Der Kampf gegen Windmühlen. Oder: Die ökologische Transformation der Gesellschaft.

As a critical discourse analysis based on Foucault, this work examines central patterns of argumentation and interpretation in German online newspapers. The particular focus is on the interpretative battles in the wind power discourse and how the actors and participants in the discourse attempt to assert their interpretations (communication) strategically. The analysis repeatedly examines what this means for the ecological transformation of society and how it is negotiated. The multi-modal core corpus consists of 30 articles from four major online newspapers (FAZ, Welt, taz, Zeit) and one local newspaper (Siegener Zeitung). Based on this core corpus, discourse strands are also traced in the follow-up communication, in particular comment sections. The work can show that the method of topos analysis can also be profitably extended to multi-modal corpora and that it can also be used to reconstruct complex interpretative battles. As a result, six central topoi of the wind power discourse were identified: the finance, information, landscape, sustainability, nuclear energy and deindustrialization topos. The article also confirms that critical discourse analysis as an instrument is not only suitable for uncovering manipulative and/or deceptive intentions, but can also strengthen participatory and emancipatory discourse processes.