Media's Presentation of Mandela in 1985: Analysis of Aljazeera's Beliefs - Research Paper

Problem Statement

The approaches used by the Media in presenting Mandela in 1985

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Objectives

• To identify how Mandela is described in the Aljazeera's analysis
• To determine how the belief of the network can influence the exhibition of the events associated with Mandela

Research Purpose

The study purpose is to examine existing literature concerning Media and the approaches it applied to present Mandela in 1985. The study focuses on the aspect of understanding the ideational implication in texts that is transitivity. The ideational purpose is concerned with the repercussions that symbolize people's understanding of life (Abdel, 2018).

Research Questions

• What roles are conducted by Mandela in his texts within the presented corpus?
• How is Nelson Mandela projected by the Arabic Press?

Literature Review

Fattah, (2010) conducted various studies using the SFL tool as a device for critical dialogue analysis. Fattah, (2010) investigated a case study reported in three articles comprising of two partakers, a male perpetrator, and a female victim, of physical abuse. The research concentrated on the application of nominalization and passivization in the articles. The study resolved that the specific linguistic selections used in the materials were conceptually significant as they replicate the present asymmetrical connections between the woman and the man in the discussed context. Fattah, (2010) argued that the male offender is not portrayed as a central point in the articles'' write-ups. The man's offense is projected as a personal occurrence that is not connected with the acts of masculine domination and control.

Liao, (2012) examined how language can be applied by the NST in portraying the Reformasi Movement and the then Assistant Prime Minister, Ibrahim Anwar. Liao, (2012) resolved that NST tried to favor some linguistic choices over others. The Reformasi Movement and Anwar were given focal, powerful and agentive roles in comparison to other participants. By constantly assigning the Reformasi Movement and Anwar such duties, people are persuaded to observe them in a particular manner. Liao, (2012) considered the depiction of Iran by the New York Times after and before the adjuration of Barack Obama on 21st January 2009. Liao, (2012) used transitivity grammar, the SFG, and CDA in unraveling the concept presented by the New York Times about Iran. The study resolved that before Obama became president, the articles portrayed Iran as a powerful and dangerous enemy. However, the portrayed depiction of Iran was moderated with the alteration in the government setting and thus resulting in a much subtle media approach towards Iran.

Abdel, (2018) tackled the effect of the thoughts of a broadcasting news bulletin expert on the BBC. The main story at the bulletin section describes a disastrous youth crime occurrence whereby a gang associate in Liverpool murdered a boy at the age of eleven years. Abdel, (2018) claimed that all publicly positioned texts were, to a lesser or greater degree, ideological. Additionally, recognizable ideological features of the transitivity process of the text slightly relate to capitalist ideology and more generally connected to political ideas. Liao, (2012) examined reports in newspapers of Japan, America, and Australia, the articles were written in both Japanese and English. The write-ups were written based on a particular issue, which was anti-whaling, basing on the assumptions made by the three nations thus resulting in the establishment of different stances. Liao, (2012) resolved that some language stratagems might be of significant influence in the image portrayed to the readers' even when the strategies are hidden. As the Australian articles presented Japanese artists in substantial harmful courses and illustrated a positive feeling to their anti-whaling stand, the U.S. articles provided the anti-whaling teams as goals and actors which demonstrated their anti-whaling standpoint.

Mohammed, & Banda, (2016) compared an American newspaper and an Iranian magazine with different principles to show how contradictory ideas are presented differently in the print media about the 2006's Hizbullah-Israel warfare. Mohammed, & Banda, (2016) concluded that nominalization and passivizations are applied in the manipulation of the recognition of power and agency in the presentation of activities that process specific meanings that are expected to be understood by the readers.

Fattah, (2010) conducted corpus-centered research which comprised of more data. Therefore the study offers greater intuition into the application of transitivity to indicate a person's ideology. Additionally, Fattah, (2010) exploration focused on a larger audience together with the audiences' attitudes towards the individual who originates from a continent and country that is different and the individual believes in a different religious conviction. The researchers tackled the aspects of transitivity with the association to the network of global reputation and an idea that the channel attempts to indoctrinate.

Halliday's Prototype of Discourse and Language

Halliday, (1994) discussed that the SFG approach is a grammatical theory that is concerned with the discourse of semantics. That is, if the analyzers interpret the grammar functionally, then they are foregrounding the role of the model as an asset for interpreting an ideology's meaning. According to Halliday, (1994), an idiosyncratic implication is seen through three metafunctional strands which include the textual, ideational and interpersonal meanings. The meanings are presented in diverse world aspects and varied styles of the implication of clauses. The ideological metafunction is connected with the nature and the articles as depictions. The relational metafunction is connected with the articles as exchanges. That is the idiosyncratic implications in the Halliday's models handles the association between the text receiver and the text producer together with the social world. However, the textual function manages the oral world; it is also connected with the articles as messages. Abdel, (2018) explained that the three functions consist of the dialogue semantics within a script; they are also recognized through the lexicogrammar. A given system recognizes every metafunction; they are also related to the situational characteristics of the inventory.

Halliday, (1994) discussed that SFG considers language as an asset at various levels such as graphology/phonology, context, lexicogrammar, and semantics. Graphology/phonology symbolizes the manifestation of the stratum, and thus the recognition of the discourse semantics. Application of SFL within CDA can be instigated in two unique ways that are the macro-analysis whereby a certain ideology like religious intolerance is assessed, and the recognition of the ideological concerns are copied and studied through the different strata. Conversely, a corpus/text can be the departure point followed by a down-top investigation of several strata that are available (Halliday, 1994).

The Importance of Transitivity

Mohammed, & Banda, (2016) explained that transitivity is a syntax of experience. Therefore, it provides an expression system for the experiences felt and categorizes them in various types of processes. Thus, transitivity is more complicated and different from the traditional grammar dichotomy of intransitivity versus transitivity. Therefore, Mohammed, & Banda, (2016) resolved that transitivity is a lexicogrammar system that assists in the recognition of ideas whether they are logical or experimental. Mohammed, & Banda, (2016) discussed that the transitivity components could be assessed in the SFL via the investigation of the circumstances, participants and processes within a text.

The processes are separated into six categories which are the existential, material, verbal, relational, mental and behavioral processes. Material practices comprise of verbs of an event or action, cognition, perception, reporting, and talking. The other practices are relational practices of existence, and they comprise of the intensive verbs as well as the verbs that indicate circumstantial or possessive relations (Mohammed, & Banda, 2016).

Research Method

The study involved an online analysis of the existing literature present in catalogs like Google scholar. The searching keywords used included Media, Transitivity Analysis, and Mandela. The assessment led to the choice of one online literature whi...