Representation of the Self and Other of Saudi Female Athletes in Western and Arab Media
Abstract
The current study addresses the ideologies employed in the news discourse regarding Saudi female Olympians. It mainly examines the linguistic and ideological portrayal of Saudi female athletes in Western and Arab media. This study analyzes CNN and Al-Jazeera's news reports linguistically and ideologically. The primary objective of this article is to examine how both news agencies employ linguistic structures to highlight their ideology regarding the engagement of Saudi female athletes in the Olympics. To critically analyze these two channels' news discourses and assess their linguistic and ideological frameworks, Van Dijk's (1998) Ideological Square has been implemented to elucidate both channels' depiction of the "Self" (in-group) and the "Other" (out-group) regarding Saudi female Olympic participation. The linguistic analysis of each news report was conducted at two levels: global and local. At the global level, each report was analyzed to reveal the topics (themes) covered whereas at the local level, each report was analyzed in terms of lexical structures, syntactic structures and rhetorical devices. The global level findings indicate that the dominant topics (themes) in both channels' reports sought to challenge and alter stereotypical norms, as well as to empower women. The local level findings are consistent with the global level ones. The reports predominantly featured complex sentences that contain rich details. They also used a significant volume of lexical items and rhetorical devices related to the athletes' inaugural participation and struggles. Additionally, the ideological analysis of both channels reveals that both channels portray Saudi female athletes positively as the "Self" and simultaneously portray others opposing those female athletic participation negatively as the "Other".
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References
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