The Politics of Text: A Media Discourse Analysis of Pre- and Post-9/11 New York Times News Articles about Muslims

Abstract

Language, being the foremost medium of communication, can be useful as well as damaging because it is through the use of words, phrases, and discourses that ideologies are fabricated. These ideologies reach the public through print media, among others, as one of the fastest channels. It plays an essential role in our lives because it helps form public opinion on every single matter starting from day-to-day discussions to global issues. This thesis examines how the journalists of The New York Times played their role in framing ideologies and representing Muslims before and after the 9/11 incident. Socio-Cognitive theory by Teun A. van Dijk has been selected to carry out an analysis of the manipulative discourses of the print media through an evaluation of the ten selected news articles. The study includes an in-depth analysis of five news articles published during the year before 9/11, that is, 2000-2001 and five articles from the post-9/11 period, published during the year following the incident, that is, 2001-2002. The theoretical assumption that language can mediate public discourse is a common feature in the selected news articles. The study concludes that while bias against Muslims is present in the pre- as well as post-9/11 news articles, it is more prominent in the post-9/11 period in view of the spatial and temporal context of the publication of these articles.