This study is anchored in Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), particularly drawing on Roger Fowler’s foundational work on language, power, and ideology in media discourse. Fowler et al. (1979) argue that language is not a neutral medium for reporting reality but a socially constructed system that reflects and reinforces power relations. From this perspective, journalistic texts—especially crime reports—are ideological artifacts shaped by institutional constraints, political pressures, and sociocultural hierarchies.
Central to this framework is Fowler’s theory of transitivity, which examines how grammatical choices assign agency, responsibility, and blame (Fowler, 1991). In crime reporting, transitivity patterns determine whether actors are foregrounded as active agents or backgrounded through passive constructions and nominalizations. Such choices are particularly consequential when reporting murders involving prominent personalities, as they influence how perpetrators, victims, and institutions are represented and morally evaluated.
The framework also incorporates the concept of nominalization, a linguistic strategy that transforms actions and processes into abstract nouns, often obscuring agency and mitigating responsibility (Fairclough, 1995). Nominal references to suspects, such as titles or institutional affiliations, function as discursive resources that either legitimize or delegitimize individuals based on their social status. These strategies intersect with power asymmetries, allowing journalists to navigate legal risks, personal safety concerns, and political pressures while still fulfilling their reporting roles.
Additionally, the study is informed by media framing theory, which explains how journalists select, emphasize, and structure information to guide audience interpretation (Entman, 1993). Linguistic framing in headlines and leads plays a crucial role in shaping public perceptions of justice, guilt, and innocence. By integrating Critical Linguistics with framing theory, this framework enables a nuanced analysis of how linguistic choices in crime reporting both reflect and reproduce social inequalities and power relations within the Kenyan sociopolitical context.
