The presentation of the foreign troops and their operations in Afghanistan in Iranian conservative and reformist media: Case study: Kayhan and Shargh newspapers (November 2013- July 2014)

Abstract

This study investigates the presentation of the foreign troops and their operations in Afghanistan in the Iranian newspapers Kayhan and Shargh during the first year of Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s presidency. The study suggests that there are different political factions with different / opposite approaches in Iran, which present their political and ideological perspectives through the like-minded media. The study mainly uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and its techniques to find the news structures and ways of presentation of “other” individuals / groups. To analyze the two newspapers from the main political factions, the Conservatives and the Reformists, the study first details the Iran’s socio-political context and then shows that despite unequal balance of power and restricted media freedom, the two newspapers have two noticeably different and opposite approaches to the issue under study. The study draw the conclusion that these differences in presenting their “reality” can be rooted in their different logics and their different supporters’ political approaches.