i
The U.S. in Syrian Conflict:
A Critical Discourse Study on BBC International and BBC
Indonesia Articles
A Research Paper
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree
Alfiani Safitri
(0902534)
Department of English Education
Faculty of Language and Arts Education
Indonesia University of Education
ii
The U.S. in Syrian Conflict:
A Critical Discourse Study on BBC International and BBC
Indonesia Articles
Oleh:
Alfiani Safitri
Sebuah Skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh
gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni
© Alfiani Safitri 2014
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
April 2014
Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang. Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak
seluruhnya atau sebagian, dengan dicetak ulang, difoto kopi, atau cara lain tanpa
iii
THE U.S. IN SYRIAN CONFLICT:
A CRITICAL DISCOURSE STUDY ON BBC INTERNATIONAL AND BBC INDONESIA ARTICLES
A Research Paper
Written by:
Alfiani Safitri
0902534
Approved by:
Main Supervisor Co-Supervisor
Budi Hermawan, S.Pd., M.P.C. NIP. 1973080720022121002
Susi Septaviana, S.Pd., M.Pd. NIP. 197609042009122002
The Head of Department of English Education Indonesia University of Education
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STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION
I hereby officially state that the paper entitled: ‘The U.S. in Syrian Conflict: A Critical Discourse Study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles’is my original work. I am completely aware that I have quoted some statements and idea from other sources and they are properly acknowledged in the
text.
Februari 2014
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PREFACE
Praise to Allah, the Merciful who gives me opportunity and
encouragement so that this study entitled “The U.S. in Syrian Conflict: A Critical Discourse Study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles”
is finished. This study is submitted to the English Education Department of
Indonesia University of Educationtofulfilone of theSarjanaSastradegree
requirements. This study is aimed at exploring how the BBC International and
BBC Indonesia represent U.S. in Syrian Conflict by using Sociocognition
approach from Van Dijk (2009a).
It is expected that this research can contribute to the studies of Critical
Discourse Analysis, media discourse, representation of social actor, and
linguistics in general.
Bandung, Februari 2014
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillah, the highest gratitute was delivered to Allah SWT for His
bless and mercy, so the writer was able to accomplish this research paper as one
of the final requirements to get Sarjana Sastra degree in Indonesia University of
Education. The witer also sincerely thanks the main supervisor of this research
paper, Mr. Budi Hermawan, S.Pd., M.P.C., and the co-supervisor, Mrs. Susi
Septaviana, S.Pd., M.Pd., who always patiently supervised and kindly taught the
writer to produce good research report.
This research paper was dedicated to my beloved family, who always
supported and prayed for the writer sincerely in the up and down situation in
finishing this research paper. Thanks to my parents, Siswanto, S.Pd., M.M.Pd. and
Zubaidah Khoiriyah, S.Pd., M.M.Pd., and my little brother, Septian Ilham
Saputra, for always advising the writer to be a hardworking and patient person.
The special gratitute was delivered for my best partner, Gigeh, for your
availability in patiently accompanying the writer in both good and bad situation.
Moreover, the writer also thanks my bestfriends, Fira, Meyza, Riestia, Prita, and
Luciyana, who were always available to listen and advise the writer in the making
process of this research paper. Next, sincere thanks was delivered to all friends in
English Language and Literature for the happiness and best moments we spend
together from the first time we met.
The last, but not least, there are actually so many other people who
always support the writer behind the making process of this paper. The writer
thank them all very much for the support and may Allah SWT give them better
than they had given.
Alfiani Safitri, 2014
The U.S. in syrian conflict: a critical discourse study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu ABSTRACT
“The U.S. in Syrian Conflict: A Critical Discourse Study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles”
Main Supervisor: Budi Hermawan, S.Pd., M.P.C. Co-Supervisor: Susi Septaviana, S.Pd., M.Pd.
This present research examined the representation of United States in Syrian conflict as evidenced in BBC International and BBC Indonesia articles by using van Dijk’s sociocognition framework (2009a & 2009b). This research employed qualitative method to describe the representation and its significance. The collected data were 5 online articles from BBC International and 5 online articles from BBC Indonesia. The data were analyzed in the unit of words, phrases, and sentences to reveal the representation of U.S. in Syrian conflict. This research disclosed that, according to the text, U.S. was represented as the Globo-cop, who controlled the plot in Syrian conflict. The representation was indicated by three indicators, namely: U.S. as a firm and powerful country, U.S. as being intimate with Opposition, and U.S. as being the Opposition group helper. Hence, by sociocognition and context analysis, the research revealed that the thought of BBC International and BBC Indonesia was shaped by the culture of their owner. However, they were readers-oriented in delivering the news.
Alfiani Safitri, 2014
The U.S. in syrian conflict: a critical discourse study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu ABSTRAK
“The U.S. in Syrian Conflict: A Critical Discourse Study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles”
Pembimbing 1: Budi Hermawan, S.Pd., M.P.C. Pembimbing 2: Susi Septaviana, S.Pd., M.Pd.
Penelitian ini mengkaji representasi Amerika Serikat dalam konflik Suriah dalam Artikel BBC Internasional dan BBC Indonesia dengan menggunakan bingkai sosiokognisi Van Dijk (2009a & 2009b). Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif untuk menjelaskan representasi dan makna dari representasi tersebut. Data yang terkumpul adalah 5 artikel daring dari BBC Internasional dan 5 artikel daring dari BBC Indonesia. Data tersebut dianalisis dalam unit kata, frasa, dan kalimat untuk mengungkap representasi A.S. dalam konflik Suriah. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa, berdasarkan pada teks, A.S. direpresentasikan sebagai Globo-cop, yang mengontrol alur konflik Suriah. Representasi tersebut didukung oleh tiga indicator, yaitu: A.S. sebagai negara tegas dan berkuasa, A.S. sebagai pihak yang dekat dengan kelompok Oposisi, dan A.S. sebagai pihak yang membantu kelompok Oposisi. Lalu, berdasarkan analisis sosiokognisi dan konteks, penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pemikiran BBC Internasional dan BBC Indonesia dibentuik oleh kultur pemilik kedua agensi tersebut. Akan tetapi, keduanya menganut readers-oriented dalam menyampaikan berita.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page of Approval ... i
Statement of Authorization ... ii
Preface ... iii
Acknowledgment ... iv
Abstract ... v
Table of Contents ... vi
List of Tables ... x
List of Figures ... xi
List of Appendices ... xii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………..... ... 1
1.1 Background of the Research ... 1
1.2 Research Questions ... 3
1.3 Aims of the Research ... 3
1.4 Significance of the Research ... 3
1.5 Research Methodology... 4
1.5.1 Research Design ... 4
1.5.2 Site and Subjects of the Research ... 4
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1.5.4 Data Analysis ... 5
1.6 Clarification of the Terms ... 6
1.7. Organization of the Paper ... . . 7
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK………....... .. 8
2.1 Text and Discourse ... 8
2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis ... 10
2.3 Van Dijk’s Perspective on CDA ... 11
2.3.1 Text ... 13
a. Macrostructure ... 13
b. Superstructure ... 14
c. Microstructure ... 15
2.3.2 Sociocognition ... 16
2.3.3 Context ... 16
2.4 Systemic Functional Linguistics ... 17
2.4.1 Halliday’s Theme and Rheme ... 18
2.4.2 Halliday’s Transitivity ... 18
2.5Representation in Translation News ... 20
2.6 Previous CDA Studies on Translation ... 23
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………..... .. 24
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3.2 Research Design………... .. 24
3.3 Data Collection………... 25
3.4 Data Analysis………... .. 26
3.4.1 Text Analysis ... 27
a. Macrostructure ... 27
b. Superstructure ... 27
1 Summary ... 28
2 Story ... 28
c. Microstructure ... 29
1. Transitivity Analysis ... 30
2 Lexicalization Analysis ... 30
3.4.2 Sociocognition Analysis ... 30
a. Environment ... 30
b. Dimension ... 31
c. Goal ... 31
d. Motivation and Decision Making ... 31
3.4.3 Context Analysis ... 31
CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………... .. 32
4.1 Representation of U.S. from Text Analysis ... 32
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b. U.S. as being Intimate with Opposition Group ... 41
c. U.S. as the Opposition Group Helper ... 44
4.2 Representation of U.S. from Sociocognition Analysis ... 50
a. Environment ... 50
b. Dimension ... 51
c. Goal ... 51
d. Motivation and Decision Making ... 51
4.3 Representation of U.S. from Context Analysis ... 52
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS……….... .... 55
5.1 Conclusions………... .... 55
5.2 Suggestions………... ... 56
REFERENCES
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Summary of TransitivityLabel
Table 3.1 Articles from BBC International and BBC Indonesia
Table 3.2 Example of Thematic Analysis
Table 3.3 Example of Superstructure Analysis
Table 3.4 Example of Transitivity Analysis
Table 4.1 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 1
Table 4.2 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 1
Table 4.3 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 1
Table 4.4 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 2
Table 4.5 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 3
Table 4.6 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 4
Table 4.7 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 5
Table 4.8 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 2
Table 4.9 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 4
Table 4.10 Theme-Rheme Analysis in Text 5
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LIST OF PICTURES
Picture 2.1. The discourse-sociocognition-society triangle
Picture 2.2 Sociocognition approach schema
Picture 2.3 News Schemata (Van Dijk, 1988 p.55)
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A: BBC Internationaland BBC Indonesia Articles
Appendix B: Macrostructure Analysis
Appendix C: Superstructure Analysis
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The U.S. in syrian conflict: a critical discourse study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents introductory part of the research. It covers background
of the research, research questions, aims of research, significance of the research,
research methodology includes research design and site and subject of the
research, data collection, clarification of the terms, and organization of the paper.
1.1Background of the Research
People communicate in different ways. According to the scope of
communication, the ways people communicate are divided into two; internal
communication and external communication. Verghese (2012) defines internal
communication as the communication within a group or an organization, for
example communication between staff and manager from the same company.
Meanwhile, external communication is communication between a group and
society, for example publication, press release, and mass media (Rumanti, 2005).
Mass media, as an example of external communication, performs as social
surveillance which presents objective information, which aims to supervisesociety
(Lasswell& Wright, 1954 in Sendjadja, 2008). However, Holmes (2005) and
Richardson (2007) state that information which includes representation in mass
media has been an apparatus in reflecting the news agency’s commodity. Furthermore, the representation in mass media can be clearly seen in hot news.
One of the current hot international issues is Syrian conflict. The conflict in
Syria involved groups of Syrian people against President Assad and his supporters
that had been going on since February 2011.This conflict had got much attention
from international world and had recently invited several countries, for example
United States of America, Rusia and Iran, to intervene. The intervention from
those countries was reported in many international mass media, for example BBC
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The U.S. in syrian conflict: a critical discourse study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles
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BBC International provides its Indonesian version named BBC Indonesia.
However, the translation version of the news in BBC Indonesia might have
different intension from the news in BBC International because the translation text
in media might reflect the ideology of translators or editors (Martinovianto,
2012).The intention of translators or editors working at BBC International and
BBC Indonesia in reporting Syrian conflict can be seen from the way they
represented actors in Syrian conflict.
How social actors were represented in texts such as news media can be
critically discussed and revealed from its sociocognition perspective, such as by
the approach proposed by van Dijk (2009b). Van Dijk’s sociocognition approach (Kuntoro, 2008) not only focuses on the text itself, but also considers the process
behind the text production.
According to van Dijk (1980, 1998b, 2008, and2009b), Kintschand van Dijk
(1978), sociocognition approach consists of three stages, namely text,
sociocognition and context. In the stage of text, the analysis focuses on theme,
structure and words. Furthermore, in sociocognition level, the analysis involves
the cognition of local society or community, for example, the cognition of
journalist and media worker. Then, analysis in context level concerns the setting
of the news. The sociocognition and context analyses are used to find out the
reason behind article production.
There are several studies which usedCDA in translation work, three of them
are the studiesconducted by Ian Mason in Baker (2010), Isbuga-Erel (2008), and
Bánhegyi (2009). The research conducted by Ian Mason in Baker (2010), which
was about Mexican History and its translation revealed that the choice of words in
translating the text reflected the ideology of translator. Moreover, Isbuga-Erel
(2008) investigatedTurkish taboo translation about incest in literary text. This
research asserted that lexical choices in translation work were adapted to the
sociocognition of people in Turkey.Meanwhile, Bánhegyi (2009) investigated the
superstructure in source text and target text. The source text was a
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professional translators in opposite ideologies. By utilizing Hoey’s (2001) Problem-Solution Model and van Dijk’s notion of ideology (2003), the research revealed different result that there was no difference in superstructure of the three
texts.
This present research investigates the representation of United States of
America in Syrian conflict as evidenced in BBC International and BBC Indonesia.
The research employs sociocognition theory as proposed by van Dijk (2009a &
2009b) and Systemic Functional Linguistics as proposed by Halliday (1994) as
the tool of analysis.
1.2 Research Questions
This researchwas conducted to answer these following questions:
1) How does the text represent U.S. in Syrian conflictas evidenced in BBC
International and BBC Indonesia?
2) How do the sociocognition and context of the news support the
representation?
3) What does this representation signify?
1.3 Aims of the Research
This researchwas conducted to uncoverU.S. representation in Syrian conflict
by analyzing the macrostructure, microstructure and superstructure of the news in
BBC International and BBC Indonesia. Furthermore,the research analyzed the
sociocognition and context of the news.The researchalso intended to seek the
signification of the representation.
1.4 Significance of the Research
This researchcan contribute to Critical Discourse Analysis studies in
translation work, especially in news discourse. Through this research, it is
expected that people can be more sensitive in reading and criticizing the news in
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Alfiani Safitri, 2014
The U.S. in syrian conflict: a critical discourse study on BBC International and BBC Indonesia Articles
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 1.5 Research Methodology
1.5.1. ResearchDesign
This research employeda qualitative method since it consisted of text
analysis, description and stating larger meaning of the findings (Gay, L.R., Mills,
G.E. &Airasian, P., 2006).Sukmadinata (2009)also elaborates the characteristics
of qualitative research which are natural, inductive, holistic, dynamic, neutral and
self perception oriented.
1.5.2 Site and Subjects of the Research
The subjects of this research were five articles from BBC International and
the five equivalent articles from BBC Indonesia. The articles which wereretrieved
from BBC International were“Syria conflict: US condemns deadly Aleppo rocket
strikes,”“Syria crisis: Obama warns Assad over chemical weapons,”“Syria
conflict: John Kerry extends US aid to rebels,”“US recognises Syria opposition
coalition says Obama,” and “Syria crisis: US decries Assad 'Western puppets' speech.”
Then, the five equivalent articles retrieved from BBC Indonesia
were“Obama peringatkan Assad tidakgunakansenjatakimia,”“Bantuan AS
untukoposisiSuriahditingkatkan,”“Obama mengakuioposisiSuriah,”“AS
kecampidato Assad tentang 'boneka Barat',” and “AS kecamseranganke Aleppo Suriah.”
1.5.3 Data Collection
The datawere in the form of words, phrases and clauseswhich were
collected by critically selectingarticles about the U.S.involvement in Syrian
conflict from BBC International. The next step was searching for five equivalent
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equivalent articles to BBC International were then eliminated.The rest of them
were retrieved in word format and grouped according to the language: English
articles and Indonesian articles.
1.5.4 Data Analysis
The analysis involved three stages of sociocognition approach as proposed
by van Dijk (2009a), namely text, sociocognition and context. In the level of text,
the analysis consists of three sublevels: macrostructure, superstructure and
microstructure. The macrostructure analysis utilized theme-rheme analysis
proposed by Halliday (1994), the superstructure analysis employed news
schemata proposed by van Dijk (1988, p.55), then the microstructure analysis
employed transitivity analysis proposed by Halliday (1994) and lexicalization
analysis of the text.
In the level of sociocognition, the analysis used social situation schemasas
elaborated by van Dijk (2009b). The schemas consist of:
1. Environments, which is the setting or location around people.
2. Dimensions, which is the people’s opinion made towards the settingof text
3. Goals, which is the purpose and consequence of doing the activity
4. Motivation and Decision making, which arethe concious reason of doing the
activity
Then, in context level, the analysis focused on the setting of the news
production. It involved intertextual analysis to uncover how the texts
wereprocessed and constructedin society.Context analysis covered the
chronological story behind Syrian conflict, the relation between BBC and the
U.S., and the relation between BBC and the readers.
In conducting the research, these following steps had been taken:
1. Reading the texts critically;
2. Breaking down the texts into clauses;
3. Analyzing Macrostructure of the texts;
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5. Analyzing Microstructure of the texts;
6. Analyzing the sociocognition of the text;
7. Analyzing the context of the text;
8. Making conclusion based on the findings of previous steps to find the
signification of U.S. representation from BBC International and BBC
Indonesia;
1.6 Clarification of The Terms
To avoid misconception, there are some technical terms which have to be
clarified here:
Discourse
Discourse is defined differently by different researchers and academic
cultures (Wodak, 2006 in Wodak and Meyer, 2009). According to
Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2013), discourse is a linguistic unit (spoken or
written) which is larger than sentence. However, it is defined as the abstract
realization of knowledge (Lemke, 1995 in Wodak and Meyer, 2009) or as a
structured and systematic form of knowledge in terms of discourse – historical approach (van Dijk, 1998).
Text
According to Lemke (1995 in Wodak and Meyer, 2009), text is a part of
discourse which is a concrete realization of abstract form of knowledge.
Ideology
Ideology, according to van Dijk (2009a) is a kind of shared belief like
knowledge, attitudes, ideologies, norms and values. Van Dijk (2009a) also
asserts that ideology as cognitive cannot be studied separately from society
since cognitive concerns with social group. In other words, it is formed by
particular society.
Critical Discourse Analysis
Critical Discourse Analysis is an analysis of discourse with critical thought to
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2006). It can utilize several approaches, namelyFoucauldian CDA and
Dispositive Analysis, van Diijk’sSociocognition, Discourse-Historical Approach by Wodak and Reisigl, van Leeuwen’sRecontextualization and Dialectical-Relational Approach by Fairclough.
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
SFL is an approach to linguistics to analyze the text in language function. The
approach proposed by Halliday (1994) consists of the clause of message,
exchange, representation, nominalization, etc.
1.7 Organization of the Paper
This research will be organized in several chapters, namely: Introduction:
the background of the research, research questions, aims of the research, scope of
the research, significance of the research, clarification of the terms, and
organization of the paper; Literature Review:theoretical review that provides
severalrelated literature for conducting the research; Research Methodology: the
research methodology, discussing the steps and procedures of the research, and
the data resources in conducting the research; Findings and Discussion:
elaboration of findings and discussion of the research; and Conclusion: the
interpretation toward the result of the research in a form of conclusion and
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research methodology used in conducting the
research. It contains research problem which elaborates core issue of the research,
research design which explains how the research was framed, data collection
which tells how the data were collected and data analysis which elaborates how
the data were analysed.
3.1 Formulation of the Problem
This present research was conducted to answer these following research
questions:
1) How do the macrostructure, superstructure and microstructure of the
texts represent U.S. in Syrian conflict as evidenced in the investigation
of BBC International and BBC Indonesia news articles?
2) How do the sociocognition and context of the news support the
representation?
3) What does this representation signify?
3.2 Research Design
Thispresent research is adescriptive qualitative research. Descriptive
qualitative research usestext analysis, description and larger meaning of the
findings (Gay, L.R., Mills, G.E. & Airasian, P., 2006).Furthermore, the
characteristics of descriptive research as Sukmadinata (2009) proposedare natural,
inductive, holistic, dynamic, neutral and self perception oriented.
This research was conducted to find out how the same news agency with
different version represents U.S. in Syrian conflict differently.The research
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The theory was formulated in three stages, which are text, sociocognition and
context. The stage of text itself was divided into three, namely macrostructure,
superstructure and microstructure.
The analysis in text stage concerned with how text components represent
U.S. in Syrian conflict. In this case, texts were divided into macrostructure,
superstructure and microstructure. Macrostructure could be examined by
examining the global meaning or the themeof the text. The superstructure is the
way how the elements were constructed. Then, microstructure wasanalysed by
examining the words, phrases, clause or sentence.
In sociocognition level, the analysis focused on cognition of local society
where the texts were produced, in this case, the news agency of the texts. Then,
the context analysis examined the setting of text production. By utilizing these
three stages, it could be revealed not only how the texts represented U.S.in Syrian
conflict, but also why the texts represented U.S. in Syrian conflict in the given
way.
3.3 Data Collection
This research analyzed ten online articles which were collected from BBC
International and BBC Indonesia. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was
selected since it is one of prominent international news websites which
providesmany article versions in different languages. In addition, historically,
BBC, which is owned semi-autonomously under the Royal Charter and Licence
and Agreement from the Home Secretary, was lack of impartiality in reporting
Middle East
issue(http://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/jun/20/israel.broadcasting).Further
more, BBC Indonesia, which is the Indonesian version of BBC International has
different target readers in terms of culture. BBC International has wider and more
diverse target readers. Meanwhile, BBC Indonesia has more specific readers
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BBC International and BBC Indonesia represent U.S. in Middle East news
differently due to the different target readers between BBC International and BBC
Indonesia.
International were then eliminated. The rest of them were retrieved in word format
and grouped according to the language: English articles and Indonesian articles.
The five articles which were retrieved from BBC International and its five
equivalent articles retrieved from BBC Indonesia are:
Table 3.1 Articles from BBC International and BBC Indonesia
No. BBC International BBC Indonesia
1 Syria crisis: Obama warns Assad over chemical weapons
Obama peringatkan Assad tidak gunakan senjata kimia
4 Syria conflict: US condemns deadly Aleppo rocket strikes
AS kecam serangan ke Aleppo Suriah
5 Syria conflict: John Kerry extends US aid to rebels
Bantuan AS untuk oposisi Suriah ditingkatkan
3.4 Data Analysis
The analysis in the research used three stages of sociocognition approach;
which are text, sociocognition, and context. The analysis was started from text
levelwhich consists of three sublevels: Macrostructure, Superstructure and
Microstructure. The macrostructure analysis utilized theme and rheme analysis
proposed by Halliday (1994), the superstructure analysis employed news
schemata proposed by van Dijk (1988), then the microstructure analysis employed
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analysis also involved lexicalization analysis of the text to see the diction and
style of the words.
In the level of sociocognition, the analysis usedsocial situation schemas as
elaborated by van Dijk (2009b). The schemas consist of environments,
dimensions, goals, motivation and decision making. Furthermore, in context level,
the analysis focused on the setting of the news production. It involved the
intertextual analysis to uncover the story behind the text production to see how the
texts are processed and constructed in news agency.
3.4.1 Text Analysis
The text analysis was used to examine the text components which were
formulated in macrostructure, superstructure and microstructure. Macrostructure
examined the theme of text, superstructure dealt with the construction of text
elements, while microstructure analysed the local meaning of the text. These three
analyses are elaborated as follow:
a. Macrostructure Analysis
The macrostructure analysis which deals with global meaning tries to seek
the theme of the text. In macrostructure analysis, theme and rheme analysis as
proposed by Halliday (2004) was employed. Subagyo (2012) stated that the global
meaning of textwas formulated in the frame of text, for example, title, headlines,
topic sentence, summary, abstract, or conclusion. Leaning on that notion, this
present reseach used theme and rheme analysis to reveal the macrostructure of
text in sentence level. It also helped researchers to find significance how certain
rheme was arranged with a theme to give name and to represent the theme itself
(Mason in Baker, 2010). The following is the example of theme and rheme
analysis:
Table 3.2 Example of Thematic Analysis
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Theme Rheme
b. Superstructure Analysis
This analysis examined how the elements of texts were constructed. It also
examined how the elements of text built one unity of texts. To examine the
Headline is the title of the text which was placed in the top of text and printed
bold or bigger size font than the text. Another point in summary is lead, which
is the “second title” of text. It is usually a complete sentence printed bold or
bigger size font than the text, but smaller than headline.
2. Story
News story consists of two points, which are situation and comments.
Situation was divided into main events and background. Main events described
the basic information of the news. It covered all information about event that
was given in the text. Background is the context and history of events. It
contained the present background which is context of the events and past
background which was history of the events.
Second category of news story is comment, which was divided into verbal
comments and evaluation. Verbal comments functioned as the evidence of
certain news also the strategy to position journalist in objective side (van Dijk,
1980). The second category of news story is evaluation which mentioned the
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The following is the example of superstructure analysis using news
schemata proposed by van Dijk (1991, p.119). The analysis used one of the
texts analyzed in present research which was entitled “Syria conflict: US
condemns deadly Aleppo rocket strikes.”
Table 3.3 Example of Superstructure Analysis
Superstructure Analysis of Text 4
Text Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Syria conflict: US condemns
deadly Aleppo rocket strikes
Summary Headline -
Superstructure Analysis of Text 4
Text Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Missile attacks on Aleppo
have enraged the opposition
Summary Lead -
The US has condemned recent rocket attacks
Story Situation Episode
on Syria's northern city of Aleppo,
Story Situation Background
which opposition activists say killed dozens of people.
Story Comments Verbal Reaction
The US state department said the strikes were "the latest demonstrations of the Syrian regime's ruthlessness".
Story Comments Verbal Reaction
The statement came Story Situation Episode
after Syria's opposition coalition pulled out of planned
international talks
Story Situation Background
because of the world's failure to stop violence.
Story Situation Background
Damascus has not commented on the Aleppo attacks
Story Situation Episode
earlier this week. Story Situation Background
In a separate development, Story Situation Background
the UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, described the car bomb attack on the ruling Baath Party's headquarters
Story Comments Verbal Reaction
in Damascus Story Situation Background
on Thursday Story Situation Background
as a war crime. - - -
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people dead
No group has said it carried out the attack.
Story Situation Episode
c. Microstructure Analysis
The microstructure analysis involved two kinds of analyses; transitivity
analysis and lexicalization analysis. The two methods of analyses were elaborated
in the following points:
1. Transitivity Analysis
Halliday (1994) defined transitivity as the meaning of exchange because
language had function in giving and demanding activity. He divided transitivity
into seven points; material, behavioural, mental, verbal, relational, existential, and
meteorological process.
The following is the example of analysis using transitivity. The sentence is
“Ms. Nuland also said that America was looking forward to meeting Syria’s opposition groups soon.”
Table 3.4 Example of Transitivity Analysis
Ms Nuland also said that America was looking
forward to meeting
2. Lexicalization Analysis
Eriyanto (2003) stated that word choice reflected writer's attitude.
Therefore, this analysis concerned with language diction and style to reveal the
attitude behind the text. For example intervention could be represented by
mediation, agency, intercession, or interference. Those different words had
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31 3.4.2 Sociocognition Analysis
The analysis is not only in text level, the research was provided by example
of analysis in sociocognition level. The analysis involved the examination of
environment, dimension, goals, motivation and decision making. The elaboration
and example of analysis are provided below:
a. Environment
Van Dijk (2009b) stated that text of social actors might depend on
environment because they tended to fulfill situation constraints, for example their
social roles or social norms. The example of environment analysis is in Toni
Blair’s speech in Iraq debate (van Dijk, 2009b). His speech to go to war enacted his social role as Prime Minister of British Parliament.
b. Dimension
democracy for Iraqis, to remove dictator, to fight terrorism, etc.
d. Motivation and Decision Making
The process of making decision was influenced by certain knowledge.
Therefore, in analyzing the sociocognition, it was useful to examine the
motivation and decision making in doing particular activity (van Dijk, 2009b).Van
Dijk (2009b) also gave example of decision making in Toni Blair’s speeh in Iraq
debate that his motive was asking parliament to legitimate his decision to go to
war.
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The analysis involved intertextual analysis of the text.The result of
intertextual analysis wascompiled from researcher's conclusion from the story
behind the making of articles. The resultswhich were presented in paragraphs
include the story from the cause of Syrian conflict until the intervention of U.S.,
the relation between BBC and the U.S., and the relation between BBC and the
readers.
Representation analyses are presented in Chapter 4 in terms of textual
description of representation from Text, which comprises Macrostructure,
Superstructure, and Microstructure; Sociocognition; and Context. The analysis
results are presented in the form of tables and are elaborated in the form of
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the last part of the research. It contains conclusions
and suggestions of the research. Conclusion presents the findings and discussion
of this research in brief. Meanwhile, Suggestion contains the advice from
researcher for the next study.
5.1 Conclusions
This research disclosed the representation of U.S. in Syrian conflict as
evidenced in five articles from BBC International and five articles from BBC
Indonesia. The research employs van Dijk (2009b) which comprises three stages
of analyses; Text, Sociocognition, and Context. The stage of text analysis covers
macrostructure, superstructure, and microstructure analysis.
Based on those three stages of analysis, both BBC International and BBC
Indonesia similarly represented U.S. as the Globo-cop in Syrian conflict. The
representation was indicated by three indicators, which are U.S. as the firm and
powerful country, U.S. as being intimate with Opposition, and U.S. as the
Opposition helper. In addition, U.S. was found biased to the Opposition based on
its policy to help and assist Opposition to achieve their aim. However, BBC
International provided more informative news compared to BBC Indonesia, not
only the news about political issue, but also the news about religion issue in
Syrian conflict. BBC Indonesia omitted sentences which talked about Moslem
conflict and reduced the level of representation.
BBC International’s readers, whoare wider and more general compared to
BBC Indonesia’s readers mightexplain why the contents of BBC International
were more general and informative. The difference level between BBC
International and BBC Indonesia in representing U.S. was influenced by their
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However, BBC Indonesia omitted several sentences from BBC
International, which means reduced the level of representation. BBC Indonesia
also put more focus on the conflict between Opposition and Assad. Moreover,
BBC Indonesia eliminated the information about Moslem condition in Syria. BBC
Indonesia might consider BBC Indonesia’s readers which were mostly Moslem by
eliminating Moslem’s religion conflict and Moslem victims in Syrian
conflict.This indicates that BBC Indonesia intended to avoid the fidgetiness of its
readers only provided information which was properly needed by its Indonesian
readers.
The similar representation of U.S. as being Globo-cop in Syrian conflict,
which was revealed in both BBC International and BBC Indonesia, signifies that
BBC, which was owned semi-autonomously under the Royal Charter, might have
same culture as English culture in representing the action of U.S which supported
Opposition. However, the difference found between BBC International and BBC
Indonesia signifies that both BBC International and BBC Indonesia have the same
thought to be readers oriented by providing information which is properly needed
by their readers.
5.2 Suggestions
Having done with the analyses, this research ends with suggestions, which
can be considered for the next research. The next research should use more
innovation in analyzing sociocognition stage, for example by applying other development approaches from other scholars. One of them is Eriyanto’s schema (2003) to analyze sociocognition of news agency. Next, it would be better if the
next research employs combination approaches in analyzing the text, for example
by using Sociosemantic approach from van Leeuwen (2008) and Sociocognition
stage analysis from van Dijk (2009a) or Eriyanto (2003).
It is expected that this research can contribute to Critical Discourse
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not to taken for granted the information contained in mass media. Hence, readers
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