Ideologies in Four Saudi Newspapers
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ASU Digital Repository Ideologies in Four Saudi Newspapers: A Critical Discourse Analysis by Hamad Alshalawi A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2016 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Karen Adams, Chair Elenore Long Matthew Prior ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2016 To My Parents ABSTRACT This study offers a critical discourse analysis of four Saudi newspapers, examining their coverage of two particular incidents relating to the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Following van Dijk’s framework, the study examines the ideological role of language within media discourse. The tools of analysis include headlines, leads, lexical choices, reported speech, unnamed sources, and silenced texts. The findings of the study show that there are differences between the four newspapers in the coverage of the two incidents. The analysis also reveals different ideological attitudes among writers. ii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my Advisor professor Karen Adams for her support, and for her guidance and patience. I am also grateful to professors Elenore Long and Mathew Prior for their helpful comments and suggestions. I am also thankful to my colleagues and friends in the Department of English at Arizona State University. Finally and most especially, my sincere thanks to my parents, my wife, and my brothers and sisters, for their support and help. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. iii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 Overview ……………………………………………………………….1 Study Questions…………………………………………….. ................ 2 The Significance of the Study……………….…………………………2 Background and Context……………………………………………….4 Origins and Aims of CPVPV………………………………………….4 How does the Saudi People see the CPVPV…………………………..8 CPVPV and Journalism……….…………………………………… 10 Definition of Terms………….……………………………………….15 Position of Researcher………………………………………………..16 Dissertation Layout…………………………………………………..17 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................... 18 Views of Discourse .................................................................................. 18 Origins and Aims of CDA ....................................................................... 19 CDA Approaches and Concepts……………………………………….24 Van Dijk’s CDA……………………………………………………….26 Intertextuality…………………………………………………………28 Silenced Texts………………….…………………………………….35 Media Discourse………………………..……………………………..37 iv CHAPTER Page Critiques od CDA……………………..………………………………38 Review of Related Literature…………………….……………………40 3 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................42 Data Collection ......................................................................................... 42 Selected Newspapers ............................................................................... 43 Analytical Tools……………………………………………………….47 Headlines and Leads…………………..……………………………….51 Lexical Choices……………………….……………………………….52 Reported Speech……………………………………………………….54 Unnamed Sources……………………………………………………...56 Silenced Texts…………………………………………………………58 4 THE ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST ACCIDENT .................................................... 61 Context of First Accident ......................................................................... 61 Headlines .................................................................................................. 66 Lexical Choices……………………………………………………….73 Reported Speech………………………………………………………78 Unnamed Sources……………………………………………………..80 5 THE ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND ACCIDENT ............................................... 84 Context of the Second Accident .............................................................. 84 Headlines .................................................................................................. 86 Lexical Choices………………………………………………………..91 v CHAPTER Page Reported Speech……………………………………………………….96 Unnamed Sources……………………………………………………..97 Silenced Texts…………………………………………………………100 6 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 106 REFERENCES.................................................................................................................... 114 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Saudi Press……………………………………………………………………….. 44 2. Quantitative Results of the Headlines of the First Accident…………………… 67 3. The Most Frequently Used Words in the Headlines of the Four Saudi Newspapers............................................................................................................69 4. The Frequency of CPVPV in Opinion Articles ………………………………….74 5. Results of Unnamed Sources According to Bell’s Labeling……………………..81 6. Quantitative Results of the Headlines of the Second Accident ………………….87 7. The Most Frequently Used Words in the Headlines of the Four Saudi Newspapers ……………………………………………………………….……………………88 8. The Frequency of CPVPV in Opinion Articles…………………………………92 9. Results of Unnamed Sources According to Bell’s Labeling…………………….98 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Overview In this study, I offer a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of four Saudi newspapers, examining their coverage of two particular incidents relating to the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV). The purpose of the study is to compare the representation of the CPVPV issues in four different Saudi newspapers, examining how “language works in society to create better or worse worlds, institutions, and human relationships” (Gee, 2014, p. 13). In addition, part of the aim is to prove that CDA is a linguistic approach that can contribute to the resolution of social problems by analyzing social action discourse. CPVPV is a religious institution in Saudi Arabia that has received media attention during the last decade. Some social actors talk about the violent practices of the CPVPV and how CPVPV has become a broad social problem in Saudi society, while others criticize this view and think it merely highlights individual cases because of critics’ differing ideological stances. Although the debate over social issues constitutes healthy interaction within society, the debate over the CPVPV issues has produced prejudiced, negative labels and disrespectful communication toward many people who have participated in this debate. Because the news media, especially newspapers, constitute the primary method for communicating information regarding CPVPV issues via the essential tool of linguistics, it is especially important to see how newspapers portray and interpret CPVPV issues. The media discourse plays a functional ideological role and also has an important role to play in the formation of public opinion 1 (Kress, 1983; Lassen, Strunck, & Vestergaard, 2006; van Dijk, 1998). Although the CPVPV issues have been the subject of several academic studies, no single study (to the best of my knowledge) examines the representation of CPVPV issues in Saudi newspapers from a CDA perspective. This study aims to contribute to the body of research in this area. Study Questions The study aims to answer the following questions: 1. How is the CPVPV discursively represented in the news coverage of Alriyadh, Okaz , Alsharq , and Alwatan newspapers? 2. How is language used to explain, interpret, and criticize CPVPV issues during the news coverage? 3. How are the techniques of intertextual representation employed during the news coverage? 4. What is included in texts and what is excluded from texts? The Significance of the Study In the present study, I contribute to critical discourse studies regarding the journalistic language of Saudi newspapers. Only Alawadh (2014) has examined the discourse of the Saudi press via CDA, an increasingly important area in linguistics. This study also helps to bridge a gap between linguistics and other fields, such as media, communication, and social studies. This study, to the best of my knowledge, is the first that deals with the representation of CPVPV issues in Saudi print media from a CDA perspective. Although a few studies have discussed the portrayal of CPVPV in the Saudi media (Aleid, 2 Almutairi, Alaqeel, & Alabdan, 2008; Alqarni, 2010; Alshammari, 2010; Qasim, 2010), none has examined the topic using a linguistic approach. In addition, the significance of my study lies in its potential to contribute to the discussion concerning the relationship between the CPVPV and the media. The importance of the CPVPV studies and issues has increased in Saudi universities. In the last 5 years, five leading Saudi universities have established research chairs for CPVPV studies 1: • Chair of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz for AlHesba (Enjoining the Right and Forbidding the Wrong) and its Contemporary Application at King Saud University 2; • Chair Prince Sultan Youth Research and Hisbah Issues at King Abdulaziz University; • Chair Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz for the Study of the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at Islamic University in Madinah; • King Salman bin Abdulaziz Research Chair for Improving Capabilities of CPVPV at Al -Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University; • Women and Hisbah Research Chair at Hail University.