Negative representation of the clergy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Foreign media: a critical discourse analysis perspective

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Critical discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary field that examines the interplay between language, power, social institutions, and ideology. In essence, social institutions shape lifestyles according to prevailing culture and ideology, and they utilize tools, the most important of which is language, to achieve this. Today, the media is one of the most effective platforms for the purposeful expression of discourses. Through mass media, institutions, without directly demonstrating power relations, exert ideological influences aligned with the goals of their desired social structure. The aim of this research is to examine, based on Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis, how language is instrumentally used to represent the clergy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The chosen method for this research is a quantitative and qualitative content analysis. To this end, news from four news networks—Pressenza, Washington Post, Iran Human Rights Monitoring News Agency, and the website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran—regarding the clergy of the Islamic Republic of Iran were randomly selected and analyzed. By examining these news items, it is concluded that these media outlets (respectively) use strategies such as terrorizing, trickery, assigning negative roles, violating the values and norms accepted by human society, and issuing warnings to distort the role and valuable position of this class in the country.

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