This paper, within the framework of Discourse Analysis, presents the mapping results of four Portuguese daily newspapers’ headlines about children at risk, during the first quarter of 2008. It aims at describing the linguistic materiality of verbal productions, by identifying the underlying interpretative repertoire and media framing.
By doing so, it uncovers the modalising function of journalists and contributes to identify the prototypical settings of children in society, especially of children at risk and, by contrast, the boundaries of the so called normal childhoo
