Abstract
The conceptual basis for this paper is adopted from Norman Fairclough’s ideas on discourse and power and discourse and hegemony (1989) to analyze the role and power exercise of media during the 2009 Swat Offensive. The social and linguistic practices, and micro and macro analysis of discourse have been linked up for the analysis. The analytical part of the paper, therefore, includes the textual properties and power relations and their relation with each other, according to Fairclough’s conceptual work. The paper tries to find out the major roles played by the media during the Swat Offensive. The paper concludes that Media played an important role during the Swat Offensive and the critical discourse analysis of media reveals that the power of media was completely manifested.