Propaganda Techniques: a Discourse Analysis of Resalat and Etemad-E Melli Editorials

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Propaganda Techniques: a Discourse Analysis of Resalat and Etemad-E Melli Editorials PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF RESALAT AND ETEMAD-E MELLI EDITORIALS SEYEDALI JAVADI THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2017 UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: SEYEDALI JAVADI (I.C / Passport No: U25223105) Registration / Matric No: AHA090043 Name of Degree: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Title of Project Paper / Research Report / Dissertation / Thesis (“this Work”): “PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF RESALAT AND ETEMAD-E MELLI EDITORIALS” Field of Study: NEWSPAPER MEDIA I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author / writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate’s Signature Date: SEYEDALI JAVADI Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature Date: Name: Designation: ii ABSTRACT This research contributes to a better understanding of the discursive struggles phenomenon to create a meaning. The current study was carried out under the Social Constructionism, Post Modernism and Critical paradigms with the use of theoretical framework of Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) discourse theory. Laclau and Mouffe (2014) suggested that the authenticity in a society is with its discursive and political processes which determine our thoughts and acts which eventually shape the society. In fact, the election campaigns are among competitive discourses (semantic challenges) towards organising a society in a specific way (politics) and are essentially not between the subjects, which are only performers in certain situations within the discourses. Since the mass media are one of the most important channels for discursive representations in the society, they are considered as a central emerging area of discursive struggles for consolidation of meanings. On this basis, the topic of this thesis has been developed, namely to make an appropriate decision on assigning power to a discourse (in discursive campaigns) which requires a transparent information and safe communication processes. This is a global need since the main obstacle is the ambiguity and distortion of information. The study has been carried out based on a qualitative research method namely critical discourse analysis. It focuses on the two principal discourses in Iran, namely the Iranian Islamic Principlism discourse (represented by Resalat newspaper) and the Iranian Reformism discourse (represented by Etemad-e Melli newspaper). The research has covered all editorials in the two above-mentioned newspapers, published from Saturday, 4thApril 2009 to Friday, 12th June 2009. Based on the interpretation of the results, it could be concluded that the discourses were struggling with each other over getting hegemony (relative consolidation of meaning). How these discourses were trying to dominate their own ways of understanding from the world and their definitions of local and global events over people’s minds and as a result their favourite social iii orders will be dominanted in the socity. In order to achieve this purpose, they must attribute their intended signifieds to the relevant floating signifiers to create meanings and images (discursive mechanism of representation). iv ABSTRAK Kajian ini menyumbang kepada penggunaan wacana atau discurvise ilmu yang memberikan penekanan makna atau erti kepada sesuatu fenomena berdasarkan pengetahuan dan pengalaman. Kajian ini dijalankan mengikut Teori Konstruktivisme Sosial, Post Modernisme dan Paradigma Kritis yang diperkenalkan of Laclau dan Mouffe’s (2001) dan teori wacana. Menurut kedua-dua sarjana ini, wacana sosial masyarakat dan proses politik memainkan peranan dalam menentukan pemikiran dan pembetukan sebenar sesebuah masyarakat. Pilihan raya merupakan salah satu wacana retorik yang memberikan persaingan semasa pembentukan sesebuah masyarakat melalui perbincangan yang mampu mewujudkan kecenderungan masyarakat agar sealiran dengan bentuk perbincangan tersebut. Media sebagai landasan perbincangan sesebuah masyarakat merupakan satu daripada medium penting yang menjadi ruang retorik bagi merasionalkan sesuatu maksud. Berdasarkan peri pentingnya wacana dalam masyarakat, tesis ini dijalankan bagi memperlihatkan kuasa wacana dalam politik yang berupaya menampilkan ketelusan dari segi fakta dan sistem komunikasi yang boleh memberikan kepercayaan kepada masyarakat. Keperluan sebegini bersifat global bagi menangani sebarang gangguan yang menyebabkan kegusaran kepada kebolehpercayaan sesuatu maklumat. Kajian ini dijalankan berasaskan kaedah kualitatif berpandukan analisis wacana kritis. Kajian ini memberikan fokus kepada dua bentuk wacana utama di Iran, iaitu wacana Iranian Islamic Principlism (diwakili oleh surat khabar Resalat) dan wacana Iranian Reformism (diwakili oleh surat khabar Etemad-e Meili). Kajian ini merangkumi semua rencana editorial yang terdapat dalam kedua-dua jenis surat khabar di atas yang diterbitkan mulai 4 April 2009 hingga 12 Jun 2009. Hasil dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa wacana-wacana tersebut sering berjuang antara satu sama lain bagi mendapatkan gabungan maksud hegemoni. Selain itu, wacana-wacana ini juga didapati sering mendominasikan fahaman pembaca mengikut kecenderungan wacana v dalam mentafsir perkembangan isu di dalam dan di luar negara. Wacana sebegini mempengaruhi masyarakat menerusi penyebaran bentuk susunan sosial yang condong berideologikan sesuatu fahaman. Simbol-simbol yang terdapat dalam wacana tersebut bertindak sebagai pencetus minda bagi menarik sudut pandangan pembaca untuk menerima sesuatu isu yang diketengahkan. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Azizah Hj. Hamzah and Dr. Md Azalanshah Bin Md Syed, co-supervisor for their support and help throughout writing my thesis. I would like also to express my gratitude to Dr. Seyed Reza Naghibulsadat, Dr. Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini Zadeh, Dr. Seyed Ali Asghar Soltani, Dr. Seyed Sadegh Haghighat, Dr. Ahmad Mohammadpoor and Dr. Abdolhosein Kalantari for providing me useful ideas which have contributed significantly to this thesis. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...................................................................................................................... iii Abstrak ........................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ........................................................................................................... xv List of Tables ........................................................................................................... xvii List of Appendices ................................................................................................. xviii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Statement of the problem ................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research objectives and questions ..................................................................... 5 1.3.1 Major research objectives and questions ..................................................... 6 1.3.2 Minor research objectives and questions ..................................................... 6 1.4 The significance of the study .............................................................................. 7 1.4.1 The theoretical importance of the study ...................................................... 7 1.4.2 The social importance of the study .............................................................. 9 1.4.3 Historical process of the research subject ................................................. 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 12 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Political development ....................................................................................... 12 2.3 Political culture in Iran ....................................................................................
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