Framing the Great March of Return: A Pilot Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis of the Palestine Chronicle and Haaretz

Abstract

This pilot study employs corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine media portrayals of the Great March of Return (GMR) in two contrasting news outlets: The Palestine Chronicle (PC) and Haaretz. A corpus of 11,611 words was compiled from 18 articles published between March 2018 and December 2020. The data were analyzed using Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework and Halliday's Transitivity Theory to examine narrative framing. Findings indicate that Haaretz emphasizes material processes involving Palestinian actors, which often depict Palestinians as instigators of violence while framing Israel's military actions as defensive. In contrast, PC presents the GMR as peaceful protests while highlighting Palestinian victimization and advocating for nonviolent resistance. Collocation and concordance analyses reveal ideological divergence in framing social actors and events. This comparative approach underscores the role of media in shaping perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and highlights the utility of corpus-based methods in critical media studies.