التحليل السيميائي للصورة الصحفية في الصحافة الغربية إزاء اخبار الحرب الإسرائيلية على غزة: دراسة تحليلية للصور في صحيفتي The New York Times و The Guardian

Abstract

This study aims to analyze press photography in Western media from a semiotic perspective by deconstructing the explicit and implicit meanings of images published about the Gaza war after October 7, 2023, on the websites of The New York Times and The Guardian.The study is based on the hypothesis that press images do not merely perform a neutral documentary and journalistic function; rather, they actively contribute to constructing media discourse and shaping collective perception and global public opinion regarding the Palestinian–Israeli conflict through a system of ideologically and culturally charged symbols and visual signs.The research adopts a descriptive-analytical method within a qualitative framework, drawing on a semiotic analysis approach based on the model of Roland Barthes. The study sample consisted of twenty press photographs—ten from each newspaper. The findings revealed that the images in both newspapers, to varying degrees, focused on highlighting the humanitarian suffering of Palestinian civilians, particularly women and children, through the use of visual symbols such as destruction, shrouds, exhausted bodies, and devastated spaces, thereby reinforcing a discourse of victimhood and humanitarian catastrophe. In contrast, the study identified differences in visual framing: The Guardian tended toward a more explicit critical humanitarian discourse, whereas the images published by The New York Times were characterized by greater visual caution.