A survey on the discourses of the websites of the IRIB News Agency and Iran International TV channel in the 11th parliamentary elections in Iran

Election is a phenomenon through which people play a role in determining their own destiny and the acceptance of their country in today's world. In the days of elections, various media, relying on their accumulated social capital and the trust and confidence that the audience has in them, present their desired discourses in order to attract and guide the people towards their desired goals and objectives. The results of the media alignment and discourse battle are also determined immediately after the vote count. Registration of 42.57% turnout in the 11th parliamentary elections, which is the lowest turnout in all previous periods of the Iran's election history, requires exploring and analyzing the discourses of actors active in this field, which IRIB News Agency website and Iran International TV channel Website were selected in this study. The purpose of this study is to determine the discourse of the mentioned media by thematic analysis the texts of their election news in the period of January 21 to February 29, 2020 using MAXQDA software. Findings show that the discourse of IRIB Agency News Website with the nodal point of “maximum participation in the election” consists of the surrounding signifiers of “election”, “Islamic Republic”, “enemy” and “people” and the discourse of Iran International TV channel website with the nodal point of “election boycott” also includes the signifiers of “Islamic Republic”, “election”, “people” and “corona”. The framings and Image making of both media have fully served the nodal points of their desirable discourse. The low turnout in this election indicates the the discourse of election boycott has become hegemonic and its success in consolidating its semantic system and creating more consensus in the target community.