Email this article Metaphors on Fire: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study of 2025 California Wildfires News in VOA and USA Today
Abstract
Metaphors play a central role in the communication process, particularly in how media shapes public understanding during climate-related issues. This study examines the metaphorical framing of the 2025 California wildfires in two U.S. news outlets - Voice of America (VOA) and USA Today through a corpus-assisted discourse study. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis, the research identifies metaphorical expressions, including wildfire as war zone, living creature, mechanical breakdown, and economic inferno. These metaphors influence how wildfires are constructed as threats requiring defense, as organisms with agency, or as systemic failures with economic fallout. The analysis reveals that VOA emphasizes state-led coordination and institutional response, while USA Today foregrounds emotional appeal and human impact - reflecting their differing institutional affiliations and communicative objectives. The findings underscore the ideological functions of metaphor in shaping public understanding, attributing blame, and guiding policy perception in climate crisis reporting. This study contributes to research on media discourse, environmental communication, and the critical role of metaphor in framing ecological crises.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.26499/surbet.v20i2.30857
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.