| News reports in new media is news that provide all types of information on computer or mobile devices over the Internet,which has clear advantages of issuing timely press releases and offering information succinctly.When catastrophes occur,disaster reports in new media tend to attract considerable attention in the first place,guiding public opinion.However,most of the current studies on disaster reports are studied in the field of journalism or mass communication.Linguistic perspectives,by contrast,are rarely used.Thus,under the theoretical framework of Systemic Functional-Multimodal Discourse Analysis,the thesis attempts to investigate multimodal disaster reports in context and content level.120 pieces of disaster reports published on Twitter by Xinhua News Agency in the first half of 2020 are selected as data.The analysis aims to answer the following questions:(1)What are salient features in the verbal mode of the disaster reports?(2)What are salient features in visual mode of the disaster reports?(3)What meaning can be constructed by both modes?Major findings are as follows:(1)The verbal mode particularly concentrates on enhancing the objectivity of reports.As far as verbal mode is concerned,highest frequency of material process in active voice reflects the reality of disasters;the frequency of verbal process in indirect speech ranks the second,reporting authoritative information objectively in a limited number of words;the extensive use of statements,third person subjects and present tense effectively avoid personal subjectivity and makes objective narrations.(2)Visual mode puts emphasize on evincing authenticity.In visual mode,higher frequency of action process in narrative representation reproduces the facts directly and visually;symbolic process is used for conceptual representation,which reflects the truthfulness of disasters;high frequency of offer images offers accurate information while small number of demand images establishes interpersonal relations,so as to arouse audiences’ sympathy;frequent use of social distance shows participants’ actions and disaster settings simultaneously;images at eye-level angle in high frequency build a communicative environment of equality.(3)The meaning of caution,encouragement and appeal of disaster reports are constructed by both verbal mode and visual mode.On the basis of the analysis,the study discusses the three functions of disaster reports in new media,which are information dissemination,public opinion guidance and culture exchange.The study also suggests that the new media as a discourse platform can effectively promote the sharing of disaster information and the coordination of prevention and control strategies,so as to disseminate China’s voice and influence international public opinion as well.The study can shed light on the practice and study of multimodal news discourse,especially the domestic disaster reports for foreign audiences in new media. |
