Arab News and Conflict: A Multidisciplinary Discourse Study

239 Pages·2009·1.89 MB·English

by  Samia Bazzi

Arab News and Conflict
Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society
and Culture (DAPSAC)
The editors invite contributions that investigate political, social and cultural processes
from a linguistic/discourse-analytic point of view. The aim is to publish monographs
and edited volumes which combine language-based approaches with disciplines
concerned essentially with human interaction – disciplines such as political science,
international relations, social psychology, social anthropology, sociology, economics,
and gender studies.
General Editors
Ruth Wodak and Greg Myers
University of Lancaster
Editorial address: Bowland College, Department of Linguistics and English Language,
University of Lancaster University, LANCASTER LA1 4YT, UK
[email protected] and [email protected]
Advisory Board
Irène Bellier Teun A. van Dijk Luisa Martín Rojo
Maison des Sciences de Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universidad Autonoma de
l’Homme, Paris, France Barcelona Madrid
Michael Billig Konrad Ehlich Jacob L. Mey
Loughborough University Ludwig-Maximilians University of Southern
Universität, Munich Denmark
Jan Blommaert
Tilburg University Mikhail V. Ilyin Christina Schäffner
Polis, Moscow Aston University
Paul Chilton
University of Lancaster Andreas H. Jucker Ron Scollon †
University of Zurich
J.W. Downes Louis de Saussure
University of East Anglia J.R. Martin University of Genève
University of Sydney
Volume 34
Arab News and Conflict. A multidisciplinary discourse study
by Samia Bazzi
Arab News and Conflict
A multidisciplinary discourse study
Samia Bazzi
Lebanese University, Beirut
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bazzi, Samia.
Arab news and conflict : a multidisciplinary discourse study / by Samia Bazzi.
p. cm. (Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, issn 1569-9463 ; v. 34)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Arab-Israeli conflict--1993---Mass media and the conflict. 2. Mass media--Political
aspects--Arab countries. 3. Critical discourse analysis--Arab countries. I. Title.
DS119.76.B3995 2009
956.05’4--dc22 2009033359
isbn 978 90 272 0625 1 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 8880 6 (Eb)
© 2009 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
For Hani and Diana

Table of contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of tables and figures xi
chapter 1
Introduction 1
News representations in times of conflict 1
What is discourse analysis? 3
The case studies in this book 6
Using this book 9
A note on style 1 0
part 1
Approaches to media discourse
chapter 2
A semiotic approach 1 5
Analysing the fixed structures of the political sign:
A fundamental approach 1 5
Analysing the motivated meanings of the political sign 2 1
The social semiotic meaning 2 1
The mythical meaning 2 7
The marked meaning 3 7
Deconstructing the political sign 4 0
Conclusion 4 2
chapter 3
An ideological approach 4 5
The interpellation of subjects by ideological state apparatuses 4 6
Hegemony and consent 4 9
Resistance and counter-hegemony 5 6
“Worthy” vs. “unworthy” victims 6 3
Conclusion 7 0
 Arab News and Conflict
chapter 4
A critical discourse analysis approach 7 1
What do the critical discourse analysts say? 7 2
Introducing the analytical tools 7 8
Transitivity 7 9
Mood and modality 8 2
Texture 8 7
Foregrounded themes 8 8
Lexical cohesion and collocation 9 0
Speech acts 9 2
Politeness 94
Relevance (the descriptive use vs. the interpretive use) 9 9
Conclusion 102
part 2
A model of analysis: Analysing Arab media discourse
Introduction 103
chapter 5
Analysing the contextual factors 105
Dominant hegemony 105
Interpellation of subjects 111
Power relations: Solidarity vs. enmity 114
Cognition 122
Editorial control 130
Conclusion 135
chapter 6
Analysing text strategy 137
Transitivity 137
Mood and modality 147
Texture 157
Foregrounded themes 157
Collocational cohesion 164
Speech acts and politeness 168
Relevance (the descriptive use vs. the interpretive use) 176
Conclusion 181
part 3
Translation and media
Table of contents 
chapter 7
Media translation and conflict 185
The translation of ideology and the ideological role of the translator 187
The profession’s constraints 187
The ideological translation method used in the transcreation of socio-political
realities 198
Descriptive translation or interpretive translation? 199
A scheme for analysing ideological translations 202
The contribution of translation theories 202
A new model for the analysis of translation in times of conflict 209
Conclusion 2 12
Discussion 2 13
References 215
Index 221