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In Aug 2022, in what many considered as a historic moment in Singapore, the Prime Minister announced its repeal. Following the announcement, several related news articles were published by the news outlets *The Straits Times and The Independent Singapore*. This study, therefore, sets out to undertake a critical discourse analysis of these news articles, focusing on the representation of two groups of social actors, namely the Singapore government and gay people. Guided by a framework that constitutes the theoretical approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Fairclough, Van Dijk and Wodak’s perspectives on power relations as discursive, as well as Van Leeuwen's theories on discourse construction and representations of social actors, the analysis of the textual data reveals distinct patterns in how the Singapore government and gay people are represented. In an area where there is little comparative critical discourse research on how more powerful groups and less powerful groups are represented in news coverage following significant legal and sociopolitical changes in a society, this article aims to deepen readers’ understanding of such discursive patterns and foster media literacy, thereby attaining the practical result of pointing readers in the direction of change – a desired outcome that CDA seeks through its research. ## Get full access to this article View all access and purchase options for this article. [Get Access](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17504813241257763#core-collateral-purchase-access) ## References Anderson LB (2023) “OK Boomer”: Demagogic discourse and intergenerational communication. *Journal of Intergenerational Relationships* 21(2): 253–268. 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[Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=NDR+2022%3A+WP+recognises+right+of+people+to+live+free+from+discrimination%2C+will+join+S377A+debate+in+Parliament&author=Clement+Yong&publication_year=2022) ## Biographies **Wee Boon Wong** is a Lecturer at Singapore University of Social Sciences. Formerly a PhD Research Scholar at National University of Singapore (NUS), he was a recipient of two graduate student teaching awards conferred by NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and completed his doctoral studies under the guidance of Associate Professor Michelle M Lazar. Possessing a passion for raising people’s awareness of the discursive strategies that can be involved in the construction of multi modal discourses, his research interests include critical discourse analysis, multi modal communication and representation, and social semiotics. ## Cite ### Cite #### Cite Copy Citation OR #### Download to reference manager If you have citation software installed, you can download citation data to the citation manager of your choice ## Share options ### Share #### Share this publication ##### Share with email [Email Link](https://journals.sagepub.com/action/showMailPage?doi=10.1177/17504813241257763) ##### Share on social media [Facebook](https://journals.sagepub.com/#facebook "Share on Facebook")[X (formerly Twitter)](https://journals.sagepub.com/#twitter "Share on X (formerly Twitter)")[LinkedIn](https://journals.sagepub.com/#linkedin "Share on LinkedIn")[WeChat](https://journals.sagepub.com/#wechat "Share on WeChat") #### Share access to this article Sharing links are not relevant where the article is open access and not available if you do not have a subscription. 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To download and view previous versions, see below: June 17, 2024 - online first [10\.1177\_17504813241257763\_Version1.pdf]() 548\.50 KB ### Authors Show all #### Wee Boon Wong Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore [wbwong.sage@gmail.com](mailto:wbwong.sage@gmail.com) [View all publications by this author](https://journals.sagepub.com/authored-by/Wong/Wee+Boon) #### Notes Wee Boon Wong, Singapore University of Social Sciences, 463 Clementi Road, Singapore 599494, Singapore. Email: [wbwong.sage@gmail.com](mailto:wbwong.sage@gmail.com) ## Metrics and citations ### Metrics #### Journals metrics This article was published in *Discourse & Communication*. 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