How the New York Times Portrayed the 2010 Brazil-Turkey-Iran Nuclear Deal: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the New York Times’ reaction to the 2010 Brazil-Turkey-Iran (BTI) nuclear deal – the very last diplomatic effort before the imposition of international sanctions track over the following years. The New York Times’ (NYT) coverage of the deal is examined using the Critical Discourse Analytic (CDA) approach formulated by Teun van Dijk. The results show a strong bias against the BTI deal throughout the NYT’s news coverage. The overarching theme in coverage of the deal is the imputation of malignant intentions on the part of both Iran (“to kill time to further its nuclear weapons program”) and Brazil and Turkey (“to advance their own business dealings with Iran and gaining international recognition”). Also, non-relevant information is used to imply a threat of Iranian development of nuclear weapons. Moreover, the NYT leaves almost totally “unsaid” that president Obama had asked Brazilian and Turkish leaders to go to Tehran and get this deal. Therefore, the NYT basically echoed, and legitimized, discursive practices of the U.S. government on the deal.

Keywords

• iranian nuclear program
• critical discourse analysis
• the new york times
• iran- u.s. relations