METAPHOR USE IN THE LIBYAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC NEWS

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the health-care systems of the transition countries experienced serious problems in the aspect of delivering adequate health care. Hence, during the recent pandemic, institutions and organizations across the world, such as Libya, started using the telehealth technology as it creates another line of communication and direct physician-patient interviews to avoid the spread of COVID-19. The objective of this study is to interpret the metaphors used in three Libyan mainstream media to determine the metaphorical depiction of COVID-19 in Libya’s mainstream media and to determine the newspapers that used more metaphors in the representation of COVID-19. Findings unveiled that war was the most dominant metaphor in the Libyan newspapers that were used in trying to convince the people about their activities in reducing the pandemic; however, the newspapers opted not to use the same metaphor as in the news. This study recommends that figurative language be seen as a tool to better understand concepts; metaphors in modern social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., also need to be investigated. Future studies may focus on how social media affects communication using metaphors. Finally, metaphors could be investigated as a tool for exchanging knowledge about cultures since they emerge through various cultural and social networks.