A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Reports On The Establishment Of The East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an important branch of discourse analysis andmainly focuses on the relations between language, power and ideology. As an approachdiscourse analysis, it borrows its tools from Halliday’s systemic functional grammar (SFG),with its target discourse covering both literary and non-literary texts. Text analysis andresearch into social background are conducted to disclose the hidden ideologies indiscourse. As for CDA of news reports, critical discourse analysis could examinejournalists’ objectivity, hidden ideologies and power relations. As news discourseencompasses various aspects of social life, CDA has enjoyed great popularity and mademajor achievements in both domestic and recent years has witnessed the greatachievements of CDA.This thesis compares six news reports from The New York Times and China Daily onChina’s establishment of the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from the perspective ofcritical discourse analysis. The event is divided into three stages, namely China’sestablishment of ADIZ, US’s overfly and reaction from both sides. From each newspaper,three reports corresponding to these three stages are chosen.This thesis adopts analytical tools from Halliday’s three meta-functions and NormanFairclough’s three-dimensional framework. The analysis will focus on the following threelevels: text analysis (lexical choice and transformation), discursive practice (news sourcesand reporting modes) and social practice (economic and political factors). This studypresents the China image in the eyes of Chinese and American newspapers, and disclosesthe hidden ideologies of American and Chinese newspapers so as to strengthen theawareness of critical reading among the public.