Bias and prejudice in press : a linguistic analysis of news stories in some Arab and western newspapers on closing al-Aqsa mosque in 2017

Abstract EN

This study analyzes the schematic organization characterizing some news reports issued in different countries both in Arabic and in English.

These news reports cover a serious incident of violence in which some Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the Israeli police on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

As a consequent action done by the Israeli side, the mosque was closed and Friday prayer was cancelled.

The study is significant as it helps in displaying how the schematic organization of the news report reflects the journalist's bias and prejudice for or against a specific issue on an ideological basis.

Following van Dijk's (1986, 1988) model, the analysis of the schematic organization, in addition to lexical items, of the news stories under examination revealed that bias and prejudice are practiced by both sides of the Arab and the western journalists.

Some categories of the news stories such as the History category and the Verbal Reactions category are, in some way or another, manipulated.

They are presented based on ideological motivation of the journalist. Key words: media discourse, news story, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestine, Israel Fast traslate Icon translate