Discourse Analysis of BBC Persian TV Channel on Iraq-Iran War (case study: two documentaries)

Today “media discourse” is one of the most important ways to operationalize the policies of states. This research intends to respond to the basic question that on the 30th anniversary of the Iraqi aggression against Iran what kind of “discourse” the BBC Persian TV channel chose to review the war, to “construct the reality” and to “control the public opinion” of the audience. The research has been conducted by merging two approaches of Fair Clough and Van Dijk in analyzing media texts through reviewing 12 speech categories. The selected units are chosen based on sound bits. Review of two documentaries in this research indicates that the media discourse of BBC Persian TV channel is focused on “anti-war” attitude, without taking into consideration its defensive status. Moreover, in these documentaries the “religious beliefs” of people especially the Iranian Leader have been represented as the main elements behind the outbreak and continuation of the war. Furthermore, by focusing on survivors of the war including the combatants and their families, and representing the existing problems, BBC introduced the main flaw in the "futile war" to be the abuse of the state officials and their taking advantage of the war.