ObjectiveThe 2024 Iranian presidential election was one of the most significant contemporary political events, exerting substantial impacts on the country's domestic and foreign policy and affecting both the government's orientation toward the public and Iran's position in the sphere of international diplomacy. Meanwhile, the media and political analysts played an important role in shaping public opinion and guiding these processes. The present study aims to analyze the critical discourse of Iran International in its presentation of the 14th presidential election.
Method: The methodology of this study is based on critical discourse analysis with a descriptive approach. The research data comprises 73 news reports published between June 19 and July 28, 2024, on the Iran International website that represented the election process. Validity and reliability in this study were examined and analyzed based on the critical discourse descriptive method.
Results: The findings indicate that Iran International has attempted to represent the fundamental crises of the electoral process by utilizing specific media strategies, such as highlighting issues including rigged elections, electoral sanctions, structural corruption, the role of the Guardian Council, and the participation crisis. According to the theory of image formation in public opinion, particularly in the area of political participation, such representations can play an effective role in shaping public awareness and guiding the audience's electoral decisions.
Conclusions: The results of the study indicate that Iran International's approach is predominantly critical and has portrayed the 2024 elections as a structurally non-competitive and undemocratic process, in line with its representations of the elections of the previous presidential era (2017–2021)- a process that fundamentally questions the legitimacy of electoral institutions. By emphasizing election engineering, systematic political exclusion, and the crisis of participation, this media outlet reinforces the dominant negative narratives and reproduces an atmosphere of political distrust. Finally, based on data analysis, the study offers a strategic-practical framework for countering these representations, which aims to reduce the impact of destructive narratives, promote transparency, and strengthen informed political participation. These findings can serve as a guiding reference for media policymakers and communication researchers in strengthening emerging democracies.