A Covid–19-világjárvány biztonságiasítása metaforikus politikai diskurzussal
An exploration of metaphors in political discourse on the securitization of the COVID–19 pandemic

Summary/Abstract: Politicians’ response to the COVID–19 pandemic worldwide relied on war scenarios having a tradition in disease management. The study contrasts how the political measures introduced during the state of emergency were presented by the Prime Minister of Hungary in his social media posts and his speeches and announcements broadcast by public media. A computer assisted content analysis was conducted to extract data on war and military metaphors, followed by a qualitative analysis of the metaphor scenarios used for explaining the situation and justifying action. The role of the PM indicated by the social media posts and by his transcribed speeches was compared with the suggestion of the visual illustrations. Our findings were that verbal communication shifted between war-related metaphoric and military-related realistic. The third conceptual domain identified was fear. Messages were mostly about national cohesion, however, visually, the PM was the protagonist of the events. The communication proved efficient according to opinion polls. Our research revealed how the securitization of the pandemic took place via the political discourse constructed both for internet users and traditional media consumers. Metaphors of fear, war and military action created the justification of the declaration of a state of emergency. The PM as a capable and responsible leader was placed in focus of the events. Although verbal messages by the PM were centred on a sense of community and joint action, the personalization of political action was remarkable by indirect means, such as visual messages. The personalization of politics throughout the period researched served the purpose of securitization of the pandemic with the PM as a charismatic leader attracting attention and giving credit to the severity of the threat along with the introduction of extraordinary measures.

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