A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Reports On Russia-Ukraine Conflict In China Daily And The New York Times

Drawing on Fairclough’s three-dimensional theory as well as systemic-functional grammar,combined with qualitative and quantitative research methods,this study established two corpora by selecting 60 news reports on the Russia-Ukraine conflict from China Daily and the New York Times.This thesis analyzed from three aspects:text description,interpretation and explanation,attempting to reveal the factors causing the differences of news reports on Russia-Ukraine conflict in China Daily and the New York Times by interpreting linguistic features,news sources and reporting modes.It is found that although news reports on Russia-Ukraine conflict in China Daily and the New York Times have some similarities,they present completely different positions and attitudes.At the text description stage,the high-frequency words in the two corpora are basically the same;for the transitivity system,the material process and the verbal process account for the highest frequency;the highest and lowest proportions of modal verbs are median and high-value modal verbs respectively;News reports in China Daily emphasized that Western countries should shoulder the responsibility to quell the conflict,while news reports in the New York Times focused on the harm caused by Russia and defended their sanctions against Russia.In terms of interpretation,news reports in both China Daily and the New York Times tended to cite specific news sources and clearly identify the speaker to reflect the credibility and authority.In addition,the distribution of reporting modes is basically the same;News reports in China Daily stressed the hope for peace and opposition to conflict,while news reports in the New York Times expressed the condemnation of Russia and support for Ukraine.In respect of explanation,economically,China pursues a peaceful and stable international environment,while the US tends to defend its own interests;Culturally,China has advocated harmony,while the US has been xenophobic;Institutionally,news media reflects different national interests.This study is helpful in comprehending the news discourse on the Russia-Ukraine conflict in China Daily and the New York Times and the underlying reasons for the differences.