The Semiotic Significance of Augmented Reality News Reports: An Analytical Study of Al Jazeera and Al Qahira News Channel Reports on the Iranian President's Plane Crash

Abstract

The research problem we aim to discuss and investigate centers around the following main question: What are the semiotic symbolic connotations of the reports produced using augmented reality in television news broadcasts that covered the incident of the Iranian President "Ebrahim Raisi's" plane crash on Al Jazeera and Al Qahira news channels? The researcher selected a non-probability purposive sample specifically chosen based on predefined justifications and criteria that serve the research objectives and express its goals. The research sample consists of two units representing news reports from Al Jazeera and Al Qahira news channels, utilizing the semiotic methodology and employing descriptive، segmental, and citation-based analytical tools.

The results concluded that the real-world representations between the two reports under investigation are vary significantly. This is evident through the filming, commentary, accompanied music, camera movements, shooting angles, material and non-material symbols, colors, and the interpretive verbal analysis of the accompanying text. The Al Qahira news channel report depicted the plane crash incident more realistically compared to the Al Jazeera report, with broader and more accurate details, and more comprehensive data. The Al Qahira report conveyed and embodied the real event, adding a fictional dimension that emulates reality more widely and comprehensively, utilizing a set of semiotic symbols emphasized in multiple instances, similar to the semiotic symbols presented in the Al Jazeera report. However, the presentation of the symbols in the Al Jazeera news report was narrower and less in-depth and comprehensive compared to the Al Qahira news report.