A Comparison Of News Discourse Between Chinese And British Main Stream Economical Newspapers In Coverage Of "Anti-dumping"

The ambition of this research is to examine the ideological constructing of news discourse by comparing two newspapers: Financial Times and The Economic Observer upon the same topic: anti-dumping.I found this topic rather interesting because it is a very good case in studying news discourse and ideology. Anti-dumping is by no means an economic issue but a complicated political as well as cultural confliction where opinions collide.Normally the way these 'financial specialized' newspapers enjoys reputation of being authoritative,reliable and credible.My research however,reveals that ideological trends could also be constructed through their presentation of economic issue such as 'anti-dumping case',despite a more implicit way.Through application of CDA approach in textual analysis, we' ve found systemic difference in topic-choice,linguistic presence and intertextual relationship in reports. Quantitative results as the first step indicates that FT seemed to be more in favor of pro-liberalism,while Observer seems to combine opinions from official and researchers/analyst in constructing its 'typical authoritativeness' according to Chinese unique political environment.Linguistic analysis in case study had examined the dichotomized language use in constructing 'ideological square' and the conflicting opinions between both side is clear:for FT,dumping is just one of so many troubles China made toward EU which is due to its own fault(just like piracy); For Observer,anti-dumping is just one of discriminatory policies deliberated toward China by EU.These opinions are very representative in each newspaper reporting anti-dumping case.The intertextual analysis had further considered the crack of ideological square where 'what remain unsaid' received deep concern.The shifting between free-trade and fair-trade helps the analysis of broader social context in Europe where retribution of profit is the main appeal in facing up-surging Chinese imported goods.The stance of FT thus cannot simply be described as 'pro-liberalism' or 'protectionism' but a complex attitude of entire Europe which features an obvious 'China threat' traits.For Observer,a prominent running strategy in reporting anti-dumping case is a set of nationalist discourse represented in sentimentality in the appeal to 'middle class'.Voices from social elites like government officials,scholars,entrepreneurs had enjoyed a monopoly of discourse power while manufacturing workers as a whole group was deprived the right to speak representing themselves.Our conclusion is that neither of these newspaper had fulfill its claim of 'objective' and 'professional',but to function according to specific interests group against different social background.