ABSTRACT

In this article I conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis of news coverage of the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza by select British and South African print news outlets. The representation of the actors’ legitimacy is the theoretical framework used for the study. Interviews were also conducted with journalists who reported on the war for insights into aspects of news production that impacted their reporting. Textually and visually Israeli military personnel were accorded legitimacy. The Palestinian perspective was marginalised in addition to being de-legitimated. A key facet of the war’s coverage is the highly-structured reporting environment in Israel and Gaza. I argue that this continues to exert a significant impact on the work of journalists there. The article enhances current research on the analysis of multimodal texts using qualitative approaches. Important insights are provided about the manner in which textual and visual semiotic resources in news texts function in unison to convey or rescind legitimacy. The second contribution concerns the impact of the news production process in the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The media’s role in legitimising Israeli violence is particularly pertinent.

摘要

在本文中，我对选定的英国和南非印刷新闻媒体对 2014 年以色列袭击加沙的新闻报道进行了多模式批判性话语分析。行为体合法性的表征是本研究使用的理论框架。还对报道战争的记者进行了采访，以深入了解影响他们报道的新闻制作方面。以色列军事人员在文字和视觉上都被赋予了合法性。巴勒斯坦的观点除了被剥夺合法性外，还被边缘化。战争报道的一个关键方面是以色列和加沙高度结构化的报道环境。我认为这继续对当地记者的工作产生重大影响。本文加强了当前使用定性方法分析多模态文本的研究。文章提供了关于新闻文本中的文本和视觉符号资源如何协同发挥作用以传达或废除合法性的重要见解。第二个贡献涉及新闻制作过程对以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突报道的影响。媒体在以色列暴力合法化方面的作用尤其重要。