i SECTARIANISM AND MEDIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF NEWS SITES REPORTAGE Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Education and Humanities At the University of Northampton Year 2019 Nadia Hameed Hassoon © Nadia Hameed Hassoon, 2019, Doctor of Philosophy of Education and Humanities This thesis is copyright material and no quotation from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. ii Acknowledgement I am eternally grateful to my parents for their love, support and encouragement at the most challenging times of this research. My most sincere thanks and appreciation go to my husband, Dr Hassan Al Taee, who makes everything possible. I would like to thank the University of Babylon for providing me with an opportunity to study my PhD and research this topic. My most sincere appreciation goes to my supervisors, Dr Dave Burnapp and Dr Janet Wilson for their guidance, support and encouragement in the course of this research. iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my home, Iraq iv STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY The accompanying thesis submitted for the degree of PhD entitled SECTARIANISM AND MEDIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF NEWS SITES REPORTAGE is based on work conducted by the author in the School of Education and Humanities at the University of Northampton mainly during the period between 01/10/2015 and 01/10/2019 All the work recorded in this thesis is original unless otherwise acknowledged in the text or by references. None of the work has been submitted for another degree in this or any other University Signed .................................... Date .................................... Name: NADIA HAMEED HASSOON v Abstract The broad aim of this study is to provide a comparative critical discourse analysis of two of the most prominent news sites in the Middle East, Al Alam and Al Jazeera, investigating the ideological representation of the conflict in Iraq over a year from June 2014 to June 2015 and the implication of Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) involvement. The study assumes that these culturally and politically different news sites represent the conflict and the conflicting groups differently. This thesis adopts a hybrid framework which combines linguistic and visual approaches through using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a multimodal framework. The texts are analysed and compared in terms of the different textual choices OF LEXICALISATION, NAMING OF SOCIAL ACTORS, NOMINALIZATION, TRANSITIVITY, PASSIVISATION, PRESUPPOSITION AND EVIDENTIALITY, and the visual choices in terms of INFORMATION VALUE, CONTACT/GAZE, TRANSITIVITY, SALIENCE, POSES, DISTANCE, FRAMING, INDIVIDUALISATION AND COLLECTIVISATION CAMERA’S ANGLE AND CAMERA’S HEIGHT, and the implications of attribution of causality and responsibility, who is responsible for the action and who is the affected by the action. The developed model, methods and tools of CDA are applied to a selected corpus of English online news reports from both sites, in order to test the hypothesis, i. e., that they show significant differences (based on their beliefs). Based on the results of the analysis of the selected corpus, the study concludes that the CDA approach helps identify underlying ideologies in the representations of the conflicting groups, rebels and government, in the reports of both English language news sites. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY …………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..iv Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..v Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iv List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….xiii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..xiv List of Images……………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………….xvi CHAPTER ONE……………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………….…………….1 INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………..1 1.1. Introduction to Research…………………………………………………………….……………………………………………….1 1.2. Research Rationale ………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………2 1.3. News Online as Global Reporting Technique ………………………………………………………….………4 1.4. The Rise of New Media in the Middle East ……………………………………………………………………………5 1.5. Why Al Alam and Al Jazeera? …………………………………………….…………………………………………….6 1.6. Why Include Images? ………………………………………………………….…………………………………………...8 1.7. Why ISIL/ ISIS/ Daesh? ………………………………………………………….…………………………………………...8 1.8. How to Conduct this Research? ………………………………………………………….…………………….……….10 1.9. Aims of the Study ………………………………………………………….………………………………………….13 1.10. Research questions ………………………………………………………….………………………………………….14 CHAPTER TWO………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………..16 HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS OF SECTARIANISM IN IRAQ……………………………………………… ..16 2.1. Introduction…………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………..16 2.1.1. Sectarianism………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………….18 2.2. The Historical Account of Sectarianism in Iraq……………………………………………………………………. ....19 2.2.1. Iraq and the Emergence of the First Rift in Islam (600-945) ………………………………………………….. 19 2.2.2. Iraq and the Buwayhid and Seljuq Conflict (945-1258) …………………………………………………………..19 2.2.3 Iraq and the Mongols (1258-1500) ………………………………………………………………………………………….20 2.2.4 Iraq and the Ottoman and Safavid Conflict (1500-1914) ………………………………………………………….20 vii 2.2.5 Iraq and the British Mandate (1914-1958) ………………………………………………………………………… 22 2.2.6. Iraq and Saddam’s Regime (1968-2003) ………………………………………………………………………….. 25 2.2.7. Iraq and the Coalition Provincial Authority (2003-now) ……………………………………………………29 2.3. The Dynamics of the Sunni-Shia Conflict in Iraq………………………………………………………………………36 2.4. Conclusion ………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………..………….40 CHAPTER THREE ………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………….42 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (CDA) ………………………………………………………….………………….………….42 3.1. Introduction………………………………………………………….………………………………………….………………………42 3.1.1..Mass Media ………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………43 3.1.2. News Websites ………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………45 3.2. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) …………………………………………………………………….…………………..45 3.2.1. CDA and Media ………………………………………………………….…………………….………………………………..47 3.2.2. The Three Main Pillars of CDA …………………………………………….………………….……………………….48 3.2.2.1. Discourse ……………………………………………………………………….……………………….………………..48 3.2.2.1.1. Discourse as a Discursive Practice ……………………………….………………………..………………….49 3.2.2.1.2. Discourse as a Discursive Practice…………………………………………………………………..………………..50 3.2.2.2. Ideology ………………………………………………………….………………………………………….…………..51 3.2.2.3.1.Power……………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… …52 3.2.3.CDA and Social Theories ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..53 3.2.4.CDA and the Consumers………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 54 3.2.5.CDA and History …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..55 3.2.6.CDA and the analyst ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..55 3.2.7.CDA and Texts………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………..58 3.2.8.CDA and Critical linguistics (CL) ……………………………………………………………………………………………….60 3.2.9.CDA and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) ………………………………………………………………..64 3.3. Common Approaches to CDA………………………………………………………………………………………………… …64 3.3.1. Norman Fairclough’s Dialectical–Relational Approach (DRA) ………………………………………………….65 3.3.1.1. Members’ Resources………………………………………………………….……………………………………………….69 3.3.2. Ruth Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) ………………………………………………………………70 3.3.3. Teun van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Discourse Analysis Approach………………………………………………...72 3.3.4. Van Leeuwen’s Multimodality…………………………………………………………………………………………….….73 viii 3.3.5. CDA as a Research Approach and Criticism…………………………………………………………………………… 75 3.4.Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………..…….76 CHAPTER FOUR………………………………………………………….………………………………………….………………..……….80 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (CDA) TECHNIQUES ………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………..…80 4.1. Introduction………………………………………………………….………………………………………….……………………….80 4.1.1. CDA Framework……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..80 4.1.2. Data Collection ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..82 4.1.3. Textual Analysis of Data …………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..84 4.1.4. CDA Techniques Selection………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..85 4.1.5. Cognitive Aspect of the Discursive Process of Data Analysis………………………………………………….…87 4.1.6. Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….88 4.2. The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) Techniques Applied in This Study…………….………………………89 4.2.1. Lexicalization…………………………………………………….………………………………………….……………………..89 4.2.2. Naming of Social Actors………………………………………………….………………………………………..………….93 4.2.2.1. Personalisation and Impersonalisation …………………………….…………………………………..………….95 4.2.2.2. Individualisation and Collectivisation……………………………….……………………………………..…………..97 4.2.2.3. Specification and Genericisation………………………………………….……………………………………….……..97 4.2.2.4. Nomination and Functionalism …………………………………………………………………………………….…..98 4.2.2.5. Anonymisation………………………………………………………….………………………………………….………….… 99 4.2.2.6. Aggregation: Numbers Game………………………………………………………………………………………….…101 4.2.2.7. Polarisation: The Use of the Pronouns ‘Us’ and ‘Them’…………………………………………………….…102 4.2.3. Transitivity ………………………………………………………….……………………………………………….……103 4.2.3.1. Kinds of Processes ………………………………………………………….………………………………….…….106