Abstract

This thesis provides the first example of a discourse analysis of North American newspaper coverage about veganism. Specifically, it examined the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times’ representation of vegans and veganism during the second half of 2017. Its objective was to uncover the dominant discourses on vegans and veganism in the newspaper coverage of 76 articles and determine if the coverage was adequate from a vegan activist perspective. The thesis found that the dominant discourse about vegans and or veganism in most of the articles in the sample was positive. Nevertheless, overall, the coverage was still inadequate from multiple vegan perspectives, due to its negative articles, lack of details about humanity’s treatment of animals, and lack of focus on
veganism’s animal-friendly and morally obligatory status.