Classification of manipulative strategies and tactics in English-language political media discourse (based on publications dedicated to the representation of BRICS)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the mechanisms of manipulative influence in English-language political media discourse based on Fox News publications representing BRICS in the period from 2020 to 2026. The article systematizes these mechanisms through an integrative classification model reflecting the interrelation between macro-strategies, strategies, tactics, and the linguistic markers of their actualization; compares Russian and international approaches to the study of manipulative influence in political media discourse; clarifies the relationship between the concepts of macro-strategy, strategy, tactic, and linguistic marker/actualizer; and proposes an integrative classification model tested on a corpus of Fox News publications devoted to the representation of BRICS. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the first systematic distinction between discrediting and legitimation as the principal macro-strategies of manipulative influence in the selected corpus. In addition, theatricalization is reconceptualized not as an independent macro-strategy but as an accompanying mechanism of the pragmatic intensification of media messages. The findings demonstrate that the macro-strategy of discrediting predominates in the English-language political media discourse on BRICS. It is primarily realized through ideological polarization, threat construction, negatively evaluative lexis, epistemic modality, and metaphorization. By contrast, the macro-strategy of legitimation is mainly implemented through rationalization, authorization, solidarization, and appeals to international norms and values. The findings contribute to a more systematic understanding of the mechanisms of manipulative influence in political media discourse and expand the possibilities for their comprehensive linguistic description.