Framing the Ban on Afghan Girls’ Education in Mass Media: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

This qualitative study utilized Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) approach to examine how mass media framed the ban on Afghan girls’ education through both linguistic and visual elements. The study examined how textual choices, imagery, and text-image relationships shaped narratives of oppression and exclusion by analyzing reports from Al Jazeera, The Associated Press, and The Afghan Times. The findings revealed that these mass media employed specific linguistic strategies such as overlexicalization, quantification, and structural oppositions to emphasize the systemic nature of the ban. Simultaneously, visual elements, including gaze, composition, and lighting, reinforced these narratives, shaping public perception of the issue. In addition to this, the analysis highlighted the role of multimodal discourse in constructing ideological frameworks that influences societal attitudes.