A pen, headlines and (dis)manipulation: words as object of dispute

Abstract

From the perspective of the French Discourse Analysis, by Michel Pêcheux, this article examines the functioning of the notion of Discursive Formation in the discursive process of two headlines, one from “Portal G1” and another from “Estadão” newspaper, rewritten through the bias of the Facebook page “Caneta Desmanipuladora” (Dismanipulating Pen). We seek, above all, to examine the effects of intermingled meanings in the process of reformulating headlines. To support our analysis, throughout the text, we mobilized other notions of theory such as ideological formations, interdiscourse and memory, in order to better observe the functioning of ideology, its regulation in language and the effects of meaning sustained by discursive formations. Our analysis allowed us to understand that the effects of meaning in the headlines are determined by the evidence effect of the discursive formations and the contradictions they set in motion.