Pragmatic acts and bilingual audience design: A critical pragmatics analysis of Al Jazeera Arabic and English in the 2026 Iran–Israel–US conflict report
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15548/diwanjurnalbahasadansastraarab.v18i1.2912Keywords:
Critical pragmatics, Pragmatic acts, Al Jazeera, Bilingual news discourse, Audience designAbstract
How a single media institution constructs divergent meanings for two linguistically distinct audiences constitutes a salient question in media studies, particularly where that institution operates at the intersection of Arab and international news. Al Jazeera's Arabic (AJA) and English (AJE) services have attracted considerable scholarly attention as paradigmatic instances of this phenomenon. Previous research has mostly approached both media through framing theory or critical discourse analysis, neglecting the pragmatic mechanisms that direct meaning for different readers. Jacob Mey's critical pragmatics, through its concept of the pragmatic act (pract), affords a more precise entry point into this gap. Employing this framework for comparative analysis, the study examines AJA and AJE coverage of the Iran-Israel-US conflict across five thematic events (February-June 2026). Twenty purposively sampled news articles were coded deductively using Mey's six pract categories: alluding, implying, hinting, voicing, quoting, and echoing. Both AJA and AJE rely most heavily on voicing and implying pract, but diverge in a distinctive secondary pract: AJA layers echoing pract onto this shared foundation, activating Arab collective memory and positioning readers within a solidarity-oriented frame, while AJE layers hinting pract, distributing epistemic authority through formally qualified attribution to cultivate critical consensus among a heterogeneous readership.
References
Abdelraouf, E. (2025). Covering conflict: A comparative analysis of Al Jazeera and CNN’s discourse on pro-Palestine campus protests in the US. Media, War & Conflict. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506352251392722
Abu-Rumman, A., Al-Azzam, B., & Smadi, O. (2024). Pragmatic analysis of King Abdullah’s speech: Exploring speech acts and societal context. Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2433879
Ahmad, M., & Wilkins, S. (2025). Purposive sampling in qualitative research: A framework for the entire journey. Quality & Quantity, 59(2), 1461–1479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-024-02022-5
Ajaoud, S., & Elmasry, M. H. (2020). When news is the crisis: Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya framing of the 2017 Gulf conflict. Global Media and Communication, 16(2), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766520921880
Al-Ramahi, R. A., & Ab. Rashid, R. (2024). The discursive identities of Hamas and Israel in British newspapers: A socio-cognitive analysis. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 30(3), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2024-3003-01
Alejandro, A., & Zhao, L. (2024). Multi-method qualitative text and discourse analysis: A methodological framework. Qualitative Inquiry, 30(6), 461–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004231184421
Alibigloo, H. P., & Alipoor, S. (2025). Media representation of the Israel-Iran confrontation: A comparative critical analysis of CNN and TASS. Review of Communication, 25(4), 267–280. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2025.2540816
Alluhaidah, M. (2023). A critical discourse analysis of Al Jazeera’s online coverage of the war in Yemen before and after the 5 June 2017 Gulf crisis. Discourse & Communication, 17(5), 553–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/17504813231163769
Alqahtani, N., & Fawzy, R. (2026). Humanitarian disaster and historical injustice: CNN and Al Jazeera’s discursive construction of the Palestine–Israel conflict. Media Asia. https://doi.org/10.1080/01296612.2025.2606197
Amer, M. M. A. (2022). BBC and New York Times’ coverage of the May 2021 Israeli onslaught on Gaza: A critical discourse analysis. International Journal of English Linguistics, 12(5), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v12n5p1
Bhowmik, S., & Fisher, J. (2023). Framing the Israel-Palestine conflict 2021: Investigation of CNN’s coverage from a peace journalism perspective. Media, Culture & Society, 45(5), 1019–1035. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231154766
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in reflexive thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2020.1769238
El Damanhoury, K., & Saleh, F. (2025). Mediated clash of civilizations: Examining the proximity-visual framing nexus in Al Jazeera Arabic and Fox News’ coverage of the 2021 Gaza War. Digital Journalism, 13(1), 136–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2024.2332614
El Damanhoury, K., Saleh, F., & Lebovic, M. (2025). Covering the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: A critical discourse analysis of Al Jazeera English and BBC’s online reporting on the 2023 Gaza War. Journalism and Media, 6(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia6010009
Elmasry, M. H. (2025). Images of the Israel-Gaza War on Instagram: A content analysis of western broadcast news posts. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990241287155
Entman, R. M. (2007). Framing bias: Media in the distribution of power. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 163–173. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00336.x
Fu, Y., & Ho, V. (2022). Discourse markers in TV interviews: A corpus-based comparative study of Chinese and western media. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1063158. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1063158
Hussain, S., Arafat, Y., & Sikandar, F. (2026). Reporting on victims in the Israel-Gaza War: A comparative analysis of CNN, Al Jazeera, and CGTN. Journalism Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431261426531
Ilyas, E., Revando, M., Prianty, L., & Salihin, A. (2018). Berita penutupan perbatasan bagi pengungsi Suriah (analisis wacana kritis). Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Arab, 10(2), 929–947. https://doi.org/10.15548/diwan.v10i2.158
Khairunnisa, A., Triana, H. W., Reflinaldi, & Shina, S. I. (2025). Terrorism discourse in popular Arab media: Representation of the Taliban in CNN Arabic YouTube headlines. Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Arab, 17(2), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.15548/diwanjurnalbahasadansastraarab.v17i2.2436
Kharbach, M. (2020). Understanding the ideological construction of the Gulf crisis in Arab media discourse: A critical discourse analytic study of the headlines of Al Arabiya English and Al Jazeera English. Discourse & Communication, 14(5), 447–465. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481320917576
KhosraviNik, M. (2015). Discourse, identity and legitimacy: Self and other in representations of Iran’s nuclear programme. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.62
KhosraviNik, M. (2022). Digital meaning-making across content and practice in social media critical discourse studies. Critical Discourse Studies, 19(2), 119–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2020.1835683
Kozman, C., & Cozma, R. (2025). Comparing headlines during conflict: War and peace journalism in the coverage of the 2023 Israel-Gaza War in the Associated Press and Qatar News Agency. Electronic News, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431241304076
Makki, M., & Ross, A. S. (2023). “We were cocked & loaded to retaliate”: Language aggression and conflict in US threats against Iran. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 11(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00069.mak
Makki, M., & Zappavigna, M. (2022). Out-grouping and ambient affiliation in Trump’s tweets about Iran: Exploring the role of negative evaluation in enacting solidarity. Pragmatics, 32(1), 104–130. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.20048.mak
Malkawi, R. J., Fareh, S. I., & Rababʾah, G. (2024). Framing the shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in English and Arabic news headlines: A critical discourse study. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 1276. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03784-x
Mey, J. L. (2001). Pragmatics: An introduction (2nd ed.). Blackwell.
Mey, J. L. (2023). Activity types and pragmatic acts. In S. D’hondt, P. Gras, M. Vandenbroucke, & F. Brisard (Eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics: 26th Annual Installment (pp. 3–20). John Benjamins.
Mohammed, S. H., Keel, G., Ahmed, M. O., & Mustafa, A. R. (2024). Tracking network salience: A transnational study of inter-media agenda-setting in the Iranian-American crisis 2020. Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, 26(2), 25–56. https://doi.org/10.21018/rjcpr.2024.2.594
Morgan, H. (2022). Conducting a qualitative document analysis. The Qualitative Report, 27(1), 64–77. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5044
Mortazavi, M., Zandi, B., & Makki, M. (2024). (Im)politeness strategies in US-Iran diplomatic discourse on Twitter. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 12(2), 289–317. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00091.mor
Muwafi, D. W., Fareh, S., & Jarad, N. (2024). Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al-Jazeera English headlines on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: A Hallidayan transitivity analysis. Critical Discourse Studies, 22(3), 299–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2024.2328626
Reflinaldi. (2018). Pergerakan wacana konflik Sunni-Syi’ah di balik prahara Suriah: Analisis teori BREAK media massa Suriah dan Indonesia. Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Arab, 10(2), 911–928. https://doi.org/10.15548/diwan.v10i2.155
Reflinaldi, R., Sawirman, S., & Usman, F. (2021). Dā’ish vs Tanẓīm Al-Dawlah: BREAK analysis of the names of ISIS in Arab mass media. Jurnal Arbitrer, 8(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.8.2.157-167.2021
Reflinaldi, & Faisol, Y. (2023). Kepemimpinan progresif di tengah pandemi: Analisis transitivitas pidato Raja Salman bin Abdul Aziz dalam forum PBB tahun 2020 dan 2021. Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Arab, 15(1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.15548/diwan.v15i1.1065
Reyes, A. (2011). Strategies of legitimization in political discourse: From words to actions. Discourse & Society, 22(6), 781–807. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926511419927
Roomi, F. (2023). The Iran-Israel conflict: An ultra-ideological explanation. Middle East Policy, 30(2), 94–109. https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12687
Saldaña, J. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). SAGE.
Sbisà, M. (2021). Presupposition and implicature: Varieties of implicit meaning in explicitation practices. Journal of Pragmatics, 182, 176–188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.05.027
Schreier, M. (2022). Qualitative content analysis in practice (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Tartory, R. (2020). Critical discourse analysis of online publications ideology: A case of Middle Eastern online publications. SAGE Open, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020941471
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE.
Zardini, M. Z., Meshkinfam, B., & Saeednia, G. (2020). Representation of social actors in Iran’s nuclear agreement discourse based on Van Leeuwen in two newspapers Al Riyadh and Tishreen. Zabān-pazhūhī, 12(36), 61–86. https://doi.org/10.22051/jlr.2019.26369.1710
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Awliya Rahmi, Mouna Bechlem Bouratoua, Aya Qasim Hasan, Jarot Wahyudi, Ahmed Shbair
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
