DISSERTATION

Titel der Dissertation

„News on the Web in Arabic and English:
a Discourse Analysis of CNN’s Websites“

Verfasser
Mekki Beshir Mustafa Elbadri

Angestrebter akademischer Grad

Doktor der Philosophie (Dr. phil.)

Wien, 2010

Studienkennzahl It. Studienblatt A 092 327

Dissertationsgebiet It. Studienblatt Sprachwissenschaft

Betreuerin O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ruth Wodak

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To

Muhammad, Malaz and Yussra

for all the joy with which you fill my life …

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go, in the first place, to my supervisor, Professor Ruth Wodak, for all her guidance,

support, encouragement and understanding.

Many people have helped me in different ways to complete this work. I would like to thank,

particularly, Fiddy for helping to post the questionnaire online, Dr. Mann Alsid for helping with

SPSS analysis, Dr. Majzoub Bakhit for providing materials about news in Arabic, Amr Saleh for

reviewing the translation of some of the news texts, the anonymous respondents who replied to

the questionnaire online and Dr. Marie Robinson for editing the final version of the thesis.

The informal discussions with Abdalla Sharif, Dr. Abdulaziz Albashir, Amir Albayyati,

Abdulmunim Alshadhali, Abdulmunim Tawfig, Ahmed Shendi, Alrayyah Abdulgadir, Dr. Abu

Bakr Ahmed, Dr. Ali Hussein, Dr. Frank Schnell, Dr. Jean-Claude Guy, Dr. Khalid Ali, Magdi

Mekki, Dr. Riyadh Alamir, Dr. Saif Musa, Dr. Viviane Yagi, and many others, have been

valuable in helping me focus my ideas and orient my research work.

I would like also to thank my colleagues in Professor Wodak’s seminars for their feed-back on

my presentations. Special thanks are due to Dr. Usama Suleiman for providing advice and

constructive feedback and to Ilse and Michi for translating the abstract to German.

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family. I thank my parents, Fatima and Beshir,

who taught me patience, tolerance and love for knowledge. I am also grateful to Selma, my wife,

for her continuous support and unfaltering love.

To all other people, including the many professors, colleagues, friends and family members, who

helped through giving me encouragement, confidence and motivation, or in any other way, I say

THANK YOU….

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................ 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................... 7
0. PRELIMINARIES ........................................................................................................ 11
0.1. Introduction................................................................................................................ 11
0.2. Background ................................................................................................................ 12
0.3. Research Hypotheses and Questions ......................................................................... 14
0.4. Significance of Research ........................................................................................... 16
1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK................................................................................ 19
1.1. Introduction................................................................................................................ 19
1.1.1. Discourse and Text ...................................................................................... 20
1.2. Interdisciplinary ......................................................................................................... 21
1.2.1. Monomodality and Multimodality...................................................................... 23
1.3. Critical ....................................................................................................................... 26
1.3.1. Power and Ideology ............................................................................................ 31
1.3.1.1. Power ........................................................................................................... 31
1.3.1.2. Ideology........................................................................................................ 33
1.4. Cross-Linguistic......................................................................................................... 36
1.4.1. Translation and Equivalence............................................................................... 38
1.4.1.1. Translation Strategies and Procedures ....................................................... 39
1.4.2. Translation, Discourse and Ideology .................................................................. 44
1.5. Synopsis ..................................................................................................................... 45
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 47
2.1. Introduction................................................................................................................ 47
2.2. Studies and Classification of the News...................................................................... 50
2.3. News Selection Criteria ............................................................................................. 53
2.3.1. News Values ....................................................................................................... 56
2.4. News, Agenda-Setting and Gatekeeping ................................................................... 60
2.5. News as Discourse ..................................................................................................... 62
2.5.1. News Structure.................................................................................................... 63
2.5.1.1. Headlines ..................................................................................................... 67
2.5.1.2. Lead paragraphs.......................................................................................... 70
2.5.1.3. Satellite Paragraphs .................................................................................... 72
2.5.2. Micro-linguistic Analysis.................................................................................... 73
2.5.3. News and Ideology ............................................................................................. 76
2.5.3.1. Bias and Objectivity..................................................................................... 78
2.5.3.1. ‘Othering’ Discourse in the News................................................................ 80
2.6. Institutional Constraints............................................................................................. 83
2.6.1. Sourcing and Attribution..................................................................................... 86
2.6.2. Commercialisation of news................................................................................. 88
2.7. Translating News ....................................................................................................... 91
2.7.1. Critical Approaches to the Translation of News............................................... 100

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2.8. News on the Web and Multimodality ...................................................................... 102
2.9. Studies of CNN’s News ........................................................................................... 107
2.9.1. Why the CNN?.................................................................................................. 107
2.9.2. Criticism of the CNN ........................................................................................ 111
2.9.3. The CNN on the Web and Multilingual CNN .................................................. 117
2.10. Synopsis ................................................................................................................. 120
3. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 121
3.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 121
3.2. Data Collection ........................................................................................................ 122
3.2.1. Primary Data ..................................................................................................... 122
3.2.1.1. Coding........................................................................................................ 122
3.2.2. Questionnaire .................................................................................................... 123
3.2.2.1. Objectives of the Questionnaire................................................................. 123
3.2.2.2. Structure of the Questionnaire ................................................................... 124
3.3. Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 125
3.3.1. Multimodal Analysis......................................................................................... 125
3.3.2. Headlines........................................................................................................... 126
3.3.3. Analysis of News Stories .................................................................................. 127
3.3.4. Questionnaire Analysis ..................................................................................... 127
3.4. Synopsis ................................................................................................................... 128
4. ANALYSIS................................................................................................................. 131
4.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 131
4.2. Description of the Websites ..................................................................................... 131
4.2.1. Logos................................................................................................................. 132
4.2.2. The Design, Structure and Content of the Websites ......................................... 134
4.2.3. Audio-Visual Elements..................................................................................... 138
4.2.4. Hyperlinking ..................................................................................................... 138
4.2.5. Interactivity ....................................................................................................... 139
4.3. News Analysis ......................................................................................................... 140
4.3.1. Data Overview .................................................................................................. 140
4.3.2. Analysis of Headlines ....................................................................................... 142
4.3.2.1. Manipulating Agency ................................................................................. 143
4.3.2.2. Referential Indications............................................................................... 149
4.3.2.3. Verbs .......................................................................................................... 152
4.3.3. Analysis of Selected News Stories ................................................................... 155
4.3.3.1. Length ........................................................................................................ 156
4.3.3.2. Macrostructure .......................................................................................... 159
4.3.3.3. Stories’ Internal Structure ......................................................................... 160
4.3.3.4. Thematic and Schematic Analysis.............................................................. 162
4.4. Synopsis (1) ............................................................................................................. 184
4.5. Questionnaire ........................................................................................................... 184
4.5.1. Introduction....................................................................................................... 184
4.5.2. Distribution of Respondents ............................................................................. 185
4.5.3. Sources of News ............................................................................................... 189
4.5.4. Respondents’ Views about CNN’s Reporting .................................................. 191
4.5.5. CNN's Reporting on the Middle East ............................................................... 192

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4.5.6. The CNN's Website .......................................................................................... 194
4.5.7. CNN's Arabic website....................................................................................... 195
4.5.7.1. Assessment of the CNN's Arabic Website .................................................. 196
4.5.8. Narrative Responses.......................................................................................... 198
4.5.8.1. Positive View.............................................................................................. 199
4.5.8.2. Scholarly or Objective View ...................................................................... 199
4.5.8.3. Negative View ............................................................................................ 199
4.6. Synopsis (2) ............................................................................................................. 201
5. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION ...................................................................... 203
5.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 203
5.2. News, Globalisation and the Web............................................................................ 203
5.3. Classification of the News and News Values .......................................................... 205
5.3.1. News Values ..................................................................................................... 206
5.4. News as Discourse and Ideology ............................................................................. 207
5.4.1. Macro-structural Analysis................................................................................. 208
5.4.2. Micro-level Analysis......................................................................................... 212
5.4.3. ‘Othering’ Discourse in the News..................................................................... 214
5.4.4. Sourcing, Attribution and Voice ....................................................................... 215
5.5. Translating News ..................................................................................................... 217
5.6. Focus on the CNN.................................................................................................... 219
5.7. Synopsis ................................................................................................................... 221
6. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................ 223
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 235
Arabic and English News Stories Cited in the Thesis .................................................... 235
Arabic News Stories ................................................................................................... 235
English News Stories .................................................................................................. 239
Questionnaire .................................................................................................................. 243
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................... 247
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................... 267
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ............................................................................................... 269
RESUME ........................................................................................................................ 271

FIGURES

Figure 1. Theoretical Framework Components ................................................................ 20

Figure 2. Choices at the paradigamatic and syntagmatic levels ....................................... 74
Figure 3: Gatekeeping process.......................................................................................... 99
Figure 4: CNN Logos...................................................................................................... 133
Figure 5. A screenshot of the CNN Arabic website, 4 June 2004 .................................. 135
Figure 6. A screenshot of CNN International website, 4 June 2004............................... 136
Figure 7. A screenshot of CNN Arabic website, 25 December 2009 ............................. 137
Figure 8. A screenshot of CNN International website, 25 December 2009 ................... 137
Figure 9: Distribution of Stories by Country .................................................................. 140
Figure 10. Distribution of Stories by Subject ................................................................. 141
Figure 11. Distribution of Respondents by Gender ........................................................ 186
Figure 12. Distribution of Respondents by Age ............................................................. 187

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Figure 13. Distribution of Respondents according to Profession ................................... 188
Figure 14. Percentage of respondents who selected the Web as a primary or secondary
source of news compared to other sources combined..................................................... 190
Figure 15. Frequency of Watching the CNN on Television and Visiting the CNN's
Website(s) ....................................................................................................................... 191
Figure 16. Respondents’ Opinions of the CNN's Reporting in General ......................... 192
Figure 17. The CNN's Reporting on the Middle East, neutral or biased? ...................... 193
Figure 18. Comparison of CNN's Website and Television............................................. 195
Figure 19. Percentage of Respondents who Visit the CNN's Arabic Website ............... 196
Figure 20. Respondents Assessment of the CNN's Arabic Website............................... 198

TABLES
Table 1. Length of selected stories in Arabic and English ............................................. 157
Table 2. Stories sorted according to length and subject.................................................. 158
Table 3. An example of the structure of two news stories in English and Arabic treating
the same subject .............................................................................................................. 161
Table 4. Distribution of Respondents according to Education ....................................... 188

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0. PRELIMINARIES

0.1. Introduction

“How global is the media? This question can be examined in terms of ownership, production,

distribution, content and reception. The boundaries in all these areas are not as clear as they once were

[…]. The local can be so strong that the global itself becomes localised in the course of production,

marketing and distribution.” (Gambier 2006: 16)

This research aims to analyse the news presented by the CNN (Cable News Network

owned by the American media company AOL Timewarner) on its website in Arabic

compared, when necessary, to the corresponding news on its English website. It is based

on the hypothesis that the CNN as a news producer modifies the news content and

presentation according to the audience it addresses. The research is interdisciplinary in

nature. It is anchored mainly in the field of Critical Discourse Analysis, itself an

interdisciplinary field of research, while drawing upon other fields such as multimodal

discourse analysis, functional linguistics, translation studies and communication studies.

The data used to answer the research questions consist of news stories in Arabic and

English in addition to a users’ questionnaire. The thesis begins with this introductory

chapter that presents the main features of the research, the thesis structure, and

background information, as well as the objectives, significance, hypotheses and questions

of the research. The introduction is followed by Chapter 1 that outlines the theoretical

foundations on which the research is based. Chapter 2 is a literature review of major

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research directions in news analysis in general, including inter alia studies of news

values, news as discourse, news and ideology, news translation, news on the Web and

multimodality, and CNN news. Chapter 3, on methodology, provides information about

the data collected, data collection techniques and analysis procedures. Chapter 4 contains

the analysis of the data. The analysis is mainly qualitative, supported by multimodal and

quantitative analysis, for the purposes of triangulation. It includes analysis of headlines of

the news stories collected in Arabic and English, quantitative analysis of the corpus,

qualitative critical analysis of selected stories in Arabic and English and a quantitative

analysis of the users’ questionnaire. Chapter 5 outlines the research results and offers an

interpretation of the main findings. The thesis is concluded by Chapter 6 (Conclusions),

followed by appendices and a bibliography.

0.2. Background

“Die News-Site von CNN gehört zu den grössten online-Diensten weltweit. 24-Stunden am Tag

und sieben Tage die Woche werden Weltnachrichten aktuell verbereitet. CNN-online profitiert

von einem grossen korrespondentenetz für den Fernseher CNN und bietet online zahlreicher

Multimedia-features, von Video-Streaming über Audio-Dateien zu einer Archivsuche für

Hintergrundinformationnen. Der Blick von CNN ist stets auf die USA gerichtet.“ (Kranz and

Stiller 2003: 52)

The CNN launched its Arabic website officially on 19 January 2002 under the name

CNN Arabic.com (henceforth CNN Arabic).1 The site is operated from Dubai Media

City, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Rath 2002).2 The CNN’s Managing Director for

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the Middle East said that “our Arabic news site and Dubai offices demonstrate our

commitment to Middle East market.”3 Under the rubric ‘ ’ (lit. Who are We),4 the

CNN Arabic website is presented as a site that focuses on providing international news

from an ‘Arab perspective’. It also confirmed that the press team responsible for the site

works in a complementary manner with colleagues in other principal centres of the CNN

around the world, as well as with other CNN English websites produced in Europe, Hong

Kong and the United States.5 Elbandari (2002)6 remarked that the CNN Arabic Website

was received “without much fanfare by the Arabic media.” She noted that Arabic

language news services “barely seemed to register the emergence of a potential rival in

the cyber-world.” (Ibid.)

Some Arab journalists related the launching of the site to the United States

Administration’s ‘war on terror’ and to its attempts to create bridges of understanding

and dialogue, coupled with the need to talk to Arabs in their own language.7 A member of

CNN staff had previously refuted such claims about the CNN reporting on the Middle

East in general. The CNN’s Office Manager in Cairo confirmed that the CNN does not

serve any government, neither in America nor in Europe. He maintained that the CNN is

an independent corporation that presents news and serves the truth, reiterating that it is

not concerned about the image of the United States in the world (Abdel Rahim 2000).

Before conducting my research for this thesis, a preliminary observation of the CNN

Arabic website showed that it was limited in scope and content, compared to the English

website. The rubrics of the site were politics, economy, science and technology,

miscellaneous, sport, weather and special files. It was clear that the political topics

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received most of the attention and updating. A comparison of the Arabic articles with

their English equivalents showed that the Arabic ones were shorter in length, and

differently formulated and structured. I wondered how those differences affected the

content of news stories. I was also interested to know whether the stories published by the

CNN on its Arabic website are independent stories, appearing only on the Arabic

website, relatively accurate translations of similar stories on the English website, or

largely modified versions of English stories.

Based on the preliminary observations mentioned above, tools were developed for further

analysis and investigation of the websites. I decided to collect and analyse a corpus of

stories about the Middle East, as I found that these were the stories to be found

simultaneously on both the Arabic and English websites. I also designed a questionnaire

in order to find out the extent to which the Web was used as a source of news, the

respondents’ views about CNN reporting in general, and its reporting of Middle-Eastern

questions in particular, in addition to the extent to which its websites in English and other

languages were visited. The following chapters on previous literature, methodology and

analysis provide more details on background information, research tools used and the

analysis of data.

0.3. Research Hypotheses and Questions

The Web has appeared as a new form of the media that is used for the production and

presentation of news, amalgamating features of various other news media. This

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multimodality raises questions concerning the features of the news presented on the Web.

The multimodal dimension is expected to influence the final product, affecting its form

and content. Such news is not characterized by the static nature of press news and does

not have the volatility of broadcast media.

With the global reach of the Web, news producers endeavour to address different types of

audience, with various social and cultural backgrounds, as well as divergent political and

economic interests. As such, the news message might be adapted to accommodate and

attract all these differing views. The translation of news is expected to play an important

role in this endeavour. However, questions can be asked about what strategies and

procedures translators use in this regard.

To what extent CNN news is modified, apart from the purely linguistic changes that arise

in translation, is one of the basic questions that this research endeavours to answer. It will

also endeavour to find out how ideological positions are changed through the process of

translation so as to make the discourse suit the target audiences’ expectations. In addition

to the textual analysis corresponding to the questions above, web-news readers’ views are

sought in order to answer questions about the use of the Web as source of news and about

the CNN’s reporting.

In a nutshell, the research will endeavour to answer the following questions:

• To what extent the Web in general, and the CNN websites in particular, are used

as sources of news?

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• What are the multimodal features of news on the Web and how do they influence

form and content of the news?

• How is news presented by the CNN in Arabic and English?

• Are there any major differences between equivalent news stories presented by the

CNN in Arabic and English, and, if there are, at what levels of discourse can the

differences be identified?

• What are the social and ideological implications of these differences, if any?

• What translation procedures are used in transferring the news from English to

Arabic or vice-versa?

• What are the users’ assessments of the CNN’s reporting?

0.4. Significance of Research

The study of news websites’ discourse is a new field of research. A few studies have been

conducted so far in this direction (for instance, Quintana 1997,8 Eriksen and Ihlström

2000; for more details see also section 2.8. below).9 Previous studies of news as discourse

have been oriented to specific types of news media: e.g. press, radio and television (see

van Dijk 1998, Bell 1991, Fowler 1991).

When I started this research, there were a few studies of news on the Web as a distinct

multi-modal and multi-media news source with potentially specific discursive features.

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Although a number of studies have appeared in the meantime (for more details, see

section 2.8. below), the field is still open for further research using different types of data

and analysis from different research perspectives.

The critical and cross-linguistic feature of the research is another factor adding to its

significance. Through scrutinizing this type of news offered by the same provider in two

different languages, addressed to different types of audience, who might have diverse

interests, this study contributes to areas of lacunae in media research identified by other

scholars (see Wodak and Busch 2004 and Machin and van Leeuwen 2007). In this

direction, it adds new material from a new perspective, while creating links to similar

research conducted within Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (see, for instance, Barkho’s

studies (2007, 2008) of Aljazeera, the BBC and the CNN).

It also complements other recent research in the area of news that comes from different

areas of the academic agenda, such as communication studies. The works of Thussu

(2007) and Jones (2007) on infotainment, Conboy (2007) on the language of the news,

and Machin and van Leeuwen 2007 on global media discourse are examples of such

research. These works inter alia are further referred to with more elaboration, in the

literature review (Chapter 2).

In addition, the research connects with an emergent trend in translation studies that

adopts a critical perspective and looks at the influence of ideology in translation (see, for

instance, Baker’s (2009) collection of articles entitled Translation Studies: Critical

Concepts in Linguistics).

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Finally, the significance of this research also emanates from its corpus of news stories

analysed, in a pair of languages that is not often widely addressed in CDA (see Suleiman

2008), as well as from the views of respondents to the questionnaire that supplement the

textual and visual analysis of the websites analysed.

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1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1.1. Introduction

In this section, I plan to review the main concepts that underlie this research. The

theoretical framework for this thesis is based on three complementary and interrelated

research dimensions: interdisciplinary, critical and cross-linguistic approaches (see

figure 1 below). Each of these is characterized by the fact that it is not associated with a

single methodology of research, or with a specific school of thinking. They are

approaches that lay down general directions and provide a wide perspective for

contemplating, investigating and interpreting linguistic and other social phenomena.

Researchers in different disciplines choose the tools appropriate for their subject matter

and benefit from the multi-faceted perspective that each approach offers.

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Interdisciplinary

NEWS
WEB
CNN
ARABIC/ENGLISH

Critical Cross-Linguistic

Figure 1. Theoretical Framework Components

The tremendous amount of literature on each of these dimensions makes it extremely

difficult to review them adequately, given the spatial and temporal constraints of this

research. I will try, however, to sketch a general overview of the main theoretical

concepts that I deem to be related to my research, while avoiding any detailed discussions

or polemic debates.

Nevertheless, before discussing these three pillars of research, I need to address some

basic concepts that are central to the whole study, namely the definitions of discourse,

text, terms that have provoked considerable debate in many fields of the human sciences.

1.1.1. Discourse and Text

I take the simple definition, adopted by a number of CDA scholars, of discourse as

‘language in use’, i.e. ‘language as social practice’ (Fairclough and Wodak 1997, cited in

Wodak and Meyer 2009b: 4), emphasising the role of ‘the context of language in use’

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(Wodak and Meyer 2009: 4). Media texts in general, and news stories in particular,

represent typical examples of ‘language in use’, i.e. of discourse. In my research, when I

use the term discourse, I refer to the language, in all its modes, used in the news produced

and presented on the websites in question. A text is considered to be a coherent and

cohesive stretch of language, that is an instance of news discourse. A text could either be

one story or a part of a story (See, for instance, Beaugrande and Dressler (1981)).

1.2. Interdisciplinary

Interdisciplinarity has recently become a basic feature attracting scholars from different

fields to work together, or encouraging researchers to use tools and benefit from results

of research in different fields (see, for instance, the studies on CDA as an

interdisciplinary approach in Wodak and Chilton (2007)). The interdisciplinary approach

could be manifested in different ways, such as in the collection and analysis of data or the

theoretical frameworks used to analyse such data (Wodak and Meyer 2009b: 21).

As opposed to research approaches that tend to isolate their fields from other domains of

knowledge, carefully establishing fences, clearly delimiting boundaries and fervently

pushing away any attempts made to infringe the sanctity of the field in question,

interdisciplinarity has appeared as a plea (van Dijk 2001) for integrating diverse tools and

methods and for making use of the strengths of each field for the benefit of other fields.

In the social sciences this has been driven by the understanding that human and social

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phenomena are so complex and closely interrelated that it makes it difficult to address

them adequately within one field (Wodak 1989: xv).

Researchers who advocate interdisciplinarity believe that no single method of research

could produce final and reliable results about any given object of inquiry, warning that

taking only one approach to address a specific question embodies the risk of producing a

distorted picture of the subject investigated. It is therefore considered advisable to use

several methods of inquiry that supplement one another (see Anthonissen 2001).

Beaugrande (2006) points out that among the most impressive developments in the

academic arena that appeared recently have been the emergence and accreditation of

fields that were interdisciplinary from their inception. He cites as examples system

theory, cognitive science, discourse processing, artificial intelligence and artificial life,

among others. Commenting on the ‘monodisciplinary’ thinking in linguistics,

Beaugrande (2006: 30) further laments sarcastically that:

“'[M]ainstream linguistics' seems to me curiously retrograde in guarding its

borders by steadily narrowing its quest from 'language studied in and for itself',

'standing apart from everything else' […] down to the 'competence' of the 'ideal

speaker-hearer in a completely homogenous speech-community' […], logically

terminating in 'minimalism' […], whose very title defiantly announces its

intention to address and explain as little as possible.”

The literature review in Chapter 2 shows how the study of news has been pursued in

diverse fields by scholars from different backgrounds. Although some of those studies

have been conducted within a mono-disciplinary framework, interdisciplinary research

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has become an obvious approach attracting many researchers (see van Dijk 1989). I opted

for an interdisciplinary approach because of the diverse aspects presented by the news on

the Web, including the visual and textual elements, in addition to the cross-linguistic

dimension of my study that I discuss below (see section 1.4.). Interdisciplinarity is

achieved by linking perspectives from Critical Discourse Analysis, multimodal analysis

and Translation Studies.

1.2.1. Monomodality and Multimodality

The quest for crossing borders and establishing connections was not only concerned with

interdisciplinary research, but also with approaching different modes instead of adopting

a mono-modal approach. In linguistics, the primary concern has traditionally been the

spoken language and, to a lesser degree, its written representation (see van Dijk 1997a).

Other forms of human communication have long been relegated either to inferior

complementary aspects of language, that are not worth of being ‘scientifically’ studied

within linguistics, or regarded as the domain of other fields of research, which are

considered far away from linguistics and its rigorous methods.

In the same vein, discourse analysis has for a long time been geared towards the analysis

of the human language in its written and spoken forms. Until recently little attention has

been given to other forms of communication. Van Dijk (ibid.: 257) pointed to the fact

that the visual elements of discourse had often been ignored in discourse studies.

However, this position has recently started to change. Modern developments of discourse

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analysis in general and media analysis in particular have drawn attention to those

neglected areas, i.e. blind spots, of human communication (Kress and van Leeuwen 2001:

1). Semiotics, social semiotics and multimodal research have been developing rapidly,

hand in hand with the critical orientation in discourse analysis discussed below in this

chapter.

Kress and van Leeuwen (2001), as pioneers of the call for multimodal research, state that

there has been, for some time, a clear preference for ‘monomodality’. They observe that

the most highly valued genres of writing were produced entirely without any illustration,

making use of graphically uniform and dense pages of print (Kress and van Leeuwen

2001: 1). They further point out that specialised theoretical and critical disciplines which

developed in order to speak about different arts equally developed as monomodal

approaches: one language to speak about language (linguistics), another to speak about

art (art history), and a third one to speak about music (musicology) (ibid.). Each

discipline has its own methods and its own assumptions, using its own technical

vocabulary, and being characterised by its own strengths and its own blind spots (ibid.).

Other scholars advocated similar directions within this multimodal approach. Lemke

(1995: 7) pointed out that multimodal factors existed within the language itself and that

they did not come only as additional elements. He maintained that “discourse in general

is an aspect of social action, it never makes meaning with language alone” (ibid.). He

mentioned as examples the quality of voice when speaking, in addition to gestures and

facial expressions, that affected the sense of spoken words. This is also equated with the

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symbols used when writing, providing meaning that surpasses the sense of the words they

represent (ibid.).

Moreover, Lemke goes further to study new forms of multidisciplinarity and

multimodality, proposing a new hypermodality approach (Lemke 2003). With the rapid

development of information and communication technology since the last decade of the

twentieth century, major changes and totally new means of communication have

emerged. The advent of the Internet brought about great advances in this area. Lemke

studied these phenomena extensively.10 He has further identified emerging forms of

social control in the era of globalisation, proposing a complex-systems model of

semiotically mediated social ecosystems (ecosocial systems) (Lemke 2003:131). Coining

the term 'transversals', Lemke argues that those new systems have a number of distinct

manifestations, exemplified by hypertexts and web-surfing. To these cyberspace

examples, he also adds channel surfing, mall-cruising, transgenre and transinstitutional

traversals. He calls for CDA to find ways of addressing this new mode of 'transversals'

taking account of different time scales, social control and social power relations (ibid.).

Kress et al. (1997: 256) maintain that a change has recently occurred in what they call the

semiotic landscape, i.e. the communicational and representational landscape. They

indicate that “... the change is producing texts which are strongly multi-modal. That is,

producers of texts are making greater and more deliberate use of a range of

representational and communicational modes which co-occur within the one text. One

effect of this change is that it has become impossible to read texts reliably by paying

attention to written language alone: it exists as one representational element in a text

which is multi-modal, and it has to be read in conjunction with the other semiotic modes

25
of the text” (ibid.). (For a discussion of multimodality, hyperomdality and web-news, see

section 2.8. below)

1.3. Critical

The purely descriptive nature of scientific observation and the nearly total isolation of

language analysis from its social context dominated many schools of linguistics for a

long time, together with the monodisciplinary approach referred to above. Critical

Linguistics (LL) (and later (CDA)) has come as a response to that trend and as a new

approach to bridge the gap between the purely theoretical study of linguistic behaviour

and the study of the social and political environments that surround and influence that

behaviour, adopting firmly a critical stance.

The term ‘critical linguistics’ was first used and defined by the pioneers of this school

(see, for instance, Fowler et al. 1979). Heralding this approach, Fowler and Kress (1979:

186) maintain that the linguistic meaning is inseparable from ideology and that linguistics

is an academic discipline that rests on a number of assumptions that constitute an

ideology of the subject. They further call for “a linguistics which is critical, which is

aware of the assumptions on which it is based and prepared to reflect critically about the

underlying causes of the phenomena it studies, and the nature of the society whose

language it is” (ibid.: 186). Critical linguistics, as such, is characterized as an approach

that aims at isolating ideology in discourse and showing how ideology and ideological

26
processes are made present in discourse, as systems of linguistic characteristics and

processes (Trew 1979: 155).

The term Critical Linguistics has later been largely replaced by the term Critical

Discourse Analysis, an approach that adopted the tenets of critical linguistics, while

extending its research agenda and areas of interest more widely to include diverse

disciplines and adopting various additional theories and tools, hence expanding the

interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary reach of the field.11 Anthonissen (2001) provides

an extensive review of CDA’s epistemological foundations, while Wodak and Meier

(2009b) provide a more recent overview of its areas of interest and tools.

Although the term Critical Discourse Analysis has largely become established, being

institutionalized with its own academic rituals and its own acronym (CDA) (see Billig

2003: 35), the older term, i.e. ‘critical linguistics’, is still being used by some

researchers.12 In this research the term CDA is adopted but ‘critical linguistics’ will also

be used when a citation is taken from an author who used it or where a reference that

used it is alluded to. It is worth noting that there are other related terms, which are used to

designate sub-disciplines of CDA, such as the discourse-historical approach (DHA) (see

Reisigl and Wodak 2009), and umbrella disciplines that include CDA among other

critical approaches, such as Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) (see van Dijk 2009).

Critical analysis, for Wodak (1989: xiv), should not remain descriptive and neutral. It

should, however, be aimed at uncovering injustice, inequality, taking sides with the

powerless and oppressed. Nevertheless, she notes that this does not mean that the

research is necessarily biased or not ‘scientific’ as such. While acknowledging that “no

27
research is completely objective” and that “the interests, values and decisions of the

researcher always guide the analysis”, she states that (ibid.: xiv):

“It is important therefore, to state these values explicitly, to analyze all aspects, to

take into account the multiple data and methods before drawing any conclusions

or before starting to interpret or explain. A certain distance from the subject under

investigation is necessary.” (Emphasis in original)

Meyer (2001) points out this specific feature of CDA by acknowledging the differences

between CDA and other sociolinguistic approaches with respect to the general principles

of CDA. These differences include that “the nature of the problems with which CDA is

concerned is different in principle from all those methods which do not determine their

interest in advance” (Meyer, 2001: 15). He further confirms that CDA researchers

undertake an advocatory role for groups who suffer from social discrimination (ibid.). He

remarks that CDA researchers in the majority of cases take the part of the underprivileged

and try to show the linguistic means used by the privileged to stabilize or even to

intensify iniquities in society (Meyer, 2001: 30). While acknowledging the existence of

several approaches within CDA, Wodak and Meyer emphasise the existence of common

grounds, and state that (2009b: 3):

“CDA is characterized by a number of principles, for example, all approaches are

characterized by the common interest in demystifying ideologies and power

through the systematic and retroductable investigation of semiotic data (written,

spoken or visual). CDA researchers also attempt to make their own positions and

28
interests explicit while retaining their respective scientific methodologies and

while remaining self-reflecting of their own research process.”

Fairclough and Wodak (1997: 271-280) define the basic principles of CDA as follows: (i)

CDA addresses social problems; (ii) power relations are discursive; (iii) discourse

constitutes society and culture; (iv) discourse does ideological work; (v) discourse is

historical; (vi) the link between text and society is mediated; (vii) discourse analysis is

interpretative and explanatory; (viii) discourse is a form of social action.

Wodak and Meyer (2009b: 11) further trace the new directions taken by CDA and the

expansion of its interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research agenda., including recent

research on topics such as the discursive construction of identity (see, for instance,

Wodak et al. 1999), and the analysis of the impact of the knowledge-based economy on

society (see, for instance, Jessop et al. 2009)

Media texts of different types have attracted wide interest from researchers in different

disciplines, in general, and from critical discourse researchers, in particular. This could be

attributed to the fact that the media have become an overwhelming factor of life at the

end of the twentieth century and in the early twenty-first century. This age, with its

information revolution, unprecedented information and communication technological

advancements and globalised patterns of influence and contact, has led to an increase of

interest in the media as a means to communicate, to persuade, to influence, to transfer

goods and services or simply to entertain, among many other, declared and hidden,

purposes. As a paramount feature and backbone of all this development, the Internet

29
came to complement, compete with, displace and overtake many of the older, traditional

means of communication.

It has been observed that media texts have very often been used as data corpora in

linguistic analysis. Many journals in linguistics and related fields have witnessed a

plethora of articles and reviews which are based on media texts (see, for instance, Wodak

and Bush, 2004: 106).

Conboy (2007) linked critical linguistics directly with the study of media discourse,

represented by news analysis. Discussing the concept of the critical reader, Conboy

(2007: 24) states that:

“It [i.e. critical linguistics] assists critical readers to identify patterns within

language which legitimate or naturalize the dominant social order. It seeks to

draw attention to the ways in which language is used across news media to create

the conditions in which the conventional hierarchies of society are reproduced

tacitly and without drawing too much attention to this process of reproduction.”

Based on the principles outlined above, I embrace a critical approach in this research,

because I think that the mere descriptive study of news discourse will not be sufficient to

understand the implications of news language. News has a far-reaching impact on

people’s reception and understanding of reality and consequently in constructing their

political and social views. It is therefore necessary to adopt a research approach that

seeks to uncover the hidden elements in the prevalent language of news and demonstrate

its means of discriminating, manipulating or misinforming, when it is used as such.

30
Besides, the movement of texts, and hence discourse, from one linguistic and social

environment to another, entails many aspects that need to be looked at critically. The

media discourse, and its translation, is a means that could be used to inform people and

transfer knowledge, as well as to manipulate messages and distort ideas. Critical analysis

is therefore essential for uncovering any ‘injustice’ that could be inflicted through the use

of language in the news and its translations. This position is further exposed below,

through the discussion of the concepts of power and ideology, as well as through the

cross-linguistic aspect of the research.

1.3.1. Power and Ideology

Power and ideology are two concepts that figure predominantly in CDA research (see, for

instance, the ‘kaleidoscopic view’ of power and ideology in Wodak and Meyer 2009b: 8).

I will review in this section the two concepts and discuss their basic features as far as

they are related to discourse and to this research.

1.3.1.1. Power

Power and the struggle between power holders and those who have no or little power, as

well as the different types of overt and covert power relations, are some of the aspects

referred to when defining CDA or indicating its scope of research. The relationship of

power to language is considered a central feature of CDA. Wodak and Busch (2004:

108), for instance, state that:

31
“CDA takes a particular interest in the relationship between language and power.

The term CDA is used nowadays to refer more specifically to the critical

linguistics approach of scholars who find the larger discursive unit of text to be

the basic unit of communication. This research specifically considers more or less

overt relations of social struggle and conflict.”

In addition to defining CDA by the extent of its textual unit of discourse, i.e. considering

“the larger discursive unit of text to be the basic unit of communication,” the terms

‘power’, ‘struggle’ and ‘conflict’ are the basic elements of this definition.

Such relations of ‘conflict’ and ‘struggle’ arise as a result of an unequal distribution of

‘power’ between those who hold a considerable share of the society’s resources and

reigns of authority and the disadvantaged, the vulnerable and ultimately all those who

lack the necessary resources to balance the power inequalities prevailing in society.

Hodge and Kress (1988: 3) explain this imbalance and its divisive social effects in clear

terms. They observe that there are inequalities in the distribution of power and other

goods in contemporary capitalist societies as in most other social formations (ibid.). Such

inequalities lead to “divisions in the social fabric between rulers and ruled, exploiters and

exploited. In order to sustain these structures of domination the dominant groups attempt

to represent the world in forms that reflect their own interests, the interests of their

power. But they also need to sustain the bonds of solidarity that are conditions for their

dominance.” (ibid.)

Power referred to in this context does not underscore the type of power exercised by

individuals, but rather institutional power. News is one type of these institutionalised

32
systems of power (see section 2.6 below). Individual journalists have little impact on the

final product of their work. The established institutional practices impose their style,

linguistic options and ultimately all discursive features that result in maintaining,

producing and continuously reproducing the dominant power relations that are guarded

by the institutions established for that purpose or manipulated to exercise such a role.

Mayr (2008b: 2) compares the institutional power of news to the power of other social

institutions, such as prisons, while Machin (2008: 63) compares the role of news

organizations to the role played by other institutions such as schools and hospitals (see

section 2.6 below).

The concept of power is important in this research as will be manifested further in the

discussion of news values (section 2.3.1. below), the institutional character of news

(section 2.6. below) and news translation (section 2.7. below). As established institutions,

news producers exercise hegemony on individual journalists, types of news, their content

presentation and formulation and ultimately the type, quantity and orientation of

information received by the news audience.

1.3.1.2. Ideology

Closely related to the question of power, as mentioned above, is the concept of ideology.

The two concepts usually go hand-in-hand in CL and CDA research. There is a wide

consensus on importance of ideology in spite of differences regarding its definition.13 It

has already been mentioned that the critical analysis of language and discourse aims at

33
“isolating ideology in discourse” and showing “how ideology and ideological processes

are manifested as systems of linguistic characteristics and processes” (Trew 1979: 155).

In this respect, ideology occupies a central place. It is seen as an important aspect of

establishing and maintaining unequal power relations. Particular interest is taken in the

ways in which language mediates ideology through different types of social institutions,

including the media (Sheyholislami 2001).

Although exposing ideological positions is often mentioned as one of the basic elements

of CDA research and analysis, there is neither a definite nor a unanimously accepted

definition of the term 'ideology' among CDA practitioners and scholars. Researchers

acknowledge the difficulty of delimiting the concept of ideology. Mayr (2008b: 10)

points out that CDA is concerned with exposing the often hidden ideologies that are

reflected, reinforced and constructed in everyday and institutional discourse and therefore

the concept of ideology is crucial. However, she observes that (ibid.):

“Like the concepts of discourse and power, ideology is probably the one that most

defies precise definition. Definitions often fall into two broad categories: a

relativist definition, denoting systems of ideas, beliefs and practices, and a critical

definition, allied with the Marxist theory, which sees it as working in the interests

of a social class and/or cultural group.”

Acknowledging this difficulty of definition, Kress (1985) maintains that ideology is one

of the less settled categories of philosophical and sociological discussion of the last

century or more. Confirming the same position, Wodak (2007a: 2) states that the concept

of 'ideology' is probably one of the most complex of the terms beliefs, opinions and

34
ideologies. Van Dijk (1998: 1), when discussing the “the fuzzy life of ‘ideology’”, points

out that it is nearly a routine for studies about ideology to “begin with a remark about the

vagueness of the notion and the resulting theoretical confusion of its analysis”.

However, there is an agreement that its meaning covers a wide spectrum ranging from a

mere neutral 'science of ideas' to the rather negative Marxian concept of 'false

consciousness'. This position has been voiced by different scholars in similar terms.

Kress (1985: 29) points out that the meaning of ideology ranges “from the relatively

innocuous 'system of ideas' or 'worldview' to more contested ones such as 'false

consciousness' or 'ideas of the dominant, ruling class'.”

Anthonissen (2001: 45) observes that “ideology is defined as a 'delusion', as 'false

consciousness', i.e. as false constellation of beliefs, attitudes, dispositions, etc. For some

critical theorists, ideology is a world picture which stabilizes and legitimizes domination.

For others ideology works on the level of the unconscious”. She further cites Eagleton's

remark that ideology “is more a matter of ritual practice than conscious doctrine”

(Eagleton 1994: 14, cited by Anthonissen 2001: 45).

Wodak (2007a), following her remark mentioned earlier that that the concept of

'ideology' is probably one of the most complex of the terms beliefs, opinions and

ideologies, elaborates that the modern debate on ideology features two main strands or

tendencies. On the one hand, it is argued that “ideologies as false theories about reality

can be overcome and replaced by scientific theories and/or scientifically founded

agency". On the other hand, there is a dialectical position assuming that "ideology is an

unavoidable moment of all thinking and acting” (Wodak 2007a: 2).

35
Similar to the position on hidden or indirect power, concealed ideologies are considered

to be of considerable importance, as compared to direct and clearly brandished

ideologies. Reah (1998: 54) maintains that "[i]t is easy to resist a particular viewpoint or

ideology when you know it is being presented to you, but not easy to resist when the

viewpoint or ideology is concealed" (cited by Nordlund 2003: 1). As news is not a type of

discourse that clearly adopts ideological orientations, ideology could therefore be

presented in a subtle or concealed way (see section 2.5.3. below).

Given the difficulty of finding a definite and final definition of ideology, I will explain

here how I use the concept in this research. I refer to ideology and ideological stance or

position, when the news is presented in a way that takes sides between conflicting parties.

Neutrality and objectiveness of the news require the presentation of facts and the giving

of equal rights to all participants, so as to express their viewpoints. When these principles

are not respected, the ideological positions of the news producers could be responsible for

that situation. The contrastive study of news is expected to contribute to revealing any

such ideological stances as the news outlet changes the language it uses and addresses a

new audience with different expectations.

1.4. Cross-Linguistic

The third theoretical pillar of this research is its cross-linguistic nature. It is based on the

assumption that the movement of text across language borders creates possibilities for

36
considerable changes that surpass the linguistic changes to create new discursive

environments, with different power and ideological relations.

Wodak and Busch observe that "[r]esearchers working in linguistics and media studies

point out that there is a serious lack of systematic research available on language and the

media in multilingual settings […]. The new transnational configurations of media

landscape with their particular articulations between the local and the global would thus

necessitate deeper insights." (Wodak and Busch 2004: 112).

The transnational and global media landscape, referred to above, arises either through the

hegemony of a unique globalised language or through cross-linguistic transfer of

discourse.

Chilton (2004: 137) points out that "the new environment at the turn of the twenty-first

century called for new actions that had to be explained to multiple audiences." Chilton's

interest is focused on the use of language in political discourse to address different

audiences. Politicians tend to use language in order to legitimate actions taking into

consideration the receivers of their message. They change and manipulate the linguistic

resources each time they address specific receivers. Chilton is referring to messages

conveyed by the same person, in the same language, within the same setting of discourse

(e.g. Bill Clinton in the case referred to above). Media discourse is closely related to

political discourse (see Wodak 2007a). The media tend to change discourse according to

the audience in mind. This is clear in the discourse within the same language, but it

becomes even clearer when discussing discourse across linguistic borders. Phenomena

that affect political discourse find their way into media discourse, and vice versa. As an

37
example, the use of entertainment in the media discourse referred as ‘infotainment’ (see

Thussu 2007) is mirrored by ‘politicotainment’, that denote the use of entertainment in

political discourse (see Riegert 2007 and Jones 2007).

News translation plays an important role in this trans-linguistic, trans-cultural, trans-

national and global media sphere. A rather detailed discussion of news translation, its

trends and practice, is presented elsewhere in this research (see section 2.7 below). I

noticed that there is a relatively higher interest among CDA scholars on monolingual

discourse of news, as compared to cross-linguistic aspects of such discourse (see section

2.7 below). A considerable body of research is found, however, in other disciplines with

multilingual or multicultural interests, such as translation studies.

In this section I am going to outline the main points related to translation studies,

equivalence in translation, and translation theories as well as translation and ideology as

basic concepts that link this axis of my theoretical framework to the other two axes, i.e.

the interdisciplinary and critical aspects.

1.4.1. Translation and Equivalence

Translation Studies, which is by definition a multilingual research field, has developed

from a profession and a craft into an interdisciplinary field influenced by various

branches of linguistics, comparative literature, communication studies, philosophy and a

range of types of cultural studies, including postcolonialism and postmodernism, as well

as sociology and historiography (Munday 2008a). Researchers from different theoretical

38
backgrounds contributed to the development of the field with approaches that tended to

shape the study of translation according to those diverse backgrounds.14

Through its long history in different parts of the world, translation practice and study

have been dominated by the debate over the degree of translation's equivalence, and

degree of faithfulness. Dichotomies, such as ‘word-for-word’ versus ‘sense-for-sense’ or

‘literal’ versus ‘free’ translations have surfaced in many professional and academic

circles (for a review, see Munday 2008a: 19-22). Such debates concerning translation

theory have traditionally focused mainly on the comparison of source text (ST) and target

text (TT), taking the concept of ‘fidelity’ as the basic criterion (Yan 2007).

1.4.1.1. Translation Strategies and Procedures

It has long been proved that translating concepts and ideas from one language to another

is not an easy and straightforward task. Linguists and translators have concluded that no

two languages are identical. Languages clearly differ in their perspective, classification

and delimitation of the reality of the world. However, the existence of translation and

translators through history has led researchers to wonder about the means, techniques and

procedures to which translators have recourse in order to overcome the difficulties of

linguistic diversity (Newmark 1988, Vinay and Darbelnet 1995 [1977]). The following

are some of these procedures.

39
Borrowing

Vinay and Darbelnet (1995:31) refer to borrowing as a procedure used to overcome a

lacuna, usually a metalinguistic one such as a new technical process or an unknown

concept. They remark that borrowing is the simplest of all translation methods. Newmark

(1988: 81) uses the term transference to denote this procedure. Other terms for the same

procedure are emprunt, loan word and transcription (ibid.). Newmark defines it as the

processes of transferring a SL word to a TL text. Borrowing is a procedure that takes

place normally in language contact situations. The following are some examples

Source Language (SL) Target Language (TL)

week end (en) week end (fr)

coup d’etat (fr) coup d’etat (en)

Calque

Calque is a special kind of borrowing whereby a language borrows an expression from

another, but then translates literally each of its elements (Vinay and Darbelnet 1995:32).

Vinay and Darbelnet (ibid.) distinguish between lexical and structural calques. In a

lexical calque the syntactic structures of the target language are respected when a new

mode of expression is introduced. A structural calque introduces a totally new

40
construction in the target language. Newmark refers to this procedure as through

translation (Newmark 1988: 84).

compliments of the season! (En) compliments de la saison! (Fr) (Vinay

and Darbelnet 1995:32)

pseudolangue (Fr) šibh lugah (Ar.) (badawi 1997: 109)

Literal translation

Literal, or word-for-word, translation is a direct transfer of a SL text into a grammatically

and idiomatically appropriate TL text in which the translator’s task is limited to

observing adherence to the linguistic servitudes of the TL (Vinay and Darbelnet

1995:33). Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) describe literal translation as the only solution

which is reversible and complete in itself. They observe that it is most common when

translating between languages of the same family, and even more so when they also share

the same culture.

I left my spectacles on the table downstairs (En) J’ai laissé mes lunettes sur la table en bas (Fr)

Where are you? (En) Où êtes-vous? (Fr)

(Vinay and Darbelnet 1995:34)

41
Transposition

Transposition refers to the procedure of replacing one word class with another without

changing the meaning of the message (Vinay and Darbelnet 1995:36). Newmark employs

the term transposition together with shifts, which he identifies as a translation procedure

involving a change in the grammar from SL to TL (Newmark 1988: 85). While Vinay

and Darbelnet restrict the term to one type of grammatical change (i.e. word class

change), Newmark extends it to cover a wider range of grammatical shifts, hence his use

of the plural forms in ‘transpositions and shifts’. Such shifts can be reflected in changes

of number, person, gender, word order and word class changes. Shifts are generally

necessary to avoid the use of calques.

d'une importance exceptionnelle (Fr.) exceptionally large (En) (Newmark 1988: 86)

Modulation

This procedure refers to the variation of the form of the message produced by a change in

the point of view. It is applied when translation, although structurally acceptable, is

considered unsuitable or unidiomatic in the TL (Vinay and Darbelnet 1995: 36).

Newmark uses the same term to identify this procedure. While previous procedures are

applied at the word or phrase level, modulation is applicable at the whole message level.

he acted at once…(En) il n’a pas hésité de … (Fr) (Newmark 1988: 88)

42
The models proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) and Newmark (1998) referred to

above have been supplemented and expanded by many other scholars of translation

studies.15 However, they continue to be used as methods for teaching translation, as well

as for evaluating the quality of translation (see, for instance, Didaoui’s (1995, 2005)

discussions of translation quality and quality management).

These are a few examples of translation procedures that have been commonly used in

translation studies and translation teaching. The use of different types of translation

procedures has led to endeavours to establish different types of translations and degrees

of equivalence between source texts and target texts. These types could be arranged in a

continuum ranging from literal to free translation, with varying degrees of proximity to

the source text (for a review of types of equivalence from different perspectives see

Hatim and Mason 1990, Mudany 2008a, Dickins et al. 2002).

In spite of the relative acceptance of different degrees of equivalence, there is a shared

position that a translation ought to be as faithful to the original message of the source text

as possible. Dickens et al. (2000: 21), for instance, acknowledge the illusory quest for

perfect equivalence between ST and TT and recognise that in any translation there is

some kind of loss similar to the loss of energy when it is transferred from one form to

another. However, they advocate that the translator's role should be to minimize the

degree of loss in translation to the least possible degree (ibid.).

This brief summary concerning translation equivalence and translation procedures is

necessary as a background for the discussion of media translation and translation of the

news. It will be shown that the latter goes far beyond the maximum degree (e.g. free

43
translation) admitted by translation scholars and professional practitioners (see section

2.7 below).

1.4.2. Translation, Discourse and Ideology

Moving away from those debates that focused on translation equivalence at the sentence

level, or even sometimes at the word level, a new approach looked at translation using a

larger textual approach, i.e. discourse and register analysis approaches, influenced by and

benefiting from the growth of discourse analysis in applied linguistics. Building on

Halliday's systemic functional grammar (Munday 2008a: 90), these approaches study

translation as a process and product, focusing on register and discourse level (see, for

instance, Hatim and Mason 1990, Mason 2009). However, earlier studies in this branch

of research focused mainly on the formal definition of discourse. There was little

attention paid to the wider effects of discourse that go beyond the linguistic content to

consider the social, political and economic implications of discourse in translation.

Acknowledging that ideology has always functioned as an ‘invisible hand’ in translation

practice, and the fact there are factors which influence translation, not only of a linguistic

nature, but also representing the transmission of ideology between different nations and

countries (Yan 2007:63), a cultural and ideological movement flourished in the field of

translation studies that was represented in the approach towards the analysis of translation

from a cultural studies angle (Munday 2008a: 125).

44
In other words, much research from an ideological perspective has been concerned with

uncovering manipulation in the TT that may be indicative of the translator's ideology or

that could be produced by ideological elements within the translation environment, such

as pressure from publishers, editors or institutional and governmental authorities, creating

tension between ‘foreignization’ and ‘domestication’, in what Venuti (2008) refers to as

the ‘translator’s invisibility’.

Although cultural studies trends have been paramount in this respect, some linguistic

models have been employed including hallidayan functional grammar, critical studies and

narrative theory (see, for instance, Baker 2009). Studies in this direction are increasingly

imprinting the translation studies field with new features and bringing it nearer to the

fields of CDA and critical studies in general.16

1.5. Synopsis

In this chapter, I have outlined the main theoretical foundations on which this research is

based. The three interdisciplinary, critical and cross-linguistic pillars are briefly

presented, together with essential concepts such as multimodality, power, ideology, and

translation equivalence. The research could be situated within a contrastive critical

discourse analysis approach. Given the vast scope of the theoretical background, I hope

that the references included in this chapter, supplemented by those in the literature review

in Chapter 2, will shed more light on the purposes and applications of this theoretical

framework. In the consideration of methodology, Chapter 3, and my empirical analysis,

45
Chapter 4, I will consequently endeavour to provide practical applications of this

theoretical framework.

46
2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction

News is a specific form of media discourse that has attracted special interest. In the

‘global village’ people’s fates and destinies interact more than ever before. Economic

interests criss-cross the entire globe. Competition for resources goes far beyond

countries’ backyards, and wars are fought by using different weapons and various means

across the planet Earth. Services, ideas, goods, crime, and all sorts of social phenomena,

have more and more become transnational features of society. Since news media have

been developing at an even higher rate and circulate information around the clock and

around the world, keeping people updated on all what takes place and engaging them in

discussions of all types of world affairs, a large body of research has targeted news.

All this has led to the development, expansion and hegemony of the news industry

represented by news agencies and diverse news outlets. Standardised forms of news have

been developed and established (see Machin and van Leeuwen 2007), leading to different

types of globalisation, localisation or rather ‘glocalisation’ (see, for instance, Wodak

2005).

Discussing the prevalence of research on news, van Dijk (1991: 110) remarks that:

“Apart from advertising probably no media genre has received so much scholarly

interest from mass communication researchers, semioticians, linguists, and

47
discourse analysts. This attention is justified when we realize how important news

is in our everyday lives. Most of our social and political knowledge and beliefs

about the world derive from the dozens of news reports we read or see every day.

There is probably no other discursive practice, besides everyday conversation,

that is engaged in so frequently and by so many people as news in the press and

on television.”

This scholarly interest has generated an abundance of research on news that makes it an

extremely difficult task to absorb, review and present all relevant literature in a limited

space, such as this thesis. Meinhof (1994: 212) observed that research on news involved,

inter alia, sociologists, linguists and semioticians. To this list may be added media texts

in general and news in particular that are also studied in disciplines such as psychology,

political science, and philosophy, and recently in information technology and computer

studies.

The literature in question treats news, directly or indirectly, from different disciplines and

approaches, with a specifically salient effect in the field of discourse analysis, in general,

and Critical Linguistics/Critical Discourse Analysis in particular.17 In this chapter, I

present the literature that I consider either directly related to my thesis or that indirectly

sheds light on some of its aspects.

In spite of the widespread discussion of news, people hardly stop to ponder the question

pf what ‘news’ is. Van Dijk (1988) considers news a type of text or discourse, a special

type of narrative (evidenced by the use of the term ‘news story’). He also acknowledges

the existence of family resemblance relationship between news in the press, news on

48
radio and television and other types of media discourse (van Dijk, 1988: 2). He further

highlights three different uses of the term news: (a) new information about people, things

or events, as in the question "do you have any news about …?"; (b) a type of programme

on television or radio that presents news items, e.g. a news bulletin; and (c) a news story

or report, i.e. new information about recent events provided in the form of text or

discourse on radio, television or in the press. The third use of the word news is the one

generally meant when researchers talk about the study of news or news analysis.

Based on the fact that news belong to various types of media discourse and that there are

similarities between the forms of news in different media (press, television, radio, Web,

etc.) and between other types of media texts, this chapter reviews literature from different

sources and disciplines, while placing emphasis on studies that treat news as discourse.

In this chapter I discuss certain concepts and definitions that I consider important either

as bases for my analysis or as background information for the whole research. These

include news selection criteria and news values; agenda setting and gatekeeping; news as

discourse; news structure; news and ideology; balance and objectivity; institutional

constraints; sourcing, attribution and voice; commercialisation of news; micro-linguistic

analysis; othering discourse; translating news; news on the Web and multimodality; in

addition to examples of research on CNN in general and CNN Arabic, in particular.

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2.2. Studies and Classification of the News

As mentioned above, different approaches to news study and analysis have appeared at

different times in different parts of the world. These include among others:

- Studies by current or former journalists who tell of their own experiences, their

job routines, practices and constraints, and give advice on good journalism and/or

criticism of the media and news. Van Dijk labels these studies as anecdotal and

pretheoretical (van Dijk 1988: 6), while acknowledging that some of them are

well-documented studies based on extensive research, rather than mere personal

recollections and insights.

- Macrosociological studies that focus on overall organization and functioning of

news institutions, including fieldwork, detailed descriptions of professional

routines, together with analysis of the relationship between social constraints and

social values that underlie the news gathering and production processes (van Dijk

1988).

- Microsociological analysis of news stories that looks at detailed routines of

journalists’ work on news production and formulation, the beats of newsrooms

and the constraints that journalists face (van Dijk 1988).

- Systematic content analysis that takes a macrosociological stance combined with

ideological analysis, and provides more concrete examples of actual news

descriptions (van Dijk 1988).

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- Text-based analysis that concentrates only on texts for analysis. Meinhof (1994:

213) referred to this type as closed text models and included in these models:

content analysis, early sociosemiotic analysis and screen theory.

- Reader-based analysis that deviates from concentrating solely on a single reading

of texts to an open view of interpreting texts, allowing a multiplicity of readings

for the same text (Meinhof 1994: 213). This approach could be placed within the

general ‘audience and readership research’ in the media (see Kitzinger (2004) for

a review of this approach and the different data collection techniques used for this

purpose).

- Interdisciplinary news research (van Dijk, 1988). Van Dijk notes that this

approach has been more dominant in the British tradition of news analysis with

influences from Marxism and French Structuralism, with more interest shown by

linguists in the analysis of news. Van Dijk concluded his review of different

approaches by advocating this last strand of news studies, an approach that

combines "linguistic, discourse analytic, psychological and sociological analysis

of news discourse and news processes" (ibid.: 15).

News is generally regarded as a genre with a number of subdivisions or sub-genres.

Research interests could be classified according to the means of transmission studied (e.g.

radio, television, press or web-news). It has been observed that press news have received

the largest share of analysis and scrutiny, followed by television news and lastly radio

news (see Wodak and Busch 2004). Another angle of looking at the news is through the

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type of news stories. The news genre is normally divided into four categories (adapted

from Bell 1991:14):

- hard news: this is the prime product of news journalism, including elements

such as reports of accidents, conflicts, crimes, announcements, discoveries

and other events which have occurred or come to light since the previous issue

of the paper or a news bulletin broadcast.

- feature articles: these are longer articles, they are usually not time-bound and

carry more direct opinion and comment.

- special-topic news, such as sports, economy/business, arts, technology.

- peripheral materials, such as headlines, crossheads or subheadings, bylines

and captions. These appear as adjuncts to the news story, usually separated by

blank space or presented in a different font size in newspapers.

Hard news stories are the core of news industry. They figure on first pages or at the

beginning of news bulletins. It is the type of news that journalists endeavour to collect

and highlight (ibid.). As such, it is also the feature that has produced most of the research

literature on the news. When researchers tackle the ‘language of the news’, the ‘news

genre’ or ‘news discourse’, they refer invariably to hard news.

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2.3. News Selection Criteria

News, as a form of media text, is a representation of reality. As no representation reflects

the whole reality, news producers have to select certain aspects of the reality they are

reporting about to represent and present. Fairclough points out that in an analysis of

representation in a text, one has to take account of “[…] what choices are made – what is

included and what is excluded, and what is foregrounded and what is backgrounded, what

is thematized and what is unthematized and what process types and categories are drawn

upon to represent events […]” (Fairclough 1995:104).

Representation in the news requires decisions from the news producers as to the criteria

to be followed in selecting news stories and subsequently in presenting the elements of

those stories, i.e. what Fairclough referred to in the quotation above as the “process types

and categories” which journalists depend on to represent events in a news story.

Citing Warren (1934), Wodak (1996: 100) states that news should consist of, and contain,

ten elements: actuality, nearness, consequentiality, public importance, drama, curiosity,

conflict, sex, emotion and progress. Other researchers have used these elements with

different labels and classification, and with varying degrees of elaboration and expansion

(see section 2.3.1. below).

In this vein, one of the areas that attracted early academic attention to the news was the

question of the criteria for newsworthiness. Researchers explored what makes a certain

story find its way to publication or broadcasting instead of another. This interest has

resulted in what has come to be known as ‘news values’ (see Bell 1991: 155-174).

53
News values play different roles and are perceived differently by different researchers.

Golding and Elliot (1996: 409) maintain that news values are used in two distinct ways.

On the one hand, news values are criteria of selection from material available to the news

room of those items worthy of inclusion in the final product. On the other hand, they act

as guidelines for the presentation of items, indicating what to stress, what to exclude, and

where to give priority in their presentation to the audience.

Bell (1991: 155) simply states "the values of news drive the way in which news is

presented". He confirms that these are values which are not neutral. They reflect the

ideologies of the society as well as the priorities it holds. He uses the terms news values

and news factors interchangeably. Although Bell relies on the work of Galtung and Ruge,

he expands their categories, renames some of them, adds new categories and re-classifies

them into three major classes. According to this classification, news factors belong to any

of the following: factors that determine the content of the news, the nature of subject

events and actors; factors related to the news process; and factors related to the news text

(Bell 1991: 156).

While many researchers look at news values as internal factors that affect the news

production process, some other external factors are highlighted as well. Van Dijk points

out how news values are related to market powers and their interrelated interests. He

states that:

"… those news values formulated in the economic terms of news production in

different market systems and within profit-oriented organizations. Constraints

such as sales and subscriptions, budgets for news gathering, or the amount of

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advertising, to name only a few factors, determine the general limitations on the

amount of editorial space. Assumed beliefs and opinions of both powerful news

actors (sources) and the public determine agendas for topics and issues and the

ideological orientation of opinions formulated or implied by selection and

treatment of stories." (Van Dijk 1988: 120)

Mayr (2008b: 1-2) points to these values with reference to their institutional background.

She maintains that institutional power and politics are frequently exercised through the

discourse of the members of the institutions in question. As such, news media are

expected to provide an impartial and balanced coverage of important political and social

events, observing that this is an important task they strive to undertake. However, she

observes that news outlets are also large entities that need to maintain themselves and

their positions. "They need to operate as well-oiled machines to process and deal with the

stuff of their business. What this means in practice is that to some extent it is the

institutional procedures and practices that define what becomes news more so than the

events themselves" (Mayr, 2008b, 1-2) (see further the discussion of institutional

constraints and commercialisation of news in sections 2.6. and 2.6.2., respectively,

below).

Having outlined the origin, rationale and interpretation of news values, I will discuss in

the following section some of some of these factors, their definitions and uses.

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2.3.1. News Values

Conboy (2007: 30) maintains that the news values of a particular newspaper or broadcast

channel are one of the ways in which the social targeting of news could be identified. As

mentioned above, a few events in the world are unanimously considered news items that

are worthy of publication for every news organization. Moreover, different degrees of

priority are accorded, within different news institutions, to those stories which are

considered global or of interest to larger segments of audience, such as natural disasters

and wars involving different nations. The factors listed below are among the attributes

identified by different researchers regarding the choice and prioritization of news items

for specific audiences.

Novelty. This value is considered a core value of news stories. The etymological origin of

the word ‘news’ confirms this claim. According to the Online Dictionary of Etymology

the word ‘news’ is the plural form of the word ‘new’ (noun), meaning ‘new things’;

following the French ‘nouvelles’, used in Bible translations to render the Middle Latin

word ‘nova’ (neutral plural) (Douglas 2001).18 The simplest definition of novelty in this

context is that what goes into news is supposed to be something new that the audience did

not know before, or an update supplementing new information to what has already been

known. Van Dijk (1988: 121) defines novelty cognitively by stating that this means the

cognitive model communicated by a news story must contain information not yet present

in the current models of the audience. Other researchers simply include this value within

the second factor, i.e. recency (see Bell 1991: 156)

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Recency. Recency is an element closely related to novelty and that may overlap with it.

However, novelty is considered from the perspective of the receiver, while recency is

looked at from the side of the story itself. For Golding and Elliot, recency means that the

news should be up-to-date and should refer to contexts as near the time of transmission as

possible (Golding and Elliot 1996: 409). Bell estimates the news cycle to be 24 hours for

the press and television, and hourly for radio news (Bell 1991: 156). Van Dijk gives a

longer time span for recency by limiting it to be between one and several days. However,

these estimations predate the current 24-hour news broadcasting and breaking news

practices. The Web permits an even shorter span.

Relevance. What is reported in the news is supposed to be of considerable significance

for large numbers of the audience. Golding and Elliot (1996: 407) refer to this value as

importance. As for news reporters and editors, “achieving relevance for a story causes

much head-scratching and labour in the newsrooms”, according to Bell (1991: 156).

However, relevance is a relative value that is not easy to define in concrete terms.

Deciding what is relevant on behalf of the audience is a matter that could raise many

question marks. Do news producers really care about providing their audience with the

type of news they really need to know? Or do they decide, based on reasons far from the

audience interests, what is relevant, and endeavour to arouse the audience's interest

through different persuasive means? As an example, what could be the relevance of

transmitting detailed news of Hollywood celebrities to poor receivers in Africa or Asia,

for instance? (See also section 2.6.2. below).

Size. According to Golding and Elliot, the bigger the story, the greater the likelihood that

it will be included, and the greater the prominence with which it will be presented. As an

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example of size criteria, Golding and Elliot (1996: 408) cite the numbers or type of

people involved. Bell refers to this factor as superlativeness (Bell 1991: 157), stating that

events and entities that go beyond a certain threshold get covered, such as the biggest

stadium or tallest building, the most violent crime, the most destructive fire, or the

number of casualties in an accident or war. This size factor drives news reporters to

sprinkle their stories with figures and other indications of magnitude.

Proximity. A factor that is closely related to other values, proximity is looked at

differently by different researchers, with reference either to audience or to the question of

accessibility (Golding and Elliot 1996: 408). Geographical and cultural proximity is often

cited as an example. Bell focuses on proximity of place stating that proximity "means

quite simply that geographical closeness can enhance news values" (Bell 1991: 157).

However, he also notes that the extent of cultural familiarity and similarity between

countries, and not only the geographical distance between them, are a feature of

proximity. According to van Dijk, local and ideological proximity of news can be

inferred from various other criteria, such as consonance and knowledge presupposition

(van Dijk 1988: 124). As such Australia could be considered nearer to the United

Kingdom than to Papua New Guinea.

Consonance. News stories are expected to be compatible with socially-shared norms,

values and attitudes (Van Dijk 1988: 121). According to Bell (1991: 157), consonance

reflects compatibility of preconceptions regarding the social groups to which news actors

belong. News editors follow certain stereotypes concerning how particular groups or

people behave (e.g. political rallies, demonstrations, royal families’ conduct, etc.) (ibid.).

As an example of consonance, news reports about the Middle East tend to focus on

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conflict and fighting; accordingly positive news might be excluded because it lacks this

factor in addition to other factors, such as deviance and negativity (see below).

Deviance and Negativity. It is not surprising to see that most news bulletins contain a

considerable percentage of bad news. Golding and Elliot (1996: 409) claim that bad news

is good news. They refer the interest of news producers in the factor of negativity to the

origin of the news industry. As a service to the world of business, news started in the

form of information about interruptions that could affect the flow of commercial goods

(Conboy 2007: 5). These interruptions could include "loss of merchandise at sea,

financial upheavals in commercial centres or war" (Golding and Elliot 1996: 409). Bell

confirms that negative events are the basic components of 'spot' news, as they contain "a

number of concepts such as damage, injury or death, which make disasters and accidents

newsworthy" (Bell 1991: 156).

These are only examples of news values or factors mentioned in the literature. The list is

certainly not exhaustive and different researchers view, classify and regroup them

differently. Other values mentioned in the literature include: unambiguity,

unexpectedness, personalization, quality of attribution (Bell 1991), drama,

presupposition, brevity, elites and personalities, visual attractiveness, entertainment

(Golding and Elliot 1996), continuity, competition, co-option, composition,

predictability, clarity, colour (Bell 1991).

News values are not a central point of my research. However in the discussion of the

news selected for analysis reference will be made to the prevalent news values and their

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impact on the stories posted on the websites in question (see, for instance, sections 4.3.1.

and 5.3. below).

2.4. News, Agenda-Setting and Gatekeeping

In the previous section, I presented the types of research that treat news from the

production viewpoint. News stories are looked at depending on the criteria that make

them newsworthy, i.e. their news values, and hence publishable items. In this section, I

present another strand of research that has a considerable influence on research in the

field of news. Within this approach, researchers look at how news affects the audience,

and particularly the potential electorate. One of the areas of interest in this type of news

analysis is the study of news as a means of agenda-setting. Agenda-setting research has

emerged from content analysis studies and has been most popular in the United States

(see Spring 2002).19

Agenda Setting is defined as the process whereby the mass media determine what people

think and worry about (Spring 2002)20 (see the discussion of relevance under news values

(section 2.3.1. above) and news and ideology (section 2.5.3. below)). According to

agenda-setting researchers, the media dominate over the creation of pictures in the

receivers’ minds, and the public reacts not to actual events, but to the pictures created in

their minds by the media (ibid.).21

It is argued that agenda setting is not a spontaneous process that affects the public as

passive recipients of media messages (Wilson 2001: 14). It is considered to be an active

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process orchestrated by certain people who wield power in the media (ibid.). Researchers

in this field claim that the media uses gatekeeping and agenda setting in order to control

the public’s access to news, information, and entertainment (ibid.). Gatekeeping

represents a stage that precedes agenda setting. It consists of a series of points that the

news has to pass through before it reaches the public. Through this process, different

people decide whether or not certain news is to be seen or heard. Gatekeepers might

include writers and editors (Spring 2002).22

Although he does not use the term gatekeeping, Bell (1991: 35) refers to this practice

under the heading “many hands make tight work”. He states that (ibid.: 36):

“The cyclical nature of the process in a small newsroom where staff are

constantly interchanging makes it difficult to identify whose hand has produced

which language forms. If a story is complex, [it] requires more information,

checking between newswrokers or back to sources, more parties come in on the

process”

Research on news and agenda setting has developed separately from other types of news

research, such as the study of news as discourse (see section 2.5. below) and research on

news values (see section 2.3.1. above). In an interdisciplinary approach to news, agenda-

setting research could provide an important linking factor that might provide insights

from a different viewpoint. Although not directly focused on by agenda setting-

researchers, the question of ideological positions that affect gatekeeping and agenda-

setting practices is of paramount importance for understanding the impact of news on

individuals and societies.

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The concept of gatekeeping has special importance in my research as it is related to the

question of news selection and translation. I will discuss further how the role of

gatekeeping in news could influence and complicate the transfer of news stories across-

languages, as well as how its influence on the globalisation/localisation processes (see

section 2.7 below).

2.5. News as Discourse

It was mentioned earlier that studies in discourse analysis in general, and in Critical

Discourse Analysis (CDA) in particular, pay special attention to media texts, and

particularly to news as a special domain of discourse where the relations of power, of

struggle and of presumed transparency come into play (see Wodak and Meyer 2001).

In linguistics news has found its special place in discourse analysis studies because they

correspond to the basic elements that define discourse: as a stretch of language larger

than the sentence and as language in use (see section 1.1.1. above). Taking the distinction

between ‘text’ and ‘discourse’ referred to above, news is thus a textual (linguistic

domain) realization of discourse (social domain).

Researchers studying the language of the news media seek to do something which,

according to Conboy (2007), editors, journalists or reporters do not have the time nor

often the inclination to do. They attempt to conduct a systematic analysis of language

patterns “on various themes across the news in order to further our understanding of the

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social implications of this language. This approach allows a critical perspective to emerge

while respecting what people do in journalism” (Conboy 2007: .2).

Research on news as discourse has taken different approaches, including, among others:

macrostructure news patterns; intertextual analysis; micro-level analysis of discursive

features; news as narrative; and so on.

2.5.1. News Structure

Macrostructure analysis of news discourse sets out to analyse news stories in a quest to

determine the global patterns or the schemata that characterize those stories. Attempts are

made to find recurrent structures across languages and topics as far as the form and

content of news are concerned (see, for instance, van Dijk 1985, 1988).

Different approaches are taken in addressing the structural organization and topical

content of news. Some researchers apply categories derived from narrative structure

theory to news stories. Bell (1991: 147) notes what has become a maxim in the treatment

of news as narrative by maintaining that “Journalists do not write articles. They write

stories. A story has a structure, direction, point, viewpoint”. In this section, I will present

examples of analysing news as discourse with some elaboration, as they are specifically

related to my own subsequent analysis.

Van Dijk (1985c) proposes a framework for analysing the structures of news discourse in

the press. In this analytical framework he acknowledges the complexities of textual

structures and, consequently, the complexities of news discourse as well. The proposed

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framework is therefore restricted in its focus on what van Dijk labels “the global

organization of news” (emphasis in the original) (van Dijk 1985c: 71). He identifies the

realm of such a framework as encompassing only news structures beyond the sentence

level, while ignoring smaller linguistic units, such as syntactic, semantic, stylistic or

rhetorical features of sentences (ibid.). He further points out that the analysis, similarly,

excludes certain properties of news such as graphical organization and nonverbal

features, such as layout and photographs. He declares that his analysis is concerned with

“macro phenomena, rather than with the micro-organization of news discourse” (ibid.).

This type of analysis is usually limited to news in the press, and does not include analysis

of television and radio news (ibid.: 69), although similarities prevail across the different

means of news transmission.

A survey of different types of web-news shows that it has basically adopted the features

of press news, rather than other types of news, such as television or radio. Further, such a

framework allows for a cross-linguistic analysis that tries first to look at global structures

before considering individual cases at the micro-level that could be language-specific.

However, this analytical framework is quite adequate for analysing the textual content of

web-news rather than any other of its elements, such as audio or visual elements that need

to be treated separately (see section 2.8. below).

According to van Dijk (1985c), this analytical framework consists of two elements: a

semantic element, represented by the thematic structure of discourse, and a formal

element represented by the schemata of texts. He defines the interplay of these elements

as follows:

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“By the thematic structure of a discourse, we understand the overall organization

of global topics a news item is about. Such a thematic analysis takes place against

the background of a theory of semantic macrostructures. These are the formal

representation of the global content of a text or dialogue, and therefore

characterize part of the meaning of a text. Schemata, on the other hand, are used

to describe the overall form of a discourse. We use the theoretical term

superstructure to describe such schemata. Schemata have a fixed, conventional

(and therefore culturally variable) nature for each type of text. We assume that

also news discourse has such a conventional schema, a news schema, in which the

overall topics or global content may be inserted.” (Van Dijk 1985c: 69)

It is believed that this framework is used by journalists to formulate their news stories

and by readers to interpret the news they read or listen to, albeit unconsciously (ibid.). To

arrive at the topic of a story van Dijk proposes macrorules that are applied to generate the

theme of the whole story first and then they are applied successively to the lower parts,

sub-themes, of the story. These rules aim to summarize complex situations, manage huge

amounts of information and provide a reasonable news story. They are called, therefore,

rules of summarization (ibid.: 76). These macrorules include: deletion of information,

through elimination of details that are considered irrelevant or redundant for the story in

question; generalization, by using higher categories to regroup multiple instances of the

category; and construction, which is similar to generalization as far as verbs are

concerned (ibid.: 77). While in generalization a group of nouns is classified under the

umbrella of one noun, in construction a group of actions is described by one word instead

of detailing a process that otherwise needs to be broken down in several actions.

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According to van Dijk (1991: 114-115), each news story has a schema featuring regular

categories that provide the different functions of information included in a news reports.

Such a schema consists of the following elements: summary or nucleus23 (headline and

lead), followed by satellite paragraphs containing main events, backgrounds (context and

history), consequences (consequent events or actions), verbal reactions and comments

(evaluation and prediction). Some of these categories are obligatory (summary and main

event), whereas others are optional. (For details of each category and the different macro-

and micro-rules appliedm see van Dijk (1988: 30ff)). The satellite paragraphs support the

nucleus following the order that is traditionally referred to in news studies as the

‘inverted pyramid’ framework. According to Barkho (2007: 12-13), the discourse within

the inverted pyramid consists mainly of four layers: quoting, paraphrasing, background

and comment.

The information in the schema is characterized by its discontinuous nature (Van Dijk

1985c: 79) . It is provided by instalments in a step-by-step structure throughout the news

text; it is generally governed by the principle of relevance (ibid.): The most important

information, i.e. that most relevant to the topic, is presented first, followed by lower (less

important) levels, and finally come the details of each respective schematic category (van

Dijk, 1988: 178). For this reason they do not follow any temporal order; time frames and

progression have no particular significance in the presentation of news. The application

of these rules leads to the relegation of most of the contextual and background

information to lower parts of the news article. The practice in news production also

favours stories that could be cut short at any point. Accordingly, the most important

information will always be retained, even if a story were to be limited to a headline and a

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lead paragraph, or even a headline only (see sections 2.5.1.1 and 2.5.1.2. below). This is

confirmed by Bell’s (1991: 174) remark that “the minimal, well-formed, modern news

text […] is a one-sentence story.”

Based on the categorization illustrated above, the following elements can be identified as

the basic ingredients of the schemata applied in most news stories: headline(s), lead

paragraph and satellite paragraphs consisting of quotations, paraphrasing and comment.

Below follows a brief description of each element and its role in a news story.

2.5.1.1. Headlines

Headlines and lead paragraphs constitute what some scholars refer to as the Summary of

the news story (see van Dijk 1991: 114), while others label it the Nucleus (see Barkho

2008). Bell (1991: 176) attaches a higher importance to lead paragraphs and treats them

prior to the headlines. However, I will start by showing the importance and describing the

characteristics of the headline, following a linear order of presentation and preferring to

treat them separately from lead paragraphs for reasons, I explain below.

Each news story has one or more headlines. A headline is usually considered the most

important part of a news story, by token of its formal position and structure as well as by

its semantic content. Historically speaking, according to Conboy (2007: 13):

“There has always been some form of headline summary of content in newspapers

from earliest times but these have become more sophisticated over time in terms

of technologies of layout and more stylized in their linguistic structure in order to

67
maximize their impact on a particular readership. In the same way, there is also

much use of headlines in mainstream television and radio news.”

The importance of headlines is also highlighted by the fact that some news outlets do not

provide more than headlines (such as certain online news services) (Conboy 2007: 13).

This is supplemented by the fact that headlines are being increasingly used separately

from their full stories on websites, SMS news messages, and on-screen breaking news

items. When formulated, they need to keep their characteristic of brevity while containing

the maximum amount of information possible. See the following examples from the

CNN’s websites in English and Arabic (the details of which appear in Chapter 5 below):

Iraqi police: Najaf wasn’t prepared for officers (CNN International, 1 June 2004)

(Iraqi Police withdraws from Najaf) (CNN Arabic, 1 June

2004)

! " # $%& : (Saudi Arabia: killing of two [persons] related to al-

Khobar incident) (CNN Arabic, 2 June 2004)

0 '()* +, "- . /), (Confrontation in Najaf between Al-

Mahdi's army and Iraqi police) (CNN Arabic, 10 June 2004)

Fatah leader sentenced to 5 life terms (CNN International, 6 June 2004)

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In all types of news media, and especially in the press, in addition to being the first

indicator of the content and perspective of the story which follows, the headlines can be

assigned three functions (Conboy 2007: 13), which are:

- they provide a brief summary of the main news

- they attract attention

- they provide an initial indicator in their content and style of the news values of

the newspaper and are an important part of the way in which the newspaper

appeals to its audience

It should be observed that headlines reach a wide range of receivers, many more than

those who read the full news story in the press or otherwise follow the whole broadcast

news report. For example, some people might only browse newspapers by looking at the

headlines. In other news media, such as television and radio, headlines are usually read at

the beginning of a news bulletin and repeated many times through the day. Some people

might listen to the headlines to decide whether to listen to the rest of the news bulletin or

to change channels. Others might be interested only on the headlines as a source to satisfy

their limited interest in news.

If we look at the Web, as the main focus of interest in this research, headlines there play a

similar role to what is mentioned above. Headlines take the role of orienting readers to

the news. Headlines of important stories are usually displayed on a homepage of the news

website for longer periods of time or repeated in different parts of the homepage, on other

sub-pages and beside or within related full stories. They are used as hyperlinks to stories,

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and they serve as mobile components within websites, together with their links, that are

copied and pasted to different places in the same website or in other websites.

2.5.1.2. Lead paragraphs

Following the orientation offered by the headline, as the first indicator of the content and

perspective of the story which follows (Conboy 2007:17), the lead in the news story is the

opening textual material language summarizing the main story that follows. Researchers

confirm that leads are complex linguistic units, heavily loaded with ideological

perspectives (ibid.).

Bell (1991: 176) considers the lead to be the most distinctive feature of the news

discourse. It is "packed with information and news appeal, but as short as possible and

clearly understood. News worthiness, brevity and clarity are the values of the lead".

Bell’s analysis of lead paragraphs yields the following features (ibid.: 179-180): (i) they

usually contain the actors, main event and place – journalists’ who, what and where; (ii)

the lead concentrates the news value of the story; (iii) they mostly attributing the

international agency, but rarely other sources of their information; (iv) most of them

begin with who – the main actors; (v) most leads cover two stories and not one; (vi) they

embed previous events, to give background, and some time commentary through an

evaluative clause.

As the basic feature of the leads is their brevity, generally their maximum length is found

be around 30 words, though Bell states his preference for only 20 words (Bell 1991: 183),

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and van Dijk found the average in international reporting to be 25 words (van Dijk 1988:

79). Moreover, leads are governed in journalistic practice by a strict rule of non-repetition

(Bell, 1991: 184). While the headline contains a summary of the story that will be

detailed in the lead and other satellite paragraphs, the information in the lead is not

permitted to be repeated in the story. Bell explains that "the journalist must do all this

labouring under a severe condition: not to repeat yourself", and he further adds that

"Leads also often contain information which never resurfaces in the body of the story"

(ibid.). This gives the lead a special importance, as a summary and a beginning of the

story.

However, the thematic position of the lead and its content conditions puts into question

the customary scholarly attitude of considering the headline and the lead to constitute one

unit: the summary or nucleus referred above. Formally speaking this could be true, as

both are place at the beginning of the story. Nevertheless, a summary usually contains

information that is repeated and detailed in the body of the summarized text, which is true

as far as the headline is concerned but is not true of the lead.

In my analysis, Chapter 5, below, I pay special attention to both headlines and leads.

Headlines will be analysed separately within an overview of the stories in the corpus,

while the leads will be analysed together with the stories that they belong to.

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2.5.1.3. Satellite Paragraphs

I mentioned earlier that news journalism follows the traditional inverted triangle. In the

news triangle the “most important elements, those which are closest to the news values of

that particular part of the newspaper, are presented first, and then followed by

information in a descending hierarchy of importance to the background material”

(Conboy 2007: 18).

Contextual information is usually relegated to the end of the story. Conboy (2007:19)

observes that such a decision does not mean that this position is the place where it

belongs, but rather because this is how information is prioritized within the economic and

cultural traditions of newspapers. It is either assumed that such background information

is common knowledge, or it is considered to be of subordinate priority.

In the news schemata, satellite paragraphs contain the following (Bell 1991:170):

Follow-up: any action subsequent to the main action of an event

Commentary: journalist's or news actors' observations, context, comparison with

previous stories, and it may contain expectations held by the journalist or news

actor on how the situation could develop next.

Background: previous events that preceded the current one. 'Previous episodes' if

relatively recent, history if they go beyond the near past. (Ibid.)

The discussion of the thematic and schematic structure of news stories above applies

specifically to the contents and format of satellite paragraphs. They contain the layers of

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discourse referred to as quoting, paraphrasing, background and comment. Information is

presented by in instalments, narrowed down to the tip of the ‘inverted pyramid’.

Research on the structure of Arabic news stories shows that they follow the same pattern

of the ‘inverted pyramid’, as outlined above (Khalifa 1980: 83). However, some research

have identified some internal differences, especially with regard to the foregrounding and

backgrounding of information (see, for instance, Khalil 2000). My analysis will

endeavour to identify any other salient differences between the two languages as far as

news on the Web is concerned.

2.5.2. Micro-linguistic Analysis

News discourse does not take shape or embody ideological positions only at the macro-

level structures of discourse, but also many micro linguistic devices are used in framing

news actors and events.

Research has shown that linguistic tools such as transactive/non-transactive verbs,

transitivity, passive/active voice, modality, nominalisations, relational/actional verbs, as

well as lexical choices and lexical cohesion and use of metaphor are widely used to

convey ideological positions in the language of news, as the examples and the discussion

below will show.

The traditional linguistic paradigmatic and syntagmatic structures could be used to

explain some of the linguistic options at the lexical and syntactic levels. These structures

are based on the fact that the sequence of signs used to make up any act of

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communication involves relations in two dimensions: i.e. the vertical axis of choice, or

selection, i.e. the paradigmatic axis, and the horizontal axis of chain, or combination, i.e.

the syntagmatic axis. The example below, adapted from Hartley (1982), shows such

vertical and horizontal choices and possibilities of selection.

soldiers

freedom-fighters

militants

guerillas

terrorists today attacked syntagm

volunteers

gunmen

paradigm

(Adapted from Hartley (1982: 20))

Figure 2. Choices at the paradigamatic and syntagmatic levels

This example shows the process of paradigmatic selection and syntagmatic ordering at an

elementary order of discourse, i.e. the lexical level. However, it reveals how political

positions, ideologies and power relations could be displayed in news construction. Clark

(1992) refers to the same practice when discussing naming, as one aspect at the

paradigmatic axis. She states that:

“Naming is a powerful ideological tool. It is also an accurate pointer to the

ideology of the namer. Different names for an object represent different ways of

perceiving it. An example from another area of violence illustrates this: how do

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you refer to a person who seeks political aims using aggression? Is s/he a terrorist,

guerrilla, freedom fighter, rebel, or resistance fighter? Different connotations of

legitimacy and approval are carried by these labels. The naming of participants in

a case of assault works in a similar way.” (Clark 1992: 209).

The syntagmatic axis could also be used to convey certain ideological positions. As an

illustrative example, the following grammatical variations of the same sentence are

highlighted by van Leeuwven (2009: 280-290), revisiting an earlier critical linguistic

analysis by Trew (1979):

Rhodesian police killed thirteen unarmed Africans

Thirteen demonstrators died when police opened fire

Thirteen demonstrators were killed by the police

A political clash has led to death and injury.

These examples show that the use of grammatical structures such as active/passive,

transitive/intransitive or nominalisations could convey different viewpoints and might

have different effects on the receiver. The choices range from attributing direct

responsibility to the ‘agent’ to the complete disappearance of any responsibility.

Conboy (2007: 54) notes that non-transitive verbs are often used to obscure the source of

the story and are also a common device used in political news stories in order to conceal

agency. This is demonstrated by examples such as ‘it emerged yesterday’, ‘it was

revealed’, ‘source close to the Prime Minister claimed…’ (ibid.). Such non-transitive

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verbs, together with nominalizations and passives, are also used, as Richardson observes

(2004: 58), to "obfuscate responsibility by backgrounding (or often deleting) agency and

causality" (emphasis in the original).

Naming and other referential devices are also used to indicate certain positions, as

mentioned above. The name, title, position, descriptive traits, social affiliation or ethnic

origin and other similar traits could be used to name people and entities differently in

order to emphasise certain traits or establish ‘in-group’/‘out-group’ categorizations (see,

for instance, Reisigl and Wodak (2001) on the use of ‘referential strategies’ and

‘predicational strategies’ in racist discourse, cited by Richardson (2004: 56)).

2.5.3. News and Ideology

When outlining the theoretical framework (see section 1.3.1. above), I discussed the

importance of ideology and power in CDA. Kelly (1998: 58) remarks that recent research

trends in critical linguistics and critical discourse analysis have paid considerable

attention to media texts and how the use of language contributes to maintaining social

consensus regarding dominant ideological positions. Research in this vein has shown that

what applies to the media in general, applies more particularly to news as well.

Van Dijk (1988: 179) observes that although news language was not found to be a

persuasive discourse in principle or intention, it might well have persuasive dimensions

in a rather indirect sense. Although news journalists do not argue for nor adopt a position

or an opinion frankly, they certainly presuppose or insinuate such positions or opinions,

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through indirect inclusion of their social and ideological viewpoints. Further, he adds that

"even professionally speaking, a news report will have to signal its credibility and

therefore exhibit its truth claims" (ibid.). Signalling credibility depends usually on

selecting sources and attributions (see section 2.6.1. below).

Fowler (1991: 4) maintains that since news is socially constructed, what is presented as

news does not reflect the intrinsic significance of the events that are reported. News is

rather a reflection of complex procedures consisting of a number of artificial criteria for

selection, transformation and presentation. Fowler further maintains that "news is a

representation of the world in language; because language is a semiotic code, it imposes a

structure of values, social and economic in origin, on whatever is represented; and so

inevitably news, like every discourse, constructively patterns that of which it speaks.

News is a representation in this sense of construction; it is not a value-free reflection of

'facts'”. He further points out that “there are always different ways of saying the same

thing, and they are not random, accidental alternatives. Differences in expression carry

ideological distinctions (and thus differences in representation).” (Fowler 1991:4).

The discussion of news and ideology in general, and multilingual news stories in

particular, is highly relevant to this research as indicated in my theoretical framework

(see section 1.3.1.1. above). They will therefore be referred to in different parts of this

literature review and in the analysis in Chapter 4.

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2.5.3.1. Bias and Objectivity

Bias and objectivity are among the factors that research on news and ideology looks at. In

essence news reports are expected to be objective representations of events and of the

world (see Mayr 2008b: 2). News journalists are expected to be objective, neutral and

accurate observers of and reporters on what happens (Machin, 2008: 62). As Hachten

(1999: xx) puts it:

“[…] in the dangerous, strife-ridden world of the late twentieth century, I believe

that the billions of people inhabiting this planet deserve to know more about the

events and trends that affect their lives and well-being. Only journalists who are

free and independent of authoritarian controls and other constraints can begin the

difficult task of reporting the news and information we all need to know.”

Some scholars maintain that newspapers have historically played that role. Conboy

(2007: 5) remarks that earlier newspapers were characterized by the motivation to make

available the factual information that used to distinguish them from the other types of

printed material, such as “the more controversial broadsides and pamphlets” (ibid.). He

further points out that lapses in “this 'facticity' were what critics of newspapers held

against the press, which meant that early newspapers endeavoured to be as accurate as the

technologies and communications of the time would allow” (ibid.).

This view is echoed by Machin (2008: 62) who maintains that "the consensual view of

the role of the journalist is a seeker of truth, the eyes and ears of the people". He further

confirms that, from such a perspective, “journalism is viewed as an independent power

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that endeavours bravely to find the facts and deliver them to the public with neutrality, so

that the truth could be known” (ibid.).

In spite of Conboy’s (2007) reference to the ‘facticity’ of reporting in early newspapers,

he further acknowledges that such ‘facticity’ did not mean a fundamental quest for

objectivity. However, he maintains that “[d]espite their reliance on a factual reporting

style […], newspapers are relatively new to the concept of objectivity as a professional

ideal. Eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century newspapers were notorious for their

overt support for the political and commercial positions and interests which often

subsidized them for that support […]. [I]t was only at the start of the end of the

nineteenth century that newspapers began to consistently adhere to certain common

perception of objectivity as a means of promoting their own professionalism and political

independence” (Conboy, 2007: 19). In the same regard, Machin and Leeuwen (2007)

note that

“Early nineteenth-century newspapers were an important vehicle of political

communication. They did not yet separate ‘fact’ and ‘comment’. They openly

took sides in political issues and carried editorials on the front page in which they

conducted debates with ‘correspondents’ that could last for days.” (Machin and

van Leeuwen 2007: 8)

Research on news discourse consistently shows that news producers tend, despite their

strict obligation of adherence to objectivity, to use means that favour certain ideological

positions and certain social or political groups as well as those that discredit others. Such

ideological positions find their way into news stories through the selection of stories,

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what to foreground and what to background, what type of background and contextual

information to provide and how to present these (see section 2.3. above), and in addition

through the selection of sources and attribution (see section 2.6.1. below).

2.5.3.1. ‘Othering’ Discourse in the News

Considerable research in critical discourse analysis has investigated ‘othering’ discourse

in media texts (for a comprehensive recent review see Kryżanowski and Wodak 2009:

13-24). Those studies look at how the relationship between ‘us’, on the one side, and

‘them’,24 on the other side, are represented in discourse. Research has identified a number

of discursive strategies used by the in-group of ‘us’ to assert its positions and marginalize

or stigmatize the out-of-the-group others, i.e. ‘them’.

Kelly (1998: 58) observes that various research strands in critical linguistics and critical

discourse analysis have paid special attention to the ways in which the use of language

contributes to maintaining the social consensus regarding dominant ideological positions,

and thus the interests of the dominant groups in society. She adds that research on

othering discourse has paid particular attention to the role of language in the construction

of social consensus regarding the so-called ‘out-groups’, such as foreigners, immigrants

or homosexuals (ibid.).

Conboy (2007: 26) observes that “news media are directed towards particular groups of

people, whether on the basis of their nationality, social standing or educational

attainment. The first imperative for any news organization is to categorize which people

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and which events are of interest for their particular audience.” He further asserts that

language is a distinction-making machine that can create both distance and solidarity

between different entities. In this case, the pair ‘us/them’ could demonstrate the relations

of solidarity/distance and project positive characteristics attributed to the ‘self’ and

negative characteristics attributed to the ‘other’ (ibid.).

Sourcing and attribution have been mentioned as one of the tools used by the media for

reproducing and maintaining ideological positions. Referring to sourcing and

legitimisation, Mayr (2008b: 2) notes that “the news media blame certain social groups

for economic and social decline (e.g. single mothers or ‘benefit cheats’) or for rising

crime rates, leaving aside issues of social deprivation that marginalize certain people in

the first place.”

Van Dijk (1991) maintains that news racism provides systematic negative images of the

others, vitally contributing in this way to negative mental models, stereotypes, prejudices

and ideologies about those ‘others’, and hence contributing indirectly to the enactment

and reproduction of racism. He also argues that detailed and systematic discourse

analysis could provide insights into the discursive mechanisms of this role of public

discourse in the reproduction of racism, and into how the news systematically reproduces

positive images of ‘us’, and negative ones of ‘them’.

As a concrete example of the self/other dichotomy and its manifestation in news

discourse, Caldas-Clouthard (2003) examined the news recontextualization of events as

related to the representation of ‘others’ and the criteria for news selection (news values)

(see section 2.3.1. above). Exploring the news values of ‘elite nations’, ‘personalization’

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and ‘negativity’, she analysed news articles presenting the treatment by the British media

of a Brazilian immigrant in the United Kingdom, and the Brazilian media counter-

discourse. She argues that the Western media tend to reproduce, through text and image,

a colonial discourse of denigration, reinforcing the stereotype of developing countries,

which is opposed to a positive civilized image of Western countries, through legitimizing

their own superiority, and emphasising the distance between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The

counter-discourse, for its part, endeavours to reflect a beautiful, attractive image of Brazil

in a defensive approach that also parodies the elite nations discourse.

From a similar perspective, though within a different context, Conboy (2007: 34)

observes that the British elite newspapers present Britain, when reporting on the war in

Iraq, as the predominant elite nation, followed by the USA which is considered to share

an elite status with Britain. The casualties of the USA are emphasised on the one hand,

while, on the other, “the number of enemy casualties is not referred to in such stories and

even when they are, they are not aggregated over the time of the conflict” (ibid.).

Nossek (2004) maintains that the self/other dichotomy influences even the journalists'

professional code of conduct. He argues that when a foreign news story is defined as

‘ours’, then journalists’ professional practices become subordinate to their national

loyalty; and when an item is classified as ‘theirs’, then journalistic professionalism takes

the lead (Hilel 2004: 343). Accordingly, a certain act of violence could be signaled as an

act of terrorism or otherwise, depending upon the news producer’s ‘patriotic’ position

(ibid.).

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With the abundance of literature confirming the prevalence of ‘othering’ discourse in the

media in general, and in news in particular, questions are raised regarding the continuity

or change of ‘othering’ relations in multilingual and translated news stories (see section

5.4.3. below).

2.6. Institutional Constraints

It has often been indicated that what is considered to be bias or a relative lack of

objectivity is not the fault of individual journalists, but a result of the many institutional

constraints that are imposed on journalists and established through practice and

convention.

Mayr (2008b: 2) compares the institutional power of news to the power of other social

institutions, such as prisons. She argues that "[w]hile the news media play an important

role in defining what we think of as crime and criminals, other institutions have the role

of processing, punishing and reforming those who break the law. Yet in the same way,

these institutions promote and legitimize discourses of who is and is not a good citizen

and who are the evil doers among us." (ibid.) She adds further that "just as news tells us

who is bad through the definitions of the powerful who can best act as sources in the

institutional value system of news organizations, helping to legitimize the world view of

these individuals and the organizations they represent, so do prisons take their place in

maintaining the apparent logic of these discourses where crime is simply the act of bad

people. And like news organizations, prisons and other institutions are able to legitimize

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their own crucial role in the process" (emphasis in the original) (Mayr 2008b: 2). In the

same vein, Machin compares news organizations to other institutions, pointing out that

"[a]ll institutions, such as schools, hospitals and news organizations, shape, categorize

and transform reality to make it predictable and more easily manageable. Each sets up

systems, which allow them to manage reality" (Machin, 2008: 63). He argues that "we

must understand the social and cultural goings-on that lie behind news to really

understand the nature of the texts" (ibid.).

Conboy (2007) states that there are institutional sets of preference in place governing the

routines of source selection, the hierarchy of credibility in witness and respondents,

determining which story leads, and how to select and present the protagonists. Such

questions determine the perspective of the newspaper in question on the relative

importance of news issues and actors.

Machin (2008) questions the essence of the discussion about news journalists’ bias. He

argues that:

"The kinds of distortions that we often call 'bias' are trivial in the context of how

news is manufactured. In fact, thinking about news in terms of 'truth' and 'bias'

serves to distract our attention from the fundamentally institutional nature of

news." Further asserting that "… the texts we read, see or hear, the photographs

and news footage we see, should be thought about first not as about representing

reality but as the products of an institution." (Machin 2008: 63).

Barkho (2008: 133-135) asserts that such institutional constraints are “engraved in

tablets”25 in the form of guidelines which reporters and journalists are required to adhere

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to and that they become apparent when journalists move from one corporation to another.

Barkho's textual and ethnographic work has shown that journalists who move between

the BB, CNN and Aljazeera change their style and adapt easily to the discourse of the

new ‘institution’. He compares the discourse of these institutional style guidelines, with

their use of imperatives such as "do not, avoid, call …" and modals such as “will, must,

need, .“ (ibid.: 148), to the conversations that take place in contexts such those of

patient-doctor, teacher-student or officer-cadet situations. He further observes that "style

guidelines address their interlocutors from a vantage point of authority who expect their

words not to fall on deaf ears" (ibid.: 135).

Another important observation in Barkho's work is the secrecy with which media

organizations, and particularly corporations that deal with news reporting, guard their

guidelines. Those institutions:

“usually keep their style books or guidelines away from public eyes and scrutiny.

That is the case with the BBC, particularly its Middle East guide of terminology,

just as with the CNN and Aljazeera. They are meant for internal use and

electronically they are only accessible to the concerned organizational members.

[…] they mostly deal with controversial, evaluative and loaded discourse which

clearly exhibits both discursive and social traits these organizations prefer to use

with regard to certain voices.” (Barkho 2008: 135)

It is worth mentioning that institutional constraints are also exercised and maintained

through the application of news values discussed earlier (see section 2.3.1. above). These

news values reveal the underlying ideological orientation and choices adopted by news

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corporations (Conboy 2007). In the following sections, I will discuss two types of

institutional constraints, namely the sourcing and attribution practices, and the

commercialisation of news.

2.6.1. Sourcing and Attribution

It has been mentioned earlier that news producers use different ways of conveying

ideological positions in news stories (see section 2.5.3. above). Among these means

reference has been made to the use of sources, attribution and the news actors voice

practices, i.e. who are given the right to speak, and how their views are presented.

Scollon (1998: 21) argues that the bylining of writers, attribution to news agencies,

signature of letters to the editor, and ownership of identifications are similar to the

business telephone call whereby “the identification of journalists, editors, and owners

constitute a negotiated social production of textual topics – the news and their

interpretation” (ibid.).

Conboy (2007: 20) points out that although individual journalists do not refer to

themselves overtly by using the pronoun ‘I’, for instance, in the story and despite the

resistance to inserting overt commentaries on the events, newspapers clearly provide

viewpoints which are not purely objective through their selection of the stories and the

sources used (ibid.).

The sourcing and legitimization of news is considered by Mayr (2008b) to be “bound up

with the actions, opinions and values of dominant groups in society” (Mayr 2008b: 2).

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Accordingly, the media tend to function ideologically, although she acknowledges that

they do not so because of bias, but simply because of the nature of established routine

practices imposed on journalists.

Bell (1991: 192) observes that the quality of the sources affects the news value of the

story. Remarking that the more elite the source is, the more the story in question is

considered newsworthy. In this regard, Conboy (2007: 20) states that “the attribution of

sources and the descriptive/titles of the actors in the news both locate and legitimize the

values of the newspaper, selecting who has something of significance to contribute to the

public debate. Despite the fact that these belong to established patterns, they can

nevertheless carry ideological significance.”

Scollon (1998: 21) argues that “people who ‘make’ the news from politicians to victims

of tragic accidents are secondary players in the negotiations over identity and voice

which take place in the news media”. Machin (2008: 67) again asserts the predominant

influence of institutions on news. He observes that “journalists have a massive reliance

on other institutional sources, as they provide readily accessible and predictable sources

of news”.

According to Barkho (2008) “when discourse is recontextualized, voices taking part in it

do not enjoy equal opportunity to power, emphasis and authority” (Barkho 2008: 112).

As a result of such inequality of voice and the dominance of official institutional versions

of stories provided by powerful sources, unofficial sources are rarely used, and

alternative sources are often ignored, including news actors such as individuals,

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opposition parties, trade unions, minority communities and the disadvantaged (see Bell

1991: 192).

As an example of such an ideological position, Machin (2008: 67) observes that “we

often now hear of suspected terrorist prisoners awaiting trial without hearing about the

evidence of this or being clear under whose jurisdiction. But in terms of news themselves

these texts speak about the routine way that information is processed and dealt with in a

standardized way.”

It has been clearly indicated in the literature, as the examples above show, that the choice

of sources and attribution could be one area for the manifestation of ideology and power

relations. It is considered normal and predictable for news outlets with diverse political

agendas to adopt different positions (see, for instance, Barkho 2008). However, I think it

would be interesting to see whether elements such as sources, attribution and other

legitimisation processes and credentials are used when news stories are translated from

one language to another. News actors could be presented differently and offer different

rights depending on the language in which the news story is published, and upon the

target audience to whom it is addressed, albeit by the same news outlet.

2.6.2. Commercialisation of news

Reference was made above to Conboy's (2007) remark that eighteenth-century and

nineteenth-century newspapers were famous for seeking favours in the form of overt

support from the political and commercial entities that often subsidised them (see section

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2.5.3.1. above). Although this has changed with time (ibid.), financing remains a matter

that influences news media journalistic decisions, political and social positions, and

ultimately ideological orientations.

Fairclough (1995b: 40) observes that “the economics of an institution is an important

determinant of its practices and its texts.” The mass media, and news media in this

context, are no exception to the rule. According to Machin (2008) there is a need to

understand the manner in which news organizations are financed in order to understand

the nature of their news reports, including the visuals that support them.

Machin and Leeuwen (2007) confirm that news agencies since their inception have been

closely tied to market forces. Some early founders of news agencies had worked in the

banking sector before entering the news business. News was considered a commodity,

and used to supply investors with up-to-date information on stock market prices and

fluctuations. Therefore, these pioneer news agencies were established either close to

stock exchanges in major European cities or even inside those makets (see Machin and

Leeuwen 2007: 8).

Thussu (2007: 26) provides figures26 showing that the television industry in the United

States obtained 51.7 per cent of its revenue from advertisements and 47.8 per cent from

subscriptions, with only 0.5 per cent from public funding. This is the highest case he cites

of dependence on commercial funds, followed Britain with 36 per cent of revenues

coming from advertising, whereas 40 per cent come from subscriptions and 24 per cent

from public funds (ibid.).

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This high dependence on revenue from advertising and subscriptions also imposes a

commercial tendency in the news industry. News producers are forced to appeal to their

public, in order to attract more subscribers and attract more advertisers by responding to

their political positions and ‘selling’ to them the audience they accumulate. In the same

vein, Tussu (2007: 26) points out that “[t]he proliferation of television channels and news

in particular came at the same time as a historic decline in the audience for news

programming. Thus in an increasingly competitive market, broadcasters were chasing to

increase market share – but only a bigger slice of a diminishing cake.”

Courting advertisers and commercial interests has consequently influenced the news

discourse. This trend has resulted in rewriting stories to demonstrate to advertisers that

particular kinds of consumers are being addressed, and that means news must be tailored

to speak to them. Stories in this case would be chosen or reformulated with the primary

objective of responding to the need to court advertisers (Machin 2008: 65).

This trend of commercial influence is demonstrated by Machin and Mayr (2008) who

studied the anti-racism and neo liberalism in the British regional press. Their research

reveals results showing newer trends compared with earlier findings in this area. Van

Djik (1991), for instance, argued that the media produce, re-produce and continuously

emphasise a negative image of minorities, immigrants, and refugees, and contribute

accordingly to increasing forms of intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination against

those groups. A newer direction has been found to be emerging through the commercial

influence (Machin and Mayr 2008). In this model, open racism has gradually been

replaced by positive representation of ethnic minorities, avoiding anti-immigration and

problem stories, representing a broader range of people coming from diverse ethnic and

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cultural backgrounds, thus offering a picture of harmony and stability in a multi-ethnic

and multi-cultural society (ibid.: 91).

2.7. Translating News

Machin (2008: 65) observes that the analysis of two news texts about the same event

shows how “the same story has been dressed up differently”. Machin's remark concerns

one story presented differently in the same language and the same country on the same

day. ‘Dressing the story up differently’ in Machin’s example refers to changing the tone

of the story through re-focusing its narrative with the aim of accommodating a different

audience in each case. However, when news stories are translated and targeted towards

other linguistic and cultural communities quite different from the original one, the same

stories might undergo more than mere ‘dressing up differently’, to the extent of total

disguise and camouflage. Research in this area, nevertheless, is still limited. Wodak and

Busch (2004: 112) observe that:

"Researchers working in linguistics and media studies point out that there is a

serious lack of systematic research available on language and the media in

multilingual settings […] The new transnational configurations of media

landscape with their particular articulations between the local and the global

would thus necessitate deeper insights.” (Wodak and Busch 2004: 112)

Studies of news discourse have been largely characterised by a monolingual focus, with

news in English receiving most attention. Translation constitutes a process of vital

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importance to the news industry. However, with the exception of a few studies, the

majority of cross-linguistic research on news, albeit limited in extent and scope, has not

come from the discourse-oriented domain, but rather from other research domains of the

multilingual agenda, particularly from the areas of translation and cross-cultural studies.

In a multilingual world with news collected from and channelled to all kinds of culture

and linguistic groups all over the world, journalists depend largely on translation to

achieve their goals. For instance, translations are needed to convey testimonies from

participants and eyewitnesses in local settings as well as to send reports from local offices

and field correspondents to main offices in one or more international languages. At the

same time, many news agencies and different news outlets produce news in different

languages, issue multilingual news bulletins or keep multilingual websites. The same

news stories are further received by other journalists and are translated and re-translated

into a number of other languages.

In spite of the importance of translation for all the mass media, it is perceived by

journalists quite differently from its concept in translation studies (see section 1.4.1.

above). Cook (2003: 103), discussing this dichotomy of perspective, observes that "[…]

journalists think that translators are pedants and translators know that journalists are

really cowboys […]. Journalists do regard translators as the language police and, for their

part, the translators are convinced that journalists are linguistic burglars, robbing and

stealing their way around the rules.”

Moreover, translation has been given little recognition by news producers, in spite of its

role referred to above related to news collection and production at all levels. Darwish

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(2005) points out that in spite of the importance of translation in the international press,

more than 370 codes of ethics for journalists totally ignore translation as a major factor in

defining and framing news as well as assuring its neutrality and objectivity. An exception

is the code issued by the Press Foundation of Asia. This code simply states that:

“Harm can be done by distortion in translation, especially in areas where several

languages are spoken. Words and phrases may have different connotations among

different groups.”27

In my research I found, however, that some news agencies state their translation policies

in their style guidelines. For example, one news agency refers to its translation policy as

follows:

“In cases where we conduct an interview through a translator, we should identify

quotes received in that manner ("said through a translator"), as a signal to the

reader that there are limits on our ability to attest to the accuracy of the

information. In cases where the reporter does the translation, no special

designation is necessary, unless the fact that the interviewee spoke in a foreign

language is material to the story.”28

Here the news agency refers only to the identity of the translator, giving high value to

translations done by its own reporters. There is no mention of the translation itself, nor its

degree of faithfulness.

However, very recently researchers have started to consider media translation as a

distinct sub-field of translation studies that appeared and developed well away from the

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scrutiny of academic scholars of translation, and escaped all the prescriptive rules

developed in the profession (see section 1.4.1. above).

The media have developed their own concept of equivalence. Bielsa (2007: 135) observes

that a number of international news agencies were originally established by multilingual

businessmen interested in translation (ibid.).29 She emphasises the role, importance and

professional nature of translation in news agencies. Arguing that news agencies have

been designed in order to reach the global public, as well as to facilitate communication

flows between different linguistic communities, Bielsa (2007: 135) maintains that:

“If news translation has traditionally been neglected by Translation Studies it is

because it usually is in the hands of journalists rather than translators. A detailed

examination of the nature and processes involved in news translation

problematises central concepts such as authorship and equivalence and leads

Translation Studies in new directions.”

Nevertheless, Bielsa's view is not shared by all researchers. Other scholars hold the view

that those who translate news, in particular, and who translate for the media, in general,

lack the necessary training. Such translators are also accused of applying practices, as

will be elaborated below, that contradict the rules that have been established by

translation professionals and academics (see section 1.4.1. above). Commenting on the

translation of news, Kelly (1998: 59), for instance, states that:

“[…] the translations of terms published in the press are not usually carried out by

professional translators, but by journalists. […] The quality and effect of this

process, like so many others, depend to a great extent on the knowledge the

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journalist has of the source culture, on her image of her ideal reader and that

reader’s knowledge of the source culture […], on her intuitive ability as an

intercultural mediator.”

One of the milestones in the study of news translation is a research project on Translation

in Global News that culminated in a conference held on the subject in 2006.30 The

conference revealed that news translation has emerged as another important research

question affecting the very definition of translation. Presenting the research results,

Bassnett (2006: 6) acknowledges that:

“Since news translation is not strictly a matter of interlingual transfer of text A

into text B but also necessitates the radical rewriting and synthesizing of text A to

accommodate a completely different set of audience expectations, criteria

applicable to the analysis of the translation of print documents, whether technical

or literary, no longer serve the same purpose. Moreover, in news translation there

are enormous constraints of time and space to which translators of other text types

may not be subject: twenty-four hour breaking news is now a global expectation,

and the succinct, brief item of news rather than an extended account is what

twenty-first century consumers demand.”

In contrast to Bielsa's findings referred to above, the Warwick project concludes that

there is no specific training in news translation on any scale, highlighting the debate

about whether those who are engaged in interlingual news writing want to be called

translators at all, or prefer rather to describe themselves with terms such as ‘international

journalists’ (Bassnett 2006: 5).

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Gambier (2006) poses the question about whether the study of reports in the foreign press

could be helpful in better understanding how translators reproduce or change the

dominant discourse in their own societies. The areas he studied included the use of

hyperbole and understatement as tools of manipulation in the translated press. He points

out the strategies used when presenting (packaging) news in another language/culture

(ibid.: 13).

These strategies include various processing stages between spotting an event in a foreign

country and the final news product, printed for the readers, which involve: translation and

editing (referred to as transediting), and transforming the text and the structure of the

original using procedures such as re-organisation, deletion, addition, and substitution

(ibid.).

He explains (ibid.: 14) that re-organisation consists in re-structuring the source text, by

refocusing information and moving or permuting some of the details somewhere else in

the story. He explains that the re-organisation can be done either because of differences

between languages or in order to better serve the needs of the new target readership.

Deletion ranges from complete paragraph omission to omission of sentences or certain

lexical items. Addition is used in order to clarify or to make explicit some background

information and assumptions, for instance. As for substitution, it takes place when details

are made less specific (e.g. rounding figures up or down), changing the focus; or

depersonalising (e.g. replacing personal names with names of countries or positions), as

well as summarising.

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Bani (2006) also studied the standard practices and translation strategies that characterise

press translation, investigating an Italian magazine, Internazionale. The following points

could be extracted from her study (ibid.: 40-41):

- The invisibility of translators, graphically in the final print texts, and

geographically by working away from the editorial staff.

- The role of translation is to render the target text as similar as possible to a

newspaper article produced in Italian.

- Often translators are the only real experts from the linguistic and cultural point

of view who are able to appreciate the original text fully.

- Once completed, the translation goes back to the editorial office and is

considered a draft revised by several figures. First, an editor who checks the

target text against the source text (target translation – source text); secondly,

another editor proofreads exclusively the Italian version (translation); thirdly,

a copy editor, who takes care of where the translation will be inserted inside

the newspaper (translation – translations); finally, the director (translation –

translations). Three proofreaders out of four only check the Italian version.

She remarks that this shows that the final product that will reach readers is

considered more important than fidelity to the source text.

Textual manipulation carried out by the editorial board in the process described above

includes: adjusting the translation and modifying the text through reorganising the

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text, cutting, changing the paragraph structure, and altering the syntax or inserting

explanations. As for the headings, translated articles are often given completely

different ones from those of the original (ibid.: 41).

As for translation strategies related to cultural diversity, Bani (2006: 42) identifies the

following: cutting or summarising (cultural elements are either eliminated or condensed);

inclusion of explanations (cultural elements are paraphrased and/or explained through

elaboration); generalization (using a generic reference to replace a specific cultural

element); substitution (a cultural element that is not well known to the target audience is

replaced by another functionally equivalent element that is considered familiar).

Kelly (1998: 59) observes that the editorial processes that most media texts, and certainly

all news texts, go through, eliminate to a great extent the concept of a single author.

Translated news stories may go through as many as five or six different pairs of hands

before final publication, and each of those may change terms, the order of elements, etc.

It is therefore difficult in many cases to pinpoint who took the decision regarding the

final published translation of a news story. She confirms that that “the editorial filter will

almost certainly eliminate any term considered to be contrary to the editorial policy of the

newspaper concerned” (ibid.).

The fact that many hands are usually involved in preparing a news story concerns all

news items. Bell (1991: 35), stating that “many hands make tight work”, outlines the

stages through which a news story travels in a small news agency. These include: the

news source, the chief reporter, the journalist, back to chief reporter, subeditor, editor,

back to subeditor and finally to the receiving media.

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Confirming this multitude of hands working on translated texts of news, Hursti (2001)31

investigated the questions of how and why English influences the Finnish language

through the communication of international news from Reuters to the Finnish News

Agency. He concludes that

“[N]ews production from English into Finnish involves an extensive combination

of transformation and transfer decisions exercised by individual journalists

governed by various situational factors that their organisation and surrounding

culture impose upon them.” (Hursti 2001: 1)

Hursti (ibid.) equates the processes of transediting (i.e. editing and translation) with the

processes of gatekeeping (see section 2.4. above), considering them "two faces of the

same coin". The following diagram (ibid.: 2) outlines the gatekeeping (or transediting)

methods that a translated news story goes through:

(Source Hursti 2001: 2)

Figure 3: Gatekeeping process

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In the above review of the procedures used for editing translated (or transediting) news

stories, we see the recurrence of the terms re-organization, transfer, deletion and addition.

All these terms denote the considerable degree of manipulation that translated news

stories undergo. This process would result in what could be considered a re-writing and

recontextualisation (see, for instance, Muntigl et al. 2000)32 of news stories, rather than

faithful translation.

As a result of the ‘double process’ of applying gatekeeping procedures, first to the

original story and then to the translated text, with many pairs of hands doing the work,

the translation of news could hardly be called ‘translation’. The resulting product would

inevitably be a completely new text, creating a new discourse that might differ greatly

from the original. This review is essential for understanding the analysis that I will

undertake in this study, and its results, as will be shown in the chapters V and VI below.

2.7.1. Critical Approaches to the Translation of News

CDA and Translation Studies, in spite of the awareness of their mutual importance, have

not been closely linked in empirical research. Schäffner (2004: 137) notes the

considerable influence of linguistic studies on translation studies; however, she remarks

that “[…] Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, and Political Discourse

Analysis have not made use of Translation Studies concepts to a similar extent, although

analyses were conducted on the basis of translations.”

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Earlier critical linguistic studies of news have to a considerable extent investigated and

analysed news in its original languages, mainly in English, but less attention has been

paid to the cross-linguistic dimensions of news, and to news translation in particular.

However, this lacuna has recently attracted other researchers to enter this field of news

production either directly from the perspective of critical discourse analysis, or using a

related approach applying critical tools of analysis.

Kelly (1998), for instance, studied how decisions taken in translation solutions could

introduce ideological elements, in particular the positive representation of the ‘self’ and

negative representation of the ‘other’. She observes that “the lexical choices and other

solutions adopted in translation decisions negatively influence the target readers’

perception of the source culture” (ibid.: 58). She further remarks that the examples she

used in her research concerned two countries with a lot of similarities (i.e. Britain and

Spain), and wonders what the situation would be with countries that are geographically or

culturally distant or are considered to be mutually hostile countries (ibid.: 63).

Another recent example is Barkho’s research (see, for instance, Barkho, 2007)

concerning the BBC, the CNN and Al-Jazeera Middle East reporting in Arabic and

English. Barkho investigated the links that linguistic features of news stories have with

the prevailing social assumptions, ideologies and economic conditions. He observes that

differences in linguistic patterns, demonstrated in the discourse of the three news

producers, largely reflect and respond to each network’s social and political assumptions

and practices as well as economic conditions (ibid.: 11).

Critical approaches to translation, in general, and translation of the news, in particular,

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are of vital significance for my research. I believe that it is important to apply critical

analysis tools in the analysis of the routine procedures outlined above that are used in the

translation of news. Such an analysis could reveal ideologies, power relations and

manipulation of news, and possibly of reality, through the use of procedures that are

applied habitually and taken for granted in the news industry.

2.8. News on the Web and Multimodality

The Web has appeared as a new medium for news presentation. Eriksen and Ihlström

(2000: 1) state that anecdotal “evidence available shows that news reading is ranked

among the most common uses of Internet.” The authors confirm that at the end of the

twentieth century there were more than 2000 websites that offered content similar to print

and broadcast news media (ibid.).

The Web, with all the potential it offers, has attracted all types of traditional and modern

news media. Some sites have emerged as totally Web-based news outlets. However, most

well-known news sites on the Web are the offspring of traditional news media, that is

newspapers, magazines, television channels, radio stations and news agencies (Quintana

1997).33

Gambier (2006: 12) notes that “very often translated news is considered only in its verbal

dimension, and not in its complete multimodal aspects (lay out, font size, use of photos,

colors, etc.)”. He further points out that on-line newspapers are currently resulting in

“new practices in the packaging, distribution, delivery, and reception of news. One

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textual result of this shift is the emergence of a new genre: the newsbite” (ibid.).

Concurring with the same view, Arvidsson et al. (2002: 1) state that “the move from print

to multimedia will cause changes not only to the form of the news service but also to the

involved processes in the news organisations.” Quintana (op. cit.) noted, as early as 1997,

that:

“The news industry is currently undergoing major transformations as a result of

the growing popularity of the Internet […] and innovations in Internet multimedia

technologies […]. The types of news sources available on the Internet include

newspapers, news wires, cable television, news magazines, and radio stations

[…]. New technologies for the Internet include animations, direct manipulation of

graphical interfaces, and real-time, on-demand audio and video.”34

Quintana (ibid.) outlines various approaches for the electronic delivery of news, that

include: text-based websites (attempting to reflect the design and content of traditional

newspapers); multimedia content, which could be considered the most significant feature

of the Web (using photos, video and/or audio recordings of live scenes and events) (see

also van der Geest 2001); and interactivity, another major feature of the Web, which

together with its multimedia elements characterises the new medium. The latter feature

enables users to interact with, and react to, news stories in various ways, including

sending e-mails, posting immediate comments online, or choosing the type of news they

would like to receive.

Eriksen and Ihlström (2000),35 in a longitudinal, genre-focused study of three

newspapers’ websites between 1996 and 1999, confirm that the study of the sites revealed

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an emerging design language that is particular to those websites. Their study shows that

there are common elements within the general news genre, an important factor that

relates the sub-genre to the general genre on which it is based (ibid.). However, some

new features are peculiar to web-news. Among the latter, the news stream and archives

are considered to be the defining characteristics of the new news medium. Their

longitudinal approach proved that news websites, originally perceived as ‘electronic

newspapers’ had evolved further from this metaphor (ibid.). Eriksen and Ihlström

concluded that web-news sites were evolving towards ‘live’ schemes of news reporting

(ibid.).

The development of the Web at the global level has underlined the importance of

reaching out to a widespread public that speaks quite different languages and comes from

divergent cultural backgrounds. Hillier (2003: 2) points out that the “problem of

presenting multilingual websites to a range of audiences involves more than translating

the text from one language to another.” Hillier further emphasizes the essential role

played by the cultural context of prospective audiences. He stresses the fact that designers

of a website create the original website according to their cultural norms, and when the

website’s text is translated into another language, this will potentially entail the necessity

of changing the overall design, because of the change in the website’s usability and the

different expectations of the users of the new language (ibid.). Hillier (ibid.:4) identifies

three broad types of multilingual websites: single home sites, multi-home sites and

separate sites. In the single home site type, described by Hiller as the ‘minimalist

approach’ (ibid.), a single website is presented with small parts translated into (an)other

language(s). The second type, i.e. the multi-home website, opts for grouping the content

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under one domain name with an introductory page (‘splash’ page) that offers the choice

of various languages (ibid.). In the third type, different, relatively independent, language

versions of a site are used. Each usually has a separate domain name (either a country-

level domain or a sub-domain) that is used for each site (ibid.). The CNN’s websites

reflect the third type of design, as will be explained later (see section 2.9.3. below).

Rusch (2005)36 notes that the “technical characteristics of the Internet […] can influence

storytelling in a way that was/is unthinkable in traditional media such as TV, radio or

newspaper”. She argues that the multimodal and hypertext potentialities of the Web

could, if used sensibly, optimise “information transferring and opinion building abilities

of online-journalistic texts” (ibid.).

The background hypertext material provided by news outlets, together with news

immediacy and interactivity, constitute the major characteristics of the news on the Web.

Their influence could be of a technical nature, as well as deeply ideological and cultural.

Current research on news websites has largely been concentrated on their technical and

journalistic features. Little research has been concerned with their content as an

independent sub-genre of news with distinctive discursive features.

Li (2007) studied the hidden power of language in web-news headlines, through

analysing a corpus of headlines taken from Yahoo. The analysis was conducted within

the framework of CDA and his findings corroborate other critical studies of news

discourse. His findings confirm that power is exercised, in web-news headlines, through

the use of language in ways which are not always obvious, in a way such that the process

of ‘hegemony’ becomes naturalised without the direct use of any ‘coercion’. However, he

makes an interesting point regarding web-news headlines that distinguish them from

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other news media. As web-news headlines are updated very often, with an indication of

the precise update time (such as updated 12 minutes ago), readers are given the

impression that the news is the latest and is a “real-time” reflection of the current

situation. The headlines therefore become “more believable and powerful in disguise”

(ibid.: 7).

In spite of the importance of the multimodal aspect of the Web, research into news

websites has remained concentrated on the textual aspects of news stories. This could be

attributed to the fact that the written word is still the dominant element in formal human

communication. Reflecting upon what has been termed ‘the linguistic turn’ in media

studies, Conboy (2007: 25-26) observes that:

“We live in a period which continues to be dominated by language despite the

ever-presence of visual imagery. In fact, the advent of the Internet has brought an

increased amount of information onto screen which had hitherto been

monopolised by images. In TV, news bulletins, where the spoken voice and image

were once dominant, are now much more regularly accompanied by written

language, influenced as they are by online news formats.”

Recent research that touched upon the multimodal aspect has shown that news outlets in

many cases use pictures readily available from other sources. These are pictures provided

by commercial databases, which are not directly related to the story in question (see, for

instance, Machin and van Leeuwen 2007: 152). However, these studies do not

undermine the role played by visual elements in affecting the messages conveyed by

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news stories and their ideological implications, in the context of globalisation and

Internet communication (see Wodak 2006: .2006).

The mutlitmodal and multimedia aspects of news should also be considered at the cross-

linguistic and cross-cultural levels. Questions are raised about whether the multimodal

aspects of news are maintained or changed when news is translated and transferred to suit

other audiences, and about the potential consequences of such changes, if any.

2.9. Studies of CNN’s News

2.9.1. Why the CNN?

The CNN has appeared since 1980 as a gigantic media channel (Flournoy and Stewart

1997: 1). Many other channels have appeared since then, in different parts of the world

and in different languages, emulating its model (see, for instance, Dellinger 1995)37.

Schechter and Dichter (2002: 8) state that “there is no denying of CNN’s enormous

impact on world events and the global news agenda. Many governments and news

organizations have its electronic face on 24 hours a day.” Hachten (1999: 48) notes that

the “successful establishment of 24-hour Cable News Network has been a major

innovation in international news.”

Research on the CNN highlights the adventurous business approach of its founder, Ted

Turner (see, for instance, Whittemore 1990). Attention has been paid to his ability to

move the CNN from a being small news network, dubbed the “Chicken Noodle Network”

(Pleininger 1995), to virtually the “voice of the global village” (ibid.). The former
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President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, wrote the following, in a foreword for a

book on the CNN (Flournoy and Stewart 1997: viii):

“I rarely go into any dignitary’s home or office anywhere on earth that I don’t

find a television turned to CNN. CNN has become the pre-eminent source of

accurate news reporting throughout the world, allowing people from diverse

backgrounds to share their experiences. This kind of communication contributes

enormously to understanding the cultures, which in turn, makes for a more

benevolent and peaceful global community.”

The CNN’s success is attributed to its innovative and unique approach to news

journalism and the news as business. Küng-Shankleman (2000: 78) notes that: “[t]he

inspiration behind CNN was to concentrate completely on news and to cover that news in

an entirely different way from anyone else”. She goes on to characterise this unique

approach as follows: “First, it would be a 24-hour service broadcasting news non-stop.

Second, the orientation would be global – CNN would report news from all over the

world to all over the world. Third, it would be live – CNN would cover news as it

happened, rather than report after the fact.” She further adds (ibid.: 84) that CNN

constituted a paradox in many aspects because it has been, since its inception, “at once an

upstart maverick that disregarded industry conventions to develop an entirely new

broadcasting concept, and at the same time a successful business drawing on traditional

and deeply entrenched elements of the US media and business scene, namely, dynamism,

opportunism and strong commercial instincts” (ibid.: 84).

The global outreach of the CNN mentioned above and emphasised by the CNN itself and

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the literature on the globalisation of news (Patterson 1998: 87) has been proclaimed since

its establishment. Flournoy and Stewart (1997: 5) point out that “[w]hen Ted Turner

ordered that the flag of the United Nations should fly at the CNN’s 1980 dedication

ceremony (along with the flags of the United States and the state of Georgia), he gave a

hint of his ambition to create an international news service.”

The CNN is often looked at as a phenomenon rather than a mere news channel. It has

developed in certain respects as a benchmark for media coverage and live television

broadcasting. In an article entitled Beyond the "CNN Effect":38 The Media-Foreign Policy

Dynamic, Livingston (1997: 291), writes:

“In recent years, observers of international affairs have raised the concern that the

media have expanded their ability to affect the conduct of U.S. diplomacy and

foreign policy. Dubbed as the "CNN effect" (or "CNN curve" or "CNN factor"),

the impact of these new global, real-time media is typically regarded as substantial

if not profound.”

Livingston refers here to what has been called the ‘CNN effect’; however, he argues that,

in spite of the widepread use of the term, there has been minimal success at clarifying it

(ibid.: 291). It is worth mentioning that he uses ‘CNN effect’ and ‘media effect’

interchangeably, which gives an indication of the magnitude of the effect being

considered. Here the CNN is not only considered a mere news channel, but an incarnation

of all news media. As an example of the ‘CNN effect’, Livingston (ibid.: 300.) cites the

US interventions in Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia which took place for allegedly pure

humanitarian reasons. The author claims that those interventions took place because of

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the media effect (i.e. ‘CNN effect’), as those interventions do not fit into the historical

trend of the United States’ foreign policy. He claims that “historically the foreign policy

of the United States has centred on American interests, defined as developments that

could affect the lives of American citizens.” (ibid.:300).

Regarding its global zeal, a question can be posed about how the CNN sees its audience’s

diversity and plurality around the world. According to Küng-Shankleman (2000: 116),

“CNN cares about its viewers, but about their volume rather than their diversity, and

about its attractiveness rather than its accountability towards them. For CNN, viewer

volume dictates its advertising income, which in turn contributes to its bottom line.” It is

worth mentioning here that the CNN’s income comes mainly from subscription fees and

advertisements (see Küng-Shankleman 2000: 46-47), as is the case for most other

commercial news outlets (see section 2.6.2. above).

As for the CNN’s mission and strategy, Küng-Shankleman (2000: 117) notes that “CNN

is not an organisation which places great emphasis on producing public statements of its

strategies, goals and philosophies […]”. She notes that the literature that the CNN makes

available for the public is generally issued for marketing purposes, i.e. for the purpose of

attracting new subscribers or distributors (ibid.). She speculates that this “may reflect the

competitive nature of US broadcasting (CNN does not wish to disclose its goals to

competitors) and perhaps also the organisation’s pragmatic stance (CNN does not waste

resources on activities which will bring in little direct return), as well as the immediacy of

its informal internal communications (which means it has no need to communicate with

employees via ‘official’ publications).” (Ibid.)

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Although the CNN does not publish any formal mission statement,39 Küng-Shankleman

(2000: 118) infers from the CNN’s commercial publications that its conception of its

mission is as follows: “[t]he world-wide coverage and delivery of breaking news” (ibid.:

118), “[t]o inform the world about the world” (ibid. 119) and “[t]o be a unifying global

force” (ibid. 119).

In spite of the wide recognition of the CNN’s role and presence, not all researchers agree

about the accuracy of its reporting and soundness of its news presentation techniques. In

the following section, I review some of the criticism addressed to the CNN.

2.9.2. Criticism of the CNN

Schechter and Dichter (2002: 85) mention that as the CNN began to go global, viewers in

different parts of the world started to consider the CNN as the real “Voice of America”.

The authors highlight certain points of criticism against the CNN. The continuous 24-

hour flow of news is described as being more “flattening than deepening” (ibid.: 85). This

in itself is considered to be a factor that often makes the CNN’s news reporting “more

distancing than involving” (ibid.: 87).

Some other researchers and journalists have unveiled other aspects of the ‘CNN effect’,

referred to above, from different perspectives. Media Channel editor, Aliza Dichter, was

quoted by Schecter and Dichter (2001: 85) as describing the emergence of the CNN in

the following words:

“Ten years ago, CNN became a major television force when it had the only

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correspondents on the ground in Iraq. But while the Gulf War coverage helped

launch CNN as a leading US news outlet, it also led to widespread criticism that

the network was simply a mouthpiece for the US government and military.”

Schechter and Dichter (ibid.), moreover, relate the CNN effect to the general debate

about globalisation and the widespread attitude towards United States’ policy. They point

out that the CNN has become, in many respects:

“[A] symbol and reality of the global information imbalance where Western

media are the loudest voices. Osama bin Laden’s charismatic hatred has appealed

to many who resent America’s massive global footprint, its dominance of the

World culture. CNN is part of this dominance.” (ibid.)

The same authors conclude that “CNN is CNN, instantly recognizable and often

forgettable. Its sameness can deaden as often as enlighten. CNN’s ‘revolution’ turned out

to be fusing most of the innovative technology with the most conventional

programming.” (ibid.: 87)

The CNN’s rise and global influence have been strongly felt during times of war (see, for

instance, Jaramillo 2009), particularly the first and second Gulf Wars against Iraq, in

1991 and 2003 respectively. The same reason for this success has been a source of

criticism. Hachten (1999: 49) notes that “[r]ecently CNN has not been without its

problems and its critics. When there is not an international crisis, viewership of CNN

drops off sharply and recently revenues from advertising have declined as well.” He adds

that “[a]s the [first] Gulf War ended, nearly 11 million of CNN viewers had switched

back to the big three networks […]” (ibid.: 49).

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Another criticism of the CNN comes from those accusing the network of adopting

positions favoured by the United States Government. In the conclusions of a research

project on “How the Media covered the War on Terrorism,” Schechter (2002: 93)

observes that, as far as the CNN is concerned:

“Contrary to the suggestions of Fox News executives, there is no evidence that

CNN is less ‘pro-American’ than Fox or has some liberal tilt. To the contrary,

there is no appreciable difference in the likelihood of CNN to air viewpoints that

dissent from American policy than there is of Fox. This may not be anything to

boast about. Both channels tended to favour pro-Administration viewpoints more

than most other newscasts – even most talk shows.”

Whether the CNN and Fox News Channel are really opposing channels, or two faces of

the same coin, has intrigued other researchers. Under the title “Ugly War: Pretty

Package”, Jaramillo (2009) poses, as a subtitle for her book, the question “How CNN and

Fox News made the invasion of Iraq a high concept”. She notes that “CNN and Fox

News Channel are the two highest-rated news networks on cable” adding that “they

project themselves as diametric opposites” (ibid.: 17). She argues that the war narrative

of the two channels was characterised by simplicity, creating a direct cause-effect link

between September 11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq (ibid.: 18). She further points out

that

“CNN and Fox News Channel plainly used coverage of the 2003 war to advance

their commercial aims by adhering closely to the war’s marketable concept.

Armed with this concept and a simple story spread by the Bush administration

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and the department of Defence, the two networks marketed the war narrative for

commercial ends. One way they achieved this was by incorporating the style of

advertisements to promote their war coverage. In these promotional spots, visuals

and iconography represented and endorsed the marketable concept. They also

advertised network produced merchandise, merchandise produced by other

members of the networks’ parent megacorporations, and merchandise produced

by companies outside the parent corporations that tied into and helped promote

the marketable concept of war.” (ibid.: 20)

Criticism has not only been directed at the presentation of war, but also at the CNN’s

policy and practices following the events of September 11, and before and during the

wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. Michaels (2003)40 accused the CNN of “imposing a

draconian system of internal censorship”. This policy was introduced, according to

Michaels (ibid.), by the CNN even before the Pentagon released the details of its planned

wartime censorship. Martin (2001)41 points out that “in an extraordinary directive to its

staff, Cable News Network has instructed reporters and anchormen to tailor their

coverage of US war against Afghanistan to downplay the toll of death and destruction

caused by American bombing, for fear that such coverage will undermine popular

support for the US military effort.”

Martin (ibid.)42 further quotes a senior CNN manager who instructed international

correspondents just before the war against Afghanistan began to redouble efforts so as

not to appear to be reporting from a viewpoint that favoured the perspective of the

Taliban. Reporters were told to talk about how the Taliban were using human shields, and

how they harboured terrorists who had been responsible for killing nearly 5000 innocent

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people (ibid.). They were firmly instructed to make sure that people understood that when

they saw civilian suffering there, it was in the context of a terrorist attack that had caused

enormous suffering in the United States (ibid.).43

Martin (ibid.)44 further refers to a memo issued by the CNN’s head of standards and

practices, in which the CNN official argued that it might be difficult for the

correspondent in those dangerous areas to make the point clearly about the reasons for the

US bombings. Martin (ibid.) infers that the CNN official feared that international

correspondents might be intimidated by local opposition to the United States intervention

and allow such feelings to influence their reports. In this regard, the CNN officials were

reported to have established certain formulas that journalists should use after each

account of civilian casualties and other ‘collateral damage’. They suggested the following

three alternative versions:45

- “We must keep in mind, after seeing reports like this from Taliban-controlled

areas, that these US military actions are in response to a terrorist attack that killed close

to 5000 innocent people in the US.” (Ibid.)

- “We must keep in mind, after seeing reports like this, that the Taliban regime

continues to harbour terrorists who have praised the September 11 attacks that killed

close to 5000 innocent people in the US.” (Ibid.)

- “The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that it is trying to minimize casualties in

Afghanistan, even as the Taliban regime continues to harbour terrorists who are

connected to the September 11 attacks that claimed thousands of innocent lives in the

US.” (Ibid.)

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Martin (ibid.)46 remarks that “while the CNN policy may be the most crudely expressed -

or the only one recorded in a corporate memorandum that has become public knowledge

- its instance is characteristic of the entire American media, which serves in the

Afghanistan war as 24x7 propagandists for American Imperialism.”

In addition to such internal censorship practice, special attention was given to reports that

come from international correspondents. These reports, according to Fisk (2003),47 were

subjected to systematic review and editing in order to ensure that they are ‘sanitized’ and

‘balanced’ before being broadcast. Just before the 2003 war against Iraq, the CNN issued

documents that instituted a new ‘script control’ procedure (ibid.).48 Fisk quoted extracts

from a CNN document, entitled “Reminder of Script Approval Policy,” dated 27 January

2003 (ibid.). The instructions required reporters to send all their articles to officials in

Atlanta to ensure that they were properly ‘balanced’ (ibid.).49 The instructions clearly

state that “All reporters preparing package scripts must submit the scripts for approval

[…]. Packages may not be edited until the scripts are approved... All packages originating

outside Washington, LA (Los Angeles) or NY (New York), including all international

bureaus, must come to the ROW50 in Atlanta for approval” (ibid.).51

In response to such criticism, staff at the CNN continuously deny such allegations (see

section 0.2. above). In the same vein, a senior CNN editor,52 said “[w]e do not do

opinion. CNN International does not do opinion. For our journalists, reporters and editors

to avoid opinion they need to attribute, attribute and attribute. I certainly try to make sure

that almost everything in a story is attributed.” (Cited in Barkho 2008: 130).

The same position is reiterated by another senior CNN editor,53 quoted by Barkho (2007:

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20), who confirmed that CNN Online described events, and not people, leaving it to the

readers “to attach the label they want to the participants in the story” adding that “this is

not a place for us to put our own ideas or observations” (ibid.).

2.9.3. The CNN on the Web and Multilingual CNN

The references mentioned above concentrate mainly on the CNN’s influence and

practices on television. However, the Internet has come to supplement these aspects with

further dimensions of outreach, coverage and continuity. The CNN’s presence on the

world media scene through television has been constrained by many factors. Satellite and

cable television are not available all over the world, nor to all segments of populations.

Language barriers limited broadcasts mainly to English-speaking people. The volatility of

television broadcasting is another relevant factor, although stories are repeated constantly

during one or more days while they are still ‘hot’. However, there is no way that viewers

can go back to re-view older stories.

These are some of the limitations that affected global television coverage and influence.

The Internet, on the other hand, has largely managed to surpass most of these limitations

in a relatively short time. The Internet, although still an elite product in some parts of the

world, has rapidly achieved a global presence that beat any other medium. Language

barriers are overcome through multilingual parallel sites or multilingual content in the

same site, in addition to other potentialities such as the interactivity and the provision of

archives (see section 2.8. above). CNN, for instance, has sites in English, Spanish,

Arabic, Korean, Japanese and German (n-tv) (see section 4.2. below).

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In spite of its concentration on the CNN as a television channel, the previous discussion

is relevant here. For the CNN, television broadcasting is the backbone for its Web

presence. Articles on the websites are often reproduced from television reports and

supplemented by video excerpts and photographs from those reports. Hence, it is

assumed that the website news stories are subjected to the same policy and regulations

referred to above.

The global reach of the CNN has been taking place mainly in English through its CNN

International face, with regionalised (i.e. localised) programming (see Fourneoy and

Stewart 1997: 117-118). However, it also attempted to launch selective channels in

languages other than English, such as CNN Español and the CNN venture with n-tv

channel in German.54 While CNN’s multilingual efforts are limited on television, more

languages have been probed on the Web. Further discussion of the CNN’s multilingual

websites is provided in Chapter 4 (see section 4.2. below). Nevertheless, these attempts

have not always been successful. Gambier (2006: 12) notes that:

“CNN en Español, on the Web, was launched in 1997 and cancelled in September

2004, as was the German website cancelled in 2004 for similar reasons: too few

readers/viewers and too poor quality according to the targeted audience ratings”

Reference has already been made to the CNN’s launching of its Arabic website officially

in 2002 as CNN Arabic.com, and the reactions to the launching of this site (see section

0.2. above). With the exceptions of a few newspaper articles and research studies, I have

not been able to find in-depth analyses of the website, its discourse and whether it is

similar or different to other CNN websites.

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Barkho (2007, 2008), in his study of the discourses of the BBC, the CNN and Al-Jazeera

in English and Arabic, argues that the CNN and the BBC share common traits, while

Aljazeera adopts a different perspective. He notes that the BBC and CNN strive to speak

the same language in their Arabic services as they do in the English counterparts.

Therefore, they do not have special glossaries or style guidelines for the Arabic services.

Accordingly, some electronic forms of guidelines are provided, which are mostly

translations of their English guidelines. Only Aljazeera English has drawn up its own

glossary and style guidelines which are different from those of Aljazeera Arabic, the

mother company (Barkho 2008: 136).

Moreover, with regard to the CNN, Bakho (Ibid.: 151-152) poses specific questions, such

as: “Who holds the reins of discursive power in CNN?” (Ibid.: 151), “Who decides on the

language and content of every story before it is being aired?” (Ibid.: 151), “Why is it very

difficult to gain access to the CNN's closely guarded internal style guide?” (Ibid.: 151)

and “Why should Atlanta exercise such a domineering discursive and social role that

almost strips correspondents of the power to use their own language?”55 (Ibid.: 152).

Although Barkho poses these queries as open-ended questions, his last question indirectly

answers the question about who holds the “reins of discursive power in CNN”. It also

confirms what was referred to above about script approval procedures being undertaken

by the CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta.

Based on these views about the CNN, my analysis, in Chapter 5, will show how they

apply to the CNN’s news in Arabic as compared to its English counterpart. I will discuss

whether the CNN actually uses ‘the same language’ in both versions, or not, and how it

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deals with issues such as describing people and events, as mentioned above.

2.10. Synopsis

In this literature review, I followed a schema that developed from consideration of the

most general literature about news, and narrowed down to the specific focus of my

research, that is the CNN and particularly CNN Arabic. In the chapter on methodology I

explain which categories I use in my analysis. Although I do not use all the news

features discussed in this literature review, I provide them to serve as background

information. Some features will also serve as points of reference that I may recall in my

analysis and interpretation of results for the sake of explanation or comparison.

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3. METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction

CDA researchers maintain that CDA does not constitute a unified empirical method but

rather a cluster of approaches with similar theoretical bases and similar questions (Meyer

2001: 23). Wodak argues that CDA studies should ideally incorporate fieldwork and

ethnography in order to explore the objects under investigation as a precondition for any

further analysis and theorizing (Meyer 2001: 24).

Wodak (2001) points out that "the term discourse analysis is used in various ways in

relevant literature"; she further states that the term critical discourse analysis is far from

denoting a homogenous approach within the field of discourse analysis.

What is known today as CDA, according to CDA scholars, is best viewed as a shared

perspective or a wide research direction that encompasses a range of approaches rather

than as a single school. However, although CDA is not considered to be a unitary school

that is characterized by a unitary theoretical framework, the common perspective and the

general principles and aims of CDA could be viewed as constituting overall conceptual

and theoretical frameworks that are closely related and used in rather similar ways in the

different strands of CDA (See Meadows 2005: 1).

This research is based mainly on qualitative analysis, supported by limited multimodal

and quantitative analysis. The data collected depends on news stories as discourse

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samples to be analysed. In order to complement the analysis, a user's questionnaire is

used as a supplementary tool that could shed light on the research question from another

perspective. This chapter contains an outline of the data collected, the coding method and

analysis techniques.

3.2. Data Collection

3.2.1. Primary Data

The primary data for analysis consists of news stories collected during a one-month

period (June 2004). Starting on May 25, 2004 through July 5, 2004, I followed the news

stories posted on the CNN Arabic website and corresponding stories posted on the CNN

International website in English. The site was visited during that period at least twice a

day (in the morning and the evening). News stories related to the Middle East were

collected, printed out and coded.

3.2.1.1. Coding

Each story was assigned a letter that indicates the language (A for Arabic and E for

English). The letter is followed by a number that contains the date (day and month) and a

serial number to differentiate the stories published on the same day. For example, the

story A05063, is an Arabic story, published on the fifth (05) of June (06) and it was the

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third story posted on that day. Stories are compared and connections are established

between stories that treat the same subjects.

3.2.2. Questionnaire

I used a user’s questionnaire as a supplementary tool. The questionnaire was conducted

online. Before distributing the questionnaire widely, a preliminary version was

distributed to a limited number of professors and post-graduate students at the University

of Vienna, who provided feedback that helped in revising the questionnaire and making

the questions clearer and more geared towards the research objectives. Subsequently, the

questionnaire was posted on the Internet at the students' webspace provided by the

University of Vienna. Announcements of the questionnaire were sent to students and

lecturers at different universities around the world. They were requested to forward it to

others in their surroundings and to people with whom they would be in contact. It was

also announced on some websites that discuss questions related to the research area, such

as Linguist List and Critics List. During a one-month period, forty-nine respondents

replied to the questionnaire. However, three questionnaires were excluded from the

analysis because the respondents didn't answer any of the substantive questions.

3.2.2.1. Objectives of the Questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed in order to elicit the following information:

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• distribution of users by gender, age, education, profession, current location and

country of origin

• the extent of their use of the Web as a news source compared to traditional news

sources (such as the press, radio and television)

• the extent of familiarity with the CNN on television or the Web

• the percentage of respondents who use the CNN's website and the frequency of use

• the percentage of respondents who visit the CNN Arabic website and the frequency

of visits

• respondents evaluation of the news offered by the CNN in general and the CNN's

websites in Arabic and English in particular

3.2.2.2. Structure of the Questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of 29 questions categorized in four parts that reflect the

questionnaire's objectives. The first part contains questions of a general nature about the

respondents for statistical purposes, as well as for possible characterization of

respondents profiles. It contains questions about gender, education, age, country of origin

and country where the respondent currently resides. The second part is aimed at finding

out which news sources are mostly used by the respondents and the place of the Web as a

source of news. The third part contains questions about the CNN in general, focusing

particularly on the CNN's websites. The fourth part is exclusively about the CNN's

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Arabic website. The questionnaire concludes with a space for free comments in order to

elicit views not covered by the questions in the questionnaire.

3.3. Data Analysis

For the purpose of triangulation, the analysis of the data will consist of the following

broad categories:

- A multimodal analysis of the websites focusing on their design and contents

- A textual analysis focusing on the subjects treated by the collected stories, and

their headlines, together with an analysis of their macrostructure and micro-

level features

- A quantitative analysis of the replies to the questionnaire

The following sections provide further details of each category.

3.3.1. Multimodal Analysis

Given the importance of multimodal components of websites, the analysis starts with a

review of the audio-visual elements of the CNN's website(s). This will include an

overview of the websites; their logos; design, structure and content; audio-visual

elements (pictures, videos, etc.); hyperlinking and interactivity.

This will be followed by an overall description of the stories collected. The stories will be

categorised according to the subjects they deal with and the countries they relate to. Such

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categorisation is expected to show the dominant news values (see section 2.3.1. above),

as well as any other salient similarities or differences between the websites in question. A

more detailed textual analysis of the stories will follow as explained below.

3.3.2. Headlines

The importance and significance of headlines has been highlighted in the previous

chapter (see section 2.5.1.1. above). Hence the analysis will examine headlines in Arabic

and English, showing whether and how they are structured, translated or re-written

differently in the two languages. As headlines are condensed elements of discourse, the

main elements of headlines to be analysed will be agency, actions and referential

elements.

Agency. News headlines try to provide from the outset information about the main

protagonist in a news story, i.e. the agent. It answers the first question of the news

formula (Who did what?). The analysis will show whether agency relations are

maintained across languages, or whether they are altered, and how.

Actions are closely related to agency and they will be discussed in the same section. In

this vein, I will discuss how verbs are used (e.g. transitive/non-transitive) and whether

they are changed from one language to another. Any change of verbs used might result in

a change of meaning, perspective or ideological positions in relation to the news

elements.

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Referential indications is a term that I use to encompass all linguistic elements that are

used to refer to, identify or describe an entity (e.g. a person, a body or a place). These

include names, titles, functions, positions, affiliations, etc. I will try to find out whether

the same entities are referred to differently in different news stories in the two languages

and whether any types of connotations, could be inferred from these referential

indications.

3.3.3. Analysis of News Stories

A selected number of stories will be taken as examples for an in-depth analysis. For this

purpose, I will take a limited number of stories that deal with different types of topics

from the corpus of stories collected. I will select identical stories, i.e. stories that treat the

same event of news, posted on the same day and contain similar information. These

stories will be analysed according to length, macrostructure and salient micro-structural

elements. I will conduct a mainly contrastive analysis of the news stories macrostructure

(e.g. lead paragraphs, quotes, paraphrases and comments) to show how they are used

similarly or differently in the same story in the two languages.

3.3.4. Questionnaire Analysis

The questionnaire will be analysed using SPSS. The questionnaire analysis is designed to

try to answer the following questions:

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• How are the respondents’ distributed according to gender, age, education,

profession, current location and country of origin?

• What is the extent of using the Web as a news source compared to other news

sources (such as the press, radio and television)?

• What is the percentage of respondents who use the CNN's website and how often?

• What is the percentage of respondents who visit the CNN Arabic website and how

often?

• What is the respondents’ evaluation of the news offered by the CNN in general and

the CNN's websites in particular?

• What are the respondents’ views of the CNN's reporting about major questions

related to the stories covered in the research, i.e. reporting the Middle East?

• How do respondents’ free comments correlate with the answers to the multiple-

choice questions and to views about the CNN in the literature?

3.4. Synopsis

Following the application of the tools outlined above to the data collected, I will look

finally at the results of the analysis in order to draw general conclusions. I will see if

there are any common features that characterise either both of the sites or each of them. I

will also discuss any salient trends in treating subjects, people or issues similarly or

differently in the two websites. The chapter on results and interpretation and the

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conclusion are expected to present potential answers to the research questions and

hypotheses, and to indicate the limitations of the study and perspectives for future

research.

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4. ANALYSIS

4.1. Introduction

In the previous chapter, I explained that the research data consisted primarily of news

stories collected during a period of one month (June 2004) and replies to a users’

questionnaire conducted online. Links to the stories analysed, as well as a copy of the

questionnaire, are included as annexes.

In this chapter, I will analyse the design, form and content of the Websites discussed,

present an overview of the data collected and its distribution, analyse the titles of stories

collected, present a relatively detailed analysis of selected stories, provide an analysis of

the users’ questionnaire and conclude the chapter with a summary of results and

observations.

4.2. Description of the Websites56

The CNN presents its content on the Web in English, Arabic, Japanese, Spanish and

Turkish (see section 2.9.3. above). At the time when the data was collected there was a

link to the German CNN/n-tv website.57 The different language version websites appear

as independent websites that are linked to each other. As the focus of this research is

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mainly on the Arabic website, I will give a descriptive overview of the CNN Arabic

website comparing it when necessary, with the CNN International website in English.

4.2.1. Logos

The CNN uses its logo ( ) for all its websites in different languages, with an affixed

indication of the language version or edition (e.g. .com, INTERNATIONAL,

EXPANCIÓN.com, etc.) (see the examples below). The logo for the English CNN

International, for instance, is CNN.com International, with the word INTERNATIONAL

typed in small font capital letters on top of the particle “.com”. However the Arabic site is

characterised by a specific logo, which contains the word CNN in English, written from

left to right, combined with the word - - (which means ‘in Arabic’), from right to left.

The word CNN is modified by adding dots to make the last letters of the word appear as

“Arabic”. The logo constitutes, thus, a distinctive feature, combining English and Arabic

words that read from right to left and from left to right at the same time. The elements of

the logo are merged in a way that each word is clearly legible, though constituting an

inseparable unit. The table below shows the logo of CNN Arabic compared to the logos

of CNN in other languages:

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CNN Arabic

CNN International

(now)
CNN Spanish

(old)

CNN Japanese

CNN Korean

CNN Turkish

Figure 4: CNN Logos

The logos show the trend of globalisation and localisation that characterised the media

expansion and targeting of different markets and audiences. While the CNN keeps its

corporate “trademark” represented by the same logo in all languages, additional elements

are added to bring the news producer closer to each target audience. The Arabic logo is

one clear example of such an endeavour resulting in a fully merged logo that keeps the

whole original while being legible in the target language.

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4.2.2. The Design, Structure and Content of the Websites

The Arabic homepage is divided into a top horizontal rectangular section (row), three

vertical sections (columns) in the middle, and two bottom columns, each divided into two

rows. The website reads from right to left, following the Arabic language reading

direction. The top section contains the logo on the left hand side, the logo having the

words “click here”58 in the middle, and on the right of the section is a list containing the

headings: “How to subscribe to CNN on Television”, “Who are We”, and “[make] CNN

your Personal Homepage”. Beneath the top section, the right-hand column is divided into

three rows. The top row contains the main topic headings: “Homepage”, “Middle East”,

“World”, “Economy”, “Science and Technology”, “Miscellaneous”, “Sport”, “Weather”

and “Special Files”. In the middle row, under row the CNN logo, is a sub-section that

contains the headings: “Services”, “Who are We”, “Advertisements”, “[make] CNN your

Personal Homepage”, “CNN Television”, “Ask CNN how to Watch CNN on Screen”,

“biz international”, “Our other Sites”, “CNN U.S.” and “CNN Int. Edition”. At the

bottom of this column appears the word “Languages” with a drop-down list of the CNN

in other languages, followed by the CNN logo. The middle section contains a summary of

the main story and a picture related to the story, with a link to the full story. Underneath

is a box containing a commercial advertisement. The left hand section consists of three

sub-sections in three rows. At the top, a link to a feature file folder entitled “Special

Annex”, containing during the period under discussion a folder of stories entitled “New

Iraq … and Rebuilding”. The middle sub-section is entitled “Other News” with titles and

hyperlinks to the main stories. The lower-subsection contains information about the

movement of financial markets: FTSE, DAX, CAC, NIKKEI, H. SENG, S. TIMES. At

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the bottom of the page appears copyright information: ©[year]Cable News Network LP.

LLLP. The following and last line contains the words: all rights reserved (in Arabic),

followed by: An AOL Time Warner Company (in English).

The screenshots below show the CNN Arabic and the CNN International websites59 on

the same day, in June 2004:

Figure 5. A screenshot of the CNN Arabic website, 4 June 2004

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Figure 6. A screenshot of the CNN International website, 4 June 2004

It is worth mentioning that the websites have undergone considerable change in design and

content since the data for this research was collected. The screenshots below show a recent

view of the two websites on the same day, in December 2009:

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Figure 7. A screenshot of the CNN Arabic website, 25 December 2009

Figure 8. A screenshot of the CNN International website, 25 December 2009

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4.2.3. Audio-Visual Elements

The Arabic website does not contain a lot of audio-visual elements. There is usually a

picture in a central position with the summary of the main story on the home page. Each

story is accompanied by at least one picture positioned at the top, left-hand side under the

headline. Arabic stories do not always use the same picture as their corresponding

English stories, although some stories are accompanied by the same picture in both

languages. The English website on the other hand contains, in addition to pictures, other

visual materials, such as videos, graphs and maps.

This feature makes the Arabic website less attractive in appearance and less informative.

The lack of videos could be attributed to the fact that videos in English are provided from

the CNN TV channel, while there is no corresponding Arabic TV channel.

4.2.4. Hyperlinking

Hyperlinks are an essential part of websites and they are one of the basic features that

distinguish news websites from other types of news media. The homepage, in both

languages, consists mainly of hyperlinks to other stories or other parts of the Website.

Almost all elements are ‘clickable’ items, including pictures, headlines and sub-

headlines, and sometimes other textual elements. In the news stories, the English website

uses links to other related stories within the text of the story itself. Links are inserted

between brackets, e.g. (Full Story), immediately following the reference to the story in

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question. The Arabic stories, on the other hand, usually provide a list of related stories

with hyperlinks at the end of each story.

Hyperlinking is used as a way of connecting stories to background material or other

related stories. However, nearly all hyperlinks relate to the CNN’s stories. This practice

provides the news reader with only the CNN’s versions of the stories. No links are

provided to other opposing or independent views.

4.2.5. Interactivity

Interactivity is another aspect that distinguishes online news stories. The possibility for

readers to comment directly on stories or participate in polls is an example of such

interactive relations among receivers, reporters and the news stories themselves (see

section 2.8. above). The Arabic website provides visitors with the possibility of

subscribing to receive e-mail alerts with breaking news. The same service is provided by

the CNN in English. The English website, however, offers the possibility of choosing to

receive specific types of news according to the visitors’ interests. Visitors to both sites

are not provided with the opportunity to add comments. However, the Website contains

regular polls on current issues.

Generally speaking, the Arabic website contains less information, audio-visual as well as

textual, compared to the English one. It provides fewer opportunities to readers to receive

news that they are interested in. However, both websites seek to keep the visitor within

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their ambit by linking only to the CNN’s news and by offering to provide news through

SMS messages, and not enabling comments or feedback.

4.3. News Analysis

4.3.1. Data Overview

The research data consist of stories that cover different subjects and relate to different

countries. This first section presents an overview of the data and a classification of stories

by subject and country. The main countries in the corpus are Iraq, the USA, Saudi

Arabia, Israel/Palestine, Iran and the United Kingdom. The major subjects treated by the

stories include political instability in Iraq, violence, terrorism, the Iraqi government, the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict and oil. The tables below show the distribution of data by

country and subject.

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Number of Stories

120
100
80
60
English
40 Arabic
20
0
Iraq USA Saudi Israel/Pal. UK Other
Arabia
Countries

Figure 9: Distribution of Stories by Country

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The distribution of the stories by country reflects mainly the values of proximity and elite

nations. Proximity is reflected by the concentration of stories about Middle-Eastern

countries, namely Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Israel/Palestine. Elite nations are the USA and

the UK. The distribution of news also reflects the absence of many countries in spite of

their proximity or importance. Does this mean that nothing has happened in those

countries during the whole month, or is this because of the impact of other values as

reflected by the dominant subjects distribution presented below?

70

60

50
Number of Stories

40
English
30
Arabic
20

10

0
Iraq Instability Violence Terrorism Iraqi government Israeli/Palestinian Oil Other

Subjects

Figure 10. Distribution of Stories by Subject

The distribution of subjects reflects the dominance of the negativity and deviance value.

Instability, violence, terrorism and conflict are the main topics of interest. News about the

Iraqi government could be looked at as either news of elite people (President, Prime

Minister, ministers, etc.), or negative news, given the climate of conflict and tension

reflected by the stories in question. These dominant values of negativity could be the

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reason for excluding news about many other countries as observed above. They also

reflect the value of consonance; i.e. these are the types of news that people typically hear

and expect about the Middle East.

4.3.2. Analysis of Headlines

The headline is a very important part of a news story. It summarizes the content of the

story and highlights the most important part that the news producer wants to attract the

receiver’s attention to (see section 2.5.1.1. above). Translators are usually expected to

respect the content of the original headline in order to be faithful to the message of the

source text. Although the structure of a title is language dependent, because different

languages tend to impose or prefer certain structures, the translator is usually expected to

change such structures in a way that would respect the grammar of the target language

without affecting the meaning of the original message (see section 1.4.1. above).

However, as was mentioned earlier (see section 2.7. above), news agencies, and the

media in general, tend to view this type of equivalence differently. They sometimes

prefer to adopt a totally different message in order to accommodate the interests of a

different audience or to serve a different purpose.

In this section, headlines of the corpus are analysed, compared and contrasted to show

examples of where they differ and whether they reflect different messages, as well as of

the linguistic tools used to achieve that result.

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Texts are analysed according to agency (through theme-shift, nominalization,

passivisation, total replacement or deletion), referential procedures (replacing a certain

reference by a different, indirect or implied reference), verbs used (how actions are

described differently in each language), and other micro-linguistic processes (see section

2.5.2. above).

4.3.2.1. Manipulating Agency

Agency is an important element in any news story. ‘Who did what?’ is one of the first

questions that a news story presents and a headline is expected to answer (see section

2.5.1.1. above). The corpus shows that, in some cases, the actor (agent) in an English

news story is replaced by a different one in the corresponding Arabic news story. This is

done by the use of different linguistic devices.

Shift of theme is one of these devices. In this case the relationship of theme-rheme is

reversed or altered in some other way. As an example, the headline of the English story

E01062 is Iraqi police: Najaf wasn’t prepared for officers which corresponds to the

Arabic A01061

(Iraqi police withdraw from Najaf). Iraqi

police are presented in the English text as an agent of the verb "says" implied by the use

of the colon. Here the Iraqi police only declare the action, while the theme of the sentence

is the name of a town "Najaf". The Arabic text, on the other hand, replaces "Najaf" by

"Iraqi Police", as a theme, deleting the declarative sentence. This change of thematisation

totally changes the meaning of the title and hence the reading of the story that follows

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(see section 4.3.3.4.1. below). By this change the Iraqi Police moves from being an

outside "announcer" of events to being an active actor. Moreover, it is an actor who is

accused of ‘doing’ the withdrawal, an actor with a negative role. The English title takes

an apologetic stance towards the action, qualifying the town as not being ready. In fact,

although the two stories are related to the same incident, the phrase "Iraqi Police" is the

only common element between the two headlines, and the remaining text is completely

different in each language version as will be shown in the analysis of this story below.

Nominalization is another device used to change agency. Active verbs are replaced in this

case by nouns of the same verbs or completely different nouns. When actions are

nominalised, the actor disappears behind a noun; the reader might not know any more

who did the action in question. The headlines discussed below are illustrative examples

of this procedure.

In the English story E01065 Saudi forces kill two militants the transitive verb "kill" is

used and the action is clearly attributed to “Saudi forces”. The corresponding Arabic

story uses a noun "$%&", which means “killing”, without mentioning any actor. The

action could be the direct result of an actor’s involvement (X killed Y) or the result of an

indirect action (Y was killed in an accident). It is left to the reader of the news to imagine

who the actor is, as in the case of using the passive voice. The title of the corresponding

Arabic story A02062 is ! " # $%& : (Saudi Arabia: killing of two

[persons] related to al-Khobar incident). The active role of the Saudi Police is diluted by

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the use of the noun "killing" which leaves a place for speculation about whether the two

(militants in English and unidentified persons in Arabic) died in an accident or otherwise.

Similarly, in the story E10066, the English title is Iraqi police fight militia in Najaf. The

Arabic correspondent replaces the verb "fight" by an unspecified noun "confrontations"

in the title

0 '()* +, "- . /), (Confrontation in Najaf between

Al-Mahdi's army and Iraqi police) (A10063).

In other cases, although the Arabic text follows the English structure, additional

information specifies the agent. In the story E19063, the English headline is Two U.S.

soldiers, 3 Iraqis killed in attacks, while the Arabic corresponding title again uses the

noun "killing" in the story A19064 0&4! /45 " 30 "1 2 "( , $%&

(Killing of 2 American soldiers and 3 Iraqis in attacks by Iraqi resistance), but the phrase

"in attacks by Iraqi resistance" is added as circumstantial information indirectly accusing

the Iraqi resistance of committing the act of ‘killing’, not only of American soldiers but

also of Iraqis. It is also worth mentioning that the English texts never use the words “Iraqi

resistance” to describe militants opposing the Coalition forces in Iraq.

Additional explanatory text in Arabic sometimes dilutes the agency instead of making it

more evident. The story E07065 "Al Qaeda threatens airlines” directly attributes the act

of ‘threatening’ to Al Qaeda. However, the Arabic equivalent avoids this direct

accusation by inserting an introductory phrase in the story A07066 :6(&! 7 8-

= 8>? /9 : ;()% < (A statement attributed to Al Qaeda: we will target airlines

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soon). Here the introductory phrase makes it unclear whether the statement was really

issued by Al Qaeda or not, and hence the strong agency in the English text, although

maintained in the Arabic equivalent, does not have the same effect.

A similar process is used in the Arabic story A15061 B 7 C :'0@A! 7 8-

?D . <(&* (A statement attributed to Al-Zarqawi: the Iraq holy war is in danger).

While the English equivalent E15061 says, without any hedging, Letter: Al-Zarqawi

tells bin Laden militants are getting squeezed. Another observation here is that the use

of the words “holy war”, an expression usually in Arabic when translating literally from

English as an equivalent of the word “jihad”. This is an example of “calque” or “through

translation” (see section 1.4.1.1. above). Meanwhile, the English colloquialism of

“getting squeezed” is completely avoided in Arabic.

In some texts, the information given in each title is completely different. In the English

story E01063, there is a main headline Saudi security rises after attack followed by a sub-

headline Saudi official: Gunmen allowed to escape. Here Saudi security forces are the

clear subject of the first headline, and by juxtaposition with the sub-headline, they

become an implicit agent of the second sentence. The Arabic equivalent, however, opts

for a different neutral content and structure: the story A01067 is entitled 6 4% /@?

. "-!?* /E&%0 (Continuous pursuits and arrests of wanted [persons] in Saudi

Arabia). Here nominalization is used for a verb that does not appear in the English

version. Moreover, the word /@? “pursuits” which is the plural form of a noun

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derived from a verb that could translate as chase or pursue implies a vigorous action, that

doesn't concord with the accusatory tone of the English headline, with the implication

that the security forces “fell down” and now they “rise”, besides accusing them of

playing a role in “allowing gunmen to escape”.

The two English stories E02061, with the headline U.N. draft: Iraq to control security

forces and sub-headline U.S.-British revision gives time frame for multinational force,

and E02062, with the headline U.N. draft: Iraq to control security forces and sub-

headline U.S.-British revision settles critical point, present a rather complicated form of

correspondence. The two English texts address the same story, with the second (E02062)

being a revised version of the first (E02061). Each story has a headline and a sub-

headline, which means that there are four headlines for the same story. As the first

headline is identical in both stories, three different headlines are actually are used in

English. The Arabic corresponding version has only one headline. The story A02061 is

entitled H (< 'I J B :F( @ G0

(Amended draft resolution: Iraq will

manage security). Although the Arabic equivalent contains the essence of the English, not

all details are included. The English story specifies that it is a “U.N. draft [resolution]”,

while the Arabic headline does not mention the U.N. The role of the United States and

Britain in revising the text is not highlighted either, as compared to the English sub-

headlines.

In the story E19067 Syria preparing sanctions against United States has the Arabic

equivalent A20063 /-& ! @ "1 2 =<M 8N" ( K

(Damascus prepares

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"America Accountability Act" in response to sanctions). The actor is nearly the same in

both stories, although the English uses the country's name "Syria", while the Arabic uses

the name of the country's capital, "Damascus". This could be considered a stylistic

preference and a common feature of news language, whereby a country’s name and the

name of its capital are used interchangeably. Other details show, however, clear

differences of denotation and connotation. The English headline presents Syria's action as

an aggressive act against the United States, while the Arabic one adds the explanation

that this act was taken in response to sanctions, making it a defensive action. In addition,

the structure of the Arabic headline uses the name of the law between inverted commas

"America Accountability Act" to invoke the name of a similar law, that is the "Syria

Accountability Act", which was adopted by the United States shortly before.

The ‘U.S.’ in the English story E28064, entitled U.S. transfers power in Iraq, is replaced

by ‘Bremer’ in the Arabic equivalent A28063, 6 O!0 B - P%4) Q) R - (Bremer

ends his mission in Iraq and hands over sovereignty); whereas ‘power’ in English is

replaced by ‘sovereignty’ in Arabic.

In the examples above, it is evident that agency is manipulated in different ways.

Agency in the Arabic headlines tends to adopt different positions from those taken by

the English ones. There is a tendency to dilute directly accusatory terms in English

headlines by the use hedged forms or other indirect formulations of agency.

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4.3.2.2. Referential Indications

Referential Indications represent another area of difference in the headlines and news

stories in general. The choice of a certain name or title could be an indication of the

adoption of a certain ideological position (see section 2.5.2. above). This could be

justified as a simple choice made to convey a clearer message to the target audience, by

using a name that is more familiar or avoiding foreign, difficult-to-pronounce names.

Nevertheless, this was not always the case as the examples below show.

The two English stories E01061 Iraqi Cabinet Members Announced and E01064 Interim

Iraqi government named are equivalent to one story in Arabic: A01063 @0 'ST @%D

B ! U@ (Selection of Ghazi Al Yawar as President of Iraq). Neither of the English

headlines mentions the name of the President as the Arabic one does.

In the English story E06063 Fatah leader sentenced to 5 life terms, followed by the sub-

headline Israeli court convicted Marwan Barghouti in fatal attacks. The person in

question is identified by his political affiliation as a "Fatah leader" in the headline and

by his full name in the sub-headline "Marwan Barghuti". The Arabic headline, on the

other hand, mentions only the last name in the story A06066 Q#T ( !U <V 41M

/ WX (-Y*- (An Israeli court sentences Al Barghuthi to 5 life terms). There is an

additional text, in English this time, giving justification for the sentence "in fatal

attacks", without any similar indication in the Arabic headline.

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A simple mentioning of indefinite “militia” in the English story E10066 headline Iraqi

police fights militia in Najaf is replaced by the full name of the militia in question in the

Arabic A10063 equivalent

0 '()* +, "- . /), (Confrontations

in Najaf between Al-Mahdi's Army and Iraqi police).

Similarly, "Saddam's daughter" in the English story E11065 headline Saddam's

daughter: I want to go to Iraq is replaced by the daughter's full name “Raghd Saddam

Hussein” in the Arabic equivalent A12064 B \V 6 02 :"C Z([ (T@ (Raghd

Saddam Hussein: I would like to go back to Iraq). The English story E19064 refers to a

Top al Qaeda suspect killed, while the Arabic one mentions the last name with his full

proclaimed title in the story A19061, 7 6 A, . 6(& OS ... 8 &* $%0 (Al Muqrin,

leader of Al Qaeda in Arabia, killed). The Arabic website contains two additional stories

about the same topic, both mentioning the leader in question by name, A19062 8A^!%

8 &* @[ _ ' (Saudi television shows pictures of Al Muqrin) and A19067

8 &* ! `=& ! $[^ (details of the night when Al-Muqrin was arrested).

Additionally, the headline of the latter story contains an allusion to a well-known Arabic

historical movie 4a ! `=& ! (the night when Fatima was arrested), although

Fatima in that film was a heroic personality who was fighting against her corrupt

brother.

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In same vein, the English story E20066 is entitled Saudi al Qaeda cell names new

leader, while the Arabic equivalent specifies the predecessor and successor by their

names in the story A20066 8 &4! ^!D . " 6(& (Al Qaeda appoints Al Oufi as

successor of Al Muqrin).

While the word “terrorists” is used in the English story E23065 Saudis offer terrorists a

month to surrender, the Arabic equivalent opts for “(

%”, which could be translated

as ‘fundamentalists’ or ‘extremists’, in the story A23067 entitled ! ^ _ ()a

): O)!)R0 (
%* (Fahd extends amnesty to extremists and offers them a one month

delay). In addition the King's name “Fahd” is replaced by in English by a generic

reference, i.e. “Saudis”.

In the story E26063 Influential militant, 5 others killed in West Bank, the general

anonymous reference to an “influential militant” is made more precise in the Arabic story

A26065 W!-N . Dd c0 bH U%9 ' $%& (Killing of a leader of Al Aqsa

Brigades and 5 others in Nablus).

The choice between generalization and precision in referential terms is also reflected in

the story E22064 White House, Pentagon to release interrogation memo versus the

Arabic A22062 I% FC (!^ / 9I

1 8T% = (Pentagon reveals memos

from Rumsfeld regarding torture). The English story attributes the action to the White

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House and the Pentagon, while the Arabic mentions only the Pentagon. On the other

hand, the English headline generalizes the reference to the memo as an “interrogation

memo”, while the Arabic one talks about “memos” in plural, specifying that they were

issued by Rumsfeld, and further qualifies them as “memos concerning torture”, not

simply “interrogation memos” as does the English headline.

The general observation is that the headlines of Arabic websites tends to provide names,

and sometimes functions or affiliations, of Arab personalities referred to, whereas the

English headlines offer only general descriptive labels. However, sometimes the Arabic

headlines are more explicit with non-Arab names and does not generalise them. Another

observation is that there is a tendency in Arabic to avoid ideologically loaded words,

such as “terrorist”, and to replace them with relatively less controversial words. In the

same vein, those clearly accused of terrorism in English are referred to sometimes in

Arabic with terms that convey a positive connotation, such as “leader”.

4.3.2.3. Verbs

The choice of verbs that describe processes or actions is another relevant aspect where

titles in the two language versions of the same story differ. The discussion of agency

above contains indications of how verbs are used in connection with an actor’s presence

or absence. The use of transitive/intransitive verbs is an important element of agency

representation. However, different verbs are sometimes used with or without directly

affecting agency.

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In the story E03066 U.S. targets insurgents in Kufa, the verb "targets" of the English

version is transposed in Arabic as "$%&" (kill) in the story A03066 3e $%& 1 H /&

a1- & (American forces kill 30 combatants in Kufa), in addition to the different

choice of referential procedures (U.S. and insurgents (in English) versus American forces

and combatants (in Arabic)).

In the story E02063 Saudis, U.S. take aim at Muslim charity with suspected terror ties,

compared to the Arabic A02068 "-J@f $g (4% 1 2 < /h ,V (Saudi-

American measures to freeze the financing of terrorists), the English version chooses a

verb that indicates an intention, “take aim at”, that is to target terrorist financing, while

the Arabic one implies that actual measures were or are being taken.

In the story E09063 Poll of Saudis shows wide support for bin Laden's views, ‘wide

support for bin Laden's views’ could imply a support for his words and deeds. The

implication is explicitly excluded in the Arabic A09064 8E - i* O :'< G?%<

Pa2 E (Saudi poll: support for bin Laden's preachings, not deeds), by using ‘words’

instead of ‘views’ and adding ‘not deeds’.

The English E14061 headline Nuclear watchdog criticizes Iran (appearing also as

E14062) becomes in the Arabic story A14064 Qj >T 8 V 80 :Q (ElBaradei:

Iran's cooperation is not satisfactory), is another example of generalization (criticism in

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English) as compared to precision in Arabic achieved by indicating the reason for

criticism (unsatisfactory cooperation). Here the verb ‘criticise’ itself is deleted and

replaced by a mere declarative colon, which could interpreted as ‘says’.

The headline of the story E21061 Al Qaeda militants say they were helped by Saudi

forces is rendered differently in the Arabic equivalent A21065 headline Q^

8N, ;?%D . 2 F,@ 9@

(Saudi Arabia denies the involvement of security

agents in kidnapping Johnson), by choosing a completely different perspective. The

English headline chose to foreground Al Qaeda's claim, while the Arabic one

foregrounds the Saudi's position by refuting the claim. The result is two different

headlines that imply two different stories, although both versions are about the same

topic. Here we have and example what could be referred to as “modulation” procedure

of translation, although the two headlines are not equivalent semantically.

The headline of the English story E29063 Arab press welcomes power transfer uses only

the verb “welcomes”, while the Arabic story A29068, entitled 7 [ :?! O!

@Ik0 C (Power handover: Arab press welcomes and warns), opts for two verbs

“welcomes and warns”.

Examples of inserting additional text in one language, but not in the other, in order to

provide reason, justification or more precision, have already been mentioned above. In

the story E04064 Sharon dismisses 2 rightist ministers from Cabinet, the only

information given about the dismissed ministers is their political stance “rightist”. In the

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Arabic equivalent more and different qualification is provided to the Ministers. The

headline of the Arabic A04062 6AT 7NE ? "j@ S0 $& 80@: (Sharon

dismisses two ministers opposing the plan of withdrawal from Gaza) does not tell the

political affiliation of the ministers, but provides the reason for their dismissal.

A final example is offered by the story E21066 Judge: Abu Ghraib a crime scene, while

the Arabic A21063 49m 6 %a FD " T -2" Z(J Z( !? hl& (Justice requires that

Abu Ghraib not to be demolished during trial period) avoids the words “crime scene” by

using a neutral circumlocutory formulation.

Although no clear pattern could be inferred from the way verbs are used, there are some

similarities with other techniques referred to above, namely agency and referential

indications. There is generally a tendency in Arabic headlines for clearer positions

compared with English headlines that condense information and possibly confuse

interpretation. The analysis of full stories below will show more examples of differences

and similarities related to the points mentioned above.

4.3.3. Analysis of Selected News Stories

The previous section contains an analysis of headlines and how they are structured

differently to provide different content; however, headlines are short texts, hence they do

not provide sufficient insights about the different discursive choices in the languages in

question. In order to complement the titles analysis above, I will analyse in this section

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more closely a number of stories that are relatively identical in English and Arabic. As

previously indicated the stories selected for analysis are ones that treat the same topic,

published on the same day or within a few hours of time difference, and contain the same

basic information. The section starts with an analysis of the length and macrostructure of

the stories selected, followed by a discussion of similarities and differences, and

examples of salient differences in content, structure or presentation of news stories in

English and Arabic.

4.3.3.1. Length

The stories in the two languages vary in length; hence they vary in the treatment of the

stories, people quoted or speeches paraphrased and background information presented.

The table below shows the length of analysed stories in paragraphs and words. It is clear

that, with a few exceptions, English stories are longer than the Arabic ones. An English

story amounts sometimes to four times the length of an equivalent Arabic story.

Stories Subject English Arabic

Paragraphs Words Paragraphs Words

E01062/A01061 Iraq 12 413 10 268

E02062/A02068 Terrorism 6 260 13 420

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E06063/A06066 Israel/Palestine 9 335 7 257

Iran nuclear
E14061/A14064 27 842 6 232
programme

E17069/A17065 Iraq 9 373 6 288

E21069/A21063 Iraq 33 985 20 540

E22064/A22062 Iraq 29 791 11 402

E26061/A26061 Terrorism 30 1053 11 303

E26063/A26065 Israel/Palestine 16 363 5 168

E280613/A28063 Iraq 22 915 31 762

E29063/A29064 Terrorism 14 441 10 263

Table 1. Length of selected stories in Arabic and English

(length in number of paragraphs and words arranged according to date of publication)

When sorting the stories according to length, stories that address questions about Iraq and

one story about terrorism are the longest in both languages. As shown in the table below,

the longest three stories in both English and Arabic are about terrorism and Iraq, with the

longest story in English about terrorism and in Arabic about Iraq, while the shortest story

in English is also about terrorism, and the shortest in Arabic is about Israel/Palestine.

This distribution is similar to the distribution of stories according to country, where the

majority of stories were found to be about Iraq, and the distribution of stories according

to subject, where instability in Iraq and violence are the predominant subjects (see figures

9 and 10 above).

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English stories in descending order of length Arabic stories in descending order of
length

Subject Paragraphs Words

Subject Paragraphs Words

Terrorism 30 1053
Iraq 31 762

Iraq 33 985
Iraq 20 540

Iraq 22 915
Terrorism 13 420

Iran nuclear 27 842

programme Iraq 11 402

Iraq 29 791 Terrorism 11 303

Terrorism 14 441 Iraq 6 288

Iraq 12 413 Iraq 10 268

Iraq 9 373 Terrorism 10 263

Israel/Palestine 16 363 Israel/Palestine 7 257

Israel/Palestine 9 335 Iran nuclear 6 232

programme

Terrorism 6 260
Israel/Palestine 5 168

Table 2. Stories sorted according to length and subject

(In each language in descending order according to the number of words)

Similarly to previous observations about the structure and design of the two websites, the

length of stories in Arabic is mostly shorter than that of English stories. Consequently,

the Arabic stories provide less information about the events reported and people quoted.

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At the same time the longest stories reflect the values of deviance and negativity, while

confirming the value of consonance referred to above.

4.3.3.2. Macrostructure

This section considers the macrostructure of the stories in English and Arabic, outlining

similarities and differences in form and content. The stories in Arabic appear under the

headline "al-sharq al-awsat" (Middle East), while the equivalent English stories appear

under the headline "World". Each story has either one or two headlines, date and time, a

lead paragraph and satellite paragraphs. The English stories use links to other related

stories within the text, while the Arabic stories usually provide a list of related stories

with hyperlinks at the end of the story (see section 4.2.4 above). Arabic stories are

concluded with the comment that "pages open in a new window", followed by a

disclaimer that the "CNN is not responsible for the content of other windows". Neither

version contains a by-line identifying the author of the article. However, the English

stories contain at the end of each story a comment saying, for example, "CNN's [a

journalist's name] has contributed to this report", offering some kind of attribution. This

includes the name of one or two journalists, with their position, such as “CNN

Correspondent at the Pentagon” or either the name(s) or the function. The Arabic stories

do not contain any such attribution.

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4.3.3.3. Stories’ Internal Structure

It has already been shown (see section 2.5.1. above) that a news story contains typically a

nucleus consisting of a headline and a lead paragraph. This is usually followed by

satellite paragraphs containing quotes, paraphrases, background information and

comment, forming what is traditionally known as the inverted pyramid. While the first

elements normally are clearly identified in a story, the last one, namely comment, is

hardly evident, and can only be inferred from other elements. For the sake of objectivity

and neutrality, journalists tend to introduce their comments implicitly or through

attributing them to other sources, thus presenting a comment in the form of a quotation or

a paraphrase. Although stories in English and Arabic contain all those elements, the

analysis proves that they are not provided in equal measure in both languages. Clear

discrepancies exist as will be shown in the examples discussed in this section. The table

below shows an example of the structure of two apparently identical news stories in

English and Arabic.

E01062 A01061

Headline Headline

Lead Lead

Background Background + Quote

Quote Paraphrase

Paraphrase + Quote Quote

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Paraphrase Paraphrase

Background + Quote Background

Background + Quote Background

Background + Quote

Quote

Quote

Table 3. An example of the structure of two news stories in English and Arabic treating the same

subject

The example above concerns a story that is supposed to be rather well-balanced because

the two stories are relatively equal in length (English: 12 paragraphs; Arabic: 10

paragraphs). However, it is clear that the English and Arabic texts do not have the same

macrostructure. Both stories have a headline and a lead paragraph, although with

different content as will be shown below in this section. The English text has 7 quotes, 2

paraphrases and 4 background pieces of information, while the Arabic one has 2 quotes, 2

paraphrases and 3 background pieces of information. The discrepancy is clear in the

quantity of information presented as well as the quality, with 9 direct and indirect quotes

in English against only four such quotes in Arabic. Longer stories would certainly reveal

more discrepancies.

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4.3.3.4. Thematic and Schematic Analysis

This section contains a qualitative analysis of the corpus comparing the discourse used in

each language with the other, identifying linguistic differences that reveal underlying

social choices and endeavouring to reveal the existence of identical or different

ideological positions. The stories in the corpus are grouped according to topic. The

structure and content of each story are analysed, together with cross-references to the

analysis of headlines, especially when discussing the lead paragraphs that constitute with

the headline the nucleus of the story. The topics in question are the ones found to be more

frequently addressed during the relevant period, i.e. Iraq, terrorism and the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict.

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4.3.3.4.1. Iraq

Iraqi Police

The first pair of stories under this topic includes the English story E01062 (12

paragraphs, 413 words) and the Arabic story A01061 (10 paragraphs, 268 words). In the

analysis of headlines (see section 4.3.2.1. above), I discussed how the headlines of these

stories are written quite differently in English and Arabic. The English headline uses the

town's name as a subject with a neutral tone "Iraqi police: Najaf wasn't prepared for

officers", while the Arabic text accuses the Iraqi Police of withdrawing from the town

"Iraqi police withdraws from Najaf" and adds a second headline conveying a sinister

image of imminent trouble: "Tension looms over Najaf". The lead paragraphs continue

with these opposing positions. The English lead paragraph says:

The Iraqi Interior Ministry rushed police reinforcements from Baghdad to Najaf last week with

inadequate preparations, leading the Baghdad officers to return to the capital because of conditions

they found unacceptable, an Iraqi police official said Tuesday.

While the Arabic says:

An American adviser confirmed that the American army had failed to provide the necessary

arrangements for the accommodation of Iraqi police officers who were supposed to start joint

patrols with the coalition forces on Sunday. This has led to their withdrawal from the town.

It is clear that the lead paragraphs in English and Arabic contain different information for

the same story. Each adopts a different perspective and tone. While the English text, on

the one hand, starts by using accusatory language about the Iraqi Ministry of Interior,

using terms such as "rushed", "inadequate preparations", "conditions … unacceptable",

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the Arabic version, on the other hand, blames the American Army. The blame is clearly

stated in terms attributed to an American adviser who categorically accuses the

Americans army of failing "to provide the necessary arrangements for the

accommodation of Iraqi police officers". The Arabic text refers to a male “American

adviser” without specifying who he is or whom he is advising. It could be inferred that he

is an adviser to the U.S. army. However, the story later makes it explicit that the person

referred to is an American adviser for the Iraqi forces.

Concerning the order of information in the lead paragraphs presented in the two versions

of the story, the English paragraph contains information that is not provided in Arabic,

while the Arabic version reproduces information that is presented in paragraph 10 of the

English. So the English text highlights information that is completely neglected by its

Arabic counterpart. On the other hand, the Arabic text foregrounds information that is

backgrounded in the English text. Therefore, for those looking for the gist of the story by

reading only the nucleus, the readers of each version would form different concepts of the

situation. For those who continue to read the whole story, the readers of each story would

proceed with a different orientations and expectations. The result is two different

messages being conveyed by the same story. The contents of the stories outlined below

show how these positions are further developed in the satellite paragraphs:

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English Arabic
- New Iraqi officers were expected to arrive in - American adviser: Iraqi officers badly treated
Najaf by American army
- Blaming U.S. Army for failing to provide - Blaming American Army for failing to provide
proper accommodation, equipment and food accommodation, and for providing meals
containing pork
- An Iraqi police official in Baghdad blames the
Iraqi Ministry of Interior for lack of preparation - Brig. Gen. Kimmit of the American army
acknowledges logistics problems
- An Iraqi officer gives information about
sending the officers - The coalition officials hope to turn over the
security affairs in the town to the Iraqi police
- Arrangements made by police officials after
officers' return to Baghdad - Clashes between coalition forces and Al-Mahdi
Army continue
- U.S. adviser to the Iraqi Police: Iraqi officers
felt badly treated - The American forces responded by suspending
their military operations in the town.
- Brig. Gen. Kimmitt acknowledges logistics
problems - Fear of security vacuum
- Coalition officials hope to turn over the - The American officials accuse Muqtada al-
security situation in Najaf to Iraqi police Sadr of destabilizing a number of Southern Iraqi
towns
- The coalition military fear that withdrawal
will create a "security vacuum."
- Halting offensive operations in the region,
plans to bring in Iraqi police

People and entities named and/or quoted (whether directly or indirectly) in the English

text are the Iraqi police, Iraqi Interior Ministry, U.S. troops, Muqtada al-Sadr, Maj.

Bassem al-Ani, the U.S. adviser to the Iraqi police, and the coalition military spokesman

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt. As for the Arabic text, it mentions or quotes an American

adviser, the American army, Iraqi officers, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit, the Shiite leader

Muqtada al-Sadr, coalition forces and American officials. The English text relies on the

testimony of a number of Iraqi sources, which corroborate the accusatory tone

proclaimed in the nucleus against the Iraqi Police. The Arabic version, for its part, relies

on the accusations of an American adviser against the United States troops, thus

corroborating the perspective of the Arabic version. Although the English text

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foregrounds the negative information about the Iraqi Police, it seeks to achieve some

balance by providing the Iraqi sources response. The Arabic version does not provide

such opposing views. Nevertheless, the voice of the Iraqi police officers themselves is

absent from both texts. All quoted sources are officials in powerful positions either in the

U.S. army or the Iraqi police.

Whose responsibility was it? Relying on the testimony of the American adviser, the

Arabic story highlights the claim that the American army treated the Iraqi officers as

second-class citizens. The adviser alluded to the fact that the Iraqi officers had nowhere

to sleep and that the American army gave them meals containing pork, which Muslims do

not eat. The English story, on the other hand, underscores the claim that the Iraqi Interior

Ministry rushed police reinforcements from Baghdad to Najaf with inadequate

preparations, and mentions that the American adviser to the police previously blamed the

U.S. Army for failing to provide the Iraqi police with proper accommodation, equipment

and food, but also provides the rebuke of an Iraqi police official in Baghdad who accused

the Iraqi Interior Ministry of a lack of preparation.

The Iraq – al Qaeda Relationship

This story shows less pronounced discrepancies between the two versions, but still

contains many differences in the details provided by each text. The English version

E17069 (9 paragraphs, 373 words) and Arabic equivalent A17065 (6 paragraphs, 288

words) have almost the same headlines and lead paragraphs. The headline for both

versions is “Bush insists Iraq, al Qaeda had ‘relationship’”, although the Arabic one does

166
not insert the word “relationship” between inverted commas as the English headline does.

The lead paragraphs in both stories expand the title by paraphrasing Bush’s remarks in

which he insisted that “there were ‘numerous contacts’ between Iraq and the terror

network”. The same content, structure and format are used in the paraphrasing of

quotations in both stories. This could be described as a rare case of literal translation from

English into Arabic. The parallel nucleus texts are shown below:

English Arabic

Title Bush insists Iraq, al Qaeda had Bush insists on a relationship

‘relationship’ between al Qaeda and Iraq

Lead WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Washington (CNN) The

Bush on Thursday said that there were American President insisted
"numerous contacts" between Iraq and that the there were "numerous
the terror network. contacts" between Iraq and the
terror network.

Although the story begins with a similar nucleus in both languages, the remaining

satellite paragraphs proceed differently. A clear difference appears in the first paragraph,

which contains background information and quotes. The English text could be

schematized as follows:

Setting: appearance before reporters

Background 1: Bush asked why he was insisting on a relationship

Background 2: Bush denied connection of Saddam with 9/11

Background 3: 9/11 Commission denied any collaborative connection

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(the three background elements are presented as a paraphrase and a quotation of a reporter’s

question)

The Arabic equivalent follows the same schema but provides less detail. For example, the

phrase "Bush […] was asked why the administration insists that Saddam Hussein and al

Qaeda had a relationship", becomes in Arabic "Bush said […] answering a question about

the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda organization”. Another major difference is the

absence of the background quote "when even you have denied any connection between

Saddam and September 11" from the Arabic version. However, the content of the last

part of the quotation appears in both languages "and now the September 11 commission

says that there was no collaborative relationship at all", although in Arabic it loses the

force it has in English because of deleting the background information.

Quoting and Paraphrasing

The two texts provide identical quotes, albeit with different emphasis and placement. For

instance, the words of Bush’s remarks saying “I always said that Saddam Hussein was a

threat” and “[he was] a threat because he provided safe havens for a terrorist like (Abu

Musab al-) Zarqawi, who is still killing innocents inside of Iraq” are quoted almost

literally in both languages, with the exception of adding (Abu Msab al-) in English.

However, this quote appears in paragraph 10 in English while it is foregrounded to

paragraph 4 in Arabic. It is worth noting that most quotes are presented as direct

citations, between inverted commas, even in Arabic although they were translated.

Quotes in Arabic of American sources are certainly translations from English. As for

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quoting Iraqi officials, quotes are provided without indicating whether they talked in

Arabic or English.

The stories depend mainly on quotes and paraphrases from Bush’s replies to reporters

and from the September 11 investigation committee report. That means only United

States voices are allowed to express themselves, to comment and provide background

information. There is no reference to any Iraqi or independent sources for comment, nor

corroborating or contradictory viewpoints.

Comment

It was pointed out earlier that comment is usually provided implicitly. In the quote below

reference is made to a Palestinian organisation described as a terror group. This

characterization is followed by a further description, provided in English as an embedded

sentence, saying that the group is related to the Palestinian Liberation Organization

(PLO). This comment would extend the characterization of being a ‘terror group’ to

cover the PLO itself. The word chosen, i.e. ‘spinoff’, conveys an ambiguous relationship.

"He […] said Saddam had connections with organizations considered by the United States to be

terror groups -- including Abu Nidal. That group is a spinoff from the Palestinian Liberation

Organization." (En, 5)

The phrase “organizations considered by the United States to be terror groups”, which

contains the element of comment, is rendered in Arabic as simply "other terror groups".

The final comment “That group is a spinoff from the Palestinian Liberation

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Organization" does not appear in Arabic at all. Even in English, this comment is included

within the paraphrased speech, which makes it appear to be part of what was said. There

is no way of finding out whether it is truly part of the paraphrased speech or it is a

qualification added by a journalist as an additional clarification. Such intertextual

embedding may imply further an ideological position adopted by the journalist(s). Using

the phrase “organizations considered by the United States to be terror groups”, distances

the reporter from adopting this position by attributing the claim to an “official” source.

The Arabic version, however, does not use this hedged language by qualifying the

organisation directly as a “terror group”, thus adopting a different ideological stance.

Moreover, the reference to the Abu Nidal group and insinuating that it had links to a

certain other Palestinian movement, as mentioned above, also has ideological

implications. Again, the Arabic text avoids such implications.

The table below shows how the two stories are elaborated differently in spite of their

initial similarities highlighted above:

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English Arabic

Bush to reporters: there was a relationship between Bush to reporters: there was a relationship between
Saddam and September 11 Iraq and al Qaeda
The president insisted there was a relationship Refers to meetings in Sudan between Iraqi
between Iraq and al Qaeda. intelligence agents and al Qaeda
Bush reiterated that there were numerous contacts Bush insisting that he had always said Saddam
between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda Hussein was a threat
Refers to meetings in Sudan between Iraqi The American president insisted he had never said
intelligence agents and al Qaeda that bin Laden and Iraq organized September 11
attacks
Before the invasion of Iraq, Bush had made
stronger statements alleging cooperation between Dick Cheney still maintains that there were links
Iraq and al Qaeda between Saddam's regime and al Qaeda, although
an independent American commission denied that
The initial report from the 9/11 commission:
Osama bin Laden explored possible cooperation The independent commission declared that there
with Iraq despite his opposition to Saddam's was no evidence of any cooperation to launch
regime those attacks
Contact was pushed by the Sudanese to protect The report mentioned a meeting between an al
their own ties with Iraq Qaeda chief and a senior Iraqi official in Sudan
Possible other contacts later between Iraq and al
Qaeda, but no collaborative relationship occurred
Bush insisting that he had always said Saddam
Hussein was a threat

In this pair of stories the same information is provided with different degrees of

elaboration. Foregrounding and backgrounding of information is used differently. There

are elements of comment, although provided indirectly, and used differently.

Abu Ghraib

The differences between the headlines of the English story E21069 (33 paragraphs, 985

words), entitled Judge: Abu Ghraib a crime scene, and the Arabic one A21063 (20

paragraphs, 540 words), entitled 49m 6 %a FD " T -2" Z(J Z( !? hl& (Justice

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requires that Abu Ghraib not to be demolished during trial period), have been highlighted

above (see section 4.3.2.3. above).

As for the lead paragraphs, they contain the same information. The English lead

paragraph repeats the use of "crime scene", while, although the Arabic version uses this

phrase in the lead paragraph, it avoids using it in the headlines.

In this story the skewed voice rights are very clear. The story is mainly about a prison,

Abu Ghraib, where many human rights abuses of Iraqi prisoners by United States army

personnel allegedly took place and their images were spread widely across the world. The

story is based mainly on quotes and paraphrases. The English version, on the one hand,

provides the opinions and comments of an American military judge, President Bush, Paul

Bergrin (the civilian defence attorney for Sgt. Javal Davis), Guy Womack (the attorney

for Spc.60 Charles Graner), Iraqi officials, and interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer.

The Arabic version, on the other hand, provides similar quotes and paraphrases of: an

American judge, the American President George Bush, the defence team, the American

military judge Colonel James Paul, Paul Bergrin, Guy Womak and the British Prosecutor

Lord Peter Goldsmith. The soldier identified by the title "Spc." in English is referred to

simply by his full name without any rank or title, while other titles were kept.

In both stories the right to speak is given mainly to the United States sources, and

particularly the lawyers who represent the soldiers accused of abuse. Although the title

and lead paragraphs refer to the prison as a crime scene, the quotes from the lawyer’s

statements mitigate the introductory language by defending the behaviour of the soldiers.

They are quoted, for instance, saying the soldiers were "following orders [they] believed

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to be lawful", "under the environment as it existed at Abu Ghraib, it appeared to be

lawful …", they were told to "follow the orders of military intelligence and so they did",

[the prisoners at Abu Ghraib were] "not protected by international or American law", and

"therefore you can't be guilty of maltreatment if they're not even protected by law". So

the emphasis is on the legitimacy of the abusers' actions, while the victims are not

accorded any rights because they were not "protected by law".

The quotes and paraphrases in the English text reveal a clear fallacy of rhetoric. The

fallacy consists of relying on the lawyers’ opinions about the rights of abusers while

neglecting the fact that those prisoners are human beings and should be protected by

relevant international human rights instruments. There are no comments on the fallacy

and no quotes from other opposing or independent sources. It is worth mentioning that

none of these arguments appears in the Arabic version. The stories, in both languages,

highlight the voice of the accused and their lawyers, use the judge's viewpoint as an

introductory springboard, but they present no details of his ruling, and the voice of the

victims and their lawyers, if they had any, is absent in both cases.

Another part that appeared in English, but not in Arabic, is a sub-story entitled “Horror

movie”, where the situation in the prison is described, by one of the soldiers, as “hell ...

out of a horror movie.” Torture practices are described that include: "beatings and

positioning the prisoners in sexual positions", forcing "the prisoners to disrobe, mocking

them and punching a detainee with a closed fist so hard in the temple that it knocked the

detainee unconscious." All these descriptions of torture techniques were replaced in

Arabic by a few general words, such as one of the lawyers’ statement that “his client was

173
receiving daily instructions to press Iraqi prisoners in order to obtain information from

them”.

The Arabic story highlights instead the comments of one of the lawyers in praise of the

military judge who refused Bush's proposal to demolish the prison saying: "This judge

had the integrity ... to tell the president of the United States “You are not touching that

prison’.” That information, foregrounded in the Arabic story by including it in paragraph

4, appears only in paragraph 20 of the English text.

4.3.3.4.2. Terrorism

Terrorism is the second topic dealt with by stories in the corpus. As it is not always easy

to identify what is considered terrorism and what is not, the stories included here are the

ones that explicitly use the term "terrorism" or that deal with entities or people

customarily described in the media as terrorists, such as Al Qaeda, bin Laden and Al

Zarqawi.

Saudi Poll

The English story E29063 (14 paragraphs, 441 words) and the Arabic equivalent A09064

(10 paragraphs, 263 words) both are about a poll of Saudis’ opinions on terrorist views. It

was mentioned above that both stories have similar headlines, the only difference being

that the English version uses "wide support for bin Laden's views", while the Arabic one

uses "support for bin Laden’s views, not deeds" (see section 4.3.2.3. above).

174
The lead paragraphs contain the same information; however, the Arabic version continues

by emphasising the insignificance of support for terrorist actions. The English story says

"fewer than 5 per cent thought it was a good idea for bin Laden to rule the Arabian

Peninsula". The Arabic text, on the other hand, says "the numbers dwindled to a token

that does not exceed five per cent of those who thought it was a good idea for bin Laden

to rule the Arabian Peninsula" (emphasis added).

The stories are based on the results of a poll presented by a Saudi national security

consultant. There is no indication of the original language in which the information was

presented. The structure is based on quotes, background information and comments

attributed to the security consultant. The stories share the information and order of

presentation to a large extent, although the English story is longer and contains more

details of the replies to the questionnaire and background information. The English story

is concluded with a note saying "[t]he margin of error was plus or minus three percentage

points", which does not appear in the Arabic version.

Saudi charity

A story about actions taken by Saudi authorities against some charities accused of

supporting terrorism appeared in the English story E02062 (6 paragraphs, 260 words) and

in Arabic as A02068 (13 paragraphs, 420 words). The headlines are rather similar, with

the English entitled Saudis, U.S. take aim at Muslim charity with suspected terror ties,

175
and the Arabic entitled "-J@f $g (4% 1 2 < /h ,V (Saudi-American

measures to freeze the financing of terrorists) (see section 4.3.2.3. above).

This split of position, highlighted above, continues in the lead paragraphs. The English

story refers to “blocking the assets of a Muslim charity accused of backing terrorist

groups”, while the Arabic one talks about taking “serious action to freeze the funds of a

Saudi charity institution that funded al Qaeda organization and other armed groups”.

Obviously, the English account continues to use hedged expressions such as ‘accused of’,

while insisting on describing the charity in question as a ‘Muslim’ one, as it does in the

headline. The Arabic story, however, continues to use a direct accusatory tone, e.g. “that

funded”, and avoids bestowing any religious character upon it, while compensating this

by linking the charity to “Al Qaeda and other armed groups” to replace the English term

“terrorist groups”. The English lead paragraph contains more background information

that is not provided in the Arabic equivalent paragraph. It starts by declaring that: “[t]he

United States and Saudi Arabia will ask the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to

provide more help in blocking the assets […].” The Arabic version is introduced directly

as “Saudi and American officials announced, on Wednesday, a serious of actions […],”

without any reference to recourse to the UN Security Council. However such a reference

is provided later, in paragraph 8 of the Arabic version.

Within the text of the story, paragraph 1 of the English version refers to action taken by

the United States against a specific Saudi charity by placing it on “its list of groups and

people suspected of bankrolling terrorism”. The placement of this information in the

foreground, immediately after the headline and lead paragraph, gives a concrete example

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of what is referred to in the lines above. The reader would understand that this specific

organization is the one referred to earlier as a “Muslim” charity “suspected” of financing

“terror groups”. The Arabic version provides the same information, however, by placing

it further down the text in paragraph 9.

Paragraph 1 of the Arabic story highlights a Saudi action by stating that “Saudi Arabia

said it would form a separate foundation to control the distribution of charity

contributions abroad, in a step aimed at bringing the financing of terrorist organizations

to an end”, information that is not provided in English. Here also should be noted the use

of “Saudi Arabia” as the subject without attributing it to any specific source or institution.

This position reflects a general attitude that is prevalent throughout the texts of the story

in both languages. Although both of them rely almost exclusively on the same source,

information is presented selectively and in a different order. The Arabic version tends to

emphasise the role of the Saudi authorities, as taking the main action, while presenting

the United States’ action as complementary, supportive or taking place parallel to Saudi

positions. Both versions depend on information provided by a “Saudi official”, referred to

as such in the English story, while this official is identified in Arabic by his name and

title as “Foreign Policy Adviser to the Saudi Crown Prince Emir Abdullah”.

In this story, the Arabic text is longer than the English one, this being one of the rare

cases. It contains in addition to the information outlined above, other details provided by

a United States Official, which is not provided in English in the same story. The Arabic

version refers to the United States official by name and functional title, as “Deputy

177
Assistant responsible for Financing of Terrorism Affairs in the American Treasury”, who

commended the efforts of the Saudi government in this respect.

The information is provided in the form of quotes and paraphrases of official sources. No

other voice is heard in the stories. None of the organizations accused is allowed to

provide its point of view, and no independent source is invited to comment.

In these stories, the main voice is that of official sources; the victims and accused are

systematically absent. There is a tendency in the Arabic text to highlight the role of Arab

governments, directly naming people or organizations as terrorists, while avoiding calling

them ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islamic’. The English story highlights the role of the United States,

and uses hedged language with the epithet ‘terrorist’, while describing them as ‘Muslim’

charities.

4.3.3.4.3. Israel-Palestinian Conflict

Militants Killed

As a major issue in the Middle East affairs and a prominent subject in the news analysed,

two stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are considered in this section. The first is

the English E06063 (9 paragraphs, 335 words), entitled Palestinians: Influential militant,

5 others killed, and the Arabic story A06066 (7 paragraphs, 257 words), is entitled $%&

W!-N . Dd c0 bH U%9 ' (Killing of a leader from Al Aqsa Brigades and 5

178
others in Nablus). The differences between the two headlines have already been pointed

out (see section 4.3.2.2. above).

Both lead paragraphs give more details about the time and place of the killing. However,

the Arabic version provides the full name and position of the militant in question “Nayef

Abu Sharekh, the leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank”. Both versions

attribute the information to “Palestinian sources”.

The English account uses “wanted by Israel” while the Arabic one describes them as

“hiding […] in order to flee Israeli forces searching for them”. The phrase “wanted by”

identifies the people in questions as criminals “wanted” by justice. The Arabic

formulation however presents them as “victims” escaping and hiding for safety.

Both stories contain a comment, in the form of background information, that the United

States and Israel consider the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas (the Arabic story

does not include any reference to Hamas) to be terrorist organizations. They add further

that the groups have carried out numerous attacks against civilians (the Arabic account

adds the adjective “Israeli” to qualify the word “civilians”.

An additional difference is that, although both stories quote Palestinian Authority sources

for information about the operation, the English one further adds a quote from a

Palestinian Cabinet Minister who condemned “the Israeli escalation that killed at least six

Palestinians”, and that came when the Palestinians were “meeting with U.S.

Undersecretary of State William Burns and at the time Egyptians are exerting all efforts

to break the vicious cycle of violence”, concluding that the "Israeli military escalation

threatens to undermine these efforts". However all this information is neither quoted, nor

179
paraphrased in the Arabic version. The English story also points out that there was no

immediate Israeli reaction, but no equivalent information is given in Arabic.

Fatah Leader Sentenced

The English version of this story E26063 (16 paragraphs, 363 words) has two headlines:

“Fatah leader sentenced to 5 life terms” and “Israeli court convicted Marwan Barghouti

in fatal attacks”. The Arabic equivalent A26065 (5 paragraphs, 168 words) has one

headline: “Israeli court convicts Al Barghouthi to five life terms”. The Arabic headline is

a summary of the two English headlines. The title “Fatah leader” and full name “Marwan

Barghouti” of the English headlines are replaced in Arabic by the last name only, ‘Al

Barghouthi’. The Arabic version excludes the explanatory phrase “in fatal attacks” of the

second English headline. It is to be noted also that in Arabic the English verbs

“sentenced” and “convicted” are replaced by one verb and the tense changes from a past

form to a present form, “convicts”. The present simple form expresses continuity of

action, implying that Israel usually “convicts” Palestinians, a denotation not present in the

English version.

The lead paragraphs expand the information presented in the headlines. They are fairly

identical, giving the details of the sentence and charges. The only difference, as in the

headline, is that Barghouti is referred to in the English version as “Palestinian Fatah

leader Marwan Barghouti”, while in Arabic he is referred to as “Marwan Al Barghouthi,

the Secretary of the Palestinian Fatah Movement in the West Bank”.

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The story is based on quoting and paraphrasing statements by an Israeli court

spokeswoman, Marwan Barghouti himself, the Palestinian Authority (English only), and

Bargouti’s wife, Fadwa Barghouti (Arabic only). Additionally, brief information about

Barghouti’s political career is presented in both Arabic and English as background

information without attributing it to any source. The background that follows is presented

in both languages: “The Israelis once considered Barghouti a possible replacement for

Arafat, but now accuse him of heading several militant organizations in the West Bank

and taking orders from him [i.e. Barghouti].” However, this comment appears in

paragraph 2 in Arabic and in paragraph 4 in English. Further background information

provided shows clear differences of orientation and emphasis. The table below shows, as

an example, the details of charges in English and Arabic:

English Arabic

Israel convicted him last month on charges Israel convicted him last month on charges of three
stemming from three shooting attacks, but failed to attacks, but failed to gain a conviction in 33 other
gain a conviction in 33 other charges. charges.

Barghouti's trial, held in Tel Aviv, began in August

2003. He was convicted on three counts of murder
in the three shooting incidents -- a 2001 attack that
killed a Greek orthodox monk, a 2002 attack at
Givat Zeev that killed an Israeli and the Tel Aviv
Seafood Market last year that killed three people. No Arabic equivalent
In addition to the five life terms on the murder
convictions, Barghouti was sentenced to 20 years
for a count of attempted murder for a bomb that
exploded prematurely and another 20 years for
membership in a terror organization.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority said it

didn't recognize the jurisdiction of the Israeli court
No Arabic equivalent
in the Barghouti case, and called its decision “illegal
and void.”

Barghouti also has refused to recognize the Israeli Barghouti refuses the principle of defending himself
court, which he calls “a court of occupation.” in a court that he does not recognize as legitimate,

181
saying that he is a political symbol and has nothing
to do with the acts of violence against Israelis.
The Palestinian leader calls on his own people to
resort to force in the face of "Israeli occupation" in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, at the same time he
expressed his support for a peace agreement that
No English equivalent
supports the establishment of a Palestinian State
coexisting peacefully beside Israel.
Marwan said, after sentencing him, that the
Palestinian People will ultimately be victorious and
will establish its State, confirming that this trial is
null and void.

The selection of background information shows different images of the same person. The

English version, in spite of providing the defence of the Palestinian Authority, which is

not provided in Arabic, emphasises the criminal character of the trial. It provides the

details of the charges, accentuating the civilian casualties, including a Greek orthodox

monk. The Arabic account, in contrast, emphasises the political nature of the trial. It does

not provide any details of the charges, emphasising instead Barghouti’s defence of

himself as a political symbol and a freedom fighter.

The last paragraphs of each version of the story serve as comment, although provided in

Arabic as quotes of Barghouti’s wife’s statements. This further marks the difference of

orientation in the two versions.

182
English Arabic

Fatah is the mainstream faction and Palestinian As for Fadwa Al-Barghouthi, Marwan’s wife, she
nationalist movement of the Palestine Liberation thought the sentence against her husband was expected,
Organization and is dedicated to the formation of an pointing out that the sentence had political dimensions in
independent Palestinian state. view of her husband’s political status.

The mainstream Fatah acts as the political She said that the campaign calling for his release will
organization of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. continue.

A military offshoot of Fatah, Al Aqsa Martyrs

Brigades, has carried out numerous attacks against
military targets and civilians in Israel and in Israeli
settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. In March
2002, the U.S. State Department designated it a
foreign terrorist organization.

This is an example of a rare case where the voice is given to someone related to the

accused, although it appears only in Arabic and not in English.61

Comments in English take the form of background information about the political

position of the Fatah organization, its links to the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and

its “military offshoot” the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades which is designated as a ‘terrorist

organization’.

The stories analysed show that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is presented in Arabic in a

different way from the way it is presented in English. This relates, in particular, to the

image of Palestinian militants and politicians. It is clear that the Arabic discourse is

directed towards an Arab audience that is expected to sympathise with those figures.

They are therefore presented either as victims or freedom fighters. The English on the

other hand tries to be more balanced, presenting the views of both sides, without avoiding

using language that describes those same elements as criminals or terrorists.

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4.4. Synopsis (1)

This first part of the analysis consisted of the following components: a multimodal

analysis of the websites, an overview of the news stories collected, an analysis of

headlines and an analysis of selected stories. I tried to pinpoint salient features in the two

websites that reveal features related to the CNN’s discourse in the two languages. The

final section of this chapter will contain a recapitulation of the analysis results and

interpretation, together with the results of the questionnaire discussed in the following

section.

4.5. Questionnaire

4.5.1. Introduction

This section contains an analysis of replies to the users’ questionnaire conducted online.

Chapter 3, Methodology, provides details of how the questionnaire was prepared and

administered, as well as of its objectives and structure (see section 3.2.2. above). A copy

of the questionnaire is provided as an appendix.

As explained in section 3.2.2., forty-nine respondents replied to the questionnaire, but

three questionnaires had to be excluded from the analysis. The respondents to those 3

questionnaires answered only a few general questions at the beginning and did not

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answer any of the substantive questions. The analysis and percentages provided below

are, thus, based only on the 46 valid replies.

4.5.2. Distribution of Respondents

Using the replies to the first part of the questionnaire, this section provides the

distribution of respondents according to gender, education, country of origin and country

of residence. The analysis of this distribution aims at finding out whether the

respondents’ distribution is balanced, or whether it is slanted in any way that might affect

the reliability of responses.

The first question in this part is about gender. Male respondents represented 52.2 per

cent, while female respondents represented 47.8 per cent, of the total number of valid

replies, as illustrated by figure 11 below.

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Male
Female

Figure 11. Distribution of Respondents by Gender

This shows that the respondents' distribution according to gender is almost homogenous

although the number of male respondents slightly exceeds that of female respondents.

As for age, 46 (i.e. 89 per cent) of the respondents chose to give this information. It was

not a compulsory question, but the questionnaire was designed to accept values between

18 and 99, in order to restrict replies to adult respondents and to avoid entering values

inadvertently. The sample included a wide span of age among respondents that ranged

from 20 to 67 years old. However, the majority fall in the range of 20 to 50 years old,

with only 2 respondents older than 50. The pie-chart below presents the distribution of

respondents who replied to the age question.

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20-30
31-40
41-50
Over 50

Figure 12. Distribution of Respondents by Age

As for education, the majority of respondents had attained a post-graduate level of

education, with no respondent of a level lower than university. The options offered were:

primary, intermediate, secondary, university, post-university. Given the different

educational systems around the world, general categories were used that could apply to

different systems without adopting a specific nomenclature. As all respondents had a

university education or higher, the table below shows their distribution at these levels

without reflecting levels with zero respondents. The table shows as well that the majority,

more than 75 per cent, have a post-graduate degree, and those with only university-level

education represented less than a quarter of the respondents.

187
Per cent

University 23.9

Post-Graduate 76.1

Total 100.0

Table 4. Distribution of Respondents according to Education

The next question in this category is about profession. The distribution of replies to this

question correlates with the respondents’ distribution according to education. The

majority of respondents are students, researchers and university lecturers (73.9 per cent),

with the remaining professions being a journalist, a pharmacist, a translator, a librarian

and a retiree.

35

30

25

20
Percent
15

10

0
Lecturer Student Researcher Teacher Retired Journalist Pharmacist Translator Librarian
Professions

Figure 13. Distribution of Respondents according to Profession

188
As for the country of origin and the country where the respondent currently lives, the use

of the Internet enabled replies to be received from a wide range of countries. Most of the

respondents replied to this question and many of them do not live in their country of

origin. The wide variety of countries makes it difficult to establish clear patterns or to

establish any significant correlations. However, the replies came from 25 different

countries in different regions of the world. For the purpose of illustration, replies were

received from respondents who either come from or live in one of the following countries

(in alphabetical order): Austria, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo, the Czech

Republic, Eritrea, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon,

Libya, Malta, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain,

Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and

Yemen.

4.5.3. Sources of News

The information elicited by this question aimed at finding out what major news outlets

the respondents used and to what extent the Web was actually used by them as a source

of news. The results show that the Web is the main source of news for the majority of

respondents. It is used by 74% of respondents (see Figure 14 below) either as the only

source of news or combined with other sources.

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Other sources combined, excluding the
Web
Web and Web and other Sources

No Source chosen

Figure 14. Percentage of respondents who selected the Web as a primary or secondary source of news

compared to other sources combined

Even when used as the only source of news, the Web is used by nearly one fifth (i.e.

19.6%) of the respondents, followed by television which is still viewed by one tenth of

the respondents as their unique news provider (10.9%). As for newspapers alone, they are

read by only 2.2 per cent of the respondents, and a similar percentage listened to the

radio.

Another indication confirming the predominance of the Web for these news seekers is

demonstrated by the replies to the question about the frequency of using the Web for

getting news. In answering this question only 15.1 per cent of the respondents chose

either "never" or "seldom", while a majority of 84.3 per cent chose either "occasionally"

or "frequently".

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4.5.4. Respondents’ Views about CNN’s Reporting

The following questions focus on watching the CNN television channel or visiting the

CNN's website(s). The first question was a general one about whether respondents have

had any experience or exposure to the CNN either on television or on the Web and the

frequency of such viewing or visits. This information is vital for determining the

reliability of the subsequent evaluative questions. Nearly half of the respondents have had

some experience of watching CNN television or visiting its website in English. However,

a minor percentage reported visiting its websites in other languages (see figure 15 below).

80

70
60
50
Percentage 40 CNN Television
30 CNN English Website
CNN Other Website(s)
20
10
0
Frequently Occasionally Seldom Never
Frequency

Figure 15. Frequency of Watching the CNN on Television and Visiting the CNN's Website(s)

When asked about the perceived reliability of the CNN's reporting of international news,

respondents views tended to cluster in the negative side (tend to disagree and disagree),

with less than 5 per cent thinking that it is reliable. This is corroborated by replies to

other questions about balanced reporting. Replies to questions about whether the CNN

provides news stories that reflect different opinions and whether it treats different parties

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in a news story equally received a similar reaction, with 0 per cent agreeing and around

20 per cent tending to agree with both statements. However, a question about whether the

CNN favours positions adopted by the United States Government received a high

percentage of positive replies, rising to nearly 50 per cent, contrasting wiht a non-

significant percentage of opposing views (see figure 16 below).

60

50

40 Reliable
Reflect different opinions
30
Favours US Government

20 Treats parties equally

10

0
Agree Tend to Tend to Disagree Don't know
agree disagree

Figure 16. Respondents’ Opinions of the CNN's Reporting in General

4.5.5. CNN's Reporting on the Middle East

Related to the previous question on the perceived reliability in covering international

news, specific questions about the perceived reliability of the CNN reporting in covering

Middle Eastern affairs were asked. Around one tenth of the respondents chose "don't

know" in this section of the questionnaire, while there is a stronger tendency towards

negative views of reliability in this respect, compared to those on the reporting of

international news as general (see Figure 17 below).

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When asked whether they think that the CNN treats different parties in the Middle-

Eastern questions equally, through offering news that represents different opinions, none

of the respondents agreed, while only one tenth chose "tend to agree". A majority of

nearly 75 per cent chose either "disagree" or "tend to disagree", with more than fifty per

cent choosing clearly to "disagree".

As for the question about whether they think that the CNN is biased in covering the

Middle-Eastern questions, confirming the tendency above, the tendency of the replies is

reversed. More than half of the respondents chose “agree”, although nearly 30 per cent

chose “tend to disagree”. However, ten per cent of the respondents “tend to disagree” that

it is biased, while no one clearly chose to “disagree” with the statement.

60

50

40
Percentage

CNN treats different ME parties

questions equally
30
CNN is biased in covering ME
questions
20

10

0
Agree Tend to Tend to Disagree Don't
agree disagree know
Responses

Figure 17. The CNN's Reporting on the Middle East, neutral or biased?

The responses to these questions show that there are stronger views concerning the

Middle-Eastern questions. This is shown by the fact that no one disagreed with the first

question and no one agreed with the second one. The relatively categorical views about
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this type of reporting indicates the existence of a perception that the CNN takes sides

specifically where Middle East questions are concerned. While some degree of balance is

perceived with international news in general, this balance is not extended to the Middle

East. This tendency of perception is also reflected in the narrative responses discussed

below.

4.5.6. The CNN's Website

The following questions are focused on the CNN’s website in general. When replying to

questions on whether the CNN's website is more informative than the CNN on television,

or whether they are similar, a majority of more than 60 per cent and 80 per cent,

respectively, chose “don’t know” (see figure 18 below). The remaining proportion of

replies is distributed among the different positions, ranging from ‘agree’ to ‘disagree’

without clear preference. However, there is a relative concentration of responses on ‘tend

to agree’ and ‘tend to disagree’, indicating rather indecisive choices.

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90
80
70
60
Percentage

CNN's website is more

50 informative than CNN on TV
40 CNN's website is similar to the
CNN on TV
30
20
10
0
Agree Tend to Tend to Disagree Don't know
agree disagree
Opinion

Figure 18. Comparison of CNN's Website and Television

4.5.7. CNN's Arabic website

Among those who visit the CNN's websites, only three respondents stated that they visit

the Arabic website. However, when replying to the question about the frequency of

visiting the same site, 11 respondents (i.e. 25%) indicated that they do visit it either

seldom, occasionally or frequently (see figures 19 below). Using the replies of these 14

respondents, I will present in the following section the analysis of the replies received to

this question, although they have no real statistical significance.

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Seldom
Occasionally
Frequently
Not applicable

Figure 19. Percentage of Respondents who Visit the CNN's Arabic Website

4.5.7.1. Assessment of the CNN's Arabic Website

Replies to the questions of assessment are analysed for illustrative purposes only, given

the minimal number of respondents who actually visit the CNN Arabic website (see

figure 20 below).

Regarding the question about whether the CNN's Arabic website provides valuable news

about the Middle East, the majority chose "not applicable", confirming the fact that most

of the respondents have never visited that website. Among those who chose other replies,

respondents selected either "tend to agree" or "tend to disagree", while no one chose a

definite "agree" or "disagree" response.

In replying to the question about whether the CNN's Arabic website is identical to the

CNN's English website, again for most respondents this is “not applicable”. However, for

those to whom the question is applicable, they either “disagree”, “tend to disagree” or

“don't know”.

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As for the question about whether the CNN's Arabic website treats different parties in the

Middle East questions equally through offering news that represents different opinions,

the majority chose "not applicable". Among those who chose other replies, more

respondents chose "tend to disagree" or "disagree", while no replies went to "agree" or

"tend to agree".

As for the question about democracy in the Middle East, no one agreed that the CNN

Arabic website promotes democracy in the Middle East. Although, as for the previous

question, most replies were either "don't know" or "not applicable", those who gave an

opinion chose to disagree.

The same pattern of replies applies to the question about whether the CNN Arabic

website promotes the United States’ interests in the Middle East. Most replies were either

"don't know" or "not applicable", and those who gave an opinion chose to “agree” or

“tend to agree”, with a few respondents who chose to “disagree”.

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90
CNN's Arabic website provides
80
valuable news about the ME
70
Percentage
60
CNN's Arabic website is
50
identical to the CNN's English
40
website
30
20 CNN's Arabic website treats
10 different parties in the ME
questions equally
0
CNN's Arabic website promotes
ee
e

ow
e

e
democracy in the ME

re
re
re

bl
gr

kn

ic a
Ag

ag
ag

sa

pl
n't
di

Di
to

ap
Do
to

CNN's Arabic website promotes

nd

t
No
nd
Te

the United States interests in

Te

Responses the ME

Figure 20. Respondents Assessment of the CNN's Arabic Website

4.5.8. Narrative Responses

The last question offered the respondents a space in which to provide additional

comments that complement their replies to previous questions. A number of respondents

made use of this space and gave different evaluative commentaries that ranged in tone

from rather scholarly or relatively objective to a totally negative attitude, with hardly a

positive opinion. In fact, all comments accused the CNN of being biased, although

without always indicating the direction of bias. Quotes directly excerpted from comments

are reproduced as they were written without any modification or correction. I added to

each of the replies basic information about the respondent, including gender, age, country

of residence and country of origin, in this order.

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4.5.8.1. Positive View

Only one respondent voiced a positive opinion, saying "I like watching CNN, because it

is informative and broadcast the news very quickly", however, she gives a note of caution

that "one should be very cautious interpreting the news and documentaries". (Female, 47,

Iran, Iran)

4.5.8.2. Scholarly or Objective View

One respondent took an academic viewpoint by observing that "news reporting is socio-

politically and historically positioned", further confirming that "CNN like most other (if

not all other) news outlets is biased". He adds a comparison saying that “CNN\'s

reporting may be more balanced than Fox\'s, but this does not mean CNN is not biased”.

(Male, 35, USA, Jordan)

4.5.8.3. Negative View

With the exception of the above comments, all other commentators voiced a negative

point of view. One respondent stated that she has not much respect for the CNN and

accused it of being influenced by the United States government politics, concluding that

"… Then I do not much agree on CNN\'s news". (Female, 50, Thailand, Thailand)

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In the same vein, another commentator expressed her disappointment, saying "Alas, I

find that CNN deals with sound bites, making it very unsuitable as a reliable news

source. Bits of biased stories." (Female, 67, USA, USA)

A Greek respondent did not reply only on her own behalf but also claimed that among

Greeks there is "disbelief towards the American media, especially when it comes to US

external policy and war." She further added that "This is both why I never use CNN for

my information (also because Greek or UK media are more accessible to me :) ) but at

the same time I have stated that I don\'t think CNN is neutral. the most salient references

of CNN in the Greek media is to highlight cases when it is not neutral! So I only have

this mediated version of CNN in mind." (Female, 25, UK, Greece)

One respondent said that he used to occasionally watch the CNN on television and visit

its website. This respondent is the only one who referred to the website, without saying

which language he used. He said "I used to occasionally watch CNN on TV and look at

their website, but became increasingly frustrated with their biased coverage. Now I still

often hear about examples of this biased coverage from friends, or read about it in

publications such as Private Eye (a satirical weekly newspaper)." (Male, 28, UK, Austria)

A respondent compared the CNN to the BBC, saying that "I have only seen CNN on TV

when in the USA. I found the coverage of all political events lacked depth and critical

breadth compared to the BBC world service. Consequently, I avoid using CNN as a

source of any reliable information on political events." (Female, 49, UK, UK)

There are other comments that are clearly negative in their attitude and some expressed

very strong and emotional positions against the CNN. One respondent stated that "CNN

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is biased. CNN is nor reliable. CNN supports israel. CNN I decided not to listen to you

anymore. In the past u r the only one. nowadays we can choose. If you keep like this we

are not interested in you" (Male, 26, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Another respondent said

“NO COMMENT. CNN DORSNT LISTEN TO ME. IT IS BIASED. NO TRUTH”

(Capital letters were in the original). (Male, 26, Congo, Congo)

Finally, a Palestinian respondent chose to write a rather long and condemnatory comment

saying that the "CNN is strongly biased towards the Israelis. they often tell lies. we watch

this on TV. they always tend to twist the facts." (Male, 34, Palestinian Territories). The

comment goes on further to say that the CNN is biased towards the Israelis and against

the Palestinians. It turns into political rhetoric not only against the CNN, but also against

all that is American, in a way that goes far beyond the questionnaire's goal and subject

matter of my research.

4.6. Synopsis (2)

In this section of my analysis, I provided the results of the users’ questionnaire. The

analysis shows that while the Web has become a major source of news, not many

respondents have actually visited the CNN websites. It is clear that the majority depended

for their replies on the CNN Television reporting. There is a clear tendency for negative

evaluations of CNN reporting. It is accused, for example, of being biased, not reliable,

favouring US Government and not treating parties in news stories equally. The analysis

and discussion of replies to individual questions above clarifies these positions. The

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following section, on results and interpretation, will look further at these results together

with the results of the textual analysis.

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5. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION

5.1. Introduction

Following the analysis of data in the previous chapter, I summarize in this chapter the

main findings of my analysis with reference to the relevant sections of the literature

review, in Chapter 2. I will try here to highlight the main aspects and results of the

multimodal analysis, the textual analysis and the results of the replies to the

questionnaire. The discussion of the results will also be conducted in light of the

hypotheses and research questions provided in section 0.3. above.

5.2. News, Globalisation and the Web

The CNN websites in English and Arabic, as well as in other languages, are witnesses to

the globalisation and localisation efforts of news outlets, as well as to their endeavours to

reach wider audiences and different segments of populations across the world. The iconic

forms of the logos, especially the CNN Arabic logo (see section 4.2.1. and figure 4

above) above, demonstrate the efforts made in striving to achieve simultaneous

globalisation and localisation, or simply the attempts of ‘glocalisation’ (see section 2.1.

above).

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The analysis shows that the Web has become an important source of news for many

people. Most of their respondents to the questionnaire (see figure 14 above) depend on

the Web as the major source of news. It has been indicated that certain Web features are

important elements that distinguish the web-news from other types of traditional news

(see section 2.8. above). However, it is clear that Web resources are not adequately used

and their usage is not equally distributed among different languages.

The major differences observed between the websites are related to content (the CNN

Arabic website contains less information), multimedia elements (lack of audio-visual

elements in the Arabic website), different hyperlinking practice, different possibilities for

interactivity and customisation of news and different quantity of archives. (For more

details of these differences, see section 4.2. above.)

This lack of audio-visual elements in Arabic has resulted in a limited multimodal analysis

of the websites, as it is not possible to conduct a cross-linguistic analysis of elements that

are offered mainly in one language. The fact that the Arabic website contains less content

and fewer audio-visual elements reflects problems that have been observed on other CNN

websites, in languages other than English, as has been indicated above (for details, see

section 2.9.3. above).62 These differences are also obvious in the macrostructure and in

the microlevel components of the news stories, as the analysis shows, and which will be

indicated below.

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5.3. Classification of the News and News Values

The types of news presented in the websites reflect the traditional types of news

developed mainly by newspapers and adapted by other news media. Using the taxonomy

of news provided by Bell (1991:14) and discussed in section 2.2. above, the following

types of news can be identified on the websites:

- hard news: this is the main component of the websites in both languages

- feature articles appear in the form of special files or annexes (for example the

feature stories on “New Iraq … and Rebuilding” (see section 4.2.2. above))

- special-topic news: the sites include special topics treating sports,

economy/business, and science and technology

- peripheral materials include headlines, subheadings, captions and hyperlinks,

bylines and attribution

However, as for all other elements discussed in section 5.2. above, not all these elements

are provided equally on the two websites. It has been mentioned that stories in the CNN

Arabic do not contain ‘bylines’ and rarely include attribution to sources other than the

CNN itself. As the study is focused on hard news, other types of news, such as feature

articles or special topics, have not been included in the analysis. In the following section,

I provide a summary of news values observed in the stories that I analysed.

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5.3.1. News Values

News values have been identified as the major factors that determine the worthiness of

stories to be published (see section 2.3.1. above). The dominant news values in the news

stories collected are novelty, recency, relevance, negativity, proximity and elite nations.63

The analysis shows that the values of proximity and elite nations are reflected in the

distribution of the stories according to country (see section 4.3.1. above). Most of the

stories are about the Middle East, reflecting the value of ‘proximity’, while the value of

‘elite nations’ is represented by stories related to the USA, the UK and Australia, for

example. This also reflects the factor of ‘relevance’, as these countries were directly

involved with or affected by the events that the stories describe. ‘Relevance’ is also

reflected in the subjects treated by those stories (see section 4.3.1. above).

The fact that many other countries do not appear in the stories in spite of their proximity

(see section 4.3.1. above), as part of the Middle East, could be attributed to the operation

of other values, mainly ‘negativity and deviance’ and ‘consonance’. The Middle East

countries mostly represented are countries that are characterised, during the period under

investigation, by conflict (e.g. Israeal/Palestine), war (e.g. Iraq) and terrorist activities

(e.g. Saudi Arabia). The ‘consonance’ factor is reflected by the fact that these are the

types of news usually broadcast, and habitually expected by the public, about these

countries (see section 2.3.1. above).

The types of news presented and values which dominate that news prove that, in spite of

the novelty of the Web with its technical and presentational capabilities, the essential

elements of the news industry remain the same. This confirms the continuity of traditions

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in the news industry, the institutional constraints in the selection of news stories and the

re/production of the same values and images, all resulting in the same discourse.

It is also a reflection of power relations and ideology (see section 1.3.1. above). Power is

expressed by the news outlets authority in sticking to the values that they consider

essential and their ideology of choosing the types of news that suit their viewpoint and

the powers they support or that support them.

5.4. News as Discourse and Ideology

When investigating news as discourse, the analysis shows that the news follow the

traditional ‘inverted pyramid’ schemata (see section 2.5.1. above). All stories follow the

pattern of providing information in instalments starting with what is considered the most

important to what is considered the least important.

However, the cross-linguistic analysis demonstrates that the issue of importance is a

relative one. No rule could be established to measure and weigh objectively the

importance of a certain piece of information. The fact that some information is placed in

a certain position in one language and moved to another in the other language attests to a

discrepancy in the assessed the importance of information. Accordingly, the assignment

of importance, positioning, and linguistic formulation could convey certain ideological

preferences towards the information presented and the target audience addressed in each

language. I summarize below how the news stories differ at the macro-structural and

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micro-structural levels of discourse and how these differences could convey different

ideological positions.

5.4.1. Macro-structural Analysis

As mentioned above, the news stories on the CNN Arabic and English websites follow

the traditional structure of news stories in the press at the macro level. However, the

analysis shows that news stories differ greatly in length (see section 4.3.1. and table 1

above). The difference in length between the languages indicates difference in the

amount of information offered about the events, the number of the sources quoted or

paraphrased, and the quantity of background or contextual information made available to

each reader. These differences can be identified at all levels of the news stories. All

stories contain the following schematic elements identified earlier (see section 2.5.1.

above), with salient differences between Arabic and English being highlighted:

Headlines (see section 2.5.1.1. above): all stories contain either one or two

headlines. However, not all stories keep the same headlines in both language.

Sometimes headlines are rewritten, using the same information, merged with

other headlines, changed by inserting additional information or completely

changed and presented differently.

Lead paragraphs (see section 2.5.1.2. above): each story contains a lead

paragraph. It has been mentioned earlier that lead paragraphs, together with the

headline(s), constitute a summary of the news story or its nucleus. However, as is

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the case with the headline, not all stories contain the same lead paragraphs in both

languages. Even in stories that do contain the same lead paragraphs, the quantity

and quality of information presented can differ between the two languages. The

nucleus of a story is considered to be a summary, so writers select what they

consider to be the most important to include in their summaries. However, the fact

that information in the lead paragraph does not appear again within the story and

that some lead paragraphs are placed within the story, in another language, casts

doubt upon the appropriateness of considering the lead to be a summary (see, for

instance, section 4.3.3.4.1. above). I would prefer to consider that the lead

paragraph contains a selection of one or two actions that are considered the most

important part(s) of the story (and not a summary of the whole story) to be

highlighted and hence foregrounded. This selection is subjective and could thus

convey an ideological stance.

Satellite paragraphs (see section 2.5.1.3. above): following the traditional

structure, satellite paragraphs, containing mainly quotes, paraphrases and,

sometimes, comment, support the information provided in the nucleus. The

analysis of the stories shows clearly that they follow the same structure, provide

the same type of information included habitually in this type of paragraphs (see

Bell 1991:170), in both languages, with different degrees of elaboration. The

contents of the satellite paragraphs in the stories analysed differ in the following

ways:

Follow-up: Arabic stories generally contain less follow-up information to

the nucleus than English stories. This has been demonstrated by the fact

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that there are fewer and shorter quotes and paraphrases in Arabic stories as

compared to English stories (see table 3 above).

Background: given the differences in the length and content referred to

above, a different amount of background information is provided in each

language. More background information is given in English stories than in

Arabic stories. However, it is worth mentioning that reference to previous

and related stories is often replaced by hyperlinks to the stories in question

in both languages. When a background or other contextual information is

provided, it is sometimes conflated with other elements, such as follow-up

and comment.

Commentary: it was indicated earlier that commentary is the most difficult

element to identify in the news story (see section 2.5.1.3. above). The

analysis shows that stories either do not contain any commentary or

commentary is attributed to other sources. In this way the ‘comment’

becomes a ‘quote’ or a ‘paraphrase’. In the cases where the latter elements

are found to be providing a type of comment, they are used differently in

the two languages. Comment is another potential indication of the

adoption of an ideological position towards the news actions and actors.

News is not only affected structurally and quantitatively at the macro level, but the stories

are also affected qualitatively by the processes of selection and positioning of

information. As mentioned above and shown by examples, certain news information is

foregrounded in one language, while backgrounded in another. When information is

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provided in the headline or lead paragraph (foregrounded), this means that it will reach a

wider public and for many it will be the only part they will read of the news story. When

the same information is provided at a lower position in the story (backgrounded) in the

other language, the readers of the latter news story will receive a different version and

have a different message conveyed to them.

The analysis also shows that such choices are not made arbitrarily. The choice of certain

information to be foregrounded would entail the selection of satellite paragraphs that

support such a choice. The information in the satellite paragraphs is consequently

reformulated and presented in a way that validates the effect that is created by the story’s

nucleus (headline and lead paragraph) (see section 4.3.3. above).

If we take Bell’s (1991: 147) maxim that “journalists do not write articles. They write

stories”, different stories are told each time a story is rewritten in a different language. As

the narrative structure of the stories is the same, the elements that fill the slots in the

structure will not be the same in both languages. The orientation of the story will be

changed by the new nucleus, accordingly the expectations of the audience would be

expected to change, the story will follow a new direction in the new satellite paragraphs

and a new viewpoint will be created in the minds of those who follow the story until its

denouement.

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5.4.2. Micro-level Analysis

In addition to the macro-level analysis summarized in section 5.4.1. above, my research

includes micro-level instances that show differences between stories in the two

languages. It has earlier been pointed out that the news as discourse does not convey

ideological positions only within the macro-level structures of discourse, but also many

micro-linguistic devices are used in framing news actors and events (see section 2.5.2.

above).

For the sake of illustration, the traditional linguistic paradigmatic and syntagmatic

structures have been used to show variations and options that could be adopted by

different journalists (see figure 2 above). The analysis also showed examples of these

variations between the stories analysed. The micro level processes identified included

lexical variations (such as referential indications and verbs) and grammatical variations

(such as passivisation and thematisation). I outline below the basic examples identified in

my analysis and their implications.

Manipulating Agency (see section 4.3.2.1. above): it has been noted, in the

literature review, that different grammatical devices are usually used to conceal or

otherwise change the identity of agents. The potential ideological meaning of such

practice has also been highlighted (see section 2.5.2. above). In my analysis, I

give various examples of agency being manipulated through the following ways:

Shift of theme (see section 4.3.2.1. above): in this case, what is introduced

as a theme in one language is moved to being a rheme in the other. This

process results in a change of balance; an element that has been given a

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higher place in one language and accordingly introduced as a ‘theme’, will

be assigned a lower rank in the other language as a ‘rheme’.

Passivisation (see section 4.3.2.1. above): passive/active voice variation

has been used in some cases and could also be the result of applying the

‘shift of theme’ process mentioned above.

Nominalisation (see section 4.3.2.1. above): nominalisation is found to be

used very often, direct verbs in English being frequently replaced by

nominalised forms in Arabic, either of the same verbs or of completely

different verbs.

Referential Indications (see section 4.3.2.2. above): I used this term to indicate a

wide range of processes that are referred to in the literature using different terms

such as ‘naming’ (see section 2.5.2. above). I avoided using the term naming

because it might be understood as denoting only the use of names, whereas I

prefer to include in the one category uses of names, titles, positions, descriptive

traits, social affiliation or ethnic origin and other similar traits that are be used to

refer to people and entities. The examples given in the analysis showed that

entities are often identified differently in Arabic and English news stories. While

English stories, on the one hand, provide generic referential indications of Arab

entities (using adjectives or positions, for example), Arabic stories often provide

the names and positions of the same entities. Arabic stories, on the other hand, do

not generalize reference to entities mentioned explicitly in English (such as

American entities). This procedure could indicate an ‘othering’ process as will be

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discussed below. I also observed that there is a tendency in Arabic to avoid

ideologically loaded words, such as ‘terrorist’, and to replace them with relatively

less offensive words such as ‘militants’ or ‘combatants’.

5.4.3. ‘Othering’ Discourse in the News

The literature on news as discourse contains references to a considerable amount of

research on ‘othering’ processes in news stories (see section 2.5.3.1. above). While it

might be relatively easy to identify ‘othering’ relations in a monolingual news discourse,

the matter could be rather difficult with multilingual news texts. News outlets face the

conflict between sticking to their original discourse from the source linguistic

community, or to identifying with the new target community, and accordingly adopting a

new discourse.

The analysis shows that there are cases where the ‘othering’ relationship has been

reversed when texts are transferred from one language to the other. This reversal of the

‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy is shown at both the macro- and micro- levels of analysis.

The examples of using of agency manipulation processes, referential indications and

other lexical and grammatical devices provide instances of such a reversal. The use of the

phrase ‘the daughter of Saddam’ as opposed to the use of her full name ‘Raghd Saddam

Hussein’ (see section 4.3.2.2. above) is an indication of such a relation.

At the macro level, the selection of information to be included or excluded and the

foregrounding/backgrounding of information are also examples of this reversal. It has

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been shown in the analysis of the structure of different news stories that different images

of the same personality are established. For the sake of illustration, a certain person is

presented in English as criminal with a long list of indictments; while the same person is

presented in Arabic as a hero and a political leader who condemns violence (see section

4.3.3.4.3. above).

The ‘othering’ reversal practice raises questions about credibility and faithfulness in news

reporting and news translation. Who is the ‘hero’ and who is the ‘villain’ in reality?

Questions also are raised about the motives for such a variation and about who takes the

decisions to make such alterations. I will revisit these questions later in this chapter and

in the conclusions of my study.

5.4.4. Sourcing, Attribution and Voice

The literature on news confirms that news outlets avoid making direct comment and

apparently take a neutral stance towards the actions and actors they report about.

However, it has also been demonstrated that other tools are used to convey certain

ideological positions, including the use of source and attribution (see section 2.6.1.

above).

Instances of using sources differently have been indicated and discussed in the analysis of

news stories in Chapter 4 above. Clear differences are indicated where news stories use

different sources in the different languages. I have already mentioned at the beginning of

this chapter that Arabic stories lack attribution to sources other than the CNN. They also,

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unlike English stories, do not provide any names of journalists who contributed to the

story.

Within the stories, official sources predominate. Quotes and paraphrases are mostly taken

from personalities such as presidents, ministers, government officials, and army or police

officers, or the like. Only such official sources are given the right to speak or to refute an

allegation made by another official source. It has been pointed out, in the analysis of

various stories, that no independent or contradictory sources are invited to comment on

news or events, and hardly any victims or the accused, are given the right to speak.

However, sources are not quoted equally in both languages, as is the case with the other

elements of the analysis. Some sources that appear in English are not given a voice in

Arabic and vice versa. For instance, comments provided in English stories by the

Palestinian Authority (see section 4.3.3.4.3. above), in one story, and by the Iraqi

Ministry of Interior (see section 4.3.3.4.1. above), in another, are not provided in the

Arabic equivalents. Such sources are not completely excluded from CNN Arabic and

they could appear in other stories. However, their absence in the specific stories analysed

affected the apparent balance of those stories, and made them rather one-sided in Arabic.

Nevertheless, some Arabic stories contain sources that hardly appear in any English story

of the corpus analysed. The examples of such practice include giving voice to the wife of

a Palestinian prisoner, who defended her husband’s political stance and called for his

liberation, or to the wife of a person accused of being the leader of a terrorist

organization, who described her husband as a ‘kind person’ (see section 4.3.3.4.1. above).

216
These cases of differential sourcing give another example of practices that convey

ideological positions, and confirm the use of the processes of ‘othering’ and ‘othering’

reversal mentioned above. Using different practices in different languages implies that

different messages are addressed to each audience, depending on the version of the story

that they read.

5.5. Translating News

In considering the theoretical framework (see section 1.4.1. above), I discussed the

concept of equivalence in translation and provided examples of translation processes used

to establish such equivalence. However, the discussion of news translation in the

literature review showed that news journalists and news outlets have a different

understanding of equivalence and varying approaches to the translation process (see

section 2.7. above).

The lack of direct equivalence between news stories in the two languages makes it

difficult to study the differences by comparing individual sentences or paragraphs. It is

not easy to identify elements such as borrowing, literal translation or free translation. As

the news texts analysed represent news stories written and published by the same news

outlet, i.e. the CNN, some news stories are expected to be the result of translation. The

similarities between some of the texts confirm that they have been taken from the same

sources and some passages have clearly been translated, especially on the Arabic website,

as was indicated in the analysis (see, for instance, sections 4.3.2. and 4.3.3. above).

217
In spite of this, there is no reference to any translator in the stories analysed, just as there

is no reference in Arabic to any journalist. These news texts, taking into account the

salient differences outlined in the sections above, confirm that the translation of news in

the CNN follows the same strategies referred to earlier (see section 2.7. above). These

strategies include procedures such as: reorganisation, reformulation, substitution,

addition, deletion, etc. These procedures will certainly result in a newly rewritten and

recontextualised stories, with all the concomitant implications highlighted above in the

analysis and outlined in the previous sections of this chapter. They also raise questions

that are worthy of consideration and analysis in future research, such as:

- Who are the translators of news texts, what are their qualifications and what are

the reasons for their total invisibility?

- Is news translated totally by human beings, or are machines (e.g. machine

translation software) used at some point?

- What degree of freedom do translators have to rewrite and recontextualise the

source text?

- Who else (sub-editors/editors/revisers) reviews the translations, how many people

interfere with the them and what is the extent of their knowledge of the source

and target languages?

- Are there any quality-assurance measures applied to ensure the accuracy,

faithfulness and adequacy of translated texts?

218
- What rules are applied in order to retain parts of the translated texts, exclude

others or add materials from other sources?

5.6. Focus on the CNN

In this section I outline the views on the CNN elicited from the questionnaire and how

they interact with other studies and analyses of CNN’s news discourse. As a matter of

caution, I should mention that the small number of respondents to the questionnaire, and

the even smaller number of respondents who had actually visited any of the CNN

websites, undermine the statistical significance of the replies. However, the gender and

age balance of the respondents, and the diversity of countries where they live or

originally come from, in addition to their educational and professional profiles, make

their responses worthy of consideration.

The views of the respondents reflected generally negative views about the CNN

concerning reliability, balance and relationship to the Government of the United States.

No respondent referred to the pioneer role of the CNN, the accuracy of its reporting or

the ‘CNN effect’ (see section 2.9.1. above). A larger percentage of respondents chose

negative responses (either disagree or tend to disagree) when asked whether the CNN’s

reporting is reliable, compared to those who chose positive replies (agree or tend to

agree).

219
Similar positions are reflected in the answers to the question about balanced reporting

and giving equal access to different parties. These replies concur with the results of the

textual analysis on sourcing and attribution (see section 4.3.3.4. above).

As for the CNN websites, only a few respondents reported that they had visited any of

them, although the majority of respondents depend mainly on the Web as their source of

news (see sections 4.5.3. and 4.5.6. above). However, a higher number evaluated either

one of the websites or both of them. This could reflect a general attitude towards the

CNN gained from experiences with the CNN on television.

The negative attitudes towards the CNN are also repeated in the comments provided at

the end of the questionnaire. The respondents confirmed accusations of the CNN that

appear in the literature about the news provider. Such accusations included bias and being

the ‘mouth’ of the United States Government (see section 4.5.4. and figure 16 above).

Generally speaking, the respondents seemed to be aware of CNN reporting and showed a

clear consistency in their replies to the different questions. Some replies also indicate that

the respondents tend to compare the CNN with other news channels such as the BBC and

Fox News Channel. This view corresponds to research directions taken in studies about

the CNN and referred to in the literature review (see section 2.9.2. above). For example,

the CNN has been compared with the BBC (see, for instance, Küng-Shankleman 2000)

and with Fox News Channel (see, for instance, Jaramillo 2009).

220
5.7. Synopsis

In this chapter I outlined the main results of the analysis. It includes brief discussions of

the news, globalisation and the Web; the classification of news and news values; news as

discourse and ideology, including a summary of the results of the macro- and micro-

structure analysis of news; and ‘othering’ discourse, as well as sourcing, attribution and

voice-giving practices. The translation of news is also revisited. Finally, I discussed the

views of the respondents to the questionnaire about CNN reporting. I tried to present the

results of my analysis in the light of the theoretical framework and the literature review,

where I deemed it necessary, for the sake of illustration and recapitulation.

221
222
6. CONCLUSIONS

In this final chapter, I summarize the results of my study, with reference to my research

questions and to the basic assumptions from which I proceeded (see section 0.3. above). I

also point out the research limitations and give directions for potential future research.

The research has confirmed the thesis hypotheses and answered the basic questions. It has

also revealed details, and raised new questions, about the news on the Web and CNN

news reporting that had not been anticipated at the outset of the study.

It has been demonstrated that the Web has become the major source of news for many

people replacing traditional news sources. However, as the Web contains all types of

news media, in addition to purely Web-based news sites, further research is needed to

investigate which sites are most important. Web surfers might use the Web as a medium

to reach electronic versions of traditional sources of news (e.g. newspapers, radio or

television).

The CNN websites in English and Arabic, as well as in other languages, show the extent

of globalisation and localisation efforts (glocalisation) exerted by global news outlets,

and of their endeavours to reach wider audiences and different segments of populations

across the world. Their efforts in these aspects appear clearly in the form and content of

their news stories on the Web.

223
The multimodal features of the Web are important factors in enhancing its influence and

shaping the news content and presentation. However, it has been shown that the written

text continues to be dominant and still occupies a central place for news producers and

receivers, as well as for researchers and other news analysts.

The overall analysis of the CNN's website has shown that it is mainly composed of

written news, with multimedia and other visual elements presented as supporting

material. It has also been made clear that the Websites are not equal in their textual and

visual content. The CNN Arabic website contains much less information and multimodal

material than the CNN English website.

Confirming previous research on news commercialization, the websites, although

presented as informative sites, contain a considerable proportion of elements that are of a

commercial nature. Such elements are either direct advertisements of sponsors or

publicity for the CNN's other commercial services and products.

The use of hyperlinks, interactivity and archives are important features of web-news,

although the analysis shows that these resources are not allocated to the different

websites in equal measure. The English website contains more history, background

hyperlinking and more targeted interactive possibilities. The websites' archives make it

possible to refer to older stories and to consult them, providing users with a resource that

is not readily available, in the same way, to the users of other media of news.

Nevertheless, while conducting the analysis it became apparent that some stories were

withdrawn from a website only a short time after they had been posted. Those stories

either disappeared completely or re-surfaced with a new content, despite using the same

224
Internet address (URL). This practice raises questions of an ethical character regarding

the web-news, producers’ credibility and readers’ confidence in the news production

processes on the Web.

The types of news presented in the websites reflect the traditional classification of press

news. They contain hard news, feature articles, special-topic news and peripheral

materials. The dominant news values in the news stories collected are novelty, recency,

relevance, negativity, proximity and elite nations. These stories also consist of headlines,

lead paragraphs and satellite paragraphs. It has been made clear that the news on the Web

follows traditional thematic and schematic structures, by adopting the ‘inverted pyramid’

format.

The assumption that the CNN uses totally different forms of discourse has been

confirmed with a number of concrete examples. It has been shown that it addresses

audiences in English using discursive features that are clearly different from those used in

Arabic. This observation contradicts previous findings that the CNN talks the same

language in both English and Arabic (see, for instance, Barkho 2008). The discourse is

clearly differentiated both at the macro-structural and micro-structural levels.

The stories differ in length, thematic structure and foregrounding/backgrounding of

information. They differ also in lexical choices, syntactic and functional structures. In

addition to the wide differences among stories that appear in both languages, some

stories, or parts of stories, appear only in one language and not in the other, while lacking

inherent elements that warrant their localisation.

225
The analysis shows that there are cases where the ‘othering’ relationship has been

reversed when texts are transferred from one language to the other. This reversal of the

‘us’/‘them’ dichotomy is shown at both the macro and micro levels of analysis. This

practice reflects different attitudes and, accordingly, different images of reality are

presented in each language.

Differences have also been highlighted in voice giving, the use of sources and the

attributions reflected in quoting and paraphrasing. These differences imply varying

ideological positions and institutional policies that supposedly endeavour to please

certain audience and to avoid raising apprehension or criticism among some other

audience; or even to attract certain advertisers. Controversial and sensitive issues are

clear instances where such differentiation appears. This has been obvious in stories

related to the war in Iraq, terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Although the literature does not prove that the CNN has separate style guidelines for each

language, a matter that is confirmed by the CNN's editors (see section 2.9.3 above), the

journalistic choices confirm the existence of separate styles in practice. All the types of

difference discussed above, and illustrated in the previous chapters, attest to these

different practices. However, it is not clear whether these practices are the result of direct

institutional CNN policy, or they result from the efforts of individual journalists who

resist the institutional hegemony. Questions are also raised about the invisible translators

of news: who are they, what is their role and how do they do their work?

It is clear that the translation of news from one language to another is not a faithful

rendition of text but a complex process of rewriting that produces a completely new text

226
in the target language, as has been maintained in the relevant literature (see section 2.7.

above). This raises questions about the appropriateness of using the term "translation of

news" itself. Although many studies have adopted this term, there has been a wide

consensus that professional translators and journalist translators view their professions

and roles quite differently (see section 2.7. above). Follow-through research needs to be

conducted in order to trace the itinerary taken by a news story from the first draft written

by a field correspondent, for example, to the final news story broadcast on air or posted

on a website, and of the same story when first translated by a translator to the final target

story made available in a target language. The results of such investigations would be of

interest to researchers and professionals in different fields, including translation studies,

media studies and discourse analysis.

The views of respondents to the questionnaire illustrated the prevalence of negative

attitudes towards the CNN in general. A high percentages of respondents thought that the

CNN’s reporting is not reliable, not balanced and that it reflects the positions of the

Government of the United States. Although the majority of respondents claimed that they

depended on the Web as a source of news, very few of them had actually visited any of

the CNN websites.

I acknowledge that, in spite of the efforts I exerted in conducting this study, it has some

limitations. Although I endeavoured to triangulate my research, by making use of

multimodal, quantitative and qualitative research tools, it lacks additional elements to be

fully comprehensive and to tackle the questions raised more deeply from different angles.

A further ethnographic research project, based on observation, interviews or focus

groups, for instance, could be beneficial in this regard in order to encompass the views of

227
news users and news producers. My endeavours to contact CNN officials did not succeed

and therefore the research lacks the viewpoint of news producers in the analysis, although

I tried to compensate for this by referring to the literature available from other sources.

The small number of respondents to the questionnaire is another weak point that affects

the significance of the views provided. There is also a need for conducting a deeper and

more extensive analysis of the multimodal aspects of news on the Web, in cross-linguistic

settings, in addition to the textual analysis of such news.

I consider this study as one small step in the investigation of the large area of web-news

and news translation, rewriting or transediting. The study endeavoured to bring together

various fields of research in the quest for an interdisciplinary approach, with the hope that

it would contribute, within the fields of translation studies and CDA, to the development

of a contrastive critical approach to the discourse of news. Further research is certainly

needed to complement this study, to confirm or refute its findings, and to open new

avenues for considering the interactions of discourse, language, translation,

multimodality, ideology, power and news.

228
Notes
1
http://arabic.cnn.com/about.us/, accessed on 25 November 2002.
2
Rath (2002). Al-Jazeera in English? CNN in Arabic?..., republished at:

http://www.abunimah.org/features/020207dailystar.html, accessed on 29 November 2002.

3
http://www.gvnews.net/html/DailyNews/alert2345.html, accessed on 29 November 2002.
4
Unless otherwise indicated, all translations from Arabic are my own translations.
5
See note 1 above.
6
http://www.alahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/580/it4.htm, accessed on 29 November 2002.

7
Ibid.
8
http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/0197/quintana.html, accessed 9 August 2004.
9
I use the word ‘section’ to refer either to a section or a sub-section of a chapter in this thesis.
10
See http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jaylemke/

11
Other works that discuss these concepts with more details include, among others, Wodak 2001a, Kress 1990, van

Dijk 1986a, Fairclough 1995, Wodak 1989, Weiss and Wodak 2003a, Gouveia 2003, Wodank and Meyer (2001, 2009)

and Jessop et al. 2009.

12
See, for instance, Conboy 2007, who studied the ‘language of the news’ using the terms ‘critical linguistics’ and the

‘critical reader’ as a basis for his research.

13
For more definitions and discussion of the concept of ideology see also Anthonissen 2001, Billig 1991, Kress 1985,

Fowler et al. 1979; Fowler 1991, Fairclough 1995, van Dijk 1998, Simpson 1993, Sheyholislami 2001, Thompson

229
1990, Kress and Hodge 1979, Wodak and Weiss 2003a, Lassen et al. 2006, van den Berg and van der Veer 1989,

Wodak 2007a.
14
For research on translation theory and the concept of equivalence from different perspectives, see, for instance,

Vinay Darbelnet 1977, Steiner 1975, Newmark 1988, Toury 1995, Baker 1998, Holmes 2000, Venuti 2000, Ho 2008,

Munday 2008a.
15
Other procedures referred to in the literature include, among others, compensation, componential analysis and

paraphrase (Newmark 1988: 84).

16
For more details about critical approaches to translation studies see, for instance, Venuti 1992, Baker

2007 and 2009, Leonardi 2007, Munday 2008b and Mason 2009.

17
There is an abundance of literature on news. The following works treat news from different perspectives:

Arvidsson et al. 2002, Barkho 2006, 2007, 2008, Bell 1991, Bielsa 2005, 2007, Caldas-Clouthard 2003,

Conboy 2007, Conway and Bassnett 2006, Darwish 2005, Elbendary 2002, Fairclough 2006, Fisk 2003,

Fowler 1991, Galal et al. 2004, Hachten 1999, Hartley 1982, Holland 2006, Kelly 1998, Kranz and Stiller

2003, Li 2007, Livingston 1997, Machin and Mayr 2008, Machin and van Leeuwen 2007, Machin 2008,

Mandelzis 2003, Martin 2001, Mayr 2008a and 2008b, Meinhof 1994, Menz 1989, Michaels 2003,

Mouillaud and Tétu 1989, Nippa 1997a and 1997b, Nordlund 2003, Rath 2002, Schechter 2001, Scollon

1998, Song 2007, Stenvall 2003, Teo 2002, Thussu 2007, Tsai 2006, Valdeón 2007, Van den Berg and van

der Veer 1989, Van Dijk, 1985a, 1985b, 1985c, 1988 and 1991, Wodak 1989, 1996 and 2006, and Wodak

and Busch 2004. Many of these articles and books are discussed in the relevant sections of this thesis.
18
http://www.etymonline.com/, accessed on 17 June 2006.
19
http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~johnca/spch100/7-4-agenda.htm, accessed on 13.07.2006.
20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
22
Ibid.
23
Van Dijk (1988) uses upper case initials for these categories (e.g. Summary, Headline, etc.), while other

researchers (e.g. Bell 1991) use lower case, and I opted for this position.

230
24
The terms ‘us’ and ‘them’ are written either in upper case initials (Us/Them), italic font (us/them), or

within single inverted commas (‘us’/‘them’). My own preference is for the use of inverted commas.
25
Although the author used the phrase ‘engraved in tablets’, what he means might be the expression

‘engraved on tablets of stone’.

26
Thussu (2007: 26) provided the amounts of funding for television per head in UK Pounds (obtained from
Ofcom 2007). I present the figures here in the form of percentage for ease of comparison.
27
Press Foundation of Asia (1970) Reporting Ethnic Tensions… See

http://www.medialaw.com.sg/ethics/jcode.htm#philippines, accessed on 30.07.2006.

28
Mercury News Ethics Policy, http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/contact_us/about/9723906.htm,

30.07.2006.
29
As an example for the close link between translation and news industry, Bielsa (2007: 135-136) notes the fact that

major news agencies were established by multilingual businessmen, such as Chales Harvas (founder of Agence Harvas,

the predecessor of Agence France Press) and Paul Julius Reuters (Founder of Reuters).

30
The conference was held on 23 June 2006 at the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies of the

University of Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom. Many papers on the subject were presented at that conference

covering a wide range of subjects from researchers representing diverse fields of research. For more details, see

Conway and Bassnett (2006) Translation in Global News, Retrieved from

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ctccs/research/tgn/events/tgn/translation-in-global-news-proceedings.pdf, accessed

on 16 August 2008.

31 Hursti (2001). Retrieved from http://www.eng.helsinki.fi/hes/Translation/insiders_view1.htm

32
The recontextualisation process referred to here consists of addition, deletion and substitution of information (Wodak

2000: 77).
33
http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/0197/quintana.html, accessed 9 August 2004.
34
Ibid.

35
Eriksen and Ihlström (2000) studied the move from print news media to web-news media through a longitudinal

study of three newspaper sites on the Web between 1996 and 1999. Based on genre theory, the study was concerned

with three pioneer Scandinavian news papers: Dagbladet (www.dagbladet.no), Goeteborgs-Posten (www.gp.se) and

Jyllands-Posten (www.jp.dk), from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, respectively.

231
36
Available at http://revista.cisc.org/ghrebh7/artigos/04rusch_ing.html, accessed on 02 September 2006.
37
http://cnncritical.tripod.com/conclus.htm, accessed on 23 October 2003.

38 Stevenson (1997: 293) summarized CNN effect in three main functions: accelerant (i.e. shortening the decision-
making response time), impediment (i.e. leading government to attempt to ‘sanitize’ war) and agenda-setting agency
(humanitarian crises reordering foreign policy priorities).
39 The CNN Arabic Website rubric " " (about us) might serve as a mission statement and an exception to the rule.

See http://arabic.cnn.com/about.us/

40 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/cnn-m06.shtml, accessed on 6 September 2003.

41 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/cnn-n06.shtml, accessed on 6 September 2003.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

46 Ibid.

47 Originally published in the Gauardian, 25 February 2003, http://www.argument.

independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=381438. Republished in http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles173.htm,

accessed on 21 January 2005.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.
50
Fisk (2003) explains that the acronym ‘ROW’ refers to “the row of editors in Atlanta who can insist on changes or

“balances” in the reporters dispatch”.

51 See note 47 above

52
Nick Wren, CNN’s Managing Editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa
53
Caroline Faraj, Editor-in-Chief, CNN Online, Responsible for the CNN Arabic Website.

54 The CNN/n-TV venture started in 1992 (Flournoy and Stweart, 1997: 118) and ended in 2005 (see section 4.2. and

note 57 below).
55
To confirm this point, Barkho (2008: 152-153) quotes Nick Wren (see note 52 above) saying: “We are extremely

careful with language. Choice of language and terms and expressions is in the hands of Standards Practices Department

in Atlanta. The people there deal with our language. Every package has to go there to ensure it meets the rules of

objectivity and balance.”

232
56
Information about the Websites form and content refers to these aspects during the time when the data for this

research was collected, mainly in June 2004.

57
CNN used to possess 50% of nTV Channel, before selling its share to RTL in November 2005. For more details, see:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/CNN-sells-its-part-of-shares-in-NTV-13224.shtml, accessed on 30 December 2006.

58
The CNN logo having the words “click here” appear in different positions (at least 3 times on each page).
59
The original screenshots were lost because of technical problems. These are reproduced in black and

white from a printout.

60
It is worth noting that one of soldiers is usually referred to by his name preceded by the abbreviation

Spc., which stands for "Specialist" (a US army rank), according to Acronymfinder,

http://www.acronymfinder.com/Military-and-Government/SPC.html, accessed on 31 March 2009.

61
A similar story that appeared only in Arabic quoted the words the wife of Alzaqawi, who was accused of

being the head of a terrorist group in Iraq. She described her husband as a “kind and good man” (A25061).
62
In certain cases, these problems led to the disappearance of some CNN websites, as observed by Gambier

(2006) and Valdeón (2005), such as CNN Spanish and German website, although (see also section 2.9.3.

above).
63
For the difference between novelty and recency (see section 2.3.1. above).

233
234
APPENDICES

Arabic and English News Stories Cited in the Thesis1

Arabic News Stories

A01061


http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/1/iraq.najaf/index.html

A01063
B ! U@ @0 'ST @%D
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/1/iraq.president/index.html

A01067
. "-!?* /E&%0 6 4% /@?
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/1/saudi.shooting/index.html

A02061
H (< 'I J B :F( @ G0

http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/2/un.iraq/index.html

A02062
! " # $%& :
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/2/riyadh.attack/index.html

A02068
"-J@f $g (4% 1 2 < /h ,V
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/2/jubeir.terror_money/index.html

A03066
a1- & 3e $%& 1 H /&

1
Each entry contains the code of the story (which shows the language, day and month (see section 3.2.1.1.

above)), the story’s headline(s) and URL.

235
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/3/iraq.fighting/index.html

A04062
6AT 7NE ? "j@ S0 $& 80@:
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/4/sharon.minister/index.html

A06066
/ WX (-Y*- Q#T ( !U <V 41M
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/6/barghouti.sentenced/index.html

A07066
= 8>? /9 : ;()% < :6(&! 7 8-
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/7/saudi.qaeda/index.html

A09064
Pa2 E 8E - i* O :'< G?%<
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/9/saudi.poll/index.html

A10063

0 '()* +, "- . /),
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/10/iraq.najaf/index.html

A12061
7 ! C 02 &R ( E 1 2 :' Jn
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/12/zawahri.audiotape/index.html

A12064
B \V 6 02 :"C Z([ (T@
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/12/saddam.daughter interview/index.html

A14064
Qj >T 8 V 80 :Q
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/14/iran.albaradai/index.html

A15061
?D . <(&* B 7 C :'0@A! 7 8-
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/15/statement-holy_war/index.html

A17065
B 0 6(& "- ! o b p-

236
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/17/us.bush/index.html

A18066
r@? 8N _ a (=% E 1q
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/18/iraq.martial/index.html

A19061
7 6 A, . 6(& OS ... 8 &* $%0
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/18/almuqrin.killed/index.html

A19064
0&4! /45 " 30 "1 2 "( , $%&
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/l9/iraq.latest/index.html

A19067
8 &* ! `=& ! $[^
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/l9/saudi.killed/index.html

A20063
/-& ! @ "1 2 =<M 8N" ( K

http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/20/syria.sanction_us/index.html

A20066
8 &4! ^!D . " 6(&
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/20/saudi.alqaeda/index.html

A21063
49m 6 %a FD " T -2" Z(J Z( !? hl&
http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/21/abughraib.judge/index.html

A21065
8N, ;?%D . 2 F,@ 9@
Q^

A22062
I% FC (!^ / 9I
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http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/23/saudi.abdallah/index.html

A25061
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http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/25/zarqawi.wife/index.html

A26065
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http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/26/alaqsa.nablus/index.html

A28063
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http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/28/iraq.sovereignty/index.html

A29068
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http://arabic.cnn.com/2004/middle_east/6/29/iraq.newspaperhandover/index.html

238
English News Stories

E01061
Iraqi Cabinet Members Announced
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/cabinet.list.ap/index.html

E01062
Iraqi police: Najaf wasn’t prepared for officers
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/iraq.najaf/index.html

E01063
Saudi security rises after attack followed
Saudi official: Gunmen allowed to escape
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/saudi.attack1330/index.html

E01064
Interim Iraqi government named
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/iraq.gov/index.html

E01065
Saudi forces kill two militants
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/saudi.attack/index.html

E02061
U.N. draft: Iraq to control security forces
U.S.-British revision gives time frame for multinational force
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/iraq.un.resolution/index.html

E02062
U.N. draft: Iraq to control security forces
U.S.-British revision settles critical point
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/01/iraq.un.resolution/index.html

E02063
Saudis, U.S. take aim at Muslim charity with suspected terror ties
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/02/saudis.charity/index.html

E03066
U.S. targets insurgents in Kufa
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/03/iraq.main/index.html

E04064
Sharon dismisses 2 rightist ministers from Cabinet
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/04/sharon.cabinet/index.html

239
E06063
Fatah leader sentenced to 5 life terms
Israeli court convicted Marwan Barghouti in fatal attacks
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/061barghouti/index.html

E07065
‘Al Qaeda’ threatens airlines
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/07/saudi.threat/index.html

E09063
Poll of Saudis shows wide support for bin Laden's views
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/08/poll.binladen/index.html

E10066
Iraqi police fight militia in Najaf
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/10/iraq.main/index.html

E11065
Saddam's daughter: I want to go to Iraq
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/11/saddam.daughter.ap/index.html

E11066
Audiotape charges U.S. doesn’t want Arab reforms
Voice on tape claims to be bin Laden’s chief deputy
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/11/zawahiri.tape/index.html

E14061/E14062
Nuclear watchdog criticizes Iran
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/06/19/iaea.iran/index.html

E15061
Letter: Al-Zarqawi tells bin Laden militants are getting squeezed
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/14/iraq.alzarqawi.ap/index.html

E17069
Bush insists Iraq, al Qaeda had 'relationship'
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/17/Bush.alqaeda/index.html

E18065
Iraq ‘won’t hesitate’ to impose martial law
Minister comments after latest attack; coalition examines implications
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/18/iraq.main/index.html

E19063
Two U.S. soldiers, 3 Iraqis killed in attacks
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/19/iraq.attacks/index.html

240
E19064
Saudis: Top al Qaeda suspect killed
American hostage Paul Johnson Jr. beheaded
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/19/saudi.kidnap/index.html

E19067
Syria preparing sanctions against United States
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/19/syria.us.ap/index.html

E20066
Saudi al Qaeda cell names new leader

E21061
Al Qaeda militants say they were helped by Saudi forces
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/20/saudi.militants/index.html

E21066
Judge: Abu Ghraib a crime scene
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/21/iraq.abuse.trial/index.html

E22064
White House, Pentagon to release interrogation memo
Bush: ‘I have never ordered torture’
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/22/rumsfeld.memo/index.html

E23065
Saudis offer terrorists month to surrender
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/23/saudi.terrorists/index.html

E26063
Influential militant, 5 others killed in West Bank
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/26/mideast.violence/

E28064
U.S. transfers power in Iraq
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/28/iraq.handover.intl/index.html

E280613
U.S. returns sovereignty to Iraq
Handover comes two days early
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/28/iraq.handover/index.html

E29063
Arab press welcomes power transfer

241
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/29/iraq.press/index.html

242
Questionnaire

243
244
245
246
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ABSTRACT

This research consists of an analysis of the news presented by the CNN (Cable News
Network) on its websites in Arabic and English. It is based on the hypothesis that the
CNN as a news producer modifies the news content and presentation according to the
audience it addresses. It is also assumed that, as the Web has actually become an
important source of news, distinctive features of form and content are used, making web-
news different from other traditional types of news and requiring different analytical
tools. The research is interdisciplinary in nature. It is based mainly in the field of Critical
Discourse Analysis (CDA), with insights from other disciplines, such as multimodal
discourse analysis, functional linguistics and translation studies.
The analysed data consisted of stories collected from both sites in Arabic and English
during a one-month period, as well as a users’ questionnaire distributed and collected
online. For the purpose of triangulation, the analysis included multimodal, quantitative
and qualitative analyses of the collected websites stories and the questionnaire data.
The research concludes that the Web has become a major news source for many people;
the written material is more dominant compared to other multimodal elements; the
websites in question address each public using a completely different discourse, i.e. using
texts with different linguistic, cultural and ideological implications; and that negative
views are widespread concerning CNN's reporting, reliability and balance. It also
emerges that news translation is rather a process of re-writing, providing totally new
products depending on different ideological positions. Translation studies tools are not
adequately designed for analysing this type of text production and discourse analysis
scholars have concentrated more on monolingual texts than on cross-linguistic discourse.
It is therefore considered desirable and advisable to conduct further research that looks
into these questions and to develop a contrastive critical discourse analysis approach for
investigating them.

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268
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

In der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit werden Nachrichten analysiert, die auf der englisch- bzw.
der arabischsprachigen Website von CNN (Cable News Network) veröffentlicht wurden. Dabei
wird von der Hypothese ausgegangen, dass CNN als Nachrichtenproduzentin Inhalte und
Präsentationsweise der veröffentlichten Nachrichten den jeweiligen RezipientInnen anpasst.
Weiters wird angenommen, dass - auch aufgrund der zunehmenden Bedeutung des Internets als
Informationsquelle - die darin veröffentlichten Nachrichten eigene Charakteristika bezüglich der
Form und des Inhalts entwickelt haben, sich daher von herkömmlichen
Nachrichten unterscheiden und aus diesem Grund auch spezifischer Analyseinstrumente
bedürfen.
Die Forschungsarbeit ist interdisziplinär angelegt: Hauptsächlich in der Kritischen
Diskursanalyse (CDA) verankert, bezieht sie auch Ansätze anderer Disziplinen und Zugänge, wie
der Multimodalen Diskursanalyse, der Funktionalen Linguistik und der Translations-
wissenschaften mit ein. Die analysierten Daten bestehen einerseits aus Nachrichten, die während
eines einmonatigen Beobachtungszeitraums auf der englischen bzw. Der a rabischen Version der
CNN-Website veröffentlicht wurden, andererseits aus einem Fragebogen, der an
NachrichtennutzerInnen online ausgesandt wurde. Aus Gründen der Triangulation schließt die
Analyse sowohl multimodale, quantitative als auch qualitative Fragestellungen zu Nachrichten
und die Auswertung des Fragebogens mit ein.
Die Ergebnisse der Forschungsarbeit sind: Das Internet hat sich zu einer wesentlichen
Informationsquelle für viele Menschen entwickelt; in den jeweiligen Nachrichtenbeiträgen ist das
geschriebene Material im Vergleich zu anderen multimodalen Elementen dominant; die
verglichenen Websites adressieren ihre jeweilige Leserschaft mittels eines jeweils völlig
unterschiedlichen Diskurses, indem sie Texte mit verschiedenen linguistischen, kulturellen und
ideologischen Implikationen verwenden; aus der Auswertung des Fragebogens geht hervor, dass
die Berichterstattung von CNN hinsichtlich Verlässlichkeit und Ausgewogenheit der Nachrichten
von den Befragten als vorwiegend negativ bewertet wird. Außerdem zeigt sich, dass die
Übersetzung von Nachrichten als ein Prozess des „Neu-Schreibens“ verstanden werden kann: Es
entstehen völlig neue Nachrichten, die jeweils abhängig von den zugrunde liegenden
ideologischen Positionen sind. Die in den Translationswissenschaften bisher verwendeten
Methoden sind nicht darauf ausgerichtet, einer Analyse von Texten dieser Art gerecht zu werden.

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Weiters haben sich DiskursforscherInnen bis dato mehr auf monolinguale Texte als auf
sprachübergreifende Diskurse konzentriert.
Es erscheint daher erstrebenswert und ratsam, die behandelten Fragestellungen weiter zu
bearbeiten, sowie einen kontrastiven Ansatz der Kritischen Diskursanalyse zu entwickeln, um
diese Art von Texten adäquat analysieren zu können.

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RESUME
Josef-Frank-Gasse 4/38 Phone: 43-6764543929 (Mob.)
1220 Vienna, Austria 43-1-264 8380 (Home)
E-mail [email protected]

Mekki Beshir Mustafa ELBADRI

Summary of PhD Candidate (Linguistics) University of Vienna,

qualifications Austria
M.A. (ESL) International Islamic University, Malaysia
Grad. Dip. (Translation) University of Khartoum, Sudan
B.A. (French) University of Khartoum, Sudan

Languages
Arabic (Mother tongue), English (fluent), French (fluent), German (fair),
Spanish (fair) and Malay (basic)

Work experience Reviser/Self-Revising Translator

2005 to date
Arabic Translation and Text P rocessing Section
United Nations Office at Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Translator
2002-2005
Arabic Translation and Text P rocessing Section
United Nations Office at Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Associate Translator/Translator
1999-2002
Arabic Translation Service
United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA

Translator/Interpreter
1990-1997
Different Conferences and Exhibitions: Khartoum (Sudan), Doha (Qatar), and Kuala
Lumpur (Malaysia)
• Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpretation
• The Role of Communication Specialists in Developing Cultural Growth,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Milipol Qatar, Doha, Qatar
• Culture of Peace Conference, organized by UNESCO, April 1995,
Khartoum, Sudan
• Conference of the African and Asian Companies of Insurance, Khartoum,
Sudan.
• Arab and Islamic People's Conference, March 1995, Khartoum, Sudan.
• African Federation of Football, Khartoum, Sudan.
• Conference of Inter-Religious Dialogue, 1994, Khartoum, Sudan.
• Sub-Regional Conference of African Ministers of Education, Oct. 1994,
Khartoum, Sudan
• Translation of Different Types of Documents.
• 1991 - 1996 Unit of Translation and Arabicisation, University of
Khartoum,

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Sudan.
• 1996 Fortune Promoseven, Doha, Qatar.
• 1997 - 1999 National Institute of Translation, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
• 1999 Pioneer Winner Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Teaching Assistant, Department of Linguistics, University of Khartoum, Sudan

1991-1996
• Teaching introductory courses in general linguistics and phonetics
• Coordinating courses and managing the library of the department

Teacher/Instructor (French, Arabic and Linguistics)

• 1991-1996 The Sudanese Cultural Center for Translation and Academic
Services, Khartoum, Sudan (Arabic, French)
• 1991-1996 French Scientific Unit, University of Khartoum, Khartoum,
Sudan (French)
• 1993-1994 Department of French, Omdurman Islamic University,
Omdurman, Sudan (French Linguistics)
• 1997-1999 The Language House, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Arabic,
French)

Education 2003-date University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Ph.D. Linguistics (Candidate)

1997 – 1999 Inter. Islam. Univ. (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

M.A. English as a Second Language

1990-1991 University of Khartoum, Khartoum, SudanKhartoum, Sudan

Graduate Diploma of Translation (Arabic/English/French)

1985-1990 University of Khartoum Khartoum, Sudan

BA (Hons) First Class, French Language

1992-1993

Diploma of French Studies University Lyon II Lyon, France

July 2009 University of Perpignan Perpignan, France

Legal French Certificate
2002-2003 University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
German Course (Advanced)

1992-1993 Goethe Institute, Khartoum, Sudan

Certificate of German as a Second Language

Community/ 1986-1990 Member: the Society of Disabled Students and their Friends, University of
Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
Volunteer activities
1990-1993 Action on Disability and Development (ADD), Khartoum), Translation,
administration and Public Relations
2002-2008 Sudan Club, Vienna, Austria
2008-2009 Cultural Secretary, Sudanese Austrian Club, Vienna, Austria

Research and Translation

2000, Silhouettes Mahdistes, by Viviane Yagi, Dar Alkhartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
Publications
(translation from French to Arabic)

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Book Reviews
Thussu, Daya Kishan (2007), News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment,
Discourse & Communication 2009 3: 324-326, http://dcm.sagepub.com/current.dtl
Munday, Jeremy (2008) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications,
LINGUIST List 20.2279, Wed Jun 24 2009, http://linguistlist.org/issues/20/20-2279.html
Conboy, Martin (2007) Language of the News, LINGUIST List 19.3344, 3 November
2008, http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=195476
Tosi, Arturo, ed. (2002) Crossing Barriers and Bridging Cultures: The Challenges of
Multilingual Translation for the European Union, LINGUIST List 14.1094, Sun Apr 13
2003, http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-1094.html
Scollon, Ron and Scollon, Suzie Wong, Nexus Analysis: Discourse and the
Emerging Internet, LINGUIST List 16.2276, Thu Jul 28 2005,
http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-2276.html
Weiss, Gilbert and Wodak, Ruth (eds.) (2002) Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and
Interdisciplinarity, LINGUIST List 14.2285, Sun Aug 31 2003,
http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-2285.html

Articles
1994 Articles on Sudanese short stories, SUDANOW monthly Magazine, Khartoum,
Sudan
1999 Co-author with Nuraihan Mat Daud, Teaching Thinking Skills in Writing Classes,
Guidelines RELC, Singapore.

Unpublished Dissertations and Papers

1989 Maison du livre de l’image et du son, Université Lyon II, Lyon, France
(unpublished dissertation)

1990 Naissance et Genèse de la nouvelle Soudanaise, University of Khartoum,

Khartoum, Sudan (unpublished dissertation)
1999 A Contrastive Study of the Discourse of English and Arabic Theses' Abstracts,
Advanced Master’s graduation paper, IIUM, Malaysia, abstract posted at
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/papers/browse-papers-action.cfm?PaperID=2190
1999 Translation of Computational Linguistics Terminology into the Arabic Language,
PhD proposal, University of Science, Penang, Malaysia

Interests and • Computer Literacy: MS (Word, Excel Access, and PowerPoint), SPSS: Microsoft
activities Access), SPSS, Websites Design, Computer-Assisted-Translation (CAT)

• Reading, and Travelling

• Taekwondo, Swimming, Walking

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