bush’s policy to partially privatize Social Security, opposed a deadline for U.S. withdrawal from the Iraq War, and advocated free trade agreements. 14 1.4.3. The British Broadsheets (The Guardian & The Daily Telegraph) The Guardian, founded as the Manchester Guardian in 1821, is a British national daily newspaper known for its social liberal political stance. In the last United Kingdom elections, the paper supported the Liberal Democrats who went on to form a coalition government with the conservatives. According to its website, The Guardian has the second largest online readership of any British newspaper. The Guardian publishes all their news online, with free access both to current news and an archive of three million stories. In the 1990s, in the midst of the price war amongst the other broadsheets, The Guardian remained at full price, “investing resources in journalism and distancing itself from the price war through distinctive and innovative marketing, product development and consistently breaking big stories” (The Guardian, 2012). As of January 2011, it is the most popular UK newspaper site, generating almost 37 million unique users each month, with 12.6 million unique users within Britain itself. In 2007 the newspaper was ranked first in a study conducted by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda of the University of Maryland in terms of transparency. The Guardian was awarded the National Newspaper of the Year in 1999, 2006 and 2011 by the British Press Awards in addition to garnering the accolade as the co-winner of the World's Best-designed Newspaper in 2006. The Guardian Media Group uses a diverse portfolio of investments to deliver the financial security that allows it to achieve its central objective – which is the editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity (The Guardian, 2012). 15 In contrast, The Daily Telegraph, founded in 1855, is a daily morning broadsheet distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally (The Telegraph, 2012; Wikipedia, 2012). The Telegraph Online is the online version of the newspaper. It includes the articles from the print editions of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph as well as web-only content such as breaking news, features, picture galleries and blogs. It was named the UK Consumer Website of the Year in 2007 and 2009 by the Association of Online Publishers. In the 2010 British Press Awards, it was awarded the “National Newspaper of the Year” for its coverage of the MP’s expenses scandal. The Telegraph Online became the most popular UK newspaper site in April 2008 before being overtaken by The Guardian in April 2009. As of 2010, it is now the third most visited British newspaper website, with most of its traffic from social media sites. The Daily Telegraph has been politically conservative in modern times due to the personal links between the paper's editors, the leadership of the Conservative Party and the Conservative Activists. Thus, this contrast in the respective political leanings within each online broadsheet provides an additional dimension for analysis for this research paper. 1.5. Aims and scope of the current study This thesis aims to examine the following aspects of metaphorical framings pertaining to the oil spill: • What conceptual metaphors occur in the discourse of the BP Oil Spill? 16 • What metaphorical concepts of the oil spill and the relevant entities (BP, the American & British Governments, the Oil itself etc.) were contested in the national and international discourses? • Which metaphorical concepts of the oil spill and the relevant entities have been established in debate and how they compete with one another? • How the aggregate metaphorical evaluations inherent within the respective conservative and liberal broadsheets impose their own concepts on the readers? • What similarities and differences are there between the metaphors and Conceptual Metaphors identified in liberal and conservative US online broadsheet discourse and the UK broadsheet discourse? • What explanation is there for the similarities and differences? • How can the use of integrated online concordancing platforms (specifically a semi-automated semantic annotation tool and word sketches of a word’s grammatical and collocational behaviour) be applied systematically, inductively and (potentially) exhaustively in order to establish the conceptual metaphors that structure our understanding of the BP Oil Spill? 1.6. Significance of the study The methodological shortcomings associated with the formulation and analysis of conceptual metaphors have been extensively documented by a range of metaphor scholars (Krennmayr, 2011; Steen, 2011; 2009; 2007; 17 Kovecses, 2010; Semino, 2008; Pragglejaz Group, 2007; Hardie et al., 2007; Deignan, 2005a; Musolff, 2004a; 2004b; Cameron & Low, 2003; Partington, 1998; and Chilton, 1996). Deignan (2005a) goes even further by stating that even large representative corpora provide limited usefulness in the study of innovative metaphor due to the inevitability of researcher bias as the researcher can only uncover what he/she sets out to look for through the use of “pre-determined search strings”. Hence, in an attempt to systematise the use of “pre-determined search strings” which potentially incorporate a high degree of researcher bias in the analysis of the corpus data and to minimize missing out on large chunks of relevant and possibly significant lexical items in the process, the selection of lexical items for analysis in this thesis is based on the empirical suggestion of candidate semantic fields proposed by USAS, embedded within the WMatrix web-based concordancing programme. The resultant lexical item for analysis is thus empirically suggested by an integrated concordancing platform (in accordance to the corresponding LogLikelihood values and frequency counts). The process of conceptual metaphor formulation is augmented by the use of a systematically documented framework, aided by the “word sketch” function that provides collocational frequencies for empirical selection in Sketch Engine (henceforth, SkE), to be used in tandem with an established corpus-based dictionary for the establishment of systematicity. This proposed method of analysis is potentially more productive and generates a set of inductively-generated metaphors in a departure from the use of pre-determined search strings. The eventual refinement of such a framework through subsequent iterations can potentially result in a common platform for future discourse on metaphors. 18 Thus, this thesis aims to build on existing developments in conceptual metaphor theory and corpus methodologies to suggest a new framework for the inductive, systematised analysis of a large representative corpus for metaphors. This research aims to provide a preliminary glimpse into the metaphors used in the BP Oil Spill discourse and to determine the concepts of the oil spill that were contested in the national and international discourses. This will be done through the use of a combination of automatic semantic analysis, key word identification and domain techniques. While this proposed framework is broadly inspired by Hardie et al. (2007), it contains significant departures from the original methodology. Hence, the Integrated-approach to the Identification of Conceptual Metaphors (IICM) can be seen as a new methodology for the computer-assisted analysis of metaphorical patterns in discourse for large collections of representative texts. 1.7. Structure of the thesis The rest of the paper is organised as follows: Chapter introduces a range of literature pertaining to Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the significant milestones from its inception in 1980 till this day. It also provides the theoretical springboard for the development of the Integrated-Approach to the Identification of Conceptual Metaphors (IICM) in Chapter 3. Chapters 4, and will comprise an in-depth preliminary analysis of the conceptual metaphors inherent within each broadsheet. Specifically, Chapter will examine the range of metaphors generated from the American Perspective, namely from the New York Times (NYT) and Washington Post 19 (WP). Chapter will be doing the same from the British perspective, encompassing the aggregate view of metaphors from The Guardian (G) and The Daily Telegraph (TT). Chapter will embody the comparative approach whilst Chapter concludes the paper with an in-depth discussion and the preliminary evaluation of the entire issue (based on the scope of the corpora) as well as the areas for further research. 20 [...]... generating almost 37 million unique users each month, with 12 .6 million unique users within Britain itself In 2007 the newspaper was ranked first in a study conducted by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda of the University of Maryland in terms of transparency The Guardian was awarded the National Newspaper of the Year in 19 99, 2006 and 2 011 by the British Press Awards in addition... This thesis aims to examine the following aspects of metaphorical framings pertaining to the oil spill: • What conceptual metaphors occur in the discourse of the BP Oil Spill? 16 • What metaphorical concepts of the oil spill and the relevant entities (BP, the American & British Governments, the Oil itself etc.) were contested in the national and international discourses? • Which metaphorical concepts of. .. bent in the way it has steadfastly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warmed to President George W Bush’s policy to partially privatize Social Security, opposed a deadline for U.S withdrawal from the Iraq War, and advocated free trade agreements 14 1. 4.3 The British Broadsheets (The Guardian & The Daily Telegraph) The Guardian, founded as the Manchester Guardian in 18 21, is a British national daily... throughout the United Kingdom and internationally (The Telegraph, 2 012 ; Wikipedia, 2 012 ) The Telegraph Online is the online version of the newspaper It includes the articles from the print editions of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph as well as web-only content such as breaking news, features, picture galleries and blogs It was named the UK Consumer Website of the Year in 2007 and 2009 by the Association... multimedia news and information company with 2 011 revenues of $2.3 billion with the core purpose of enhancing society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment The NYT is continuing to make the change from “an enterprise that is operated mainly in print to one that is increasingly multiplatform in delivery and global in reach” (NYT, 2 012 ) The NYT Company,... online broadsheet discourse and the UK broadsheet discourse? • What explanation is there for the similarities and differences? • How can the use of integrated online concordancing platforms (specifically a semi-automated semantic annotation tool and word sketches of a word’s grammatical and collocational behaviour) be applied systematically, inductively and (potentially) exhaustively in order to establish... Hence, in an attempt to systematise the use of “pre-determined search strings” which potentially incorporate a high degree of researcher bias in the analysis of the corpus data and to minimize missing out on large chunks of relevant and possibly significant lexical items in the process, the selection of lexical items for analysis in this thesis is based on the empirical suggestion of candidate semantic... of the oil spill and the relevant entities have been established in debate and how do they compete with one another? • How do the aggregate metaphorical evaluations inherent within the respective conservative and liberal broadsheets impose their own concepts on the readers? • What similarities and differences are there between the metaphors and Conceptual Metaphors identified in liberal and conservative... archive of three million stories In the 19 90s, in the midst of the price war amongst the other broadsheets, The Guardian remained at full price, “investing resources in journalism and distancing itself from the price war through distinctive and innovative marketing, product development and consistently breaking big stories” (The Guardian, 2 012 ) As of January 2 011 , it is the most popular UK newspaper site,... matter was kept constant for the necessary establishment of a comparable corpus The scale of the selected topic, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill by BP, was deemed to be central to society as it was 12 significant enough to be covered in all available newspapers and online broadsheets for the entire duration of the disaster and beyond 1. 4.2 The American Broadsheets (New York Times & Washington Post) The . of the University of Maryland in terms of transparency. The Guardian was awarded the National Newspaper of the Year in 19 99, 2006 and 2 011 by the British Press Awards in addition to garnering. is meant as a synchronic analysis or a snapshot of the metaphorical evaluation of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill as expressed through American and British media discourse. This is due to the specific. attention and far exceeded the usual media attention span. From April 20 to July 28, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill dominated every other story in the mainstream media in terms of salience and frequency.