Abstract - The Interplay of Media Ownership, Narratives and Language: A Case Study

This study focuses on the relationship between media ownership, discourse, and language use through the combined frameworks of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS). It argues that ownership structures constitute a key mechanism through which power is exercised and reproduced in the media, shaping ideological boundaries and influencing the linguistic construction of social realities. By linking macro-level ownership dynamics with micro-level linguistic choices, the research demonstrates how concentrated ownership influences the discursive environment, constraining journalistic autonomy and reinforcing hegemonic narratives. The Hungarian media landscape, illustrated through Index’s reporting on Budapest Pride, exemplifies how such dynamics manifest in practice: under right-leaning ownership, the outlet’s discourse subtly shifted toward moralised and politicised framings while reducing identity-based representations. These findings highlight how language operates as a site of ideological negotiation, showing that critical engagement with ownership and discourse is vital to understanding the erosion of pluralism and the reshaping of democratic communication.