Persuasive strategies used in al Jazeera Arabic and al Arabiya news reports in the death incident of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi : a critical discourse analysis perspective

الملخص EN

The current study aims at investigating the persuasive strategies used in Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Arabiya news reports in the death incident of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It also aims to critically analyze the discourses of both news channels and evaluate how the positive “us” and negative “them” are represented.

The data of the current study consist of two detailed news reports; one report belongs to Al Jazeera Arabic and the other belongs to Al Arabiya that discuss the death incident of the Saudi journalist.

The data of the current study are analyzed in light of Van Dijk’s ideological square.

The data are collected between the 2nd to the 22 of October 2018 from the official websites of both news channels.

Findings of the current study reveal that the positive “us” and the negative “them” in both news channels are represented through linguistic resources and strategies such as evidentiality, lexicons, delegitimization, repetition, active and passive structures and presuppositions.

Moreover, findings also revealed that both news channels have employed various persuasive strategies, namely rhetorical questions, figurative language, evidence, anecdote, point of view, adjectives, emotive language, fear strategy, repetition, lexical choice and presuppositions.