Lexical Framing and Ideological Bias: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Deutsche Welle’s Coverage of Türkiye’s Stance in Sweden’s NATO Membership

This article analyses how Türkiye’s opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership is framed in the German media outlet -Deutsche Welle- employing content analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with a focus on lexicalization—a micro-level strategy conceptualized by van Dijk. Through qualitative analysis of ten English-language news articles published between 2022 and 2023, the study identifies a consistent pattern of negatively connoted language depicting Türkiye and President Erdoğan as authoritarian, obstructionist, and opportunistic. Lexical choices such as ‘threaten’, “stall”, ‘u-turn’, and “so-called terrorist” contribute to a discourse that delegitimizes Türkiye’s security concerns and diplomatic agency. Although occasional neutral or mildly positive phrases appear, they do not substantially alter the dominant critical tone. These findings reflect a broader trend in Western media narratives that problematize non-Western dissent and reinforce dominant geopolitical perspectives. The study underscores the role of language in shaping political narratives and affirms the utility of CDA in revealing ideological bias in international news coverage.