The Functionalization of Macrostructures in the Online News Reports for the Purpose of Demonization: A Critical Discourse Study of BBC and CNN's Coverage of the pro-Palestinian Protesters in April and May 2024

Abstract

The critical discourse analysis of the current study points out that the BBC and CNN engage in the functionalization of macrostructures to demonize the pro-Palestinian movement in the universities of The United States and The United Kingdom through covert discursive attacks due to their effectiveness in condemning and discrediting the peaceful protesting students who are blameless and beyond reproach at the peak of the protests in April and May 2024. The study relies on Van Dijk's (2012) categories of ideological analysis. The analysis demonstrates that the demonization of the protesters within the headlines and lead paragraphs of the BBC and CNN's online reports, rests on several discursive practices, such as stigmatization, defamation, and the systemic erasure of the laudatory representations associated with the protesters. The discourse of the demonization strip the protesters of any positiveness and confine them to the frames of antisemitism, destabilization, communal insecurity, aggressiveness, and illegality. In the course of demonization, there is an implicit legitimization of the authorities through idealization of them while overlooking any unfavorable aspect associated with them.