Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5, 793-809 2024 Publisher: Learning Gate DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate * Correspondence: hum954.rehab.whab@student.uobabylon.edu.iq Prejudice in selected American and Iranian newspaper articles on Gaza crisis: A critical discourse study Rehab Wahab Al-Addily1*, Sadiq Mahdi Al Shamiri2 1,2Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences, University of Babylon, Iraq; hum954.rehab.whab@student.uobabylon.edu.iq (R.W.A.A.) hum.sadiq.mahdi@uobabylon.edu.iq (S.M.A.S.) Abstract: Prejudice discourse is considered as one of the most important language uses usually invested in different social situations, particularly by in-group speech communities. This highlights the need to investigate this language phenomenon according to some interdisciplinary perspectives. So, this paper compares and contrasts from critical discourse perspective the prejudiced content used in the news coverage of American and Iranian newspapers' discourse as part of the discursive portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the 7th Oct. 2023 attack. Two articles were gathered from two opposing international newspapers, one is American (New York Post) and another is Iranian (Tehran Times). This paper aims at discovering prejudice's components and function, identifying the discursive strategies to determine the ideologies that allow a journalist to write a prejudice content. So, this helps the researcher to expos the differences and similarities in the selected data. To get a thorough critical comprehend of the nature of prejudice in the selected data, the researcher adopted a model for critical discourse analysis and applies qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The researcher finds that the cognitive, affected and behavioral components which are a reflection of an attitude in the function of publishing prejudiced content in the selected articles include semantic-strategies of lexicalization and aggregation and rhetorical-strategies of topo and contrast. The polarization of positive in-group self- representation and negative out-group representation in a racist and discriminatory way are the most prevalent ideologies that drive the creation of prejudiced content in the selected data. The articles differ in the sense that while the news coverage in Iranian was prejudiced "pro-Palestinians," American newspapers published prejudiced "pro-Israeli" articles. Although these two newspapers have adopted similar linguistic methods, they convey the news coverage of that event in some prejudiced way based on the newspaper's ideological perspective. Keywords: Conflict, Critical discourse analysis, Palestine, Prejudice, Israel. 1. Introduction The present research utilizes critical discourse analysis (CDA) to investigate prejudice content in selected Iranian and American newspaper articles on the ''operation of Al-Aqsa storm''. The investigator seeks to respond to the subsequent questions: 1) What are the prejudice components and function used in the selected data? 2) What are the ideological discursive strategies that allow a journalist to write a prejudice content in the selected data? 3) What are the ideologies that affect the journalists to write a prejudiced content in the selected data? 4)What are the differences and similarities in the representation of that crisis? In light of the preceding questions, the aim of this paper is to: 1) Discovering prejudice components and function. 2) Identifying the discursive strategies. 794 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate 3) Determine the ideologies that allow a journalist to write a prejudice content. 4) Exposing the differences and similarities in the representation of that event in the selected data. The following steps are included in the research procedures: 1. Giving a brief overview to the field of CDA and the concept of Prejudice, its components and function. 2.Illustrating Van Dijk's model (1998) of contextual factors and the selected discursive strategies of Van Dijk (2016). 3.Analyzing two representative articles from two opposing international newspapers (American and Iranian). 4) Making some conclusions from the analysis. This research is limited to investigate two articles from two different international newspapers (New York Post from America and Tehran Times from Iran) using the ideological semantic and rhetorical discursive strategies that are present in the data, according to Van Dijk's Ideological Discursive Strategies (2016). A thorough analysis is achieved by Van Dijk's model (1998) to explain the data contextually. 2. Literature Review 2.1. A Brief Overview of Critical Discourse Analysis Critical discourse analysis is best understood as an interdisciplinary field of research. Because it makes use of several interdisciplinary methods and instruments to examine texts and determine the degree to which they may depict the outside world, social identities, and interpersonal connections, this approach is referred to be multidisciplinary. In the social and political environment, text and language are used to enact, perpetuate, and oppose social power abuse, domination, and inequality. This is the primary focus of Critical discourse analysis, as a form of discourse analysis study. Critical discourse analysts have a clear attitude while doing such dissident research, and as a result, they seek to comprehend, reveal, and eventually criticize social equality [1]. This linguistic discipline focusses on the discursive circumstances, elements, and effects of power abuse by institutions and dominant (elite) groups. It looks at how settings, genres, text, and language are accessed and controlled, as well as the discursive techniques used to manipulate one's thoughts. It examines discourse and how it operates in society as well as how society is articulated, represented, legitimized, or reproduced in text and conversation—particularly in relation to forms of inequality [2]. 2.2. Mass media and Critical Discourse Analysis As stated by Denis McQuail,''the term mass media indicates the entire systems within which messages are produced, selected, transmitted, received and responded ''. Mass media serve as channels for mass communication, and almost all recent study has been founded on the idea that the media has a significant impact on people's businesses [3]. Mass communication is a form of interpersonal communication in which people converse with one another both orally and nonverbally. To reach a wide number of individuals, the massage can be communicated through a medium, or channel [4]. These are used to simultaneously reach a large number of people, including radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards, films, recordings, books, and the Internet as well as the new category smart mass media, which include Smartphone, smart TVs, and tablets” [4]. According to Fairclough [5], language employed in the media has a purpose beyond just reporting facts; it also reflects power, which is primarily attained through ideologies—more specifically, through the ideological application of language. Van Dijk [6] goes on to explain that one of the most significant resources for marking a discourse in many ways is the media. It is demonstrated that one of the goals of CDA is to demonstrate how the extremely instructive discourse of newspaper reporting, sociology reports, and government publications may express ideological stances in reality. The articles printed in exceptional magazines and diaries are regarded as a significant means of assistance in communicating the ideologies maintained by the powerful group. 795 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate Media is a major deciding element in CDA, according to Sadat et al. [7], since language usage is crucial in expressing status and power in contemporary social interactions. Additionally, since varied pronunciations of the same text may change its meaning, spoken texts are the primary focus of CDA. It is observed that readers, who make up the majority in any community, are greatly influenced and directed by the thoughts they read in newspapers and periodicals. In addition, people's views and opinions are greatly influenced by the language that is employed in various media situations. 2.3. Newspaper Discourse Hart [8] brings forth that the discourse of newspaper is crucial and this is derived from the distributional power of the press since power of the press is subjected to the process of 'selection' and 'transformation'. Most language used in newspapers is formal and impersonal. This implies that, with the exception of quotes, colloquial terms and idioms are absent. Certain grammatical elements were common to news articles, such as a propensity to employ the active voice rather than the passive. Furthermore, all of them are written in the past tense, with the exception of the headlines [1]. 2.4. The Concept of Prejudice Prejudice has been defined differently by different researchers, it is defined as ''feelings of intergroup hostility.'' [9]. Prejudice is defined by Allport as ''an aversive or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have objectionable qualities ascribed to the group.'' He contends that prejudice is a natural result of group classification, particularly when ingroup-outgroup connection is involved. Prejudice also means ''an unjustified, usually negative, attitude directed towards others because of their social category or group membership'' [10]. According to Van Dijk [11] prejudice is asocial and cognitive phenomena. It is a common type of social representation that group members have learnt via socialization processes and have changed and performed in social communication and interaction, rather than just a feature of individual ideas or feelings regarding social groupings. He adds that Prejudices are mental structures and techniques for applying them in social circumstances that govern their acquisition, relevance, contents, organization, and other characteristics. That is to say, prejudice cannot be understood in isolation from its function in ethnic relations between groups as well as from the standpoint of the majority's domination or interests concerning minority groups. 2.5. Components of Prejudice There are three basic components or ways to prejudice, in which unfavorable attitudes towards other groups might be manifested. Traditionally, all three of these elements have been viewed as indications of a single attitude towards intergroup judgement [12]. These include (These components will be invested in the model of data analysis to reveal the way in which the journalist publish prejudiced content in the selected data, for more information see p.13): 2.5.1. Cognitive Component It means negative stereotypes. That is to say stereotypes are beliefs held about a specific social group or individuals within it. It takes the logical shape of a judgement, which attaches or rejects particular features or behavioral patterns to a specific group of people in an exaggerated and generalizing manner. The outgroup beliefs can be evaluated as favorable, neutral, or negative. Only evaluatively negative stereotypes are typically regarded as indicative of prejudiced views [12] 2.5.2. Affective Component It means unwelcome emotions. prejudice is primarily characterized by negative feelings of hate towards outgroups. prejudice is best understood as negative intergroup feelings. It is suggested that when group identification is important, people's appraisal of intergroup situations or interactions might 796 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate lead to prejudice and intergroup behavior based on "social emotions" concerning outgroups. It is discovered that feeling responses to national, ethnic, and religious groupings were clearly stronger predictors of overall favorable and social disconnection to these groups than stereotypes held about those groups. 'Attitudes' can be described as one's emotional response to someone with whom one has a relationship and can express hatred or sympathy [12]. 2.5.3. Behavioral Component It means negative behavioral characteristics towards outgroups (to behave negatively to outgroup members, for example, through discriminatory actions and maintaining social distance). Behavioral manifestations of prejudice take the form of people's intentions and dispositions to behave badly towards outgroup members. The most researched behavioral expressions of prejudice are likely social distance preferences (behavioral avoidance) and discriminating behavior. Interestingly, individuals may face purposeful acts of significant violence due to their group or category membership [12]. 2.6. The Function of Prejudice According to van Dijk [11] prejudice is not merely a characteristic of individual beliefs or emotions about social groups, but a shared form of social representation in group members, acquired during processes of socialization and transformed and enacted in social communication and interaction. Such ethnic attitudes have a social function, (e.g. to protect the interests of the in-group. Their cognitive structures and the strategies of their use reflect this function.). This overtly societal purpose of prejudice, which Van Dijk highlights, is the "rationalization and justification of discriminatory acts against minority groups.". He refers to the dominance, distinction, distance, dispersion, diversion, depersonalization or destruction, and everyday discrimination that are used to justify bias against minority groups. Van Dijk states that these general plan categories will, in general, organize all actions directed towards, or involving members of minority groups. These actions include holding onto power and control, treating minority members differently (a social act function related to the cognitive function of seeing them differently), keeping minority members at a distance (out of our country, town, neighbourhood, street, house, family, etc.), spreading stereotypes about them (mainly through biassed talk), attributing to minority members the social or economic problems of the in-group, treating minority members as inferior, harming or destroying them, and, finally, enacting all these more general actions also in small-scale everyday activities (minor inequities)[11]. 2.7. Prejudice and Discourse According to Van Dijk [11] '' both prejudice and talk are social phenomena that require analysis within an interdisciplinary framework'', using certain word combinations and that concurrently create meaning in the world. It is important to realize the fact that prejudiced discourse is a form of language use and interaction of social members in social situations of in-group communication. That is to say, we see prejudice as a fundamental characteristic of social members rather than only something that occurs at the individual or personal level as a result of what may be called "social information processing." [13]. 3. Methodology This section presents comprehensive procedures for data analysis to meet study objectives 3.1. Van Dijk's Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis Regardless of the other aspects of discourse that CDA addresses, it is imperative that it consider the specific structures, strategies, and functions of text and talk, including grammatical, pragmatic, interactional, stylistic, rhetorical, semiotic, narrative, and similar forms of verbal and para-verbal institution of communicative events. Van Dijk [14], thus suggests that the theoretical discourse- cognition society triangle understands this domain. 797 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate A socio-cognitive approach, according to Van Dijk [15,14] assert that these connections are cognitively structured, even if all of CDS's methodologies look at the connections between discourse and society. Discourse structures and social structures can be connected, for example, via "the mental representations of language users as social members." Discourse can only influence social interactions and social structures through the same cognitive link of mental models, information, beliefs, and ideologies [14,15]. It is important to note that discourse in this sense refers to a "semiotic" or multimedia aspect of symbolic representation that encompasses written and spoken words as well as any accompanying expressions, textual structures, visuals, and other elements of a communicative event. Any "mental" or "memory," image, or technique that is employed in speech is referred to as cognition in this context. This encompasses both interpersonal and social communication. Critical discourse analysis emphasizes that every research project needs to start with a thorough theoretical analysis of a social problem before the analyst can choose the discourse and social structures to be studied. A predetermined method for conducting a social study is not provided by it [15]. Furthermore, the context elements of the study, including the goals, participants, environment, users, and their perspectives and passions, impact the research methods. According to Van Dijk [15]. The theory and the main goals of it— namely, the critical analysis of the discursive reproduction of dominance in society—act as a guidance for choosing discourse categories for it. For discursive, cognitive, and social reasons, the concept of discourse is essential to contact and communication. It is important to clarify that the purpose of this research is to investigate discursive frameworks from a semantic and rhetorical perspective, with the goal of revealing the underlying ideologies present in selected newspaper articles. The following explains these discursive methods, or strategies: 3.1.1. Semantic Strategies Among the most important discursive techniques used to draw attention and strengthen a point made by the speaker or writer are the following semantic strategies [16]. 3.2. Lexicalization Fairclough [17] describes that vocabulary is a selection of words. Language is not arbitrary, but rather guided by principles. The main distinguishing element of discourse (language) is vocabulary, or how these discourse languages lexicalize the world. Fairclough [17] explores how to re-lexicalize domains of experience based on different classification ideas. Fowler [18] argues that lexicon plays a crucial role in ideological replication in newspapers. Fairclough's [17] vocabulary model suggests that vocabulary can be studied in several ways. Fairclough prefers the terms 'significant', 'wording', and 'lexicalization' over 'vocabulary' because they reflect how wording processes vary by location, time, group, and person [17]. In his 1989 approach, the experience value of overwording or overlexicalization is considered alongside the expressive value, which can be positive (e.g., hero, anti-terrorist, astonishing) or negative [18]. Overwording or overlexicalization is an issue of ideological battle focus, and it involves several terms, synonyms or near synonyms, with a single reference [17]. 3.3. Aggregation It is a strategy which is used when social players are defined as statics with definite or indefinite quantifiers [19]. 3.3.1. B. Rhetorical Strategies People use rhetorical techniques to emphasize, downplay, and challenge particular meanings and ideologies; Van Dijk [20] notes that the main purpose of these techniques is to (de)emphasize 'interactional and communicative goals.' "Different social categories or groups use rhetorical strategies differently." As a result, rhetorical emphasis on the negative traits of out-group members is apparent in negative other presentations. According to Van Dijk [20], rhetorical methods reveal participants' 798 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate "social or ideological identity," as well as their social relationships and common values. One of the researcher's responsibilities is to analyze the data by identifying the rhetorical terms that the prejudiced journalist uses against the outgroup members. Topo and contrast are the main rhetorical devices that will be analyzed. 3.4. Topo Topo is one framework used to uncover the legality or justification of discursive occurrences. Topo, as part of the argumentation technique, deals with excuses that are either openly or tacitly claimed to excuse wrongdoing in terms of obligations. The conclusion rules connect the justification to the claim [21]. 3.5. Contrast Contrast appears when the groups have conflicting ideas. It denotes that there is a struggle between the in-group and the out-group. This strategy is employed in discourse to emphasize the good deeds of the in-group and bad deeds of the out-group [22]. 3.6. Contextual Factors Contextual factors associated with speech events can have an impact on the proliferation of ideologies. Van Dijk [23] lists the following as the contextual analysis parameters: • Domain: It refers to the context or scope of the communication events. • Genre: Genres are unique forms of discourse that include text, conversation, and context. Genres replicate ideologies, hence they need to be investigated. • Functions: Each genre serves a distinct purpose in a chain of activities or domains. • Intention: All communication activities have intentions. This is because participants have mental representations of what they say or write. Speakers control and generate their speech based on their objectives. For specific ideological goals, sometimes the true intentions are veiled. • Location: Refers to where communication events occur. • Circumstances: Refer to the exact situations under which speech events occur. 3.7. The Model of Analysis The model is an application that was created as a crucial tool for data analysis. It is based on Duckitt's model (2003) (for more information about prejudice components see p.5), Van Dijk's Approach of discursive strategies (2016) and contextual factors (1998) Figure 1. An eclectic model of analysis. 799 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate 4. Data Collection and Data Analysis The model is applied to the selected data in this section. 4.1. Data Selection and Collection The data have been collected from the online websites of the selected newspapers. The selection of data hasn’t been done randomly, but it is based on specific criteria. The representation of the 7th Oct. attack 2023 in two international newspapers, American and Iranian press. two news articles were selected from one American newspapers (i.e., New York Post) and one Iranian newspapers (i.e., Tehran Time,). The 7th Oct.2023 attack is considered as an essential world event that is reported by different mass media because of the popularity of Palestine-Israel conflict. So, the newspapers should be selected based on their popularity and direction. The primary selection strategy is categorizing data by nationality, popularity, and ideology which means that the criteria selection is based on their prominence as international media agencies following their political inclinations. To prevent translation, Iranian newspapers use English language rather than Farsi. 4.2. The Procedures of Analysis The analysis methodology is a guide for the analyst to follow when analyzing the research study's data. The analysis is divided into two sections: both qualitative and quantitative. 4.2.1. Qualitative Analysis The following steps are taken to address each of the two articles: A. The first step is the researcher's attempt to seek the representation of prejudice content (components and function) the in the selected American and Iranian newspaper articles. A. The second step is adopting Van Dijk's model (1998) of Contextual factors. B. The third step is the examination of the ideological discursive strategies of semantic (lexicalization and aggregation sub-strategies) and rhetorical (topo and contrast sub-strategies) levels. 4.2.2. Quantitative Analysis This section supports qualitative analysis, since it deals with numerals, mathmatical data, and comparisons. The steps for quantitatively analyzing the results, which will assist the qualitative analysis, are as follows: 1. The result will be put in tables and figures. 2. Discussing the result mathematically. 3. Comparing and discussing the result of the two media – newspaper articles in order to find the differences in the representation of that event. 4.3. Data Analysis 4.31. Qualitative Analysis 4.3.1.1. American Data Article 1:''Hamas terrorists raided at least two kibbutzim in Israel’s south Saturday as part of the wider shock attacks on Israel, leaving residents in the defenseless communities begging for help…..“She said the [militants] walked out after a few minutes, but I haven’t been able to reach my family since.”Gaia reported that her brother had texted her that there were many casualties in the kibbutz, but no police or Israeli army forces to be seen. Her comments echo mounting criticism from Gaza-area residents that hours after the infiltrations took place, there was no sign of Israeli security forces and they felt abandoned.Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said that the Israeli Defense Force, along with special units, were managing “a number of war zones and all the additional forces that have been launched towards the Gaza Strip.” “We know about civilians who are barricaded in all kinds of places,” Shabtai added. “We call on everyone to stay 800 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate behind closed doors, we will reach everyone in the end. We are moving from one scene to another. There are quite a few terrorists who have been killed in the various scenes.”……At least 250 Israelis were killed and more than 1,500 injured across the country in the attacks. Eight hours after the Palestinian fighters were first spotted in the border communities, one kibbutz resident said shootings were still ongoing…..“One woman working in agriculture was seriously injured in the neck. I have no verification whether the weapons were fired by Gazans or security forces,” he added. A shooting attack on the Albat neighborhood has been reported, resulting in an unspecified number of deaths and injuries.'' [24]. 4.3.1.2. Prejudice Components 4.3.1.2.1. Cognitive Component The journalist of article1 has negative stereotypes or beliefs against Hamas which is a militant movement in Palestine against Israel. The journalist negative judgement towards Hamas and Palestine let him to be against them by rejecting the attack. The journalist thinks that Hamas is considered as terrorist, danger and threat towards Israel. So, he is prejudiced against Palestine. 4.3.1.3. Affective Component The journalist of article 1 carries unwelcomed emotions in the form of hateful negative feelings towards Hamas and Palestine. The journalist rejection to Hamas's attack which is done by Palestinian fighters against Israel has led him to commit 4.3.1.4. Behavioral Component The journalist 's negative beliefs and hatred feeling against Palestine and Hamas as out-group make to tackle the topic of Hamas's surprise attack in a negative manner by writing hatred speech in discriminatory and racist manner towards Palestine and portray Israel and its civilians in a favorable manner that they are victims. 4.3.1.5. Prejudice Function The social role of prejudice in article 1 is to protect the interests of the in-group. The writer justifies the discriminatory coverage of Hamas' surprise attack on Israel by depicting the in-group as dominating, powerful, and backed, and the victims as innocents. Domination, differentiation, distance, diffusion, diversion, depersonalization or destruction, and discrimination are some of the discursive terms used by journalists to justify their bias against Palestinians. These categories are contained in Article 1, which criticizes Palestinian and their unexpected attack on Israel. 4.3.1.6. Contextual Factors • Domain: Article 1 is political news about the surprise event that happened in Israel. It is under the headline " ‘We are being slaughtered’: Israelis cry for help as Hamas militants break into homes ". • The Type or the genre of the article is newspaper. • The Function: The purpose of Article 1 is to keep the public informed about the most recent occurrences of Israeli-Palestine Conflict. It cites the story of the surprise assault that is done by Hamas against Israel. • Intention: The purpose of article 1 reflects prejudice and this stems from the ideology of the newspaper. The goal of article corresponds with the ideology of the newspaper, whether it supports or opposes such attack (Hamas). • Time: Article 1 is stated on 7th of October 2023. This date represents the beginning of Hamas surprise attack against Israel. • Location : It shares the same location as The New York post, which is in New York City. • Circumstances: Article 1 documents the beginning of the battle. The article discusses how Hamas attacked Israel. It examines the causes and consequences of that incident. 801 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate 4.3.1.7. Discursive Strategies 4.3.1.7.1. Semantic Strategies 4.3.1.7.1.1. Lexicalization The negative representation of the attack by using the following nominal negative phrase to represent it as bad action just like ''shock attacks''. Palestinians are portrayed negatively by lexicalizing them badly as criminals such as ''Hamas terrorists''. The Israelis as in group are portrayed by indicating their positive characteristics that they are victims of Hamas's bad actions. Article 1 lexicalized them as defenseless ''Civilians, Residents and defenseless communities '' who are begging for help. The verbs ''slaughtered, lunched …'' are used to describe the way in which the attack against Israel is done negatively. 4.3.1.8. Aggregation The journalist aggregates Israel's losing after the attack by statically referring to the victims of the attack. The numbers ''At least 250 and more than 1,500 '' are ideologically used to indicate the huge group of people killed and injured in Israel after Hamas attack. Palestine is statically portrayed by using the indefinite quantifier "few" and "number of '' to the negative representation of Palestinian. 4.3.1.9. Rhetorical Strategies 4.3.1.9.1. A. Topo The ideological prejudiced of the journalist against Palestinian lead to use different topoi to blame Hamas and to represent them negatively as ''terrorists''(out-group). So, the journalist used the argumentation of Hamas responsibility in order to blame Hamas for making the attack. He combined the arguments of ''responsibility, humanization, danger, help and fear'' for the purpose of making the reader to reach a conclusion Hamas's violations against Israel after the attack. 4.3.1.10. Contrast The ''contrast strategy'' is utilized in order to make a difference between in-group and outgroup. Article1 represent Israel as in-group as victims by emphasizing their positive acts '' residents in the defenseless communities'' while Palestinian are considered as out-group by emphasizing their negative acts ''Hamas terrorists'', so they are portrayed as criminals and terrorists. 4.3.1.11. Iranian Data Article 2: ''At least 250 Israelis are killed, 1500 injured. After a week that saw thousands of Israeli settlers desecrating the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem) despite warnings and the rising Israeli aggression in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian resistance in the besieged Gaza Strip has launched "OPERATION AL-AQSA STORM.A senior Hamas leader has said that the group had captured enough Israeli soldiers during the unprecedented attack to make Israeli authorities free all Palestinian prisoners …It was the biggest attack on the Zionist regime in 50 years. It is haunting the invaders of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It came 50 years and a day after forces from Egypt and Syria caught Israel off guard… 'We are part of this battle, our fighters are side-by-side with their brothers in the Qassam Brigades until victory is achieved," Palestinian Islamic Jihad's armed wing spokesman Abu Hamza said in a post on social media. … according to the council. "The president of the regional council, Or Liebstein, was killed during an exchange of re with [the resistance]," the Israeli Shaar Negev settlement council said in a statement…. Haniyeh called the operation historic and epic, saying the main reason for its start was the "criminal aggression of the Zionists in the al-Aqsa Mosque, which had reached its peak in recent days. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Hamas spokesperson Khaled Qadomi said that the group’s military operation is in response to all the atrocities the Palestinians have faced over the decades on top of them the desecration of Israelis at the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site… Qadomi replied, "They are not hostages. They are prisoners of war…The armed wing of Hamas said more than 5,000 rockets had been red from the besieged Gaza into the occupied territories within a space of 20 minutes. At least 250 people in Israel have been 802 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate killed and 1,500 wounded in the Hamas fighters’ incursion in southern Israel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency services agency said Saturday night, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in decades… Israel’s ambassador to the UN has said that fighters, who infiltrated from a number of different points, "killed DOZENS of Israeli…Israel says it is at "war" and has begun bombing the Gaza Strip, with reports emerging of a large number of dead and wounded Palestinians at a Gaza hospital. History has proven that these bombing raids by the regime mostly kill women and children on a very large scale.''[25]. 4.3.1.12. Prejudice Components 4.3.1.12.1. Cognitive Component The journalist of article 2 holds unfavorable ideas against Israel. The journalists overblown condemnation of Israel's unlawful and terrible conduct against innocent Palestinians. The journalist believes that Israel is an invader and that removes Palestinians' homes, hence he is biased against Israel. 4.3.1.13. Affective Component In article 2, the journalist expresses undesirable sentiments in the form of hostile bad attitudes towards Israel. The journalist's positive reaction to the ''Al-Aqsa Storm operation'' carried out by Palestinian fighters against Israel caused biased article. Because Iran and Palestine share the same Muslim philosophy and have the same opponent against ''the Zionist authority'', the journalist felt compassion and viewed Palestine favorably. 4.3.1.14. Behavioral Component The journalist of article 2 writes adversely hostile speech in a discriminating and racist manner towards Israel or the Zionist government as a result of the unfavorable thoughts about Israel and the Zionists' criminal assault against Palestine. 4.3.1.15. Prejudice Function In article 2, prejudice serves a social role by preserving the journalist's in-group interests. The journalist explains the biased coverage of ''Hamas biggest attack'' against Israel by portraying the in- group as supported and powerful in order to bring an end to Israel. The journalist used linguistic categories like dominance, distinction, distance, diffusion, distraction, depersonalization or destruction, and discrimination to defend his anti-Israel bias. 4.3.1.16. Contextual Factors • Domain: Article 2 is political news about the Palestinian surprise event against Israel. It is under the headline "Al-Aqsa Storm: Palestinian resistance humiliates Israel " • The Type or the genre of the article is newspaper. • The Function or the purpose of this page is to keep the public informed about the most recent occurrences of Israel-Palestine Conflict. It cites the story of the surprise attack that is done by Hamas against Israel. • The Intention or the objective of article 2 exhibits prejudice and is based on the newspaper's ideology. The purpose of this article is consistent with the newspaper's philosophy, whether it supports or opposes such an assault (Hamas). • Time: Article 2 is stated on 7th of October 2023. This date represents the beginning of Hamas surprise attack against Israel • The location of this article is Tehran. • Circumstances: Article 2 describes how Hamas attacked Israel. It discusses the factors and consequences of that attack. 803 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate 4.3.1.17. Discursive Strategies 4.3.1.17.1. Semantic Strategies 4.3.1.17.1.1.Lexicalization By using the nominal phrase ''OPERATION AL AQSA STORM'' (which is written in capital letter), the journalist of article 2 positively describes the attack that is launched by the Palestinian resistance against Israel.The other referents of this event just like ''biggest attack'' are vocabularies chosen to portray events in a conservative manner, avoiding negative statements based on his ideological prejudice.The journalist reflects sympathy and considered himself as Pro-Palestinian by over- lexicalizing the attack positively. Furthermore, the reporter's bias may be seen in the verbs that he uses to describe the incident, which are often just like ''humiliates, launches, infiltrated, haunting''. In contrast, the out-group representation of the other side which is negatively portrayed by Israel is evident in ''Israeli aggression, the Zionist regime, invaders,criminal aggression of the Zionists''. The journalist wants to give the reader a hint about the bad characteristic of Israel and to justify the attack against them that Palestinians want their freedom from the invader. 4.3.1.18. Aggregation The journalist of article 2 deals with the topic in a prejudiced manner by justifying positively the Hamas's attack against Israel attack in order to take Palestinians freedom from the invader as in, the journalist use of the indefinite quantifier ''all'' to refer to the huge number of Palestinians who are in Israel's prisons. On the other hand, the describes the victory of the attack against Israel and its loses in the attack by referring to Israeli side with indefinite quantifier plus noun, the use of the indefinite quantifiers and ''DOZENS'' which is written with capital letter to and '' at least 250 and 1500 '' to positively portray the results of the operation of ''Al-Aqsa Storm'' against Israel. While the negative portrayal of Israel and its reaction towards the operation by killing many Palestinians is represented by the use of some indefinite quantifiers plus nouns 'a large number ' and 'mostly'. 4.3.1.19. Rhetorical Strategies 4.3.1.19.1. Topo The journalist justifies the attack against Israel by foregrounding the reason that is the desecrating of al Aqsa Mosque ''Israeli settlers desecrating the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem)''. As result they are responsible for their bad actions and the cause of happening such attack. Because of the ideological orientation of the newspaper, the topoi of revenge are justified in article 2 with the two sides differently. The Palestinians' revenge is justified and represented positively '' senior Hamas leader has said that the group had captured enough Israeli soldiers during the unprecedented attack to make Israeli authorities free all Palestinian prisoners'' in order to capture Israeli soldiers to free all Palestinian prisoners. While the revenge of Israel is represented in order to warren of the bad consequences of the attack against Gaza and its residents ''Israel says it is at "war" and has begun bombing the Gaza Strip'' 4.3.1.19.2. Contrast Article 2 uses the ''contrast technique'' to distinguish between the in-group and the out-group. By highlighting their positive deeds, the article portrays Palestine as an in-group and Israel as an out- group, portraying them as criminals ''criminal aggression of the Zionists''. Table 1. Frequencyand percentage of semantic strategies in Article 1. Sub strategy Frequency Percentage Lexicalization 20 57.14% Aggregation 15 42.85% Total 35 804 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate Figure 2. Frequency of semantic strategies in article 1. 4.3.2. Quantitative Analysis 4.3.2.1. Quantitative Analysis of Discursive Strategies in American Data 4.3.2.1.1. Semantic Strategies There are 20 ''lexical choices'' in all of article 1 (American) with a percentage 57.14%, so it is ranked highest out of all the other categories. This is interpreted to mean that the journalist stresses a particular event either ''positively or negatively'' by ''over-lexicalizing'' several words to convey it. These choices affect the way the newspaper's ideology is communicated to readers and how their mindset develops. Just like the negative portrayal of these three events under study and the positive evaluation of the Israeli side as in group, so this represents the effect of ideologies of positive self representation and negative other representation. While the aggregation strategy scores well overall, with 15 points (42.45%), of the all count of 35. Article 1 accomplish this while conveying information to readers honestly, using data to highlight the detrimental effects of the Hamas's attack. Table 2. Frequency and percentage of rhetorical strategies in article 1. Sub strategy Frequency Percentage Topo 10 71.41% Contrast 4 28.57% Total 14 100% Figure 3. Frequency of rhetorical strategies in article 1. 805 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate 4.3.2.1.2. Rhetorical Strategies Article 1 justifies Hamas responsibility of the attack against Israel to blame them for making a violence against Israel and to represent them negatively Table 3. Frequency and percentage of semantic strategies in article 2. Sub strategy Frequency Percentage Lexicalization 23 65.71% Aggregation 12 34.28% Figure 4. Frequency of rhetorical strategies in article 2. 4.3.2.1. Quantitative Analysis of Discursive Strategies in Iranian Data 4.3.2.1 1. Semantic Strategies A quantitative investigation is conducted on the two groups of ''negative and positive value expression''. Article 2 (Iranian) perform the best, with 23 lexical possibilities and a percentage of 65.72%. It may be taken as either a good or bad focus when a writer uses a lot of terms to describe a certain event. These decisions impact the way the newspaper shapes readers' ideas and how it conveys its ideology to them. In the same way as the favorable description of all three episodes under review and the bad evaluation of the Israeli side overall demonstrate the impact of positive self-representation and negative other representation philosophies. Prejudicial journalists appear to use both ''Positive and negative'' lexicalizations to draw readers' attention to their writing that presents biassed facts and an unfavorable/favorable portrayal of the ''out-group/in-group''. ''Aggregation'' counts of 12 and a percentage of 34.28%, so this is the ideology of Iranian journalist in aggregating the positive properties of the in-group and the negative properties of the out- group. Table 4. Frequency and percentage of rhetorical strategies in article 2. Sub strategy Frequency Percentage Topo 12 80% Contrast 3 20% Total 15 100% 806 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate Figure 5. Frequency of rhetorical strategies in article2. The frequencies and percentages of the ''rhetorical devices'' used in the chosen ''Iranian article'' are shown in Table 4 and Figure 5. The highest ranking tactic is ''topo''. It accounts for 80% of total utilization. This alludes to the journalist's justification of a positive or negative attribute in order to draw a conclusion, just as it does to the justification of the of the event against Israel in an effort to end the Zionist regime and its terrible crimes against both Palestine and Iran. This compels the author, therefore, to primarily rely on the use of topo to assign blame for Israel's instigation of violence against Iran and Palestine. It should be noted that biased journalists typically avoid using the contrast strategy due to the low frequency which accounts 3 with a percentage 20% of its use. This is because biased journalists run the risk of writing insensitive or racist articles about members of the outgroup without drawing a distinction between them and the in-group. Table 5. Frequency and percentage of semantic strategies in American and Iranian data. Data Lexicalization Aggregation Total American Frequency 20 15 35 Data Percentage 57.14% 42.85% 100% Iranian Frequency 23 12 35 Data Percentage 65.71% 34.28% 100% Figure 6. The following figure displays the ratios of semantic sub-strategies occurrence in American and Iranian data. 807 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate 4.3.1. Comparison of Results The percentage and frequency of the quantitative analysis of ''semantic sub-strategies'' are displayed in Table 5 and Figure 6. Among the two samples that were gathered, ''lexicalization'' exhibited the highest percentages and frequencies. as it obtains 75.14% and 65.71% of the attention in ''American and Iranian publications'', respectively. In the ''American sample'', the majority of these ''lexical'' options portray Palestinian combatants negatively as terrorists or militants, but in the Iranian sample, they portray them positively as warriors or mujahdeen. In the meantime, the major event is given positive values in ''Iranian data'', such as "the operation of Al-Aqsa is viewed as a positive development'', but they are lexicalized with negative values, such as "Hamas's assault'' in the American article. This suggests that there are variations in the way the words are used. Aggregation is of 34.28 in Iranian article but 42.85% in American article. As a result, the American article utilize it more frequently than Iranian. The American and Iranian samples both employ aggregation as a subcategory. They frequently make an effort to gain the readers' trust in this area. More figures increase the credibility of news pieces, regardless of how accurate the data may be. Table 6. Frequency and percentage of rhetorical sub-strategies article 2 and article 2. Figure 7. The frequency of rhetorical sub-strategies occurrence in article and article 2. Table 6 and Figure 7 illustrate the use of rhetorical strategy in a particular context using ''topo and contrast'' sub-strategy. The topo sub-strategy, which is regarded as an argumentation strategy, is where we should start. It achieved the greatest rank in the chosen American article1 (with a percentage reach of 71.41%) and Iranian articles (with a percentage reach of 80%). Thus, this suggests that while the ratios of topo tactic use in the American and Iranian pieces are rather comparable, the reasons for their use vary ideologically. The American newspaper justifies the use of different topoi, just like the topo use of Hamas's responsibility to blame it for making a surprise attack against Israel and to pay the attention of the world to the bad acts of the out-group(Hamas). In contrast, the Iranian news articles justifies the Data Topo Contrast Total American data Frequency 10 4 14 Percentage 71.41% 28.57% 100% Iranian data Frequency 12 3 15 Percentage 80% 20% 100% 808 Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology ISSN: 2576-8484 Vol. 8, No. 5: 793-809, 2024 DOI: 10.55214/25768484.v8i5.1744 © 2024 by the authors; licensee Learning Gate topo use of Hamas's responsibility of the operation of Al-Aqsa storm to reach a conclusion that the Zionist should be end and punish it. The other sub-strategy is the contrast strategy which scores 28.57% in the American data and 20% in the Iranian Data. It is the weakest sub-strategy in comparing it with the topo strategy in the selected data which means that there is no difference in terms of use between them. The American newspapers utilize this sub-strategy in making a comparison between the in-group which is represented by Israel by portraying it positively and out-group which is represented by Palestine. While Iranian article functions this sub-strategy in portraying positively Palestine as in-group, in contrast, Israel is portrayed negatively as out-group. 5. Conclusions After analyzing the data, the following conclusions are arrived at: 1. ''Cognitive, affected and behavioral'' are components of ''prejudice'' which constitute a representation of a single attitude utilized by the journalists in the social function for protecting the in-group's interests throughout utilizing different categories of language as a tool of prejudice for the sake of representing the other group as destroyed, inferior and hurting. 2. The journalists published prejudiced content on the selected data by utilizing the semantic strategies of lexicalization and aggregation and the rhetorical strategies of topo and contrast. 3. The most common ideologies that motivate a journalist to publish a prejudiced content in the selected data are the polarization of positive self-representation of the in-group and negative- other representation of the out-group in a racist and discriminatory manner 4. Although these two newspapers have adopted similar linguistic methods, they convey the news coverage of that event in some prejudiced way based on the newspaper's ideological perspective. So, the difference in the selected articles is that the news coverage in the Iranian article was prejudiced "pro-Palestinians," while the American one was prejudiced "pro-Israeli" articles. Acknowledgements: I am grateful to my supervisor, Asst. Prof. Sadiq Mahdi Al Shamiri (PhD), for his insightful remarks and leadership. 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