This thesis examined all references to George Bush in Time, U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek in the time periods before and after the 1988 Republican National Convention in order to determine if there was a difference in how these newsmagazines portrayed Bush in these time periods. The hypothesis of this study: George Bush was portrayed more positively in the total coverage of these newsmagazines after the convention than he was portrayed prior to the convention.In order to determine this, a coder chose news stories from before and after the convention from the newsmagazines if they dealt primarily with the man George Bush or the campaign in general.All references to Bush were highlighted in the articles along with all statements made by Bush. Then, sources of these sentences with these references were determined and placed into one of three categories: newsmagazine, Bush or "Other." Coders were asked to evaluate the references to Bush as to whether the references placed Bush in a positive light, negative light or did not reflect him positively or negatively, neutral.The findings of this study show there was no apparent difference in the coverage of Bush between the time periods. The hypothesis was not supported. Additionally, the overall coverage of Bush was neutral and the newsmagazines were the source of the largest amount of references. / Department of Journalism

This study analyzes the confirmation hearings discourse of Clarence Thomas and George Bush. Language constructs social reality. The United States has a history of racism and this history manifests itself in our language. The discourse of Clarence Thomas and George Bush created a social reality that equated opposition to Thomas' confirmation with racism using rhetorical strategies that included metaphor and narrative construction.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration