Discourses on ethos and public-private partnerships

Abstract

This article focuses on the web sites of the water company Veolia Environnement with the intention to study the discursive construction of the corporate credibility and the development of the Veolia brand image from 2002 to 2005. By the study of web site texts we can get an impression of the way in which the texts contribute to the strategy of the corporate practice, how they can influence the broader socio-cultural practice and how they form parts of a discourse practice constituted by the home page as a media and a genre. The web site texts are compared to the political and humanitarian goals of international organizations such as the UN, the WHO and the EU Commission. The studies are carried out within the framework of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and for the rhetorical parts the focus is on intertextuality, presupposition and ethos.