Schäffner (2001, p. 135) believes that political newspaper articles should be classified as problem-solution type texts when she describes the genres of political texts, and claims that “some political texts belong to the argumentative text type and, in such cases, text typological conventions apply (e.g. problem-solution structure, contrastive evaluations)” (highlights by the author). Consequently, political texts may be regarded as typical problem-solution type texts that are built on argumentation, which notion is also supported by Mazzoleni (2002, pp. 14–17) as well as by Adamik, Jászó and Aczél (2004, p. 404).

The aim of argumentative texts including political newspaper articles is to justify or refute certain claims using arguments. These arguments are claims that support or undermine other statements, whose credibility is questionable or debatable. The arguments are self-contained and are used so that the reader of the argumentative text is convinced by the given piece of text (Károly 2007). This in practice means that a problem is raised by the author and a solution to the problem is offered through argumentation, which supports the position of the writer and challenges the position of their (actual or imaginary) opponents (Károly 2007).

With reference to the aim of political texts, Oakeshott (2001) claims that all political discourses aim at persuasion. In a similar manner, van Dijk (1997) also attests that the receivers of political texts are envisaged by the authors of such texts as persons to be convinced through arguments. Furthermore, Bánhegyi (2006) has also shown that functionally political texts are construed with the future receivers of these texts in mind and aim at persuasion. Thus, from a functional perspective, political texts shall be classified as argumentative texts.

In terms of the method of argumentation in problem-solution texts, Kopperschmidt (1985) distinguishes two types of arguments: (1) theoretical and (2) practical arguments. In theoretical argumentation, the solution lies in the validity of the implicit theory applied, which is structured on knowledge (or truth, as perceived in our everyday reality) and thus “is based on the reliability of the information offered” (Kopperschmidt, 1985, p. 161). In practical argumentation, the solution to the problems raised is found in the correctness of the issues raised. This correctness is based on the social acceptance of obligations (why something should be done) and evaluations (why something is good). This type of argumentation centres around everyday practical problems, such as, for instance, the question of building atomic plants, social and financial issues, etc. (Kopperschmidt 1985). As newspaper articles also deal with such practical questions and the solutions offered in the articles are evaluated on the grounds of correctness, newspaper articles may be regarded as texts containing the latter kind of argument. What is important here is that it is through these socially constructed obligations and evaluations that the translation of political texts can potentially be manipulative (also cf. Chapter 4 on Critical Discourse Analysis and Chapter 8 on the results).

With reference to the diverse structures of problem-solution texts, Hoey (2001) states that the structure of problem-solution texts is culturally different but functionally similar. Therefore, the aim of including a functional text model in the current research was to be able to describe both Hungarian and English argumentative texts. Hoey’s (1994 and 2001) models are capable of accounting for the characteristics both Hungarian and English argumentative texts, as the models are functional and as such are language and culture independent. This is supported by the fact that actual linguistic realisations or culturally popular patterns of text arrangement do not influence the purpose of constructing the given text. Below, the brief history of the construction of the model and the model itself are described.