| As a typical genre of media discourse,news report is no longer thought to be objective and neutral,but subjective and ideological.The present study carries out a critical comparative analysis of eight Beijing smog-related news reports from The Guardian and China Daily with the theoretical framework and analytical categories based on Fairclough’s approach of CDA within the paradigm of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar.With an intention of revealing the interrelationship between language and ideologies,the author would analyze the linguistic features of the collected news reports from three dimensions.On the dimension of text,linguistic features of the news samples are identified and analyzed through the analytical methods including transitivity and modality.On the dimension of discursive practice,linguistic representations of the news samples are examined in terms of the sources and modes of the discourse representation.On the dimension of social practice,linguistic differences of the samples from the two newspapers embodied at the previous two levels are explained from the perspective of news values and social determinants to further explain the hidden ideologies of news reports.The critical analysis of the eight samples reveals that dominant ideologies are embedded in Beijing smog-related news,which directly or indirectly affects and controls the cognition of the public,and has important functions in shaping the attitudes and ideologies of the public.Through a comparative analysis of news coverage in the two newspapers,we find that the two newspapers show quite different ideologies.China Daily highlights Chinese government’s efficient and unyielding effort in fighting against the smog and creates the image of China as a vibrant,harmonious,and prosperous country with an active leading party.However,The Guardian pays much attention to the Chinese society rather than the environment news.It describes the Chinese government as an irresponsible government which treats its people rudely.Furthermore,China is distorted as a politically and economically unstable country facing a lot of social problems.These negativedescriptions of China not only impose derogatory impressions on the readers but also damage China’s reputation in the world.These biased attitudes towards China are demonstrated by its news discursive strategies.British ideologies are embedded by The Guardian in the Beijing smog-related news reports,which on the surface seem to be impartial and unbiased.The analysis proves that there is a dialectical relationship between news discourse and ideology.The author would argue that it partially because news discourse would be influenced by the ideology of society,and news discourse constructs and maintains the ideology and the social structure at the same time.By reviewing the literature and conducting the analysis,this thesis,on the one hand,would test and verify the reliability of the CDA,on the other hand,it would try to promote the readers’ critical sensibility and awareness when they read smog-related news so as to strengthen the anti-control awareness of public discourses. |
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