Objective: The present study aims to identify and extract the semantic model underlying the news coverage of the 2023 elections of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) and the Assembly of Experts for Leadership. The central research question is: How did BBC Persian represent these two elections, and what meaning did it seek to convey through its election news coverage?
Method: The study employed thematic analysis as its research method. To this end, the text of all news reports related to the 2023 Iranian elections published on the BBC Persian website was collected and analyzed using this approach.
Results: The findings revealed that BBC Persian, by adopting a negative and biased approach, not only failed to provide an impartial representation of the elections but also portrayed them as an event lacking legitimacy, characterized by low participation and affected by election engineering.
Conclusions: Through the use of specific themes in its election news coverage and a targeted approach based on inciting negative emotions in the audience, BBC Persian attempted to depict political participation through elections as futile and ineffective, while instead presenting civil disobedience and participation in protests as an alternative.