Ideology in the news through active, passive and nominalization: A study on the terrorist attack in Ankara reported in British and American newspapers

Abstract

The present study focuses on the investigation of frequency and distribution of the active, passive voice and nominalized structures presented in new reports about ‘the terrorist attack in Ankara on October 10^th’ across British and American newspapers. In the light of this purpose, the following research questions are addressed:

1. How is the news about the terrorist attack in Ankara reported in British and American newspapers as far as active, passive voice and nominalized structures are concerned?
2. What are the frequencies and distributions of active, passive voice and nominalized structures in news reports across British and American newspapers?

The data of the study are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively by finding out the frequencies and distributions of the structures, and by explaining examples from the document analysis process respectively. American newspapers were found to present the agent more frequently compared to British newspapers. The results of the study show that there are instances of passivization in mitigating a claim about the agent, or attenuating to present the details of the events. Compared to the active forms of verbs, the journalists use active voice in describing the actions and events whereas they prefer passive voice in presenting the actions in which the agent is unknown or irrelevant. As the newspapers examined within the domain of this study are the most circulating and leading newspapers, the choice of these structures and their potential role in conveying ideology have crucial role in presentation of the image of Turkey in external media.