Legislation
language constitutes a dictionary, a lexicon.
Lexicography is the overall study of the vocabu-
lary of language, including its history.
Libel See defamation.
‘Libel tourism’ See defamation.
Liberal Press theory Liberal Press theory
echoes the principles of the laissez-faire (‘leave
well alone’) model of the economy associated
with classic nineteenth-century Liberalism. Th e
key principle of the laissez-faire model is that of
the need for a free marketplace (that is, free from
government interference) in goods and services,
in which producers compete with one another
to sell their products and services to consumers.
Thus with regards to the media sector of the
economy, media corporations are viewed as
having to compete for the attention and loyalty
of their consumers, the audience. Supporters of
this model argue that the consumer is sovereign,
and thus that media corporations have to tailor
their products to suit consumer wishes, tastes
and needs.
David M. Barlow and Brett Mills in Reading
Media Th eory: Th inkers, Approaches, Contexts
(Pearson Education Limited, 2009) argue that
‘concepts such as “freedom of the press”, “free-
dom of speech” and the “Fourth Estate” have
informed – and continue to underpin – what is
variously referred to as the liberal theory of the
press, or liberal press theory. Th is theory holds
that “the freedom of the press” is rooted in the
freedom to publish in the free market’. Th us the
public interest is seen as best served by a free
market in newspapers, magazines and so on. As
James Curran points out in James Curran and
Jean Seaton, Power Without Responsibility: Press,
Broadcasting and the Internet in Britain (Rout-
ledge, 2009), this model is not without its critics.
Th eorists have pointed out contemporary disad-
vantages such as the intrusion into personal
privacy in some reporting, the concentration of
ownership within the press, the potential infl u-
ence of owners over content, and the diffi culty of
radical voices being heard. See fourth estate;
press, four theories of.
▶Denis McQuail, Mass Communication Theory
(Sage, 2010).
Life positions In his book, I’m OK, You’re OK
(Harper & Row, 1969), Th omas Harris identifi es
four life positions that can be used in transac-
tional analysis for exploring and examining
people’s feelings, attitudes or positions towards
themselves and others, and the way in which
these infl uence their social interaction. Th e ‘I’m
OK, You’re OK’ position is one in which an indi-
vidual believes in his/her own worth and that ofmedia. Leaks can always be denied. Sometimes,
of course, leaks are genuine, that is they are
true divulgences of information which those
in authority would wish to be withheld. Here,
those close to the centres of power, perhaps
disagreeing with decisions about to be made or
affronted at the potential mismanagement of
power, disclose information with the intention of
causing embarrassment and, through publicity,
a change of policy. See deep throat; secrecy;
wikileaks.
Legislation See topic guide under commis-
sions, committees, legislation.
Legitimation/delegitimation In Ideology:
A Multicultural Approach (Sage, 1998), Tuen
A. Van Dijk states that ‘legitimation is one of
the main social functions of ideologies’. It is
the process whereby a group, society or nation
gives a status of acceptance – legitimizes – ways
of doing or saying things. By the same token,
a process of delegitimation occurs in which
the ‘We’ or ‘Us’ of a situation seek overtly, or
covertly, to deny acceptance to other, or what
Van Dijk refers to as ‘outgroups’. Reference, for
example, to ‘illegal’ immigrants has the eff ect of
delegitimating a host of diff erent ‘other’ and, in
the public mind, creates antipathy, fear (of the
‘foreigner’) and rejection.
Legitimation is very much about being a
member of a group and relies in some part upon
a recognition of what differentiates Us from
Th em (those who are not part of the group). Van
Dijk speaks of an ‘ideological square’ in which
four main positions are taken in relation to legit-
imation/delegitimation. Th e square serves as a)
a positive self-presentation and b) a negative
‘other’ presentation. Th e positions are as follows:
(1) express/emphasize information that is posi-
tive about Us; (2) express/emphasize negative
points about Th em; (3) suppress/de-emphasize
information that is positive about Them; and
(4) suppress/de-emphasize information that is
positive about Us.
Communicative strategies employed in legiti-
mation/delegitimation discourses are numer-
ous, depending on the nature of the communi-
cation and the contexts in which it takes place.
Th ey work through the implicit, by assumption;
by implication, presupposition, assertion and
manipulation; and their aim is the maintenance
of power through the creation of compliance and
consent. See hegemony; ideology.
Lexis Linguist’s term to describe the vocabulary
of a language: a unit of vocabulary is gener-
ally referred to as a lexical item or lexeme. A
complete inventory of the lexical items of a