Vol. 14 (2025)
Artificial Intelligence and the Language of Law

Research Articles

Framing the Cybercrime Law of 2023 in Jordanian News Articles and the Ideologies Behind the Frames

Published 13.11.2025

  • Na'elah Hasan Naimat
    • ,
  • Aseel Zibin

Na'elah Hasan Naimat
The University of Jordan

Aseel Zibin
The University of Jordan and Applied Science Private University

Abstract

The Cybercrime Law of 2023 has sparked significant controversy and criticism on Jordanian social media and among the populace. Jordanian online newspapers have shown a range of responses, from support to outright opposition. This study examines the framing of the law and the underlying ideologies in Jordanian online news articles. Using Entman's (1993) framing theory and Fairclough's (1989, 2013) critical discourse analysis, we analyze framing devices, tones, and ideologies in news texts from government-owned and privately owned newspapers from July 2023 to May 2024. An inductive approach to frame analysis was used to identify frames as they appear in the texts. Significant differences were found between ownership and frames choices, as well as between ownership and frames tone. However, no significant differences were found between ownership and framing devices or in their distribution across different tones. This disparity is linked to the differing ideological positions of the sources. Government-owned texts emphasized national security and promoted compliance with state decisions, reflecting an ideology prioritizing regulation, stability, and authority. In contrast, privately owned texts presented a more balanced view, offering equal representation of opposing and supportive viewpoints, indicating a pragmatic ideology. The findings suggest that the interaction between ownership and ideology significantly influences public issue presentation in Jordan, providing insights into the power structure within society and how power dynamics are shaped by overarching ideologies.

Cite as: Naimat & Zibin, JLL 14 (2025), 313–341 DOI: 10.14762/jll.2025.313

Keywords

critical discourse analysis, cybercrime law, framing devices, Jordan

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Author Biography

Aseel Zibin

Aseel Zibin is Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Jordan, Amman/Jordan. She obtained her PhD in Linguistics/Cognitive Semantics from Newcastle University, UK. She is mainly interested in cognitive semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics and second language acquisition. She published several research papers in journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Language and Cognition, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Cognitive Semantics, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Lingua, Review of Cognitive Linguistics, Pragmatics and Society, Metaphor and the Social World, and Babel.

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