Seyyed Ali-Asghar Soltani; Amir-Ali Tafreshi
Abstract
Iranians’ significant interest in satellite TV channels necessitates the study of the content broadcasted by these channels by deconstructing their messages and finding what they have taken as granted. The present study conducts a discourse analysis using Laclau and Mouffe's method on the programs ...
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Iranians’ significant interest in satellite TV channels necessitates the study of the content broadcasted by these channels by deconstructing their messages and finding what they have taken as granted. The present study conducts a discourse analysis using Laclau and Mouffe's method on the programs broadcasted by manoto channel. By deconstructing the messages and disconnecting signifiers and the signified the discourse assumptions of the programs will be identified and articulated. People, tolerance, new experiences, having fun, and culture and art were identified as the central signifiers within the programs. It was also found that the identities most frequently represented by the channel were Iranians and Islamic Republic of Iran. Iranians has been situated in the chain of equivalence and Islamic Republic of Iran has been situated in the chain of difference. The channel also uses empty signifiers and metaphoric discourses and negatively represents the discourse of Iran’s government by showing signifiers that are absent from the government’s discourse. Moreover, the channel has tried to include those empty signifiers in its discourse in order to marginalize its rival’s discourse and consolidate its semantic hegemony. Among other discourses found in the programs one could name spirituality without religion and dogma and also positively representing Pahlavi Monarchy linking it to the nostalgic past.
