Polish Catholic Magazines and Bioethical Dilemmas: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This article presents a cad-based analysis of Polish Catholic newspaper discourse regarding bioethical dilemmas. The study corpus consists of materials published by four weekly magazines – Gość Niedzielny, Niedziela, Przewodnik Katolicki, and Tygodnik Powszechny – between 2005 and 2015. The author took into consideration articles that were fully devoted to abortion, in vitro fertilization, or euthanasia. The research methodology was based on critical discourse analysis and delivered both quantitative and qualitative results. The findings suggest that even though all magazines touched on bioethical dilemmas and conjured up similar topics, their discourses were different. It transpired that the key variable was the magazines’ affiliations. Titles directly connected to the Catholic Church (Gość Niedzielny, Niedziela, Przewodnik katolicki) produced different discourses than Tygodnik Powszechny, which has no official bonds with the Catholic Church. Given the structure of the discourses, the author suggests division into two categories: inward-oriented and outward-oriented.