PRINCIPIOS ÉTICOS PARA PROFESORES

Through the inclusion of his voice in the news articles and by presenting him frequently as a Sayer of such statements, he is given an international legitimacy. Therefore, it seems that the British press attempts to present him as an internationally recognised and legitimate representative of the Libyan people and the NTC. In representing his words, the journalist reports him using either neutral reporting verbs said, told/telling or positive ones announce/d, declare (L. Chen, 2005, 2007; Floyd, 2000):

Table 6.1 Reporting verbs used in representing the voice of NTC chairman Reporting Verbs No. Occurrence

Said 10

Told/Telling 7

Announce/d 7

Declared 1

Claim 1

The choice of reporting verb can reflect the reporter’s stance towards the person whose words are being reported and their evaluation of the reported speech, as well as manipulating the reader’s perception (L. Chen, 2005, p. 36). In reporting the NTC chairman, the journalist

frequently used the neutral reporting verbs said, told/telling (17 times), as evident in the table above. The choice of these reporting verbs indicates that the writers do not hold any particular view of the NTC chairman and are simply describing what is happening. However, the journalist’s positive stance is reflected in using the positive reporting verbs announce/d (7 times) and declared (once) as these verbs could promote in the readers’ minds that ‘the person whose words are being reported is wise, authoritative, benign or in some other sense positive’ (p. 39). Consider the following examples:

(6.26) This week Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the governing National Transitional Council, announced before cheering crowds in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square that "women will be ambassadors, women will be ministers".

The Guardian, 17 September 2011 (6.27) Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC), announced a reward for Gaddafi's capture of 2m Libyan dinars (pounds 1m), funded by a businessman in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, and an amnesty for past crimes for anyone in his entourage who killed or detained him.

The Guardian, 25 August 2011 In example 6.26, the NTC chairman spoke on behalf of the interim NTC and his words were quoted directly using the positive reporting verb announced. To make an important announcement, such as women will be ambassadors, women will be ministers implies that he is powerful, determined and confident, as it represents a verbal action committed by the Sayer. In addition, the reporting of an announcement from an official source inclines it towards being taken for granted as true. Through this quotation, the British newspapers highlight the positive image of the NTC chairman by quoting his words, which clearly establishes the good actions that will be taken in the new Libya. Paradoxically, this was not to be, as the gains on women’s empowerment have now been rolled back, and women’s rights are declining in the post- revolutionary era (Imam, et al., 2014). In contrast, women, under Gaddafi’s government, had the right to work, educate, and have an income, just like the men. It seems that the British newspapers are selective in what they report and how they report it. There is a big difference in how Gaddafi and the NTC chairman are being quoted. In most cases, the British press tend in their coverage to quote Gaddafi verbatim, which reflects his avaricious desire for power

and his intention to use military means in his response to demonstration (see example 6.6 and 6.7 above), while they tend to quote the NTC chairman’s words where he talks about positive things, as in these examples and in example 6.28 and 6.29 below.

The positive representation of the NTC chairman is also represented through speech representation mode. Although his verbiage is quoted either directly (13 times) or indirectly (14 times), the direct mode is mostly used to represent his words that manifested the revolutionary principle: justice, freedom, democracy and human rights, as evident in the following examples:

(6.28) Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the Transitional National Council "[Libya is] on the threshold of a new era... of a new stage that we will work to establish the principles that this revolution was based on, which are freedom, democracy, justice, equality and transparency... the real moment of victory is when Gaddafi is captured".

The Independent, 23 August 2011 (6.29) "We have all waited for this moment," Abdel-Jalil declared solemnly from a flower-

bedecked podium in the city's Kish square, near to where the old regime security forces claimed their first victims and set Gaddafi's "state of the masses" on the path to destruction. "This revolution began peacefully with the demand for justice," he told the cheering crowd, "but it was met by excessive violence."

The Guardian, 24 October 2011 The ideological attitude towards the NTC chairman is conveyed in positioning him as being the exclusive owner of the words being quoted (Seals, 2012, p. 236). He is represented as the man who stands for positive values, such as: freedom, democracy, justice, equality and transparency. Furthermore, the journalist quoted the NTC chairman’s words directly in order to indicate that the quoted words are unquestionable facts (Allan Bell, 1991, p. 207; Richardson, 2007, p. 102). More interestingly, the NTC chairman is constructed as a legitimate political actor who spoke on behalf of the Libyan people by using the inclusive we in that we will work to establish the principles (e.g. 6.28). Using such inclusive pronouns implies his authority as a powerful leader who has a responsibility to speak for others.

Ideologically, as I have pointed out above, quoting powerful elites in news reporting, especially in direct mode, could be considered as newsworthy by the readers (Van Dijk, 1991). In addition, information given by such authorities will undoubtedly be considered by the reader as authentic and truthful (Jeffries, 2010).

Opposition Armed Forces: KWs: rebels, army, opposition, fighters, and forces

This sections aims to introduce a corpus-based critical stylistic analysis of the keywords that refer to the opposition forces (rebels, army, opposition, fighters and forces). In investigating the concordance outputs of these words, I found that the British press tends to focus on the opposition’s active role on the ground. Although there was a violent clash between the two conflicting groups during the Libyan Revolution, the opposition forces are represented in terms of being involved in situations that describe their gains and control; their progress in the battlefield; their battle against the rigid regime; and getting international help and support. I will address these in detail in the following sections.

Making Gains and Imposing Control

The WordSmith concordance of the key participants in the opposition forces reveals that they are represented as involved in active material processes that describe their achievements and domination of the situation. For example, the verbs that are assigned to this group are access, control/ing/ed, capture/d, gain/ed/ing, sealed off, seize/d, take, held/hold/ing, occupied, retook and took/take. For purposes of illustration, some of these are presented in the lines below (All of the instances can be found in Appendix B, Concordance B.5). The discursive practice of assigning such verbs to these agents indicates that they are constructed as having control of the situation.