The Contention of

Gholami, Mostafa; Fathi, Ebrahim; Omidi, Afshin

doi:10.27834/CSIW.2505.1548.3.38.6

The Contention of "Boycott" versus "Participation" in the Electoral Campaign )A Comparative Analysis of the Discourses of IRIB News Agency and Iran-International Websites in the 14th Presidential Election of Iran)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mostafa Gholami ¹

Ebrahim Fathi ²

Afshin Omidi ³

¹ Master of Journalism

² Associate Professor of Journalism department, IRIB University, Tehran.

³ Assistant Professor of Media Management department and Business Communication, University of Tehran, Tehran.

10.27834/CSIW.2505.1548.3.38.6

Abstract

Elections, a cornerstone of the IRI, significantly shape policymaking and governance, thus consistently drawing attention from both pro- and anti-regime factions and media. Actors in elections strive to promote their preferred ideas, intersubjectively embedding them among subjects to render their discourse hegemonic. The 39.92% participation rate in the first round of the 2024 presidential election of Iran, the lowest across all election cycles, underscores the need to examine active electoral discourses. This study aims to identify the discourses of the IRIB News Agency and Iran-International websites during the 14th presidential election. To this end, 35 news items from Iran-International’s website and 45 from the IRIB News Agency were analyzed using MAXQDA software, based on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory and van Dijk’s critical approach. Findings reveal that “maximum participation in elections” and “election boycott” serve as the nodal points of the IRIB News Agency and Iran-International discourses, respectively. Notably, Reformists and moderate mediators advocating participation faced greater criticism from Iran-International than Principlists. The low participation rate indicates that Iran-International strategically capitalized on events such as the autumn 2022 unrest and economic hardships, opportunistically appropriating these issues to establish discursive dominance.

Keywords

چهاردهمین انتخابات ریاست‌جمهوری

تحریم انتخابات

مشارکت حداکثری

تحلیل گفتمان

وب‌سایت خبرگزاری صداوسیما

وب‌سایت شبکه ایران‌اینترنشنال