Genre, discourse, ideology : communications-theoretical contributions to translation Aljazeera and the BBC as communication systems

Abstract

This doctoral thesis investigates genre, discourse and ideology in relation to mass media and translation in the light of communication theories. The theoretical part of the thesis adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, and integrates communication-scientific works and insights. This part focuses on mass media institutions in general and Aljazeera and the BBC in particular as social communication systems, and explores the categories of genre, discourse and ideology in these institutions as communicative structures; it also studies the translation of the categories concerned as a complex and uncertain act of social and intercultural interaction.

The analytical study then operationalizes a methodological framework which proposes a qualitative and exploratory approach, and draws on the tools and methods of critical discourse analysis in order to examine a corpus data of Aljazeera and the BBC news reports in relation to Turkey’s accession talks with the EU. The analysis explores Aljazeera and the BBC news construction relating to the categories of genre, discourse and ideology, and examines translation between the language cultures of Arabic and English. The results suggest uncertainties in translation, as well as differences in how Aljazeera and the BBC construct their journalistic stories with respect to the examples examined.