Argumentation and fallacy in newspaper op / ed coverage of the prelude to the invasion of Iraq

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Wilson ◽  
Ahmed Sahlane ◽  
Ian Somerville
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Argumentation Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
The West ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Invasion Of Iraq

This study examines how the pre-war debate of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq was discursively constructed in pro- and anti-war newspaper op/ed argumentation. Drawing on insights from argumentation theory, and using these within a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, we explore fallacious arguments within the ‘justification discourse’ used in the pro-war opinion/editorials (op/eds). We argue that the type of arguments marshalled by the pro-war op/ed commentators uncritically bolstered the set of U.S. official ‘truth claims’ and ‘presuppositions’. Conversely, anti-war op/ed debaters dismissed the Bush administration’s ‘neo-imperialistic’ reasoning and called into question the logic of militarist ‘humanitarianism’ by arguing that brute force and daylight ‘plunder,’ found in the language of a ‘noble ideal,’ were part of a long Western colonialist tradition that glorified the West as the ‘civiliser’ of distant cultural others.

scholarly journals THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION OF 2011 AND ITS AFTERMATH IN EDITORIALS HEADLINES: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE REPRESENTATION OF EGYPT IN AMERICAN AND BRITISH MEDIA EDITORIALS

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-875
Author(s):  
Ayyad Echine
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The West ◽  
Egyptian Revolution ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Critical Media ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
Modes Of Thought

The Arab world, starting from December 2010 onward, has witnessed unprecedented revolutions during which many long-lasting Arab leaders were unseated. Western media has allotted much coverage to the uprisings especially in nations, such as Egypt, with which the West, namely the U.S, shares mutual political ambitions in the Middle East. This study analyses a sample of 101 editorials headlines that were written, between 2011 and 2018, by the NYT, the WP, the Guardian and the Telegraph and suggests that these papers treatment of the revolutions is reflective of Orientalist conceptualizations that inferiorize Egypt and the Egyptians. The study draws on Edward Saids postcolonial model of Orientalism (1978) to make sense of the selected sample and targets two main areas in critical media studies quantitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA), to uncover whether or not the four newspapers editorials headlines are suggestive of Orientalist modes of thought. The study concludes that the coverage under scrutiny connects the West with the East in a way that is characterized by power relations wherein the West is having the upper hand, and thus producing a rhetoric that is stereotypical and Orientalist.

Authenticity and discourses in Aladdin (1992)

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abderrahmene Bourenane
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Transfer ◽  
Life Threatening

Since the first encounters between the East and the West, many Western artistic productions have been produced to introduce the Orient to the Occident. Antoine Galland’s translation of the oriental folkloric tales, known as One Thousand and One Nights marked a cultural transfer through introducing an exotic, colourful and adventurous, yet unsafe, life-threatening and mysterious image of the Orient. Scholars question the authenticity of the translation, and reject the true belonging of the tale of Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp to the oriental cultural heritage suggesting its Western construction. This fabrication suggests the existence of several discourses that are to be unfolded with the critical discourse analysis of the pictorial and textual discourse of the tale and its several filmic adaptations. The tale was fully or partially adapted in several cinematographic productions during the last century. For example, while Aladin (1906) faithfully adapted part of the original tale, the 1992 version directed by Clements and Musker is a loosely inspiration perceived through an orientalist filter. The aim of this article is to investigate the authenticity and disclose the discourses concealed in Galland’s translation and its 1992 filmic adaptation, the critical discourse analysis in addition to Edward Saïd’s Orientalism provide the theoretical framework to analyse the excerpts from the translation and scenes from the film, in order to disclose the colonial, orientalist and feminist discourses they encapsulate.

Discourses of terror: The U.S. from the viewpoint of the ‘Other’

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Sinfree Makoni
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Single Event ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Interpretive Framework

AbstractDiscourses on terror have been encrypted in the events of 9/11 in 2001 perhaps more than any single event since the end of the Cold War. Even though these discourses are projected as a global phenomenon, very few studies have analysed how they are framed by non-U.S. actors, especially by al-Qaeda and to some extent al-Shabaab. An analysis of discourses of terror by al-Qaeda is invaluable in determining how the U.S. is represented from the perspectives of the “other.” Using Critical Discourse Analysis as an analytic and interpretive framework, this article analyses al-Qaeda declassified intelligence reports captured by the U.S. in order to establish a view of “terror” from an al-Qaeda insider perspective. The article argues that there is a convergence of ideas and overlap in terms of the discourses of terror between the U.S. and al-Qaeda, which is ironic because of the firm distinction made by the U.S. government between “us” – the civilized nations – and “them” – the barbarian, evil murderers of innocent civilians.

scholarly journals The problematization of asylum seekers a critical discourse analysis of Canadian national news media coverage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Yu Vanti
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Research Project ◽  
The U.S

Using the methodology of critical discourse analysis, this research project analysed 70 news media articles from the Globe and Mail and the National Post on the topic of asylum seekers who crossed into Canada from the U.S. between ports of entry in 2017 and 2018. Analysis revealed that asylum seekers were largely depicted, portrayed, and framed in problematizing ways, leading to their dehumanization and a decontextualization of the larger issues. Keywords: Asylum seekers; refugees; news media coverage; critical discourse analysis

scholarly journals The problematization of asylum seekers a critical discourse analysis of Canadian national news media coverage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Yu Vanti
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Research Project ◽  
The U.S

Using the methodology of critical discourse analysis, this research project analysed 70 news media articles from the Globe and Mail and the National Post on the topic of asylum seekers who crossed into Canada from the U.S. between ports of entry in 2017 and 2018. Analysis revealed that asylum seekers were largely depicted, portrayed, and framed in problematizing ways, leading to their dehumanization and a decontextualization of the larger issues. Keywords: Asylum seekers; refugees; news media coverage; critical discourse analysis

scholarly journals Media deliberation on intra-EU migration. A qualitative approach to framing based on rhetorical analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Alexandru Cârlan ◽  
Mălina Ciocea
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Argumentation Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
Framing Processes

In this paper we investigate how the model of deliberation proposed by Isabela and Norman Fairclough can be used for a better clarification and understanding of the framing processes in media – especially in opinion articles. We thus aim at integrating theoretical contributions from critical discourse analysis and argumentation theory with standard approaches to framing, originating in media studies. We emphasize how a rhetorical approach to framing can provide analytical insights into framing processes and complement the typical quantitative approaches with qualitative analysis based on textual reconstruction. Starting from an issue-specific approach to framing, we discuss a particular case of framing of intra-EU migration, analyzing four opinion articles selected from a larger corpus of Romanian, British and French media. We highlight, along our analysis, various methodological options and analytical difficulties inherent to such an approach.

scholarly journals Exploring John Updike's Terrorist as a Neo-Orientalist Narrative of the Arabo-Islamic World

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 554-561
Author(s):  
Muhamad Shahbaz Arif ◽  
Maqbool Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
World Peace ◽  
The West ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Contemporary World

The present study aims at exploring John Updike's "Terrorist", as a Neo-Orientalist account of the Muslims, especially the Arabs. In fact, there has been an age long strife between the West and Islam dating back to the Crusades. The ideology which propelled the crusaders was based on the binary of "us" versus ˜them. The Western rulers, clergy, missionaries,merchants and writers would tend to view Islam and Muslims through their myopic lens and built an exotic, strange albeit distorted image of Islam and Muslims in their accounts. These accounts influenced the representations of the Muslim and Islamic World in the scholarly discipline of Orientalism significantly.The study underpins that orientalist representations of the Muslims as barbarians, inert, unprogressive and an imminent to danger to world peace, are still very much a part of the contemporary world. This re-incarnation of orientalist thinking is termed as Neo-Orientalism in the post-colonial parlance. Many literary works published in the wake of 9/11 echoes this Neo-Orientalist thinking. Updike's famous novel ‘Terrorist’, which was published in 2006, has been chosen as a specimen text to this effect. The critical appraisal of the narrative, particularly the depiction of Muslim characters, through application of the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on the lines enunciated by Huckin, suggests that Updike has adopted a Neo-Orientalist approach by creating and fortifying the so called binary of West and Islam, and portrayed them as irreconcilable entities. Instead of bridging the gulp between the West and the Muslim World, the narrative is likely to create further chasm between the two.

First there were 10: the case for and against South Sudan's new states using discourse analysis and argumentation theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-458
Author(s):  
Sandra E.K.Y. Tombe
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Argumentation Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Press Releases ◽  
Presidential Decree ◽  
New States

AbstractIn 2015, South Sudan increased the number of its states from 10 to 28, followed by four more states in 2017. The redrawing of internal borders came through presidential decree as South Sudan's violent civil war continued to unfold. This development has led to two ardent voices: one arguing to maintain the new states, and another advocating to reverse them. Applying argumentation theory and critical discourse analysis to news articles, analysis pieces, and press releases collected from Gurtong and Sudan Tribune from July 2015 to April 2017, this article assesses the argument advanced by both camps and evaluates their implications for peace in South Sudan. In examining the claim, the counter-claim, and their underlying premises, the article finds areas of contention and convergence between the two camps and argues for the compatibility of the values which undergird both positions.

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