Tekutá prosperita: český stát a LG.Philips Displays
Liquid Prosperity: the Czech State and LG.Philips Displays

Summary/Abstract: This study offers a discourse analysis of media construction of unsuccessful foreign investor’s case, dealing namely with the case of LG.Philips Displays Holding and the Czech state and covering the case since the investor’s decision to settle in Czech Republic taken in 2000 until the period of the investor’s bankruptcy in 2006. The particular method developed for the analysis is based on Michel Foucalt’s notion of discourse and derived from his theoretical conception of discourse analysis. The method which emphasizes rather structural than linguistic level of discourse is inspired by Gerbner’s message system analysis and by de Gruyter’s tracking discourse technique as well. The study, analyzing nearly 700 articles published in two Czech printed dailies and two Czech weeklies, reveals a significant bias of the Czech printed media, since a very strong politicalization of the subject was typical for the media representation of the whole case. The discourse of party-spirited policy emerged in connection with the reflection of government's investment incentive policy. The arrival of Philips was presented as a result of a successful government policy; on the other hand, other important factors were underestimated. Media also took up government agenda uncritically. Particularly in the first years, the party-spirited themes and an uncritical view of the investor forced out the economic-analytical discourse. The media rarely took into account the risks that go together with foreign capital or the decline of the classical TV screen (CRT) market. Besides that, the media stereotypically labeled actors involved in controversies with LG.PhilipsDisplays.

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